GearFlogger

Casio Pro Trek PRT-B70T-7 Fishing Watch

A long time ago there was a saying, no one ever got fired for buying IBM equipment. It just worked, and the same is true of Casio watches. Use them, abuse them, they just keep working. The new Pro Trek PRT-B70T-7 is yet another solid performer in the Pro Trek line, and the smartphone app offers some nice features for the avid angler.

The Pro Trek series of ABC watches - that's altimeter, barometer and compass functions to you watch newcomers - has always been solid, both in quality of construction and in value. For straight up features per dollar it's hard to beat a Pro Trek, and the new PRT-B70T fishing watch is both tough and pretty, with a titanium band and stainless steel buckle. We've called it the Gal Gadot of watches. We are still waiting on a phone call from Ms. Gadot. She is apparently very busy and hasn't had time to call us yet. We remain hopeful, even as the Sheflogger remains doubtful.

The B70 starts off with the basic Pro Trek build: slightly chunky mineral glass face, aluminum/resin construction, and rotating direction bezel all enclosing Casio's proven Quad Sensor with ABC + temperature, and also a step counter that uses the built-in accelerometer. The watch is secured to your wrist with a comfy silicone band and it's water resistant to 200 meters, so fish on. Also in accordance with its Pro Trek DNA the B70 includes plenty of navigational functions like waypoints and the ability to view route profiles using bluetooth to connect to the smartphone app.

Beyond the comprehensive timekeeping functions - and they are ALL there and then some - a handful of features make the B70T's 'fish mode' specifically interesting to anglers: moon data, tide graph and fishing timer, all of which access a database of 3,300 ports around the world to help you zero in on the best fishing times. Beyond fishing there are even some basic fitness features like a step counter and calories burned calculator, so you can make the (super unconvincing) argument that your fishing time qualifies as a workout.

The software has improved somewhat since we reviewed the Pro Trek BRT-P50 last fall, but it's still a bit clunky. The good news is you don't really need the software for most functions if you take the time to learn the watch interface. The exception is the fishing function set, which actually works well enough on the app, so you're good to go. And let's face it, fish are fickle, so they are likely to ignore all your technology and do what fish do, which is to fool all the people. New is a Fish Memo function that allows you to add pictures of the fish you caught with some basic info, which gives you a pretty cool fishing diary.

All in all the B70 is a classic Pro Trek, which is to say it's a great watch at a good price, and everything from the color to the construction to the fishing features makes it a perfect companion for anyone who spends time outdoors and on the water, fishing or not.

$350.00 at Casio

Casio Pro Trek PRT-B70 Fishing Watch

The other day we noticed our friend's watch wasn't working, but we still haven't told them; it's never the right time. Rimshot! But seriously folks... if you just buy a Casio, it will probably outlast you so you won't have to worry about that kind of stuff.

The Pro Trek series of ABC watches - that's altimeter, barometer and compass functions to you watch newcomers - has always been solid, both in quality of construction and in value. For straight up features per dollar it's hard to beat a Pro Trek, and the new PRT-B70 fishing watch is both tough and pretty - let's call it the Gal Gadot of watches. Gal, if you're reading this call me! [editor's note: she's not reading this, give it up man...]

The B70 starts off with the basic Pro Trek build: slightly chunky mineral glass face, aluminum/resin construction, and rotating direction bezel all enclosing Casio's proven Quad Sensor with ABC + temperature, and also a step counter that uses the built-in accelerometer. The watch is secured to your wrist with a comfy silicone band and it's water resistant to 200 meters, so fish on. Also in accordance with its Pro Trek DNA the B70 includes plenty of navigational functions like waypoints and the ability to view route profiles using bluetooth to connect to the smartphone app. Beyond the comprehensive timekeeping functions - and they are ALL there and then some - a handful of features make the B70's 'fish mode' specifically interesting to anglers: moon data, tide graph and fishing timer, all of which access a database of 3,300 ports around the world to help you zero in on the best fishing times.

The software has improved somewhat since we reviewed the Pro Trek BRT-P50 last fall, but it's still clunky. The good news is you don't really need the software for most functions if you take the time to learn the watch interface. The exception is the fishing function set, but that actually works well enough on the app, so you're good to go. And let's face it, fish are fickle, so they are likely to ignore all your technology and do what fish do, which is to fool all the people.

