Are you a software developer who loves watches and is curious about hardware? Have you ever wanted a watch that you could hack on? If so, this might just make your day: the TI EZ430-Chronos. Produced as a promotion for the MS430 line of low-power microcontrollers from TI, it's a $50 kit for a fully programmable sport watch:

• 96-segment LCD driven by the MCU.
• Onboard 3-axis accelerometer, just like the iPhone.
• Onboard pressure sensor, tempurature, and battery voltage. Hmm, potential ABC (altimeter/barometer/compass) watch!
• Wireless radio interface for other sensors, such as heart rate monitors, pedometers, or whatever else you can imagine.
• Water-resistant to a kinda-lame 30m (100ft).
• Includes USB programmer, IDE, and IAR C compiler to get you started.
• Included source code gets you time, date, alarm, stopwatch, sensor readings, HRM and fitness interface, and two wireless protocols.
• Can also function as a data logger.

Awesome idea, great promo, fantastic price. Mine is already ordered! (Video after the jump.)

By Paul Hubbard

A review today of a women's watch from Casio's Baby-G series that does it all. The LWA-M140-7ACF is quite the powerhouse, packed into a casually-styled look that belies its inner geek:

• Tough solar power (the dial is a solar panel).
• 5-band atomic timekeeping (US, UK, Japan, Germany).
• Water resistant (depth not specified).
• Mineral crystal.
• 34.6mm by 11.5mm, 25g.
• LED backlight.
• World time: 29 time zones, 48 cities.
• Alarm.
• 60 minute countdown timer.
• 1 hour stopwatch.
• 12 month power reserve with low-power modes and low-battery warning.
• Casio module 4739 (PDF of manual).

Please read on for the full review.

Yesterday Timex announced a new collection of Ironman watches called "Lap Brights." Similar to the profusion of competitor G-Shocks, the Lap Brights have a competitive list of features:

• 30-lap memory.
• 100-hour stopwatch.
• Countdown timer.
• Alarm.
• Dual time zones.
• 200m (660ft) water resistant.
• Available in white (shown), yellow, violet, pink, blue, and green.

Available in April 2010, with a list price of 50UKP, or $80. It's good to see Timex competing more with Casio; we should all benefit in the end, and I quite like the look of these.

By Paul Hubbard

Casio has announced it is bringing the popular G-Shock Mini line to the USA. These are popular G-Shock styles designed to find a home with women buyers. They are available in a wide selection of "feminine" colors and sizes that span three models which are probably very familiar if you know the current G-Shock line.

Shigenori Itoh, the vice president of Casio watches, was quoted in the press release saying, "We are thrilled to offer fashionable water and shock resistant watches for chic active women everywhere... The G-Shock Mini makes our G-Shock toughness and technology a highly sought-after women’s fashion accessory." All three models will include conventional features like an alarm, 100m water resistance, auto backlight, world time, and a chronograph. The G-Shock Mini will be available nationwide at department stores and carries a $95 MSRP. Read on for a link to the press release and additional pictures.

Up for review today is the Suunto X10m, an improved version of the X9i I reviewed in 2007. It's a GPS watch with a long list of features that belie its understated appearance:

• GPS: Routes, waypoints, tracks, speed distance, 1 meter (3ft) resolution.
• Plan and visualize tracks on a PC ahead of time, then download to the watch.
• Google Earth compatible (screenshots and more below).
• Altimeter: Altitude, vertical speed, alarms for set altitudes and rates. Temperature compensated.
• Barometer: Absolute pressure, sea level pressure, trend graph, weather alarm.
• Integrated temperature sensor (which isn't accurate unless the watch is worn outside your sleeve).
• Watch: 3 alarms, time optionally set via GPS, dual timezone support with 30-minute offsets supported. 
• 100m (330ft) water resistant as long as you don't press the buttons.
• Integrated lithium rechargeable battery, specced for 500 charge cycles, recharged via the included USB cable.
• Available in different colors as well as the supplied military version (all black, reverse LCD, red backlight, with support for the military grid coordinate system and 'mils' compass readings).

Full review continues below.

Today, a review of the unusual Nike+ Sportband, a combination watch, radio system and running companion. Paired with the coin-sized transmitter in your shoe, the Sportband measures distance, pace and time in a superlight package on a low-key rubber strap. As previously posted, the Sportband is designed for runners who don't want music (for them, the Amp+ is perfect), or want to travel light.

