Casio Men’s G-Shock MTG1000-1

The Casio product pictures of this watch are deceiving — the marketing photos were obviously taken with bright lights.

The Good:
- VERY solidly built: my son has had a couple of the G-Shock Solar Waveceptors, and this thing is hands above the others I’ve seen in terms of sturdiness.
- This is both good & bad: the face of the watch (the crystal) is RECESSED significantly; on the positive side, this will protect the mineral crystal from scratches.
- It has the ultra-cool features of Casio’s amazing Tough Solar/G-Shock/Atomic Timekeeping… that alone is worth 4 stars.
- While it doesn’t quite live up to its pictures, it does have a chronograph look as opposed to the more geeky LCD dials most of the other watches in the line have.

The Ugly:
- Overall, NOT as attractive as the sexy ads portray in my opinion. They obviously used a lot of light for the photos. My first reaction when receiving it was, “this isn’t the watch I ordered!”
- The face is VERY dark — and the small markings (city indicators, function indicators, etc) that seem so visible in the picture are virtually INVISIBLE. I had to get a magnifying glass to set my city correctly. If you are over the age of ~40, fuhgitaboutit. I have the big brother technology to this watch, the Titanium Oceanus brand, and the markings on this watch appear to be almost HALF the size of those on the face of my Oceanus.
- The recessed face **really** detracts from the good looks of the watch; someone sitting near you would have to look straight onto it to see the face — you’ll have to turn your wrist directly toward you to see the time.
- This watch is pretty heavy. Probably works for a teenager doing sports, but waaay too heavy for a little guy like my 8 year old.

Overall, built very well, just not as attractive as portrayed and dark/hard to read. This is for my 15 year old son — thought about returning it — but I’ll let him decide whether to keep it.

Reviewed by : Kirk R. Scott “krs”,   Aug 26, 2008