All in all the B70 is a classic Pro Trek, which is to say it's a great watch at a good price, and everything from the color to the construction to the fishing features makes it a perfect companion for anyone who spends time outdoors and on the water, fishing or not.

$240.00 at Casio

Casio Pro Trek PRT-B50 Watch

A Casio Pro Trek is "just a watch" in the same way that KITT is "just a car," which is to say... not even close. The Pro Trek is the watch series formerly known as Pathfinder, and it has been steadily improving in both the quantity and quality of features and performance over the years. The PRT-B50 model is notable for two major improvements: bluetooth connectivity to your smart phone, and a feature set that is incredibly rich for the price. The former was a mix of promise and frustration, but the latter provides solid value in the end even if you totally ignore the app.

First, the basics: on the wrist, the resin cased B50 is large but light, with a mineral glass face that is fairly tough and can be polished if light scratches appear. The metal band on our model came with a tool that allows fast resizing of the band by removing segments, and unlike the Casio G-Shock watches the lugs do not prevent the B50 from laying flat on a surface. The compass bezel rotates in both directions, facilitating somewhat the "boy scout" method of roughly determining where North and South are. The buttons are large and easy to operate even with gloves, which we pretty much always had on. The hands are luminescent but not any of the markings, so if you wake up in the middle of the night you're going to have to activate the light with the big button at 6 o'clock to read the hour. The small digital display is used for an amazing amount of data and can be customized to a degree.

The PRT-B50 is an ABC watch that tracks altitude, barometer and compass data. That's all standard for Casio's three-sensor models, but the B50 has a four sensor system that adds an accelerometer to track your step count. It's not super accurate - we found it had problems registering steps on soft surfaces like carpet indoors and snow outdoors - but it gives you a rough idea of the quantity of walking you're doing, even if it won't substitute for pace counting or ranger beads. You can set waypoints and use the second hand to guide you back to them. The wide variety of time zones, timers, alarms and ABC trend data is accessible through clever use of the watch hands and the small display.

The software... is a challenge. We had no problem installing the Pro Trek app on our iPhone X and pairing the B50, but then we got the privacy agreement where you're warned that profile data (height, weight, sex, birthday, time zone, system settings, serial number, etc.) may be shared. It also informs you that location data is shared with Adobe, app usage data with Google and unspecified data with Amazon. You're allowed to opt out of some of this, but even then it's not entirely clear what you're sharing and what you're not. Once installed, all the supposedly customizable watch settings - display units, etc. - were grayed out for us, so we couldn't change them in the app after setting them once. The step counter shows steps and calories, but neither is particularly accurate or - and we realize this is a larger issue with the whole idea of step counting and calorie estimates of activity - all that useful.

The route logging using the phone's GPS and mapping display is potentially the most useful feature, but we found that to be buggy as well. Sometimes it captured waypoints and sometimes it didn't, and often it terminated a route shortly after we started for reasons that are not entirely clear. So the three functions the app provides - step/calorie tracking, route logging and watch settings - were all buggy to a degree that they were more frustrating than useful to us. But here's the thing about the Pro Trek PRT-B50: if you totally ignore the app, and diligently RTFM to learn the display modes, features and functions, the B50 is one of the best values in ABC watches on the market. You get bombproof Casio reliability in a proven design with just about every feature you can imagine, at a price that beats the competition like a drum. If you want a full-on connected smart watch or a combat-ready trust your life to it showpiece, look elsewhere. But if you want 90 percent of all that stuff at a price that can't be beat, and in a package that rides large but light on your wrist, check out the Pro Trek PRT-B50.

$220.00 at Casio

Casio PRO TREK Vivid PRG330 ABC Watch

We've found Casio's PRO TREK watches to be everything you need for timekeeping and ABC (altimeter/barometer/compass, but c'mon - you knew that!) applications in the backcountry. We've lived with and love the Night Safari Concept model, and we're looking forward to reviewing the WSD-F21HR model with the long-awaited heart rate tracking functionality, but we have a new daily-wear PRO TREK model that has captured our hearts.

That watch is the endearingly named PRG330-9A - OK, maybe Casio needs to work on those names, especially since there are three dozen and counting variations just in their PRO TREK line. What we've got here is a basic (basic for the PRO TREK line, anyway) digital-only watch - look ma, no hands! - with your choice of the three colorful bezels at left plus black and pink, hence the Vivid moniker. Despite anchoring the lower price points in the PRO TREK line, we believe the PRG330 is all the watch most people will ever need, and it even comes with some benefits that more expensive models don't.