So what can you do with the Sportband?

• Measure distance & pace.
• Estimate calories burned based on the data you enter.
• Upload data to the Nike+ website (more on this below).

Specs include:

• Lithium ion polymer battery (full charge takes 2 hours).
• Waterproof to IPX-7 spec (3 ft of water for 30 minutes). Buttons not waterproofed though.
• Polyurethane strap, stainless steel buckle, and polycarbonate case.
• Reverse LCD display.
• Charges the internal battery and sets the time automatically just by plugging it into the USB port.

So much of what we find appealing about watches goes beyond the case dimensions, the movement, the crystal, bracelet or strap, and into the details of the watch. It is the details that matter to watch lovers, things like the hands, lume colour, depth of the dial vs. the thickness of the crystal, the on-wrist weight of the watch. Is the movement noisy? If the watch has multiple functions, are they simple to access and easy to read? Details, are what makes a watch unique, complete, and set it apart in the market. Unlike functions, caliber, or finish, details are what a lot of us pay for when buying a new watch.

The Citizen Promaster SST is a watch with interesting details. Yet another ana-digi watch from Citizen, this one is designed as something of a race watch, capable of measuring split seconds and with an aesthetic clearly lifted from the instrument cluster of a sports car. The feature list is beyond standard as the SST has several cool tricks up its sleeve:

Up for review today is the Garmin ForeRunner 405, a sophisticated GPS training watch. This one has some new and interesting features both in design and use, so kick back for a long, detailed review.

To get us started, here's a quick feature list of the 405:

• The 405 has wireless sync and data transfer using a proprietary standard called Ant+. This supports other devices at the same time, so the 405 can also work with a paired heart rate sensor and display its data. Data transfer to your PC happens automatically whenever you get within range, via a small USB transceiver. There are also optional foot pods, and bicycle speed/cadence sensors as well.
• Internal rechargeable battery, with included clip-on charger. The battery is good for about two weeks of non-GPS use or eight hours in training mode.
• Bitmapped display with white LED backlight, 124 x 95 pixels.
• 48m by 16mm, 60g. Pretty chunky, but wearable. This is smaller than the Casio Pathfinder.
• IPX7-waterproof, meaning IEC 529 IPX7, or 1 meter (3ft) of water for 30 minutes. In other words, OK for running in the rain but that's about it.
• Mineral glass crystal.
• Records up to 1,000 laps and 100 waypoints. No map display or map download, due to the size and resolution of the screen.
• Innovative touch-sensor bezel and user interface

The face of a watch, like a person, often tells you quite a bit about what they are. Sometimes they're subtle and restrained, and sometimes their place in the world is writ large for all to see. The Casio Pathfinder, model number PAW1500T-7V is one of those "this is who I am, got a problem with that?" sorts of watches. After wearing it for a few weeks, I think of it as the go-to watch for the outdoors, especially if things are going to be tough: river rafting, long hiking trips, extreme sports and the like. It's probably the most capable and versatile watch I've yet seen. About the only thing it doesn't have is GPS.

Features of the Casio Pathfinder PAW1500T-7V include:

In January, we told you about the Nike Amp+ iPod watch which doubles as a remote control for your iPod Nano. Recently, Nike introduced the Nike+ SportBand which seems to be a variation on the theme with a slightly different focus.

The SportBand answers the question "What if I don't want to run with music?" This isn't as theoretical as you might think since many races ban music players. With the Nike+ SportBand, you can see all the same information that the Nike Amp+ iPod displayed on the screen of your Nano (pace, distance, calories burned, etc.), but on an LCD integrated into the SportBand itself rather than on the screen of your iPod.

Like the Nike Amp+, you can still upload your running data when you get home, so it's just as well integrated into the whole Nike/Apple ecosystem. All you do is pop the Nike+ Link out of the SportBand, and plug it directly into your computer's USB port.

Nike has also introduced a web-based coaching system called Nike+ Coach with professionally crafted programs for a range of fitness goals. Everything from "Walk to run" to "Marathon" is laid out with motivational tools, progress tracking, peer challenges, and more. This might sound trivial, but I'm here to tell you that workout buddies — even virtual ones — are a major factor in keeping up an exercise program. Of course, you probably have to have the hardware to make much use of the virtual coach, but the cost of entry is really pretty minimal. The Nike+ SportBand sells for a very reasonable $59.

By Paul Hubbard