The first thing you'll notice is that the PRG330 is significantly smaller than the other PRO TREK models. While still not really small - we did say small-er - it's what most people would probably consider a "normal" watch size. That doesn't mean Casio left out any features, however: the PRG330 is still a triple sensor ABC design, with the newest and best-est hardware. The altimeter measures to the nearest meter at one second intervals, the barometer alerts you to sudden pressure changes and can display trends in a tidy little graph, and the compass will measure your bearing continuously for 60 seconds in single degree increments while correcting for declination and displaying a directional pointer. There's even a thermometer that measures from 14 to 140F. We're looking forward to an Alaskan winter to test out that bottom end! All the timekeeping niceties are there, including world time and sunrise/sunset.

There are some areas where the PRG330 beats out its more functional siblings. Besides the convenient smaller size, it has clearly marked icons on the inner bezel that tell you what the buttons on the outer bezel will do for you. This is crazy useful, especially if you switch watches much and have to try to remember how to activate all those fancy features anew. With the PRG330, just scan the icons to jog your memory. It's brilliant, really. Another feature that has the PRG330 punching above its weight class is solar power. Yes, the watch charges in direct sunlight quite nicely, and will even charge albeit sluggishly under indoor lighting. To make the most of the power it has collected, the PRG330 is packed with smart features like auto-on LED backlighting that knows to stay off in bright light.

The strap is resin, not the fancy glow-in-the-dark silicone that's on some of its higher-end siblings, but it's quite comfortable and still has the thoughtful design touches Casio is known for. Where the band comes off the watch there are soft little wedges that eliminate the gap most people get in that area, for example. And like all the PRO TREK watches, the PRG330 is plenty tough, with water resistance down to 100m. Overall we reach for the PRG330 more often than our other watches for everyday carry, and we see it as the right watch for most casual backcountry use as well.

$124.99 at Amazon

Casio PRO TREK Night Safari Concept Watch

If there's a staple in rugged outdoor timepieces, it would have to be Casio. Their G-Shock is justly famous in military and law enforcement circles because of it's legendary toughness, but what if you're not an operator operating operationally and just want a tough watch with advanced features for when people are not shooting at you?

That would be Casio's PRO TREK line of digital watches, which come in a crazy array of configurations; 35 at last count on the PRO TREK product page, ranging from $200 to $550 in list prices. We tried out the Night Safari Concept version, PRG-650Y-1 in Casio parlance, which at a list of $320 sits in the middle of the range price-wise. It has a subdued color scheme and is set up for easy visibility at night, including a glow-in-the-dark inner lining on the strap. But to wrap up the toughness thing first: the 650Y is water resistant to 100m, so set it and forget it. You'll give out before it does.

The 650Y is a triple sensor design, a.k.a. an ABC watch: altimeter, barometer/thermometer and compass. The altimeter measures to the nearest meter at one second intervals, the barometer has a storm warning function to alert you to sudden pressure changes, and the compass will measure your bearing continuously for 60 seconds in single degree increments. You can customize a lot of this stuff, and after a reasonable amount of time reading the manual you'll be able to easily switch between modes and functions using the single crown adjustment: just unscrew it a few turns to unlock it, and then rotate it to scroll through the settings on the various options that you select using the buttons. The watch hands will even move out of the way if you switch to a digital function on the small but readable screen.

All the usual timers and alarms are present, and there are a lot of thoughtful touches throughout. Illumination modes are perfectly useful, and we especially like the one-touch access to UTC time zone and the way the second hand stays oriented to true north in compass mode. The Durasoft watch band is very comfortable in all conditions including fear-induced sweat due to poor decision making, a situation in which we absolutely did not find ourselves in. We heard it from someone else. The inside of band even glows in the dark so you can find it easily at night.

The overall size of the 650Y is not too big or bulky, even on our admittedly somewhat-on-the-dainty-side wrists. It's comfortable to wear for extended periods and doesn't get in the way while working with tools or grabbing branches and rocks during normal - and some abnormal - outdoor activities. The 650Y will run seven months on the rechargeable battery alone, but that run time extends into years with the Tough Solar technology built in. Overall we've found the Casio PRO TREK Night Safari Concept on our wrist more than any other watch to date. It's a worthy outdoor companion that won't let you down when the going gets tough.

$256.00 at Amazon