Review of the Casio GW-300 G-Shock Tough Solar Waveceptor

The Casio GW-300 is solid, practical watch for people who are more interested in ruggedness and durability than elegance. It’s not the last watch you’ll ever buy, or the only watch you’ll ever need, but if you’re looking for a tough, affordable digital watch, the GW-300 is a good candidate.

Casio GW-300 G-Shock

Features of the GW-300 G-Shock include:

• Solar powered (“Tough Solar,” as Casio calls it). The GW-300 has a rechargeable battery and two discreet solar cells at the top and bottom of the face which are used to replenish the battery. That means unless you’re a hermit and live in a cave, you’re watch will never be without power.
• Atomic timekeeping (“Waveceptor,” as Casio calls it). The GW-300 is equipped with an internal antenna which receives time calibration signals transmitted by an atomic clock on Fort Collins, Colorado. That means assuming you live in an area where the radio signal is detectable (most of North America), you never have to set your watch, and it will always be extremely accurate.
• World time. Easily check the time in 30 different cities around the world (29 time zones).
• Time recorder. Store up to 30 different “snapshots” of the time including month, day, hour, minutes, seconds and the daylight savings mode by pressing a button. Interesting feature. Use it to record the exact time an event occurs. Seems useful for people like firefighters, police, etc.
• Five Alarms. Four standard daily alarms, and one “snooze” alarm which keeps going off every five minutes until you actually go into alarm mode and disable it (as opposed to just pressing a button and turning it off). I really like this feature. I’ve used it keep reminding me it’s time to go to bed.
• Hourly time signal.
• Stopwatch. Display range of 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59.99 seconds. Measures elapsed time, split times, and two finish times.
• Electro-luminescent backlight. Nice and bright, greenish blueish in color.
• Auto light. If you often need to see the time in the dark, but might not have both hands free (maybe you carry around your baby for hours in the dark trying to get her to fall asleep), turn on the auto light feature, and all you have to do is tilt the watch toward you more than 40 degrees, and the backlight will automatically illuminate. Sometimes takes a few tries, but it usually works pretty well.
• Power saving setting. When power saving is enabled, the watch will enter one of two power saving modes when left in the dark for certain periods of time. Between 60 and 70 minutes of being in the dark, the watch goes into a “light sleep” (all functions except the display are still operational), and after six or seven days, a deeper sleep (in addition to the screen, the beeper tone, backlight, and time calibration function are also disabled).
• Shock resistant. It’s a G-Shock, after all.
• Water resistant to 20 bar. That’s 20 ATM, 200 meters, or 660 feet. In other words, deep.
• Atomic time signal strength indicator.
• Battery life indicator.

I don’t want to get into the specifics of charging times in this review (they are documented very thoroughly in the manuel), but I will say that the solar-powered feature works very well, and as I said before, unless you live in a cave, it’s not something you’ll have to worry about. In other words, wearing the GW-300 does not mean having to start scheduling daily watch sunnings in order to keep it running. I have found that it keeps sufficiently charged just with day-to-day (or even occasional) use, as long as the power saving function is enabled.

The atomic timekeeping feature also works fairly well, though sometimes it can be difficult for the watch to pick up a strong enough signal for a long enough period of time that it can calibrate itself. It will attempt to calibrate four times a day (2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m, and 5 a.m.) since it assumes that you will be asleep and motionless during one of those four attempts. Actually, the manual recommends taking the watch off before you go bed and leaving it in a position where it can easily pick up the radio signal, however I have found that when I am upstairs in my house, the watch will calibrate even while on my wrist just about every night. If I sleep downstairs in the basement, the watch will successfully calibrate maybe 50% of the time. I’ve tested this (and several similar watches) in different parts of the country, and I’ve found that the immediate area you are in is much more important than where you are in the country. For instance, in big cities, I’ve found that it’s more difficult for the watch to pick up a signal than in more rural and suburban areas, presumably due to the tall buildings. I’ve also found that I get better signal at night (you can initiate calibration manually to test this). The bottom line is that the watch should be able to pick up a signal anywhere in North America, though depending on your exact location, your milage may vary.

The resin model of this watch is readily available in both navy blue (GW300A-2V) and black (GW300A-1V). In Asia, it’s available in several colors, so if you look around enough, you might be able to find a nice yellow or green one (though be sure it will work with the frequency the atomic clock in Fort Collins broadcasts as opposed to the atomic clock in Japan). Casio also offers a very similar metal model (MTG900DA-8V) for a little additional heft and price. You should be able to pick one of these up just about anywhere Casio watches are sold for anywhere between $60 and $99.

What I like about the GW-300:

• Solar powered. No need to worry about changing the battery, even after prolonged storage.
• Atomic timekeeping. I’m very into precision, and extremely good precision is what you get with daily atomic calibration.
• Nice big face and big numbers. The time is easy to read, even at a glance or while running.
• Shock and water resistant. No matter what you’re doing, you don’t have to worry about taking a G-Shock off your wrist. The recessed face does an excellent job of keeping the plastic crystal scratch-free.
• Price and availability. This watch is very affordable, and very easy to find. Most of Casio’s watches are very affordable, though not always easy to get your hands on in this country.
• Snooze alarm. An unusual feature, but nice and surprisingly useful.

What I don’t like about the GW-300:

• Button resistance. The buttons are intentionally recessed and difficult to push to keep the watch from accidently being operated during activity, but I think Casio has gone slightly overboard. I find the buttons too difficult to push, and even uncomfortable if I have to do a lot of button pushing at once.
• No countdown timer. The time recorder is an interesting feature, but I can only think of a few uses for it while I can think of hundreds of uses for a countdown timer. Aside from time, date, and alarm, I think countdown timers are the most useful features on common, everyday watches, even more useful than a stopwatch (unless you’re an athlete or track coach). Why the countdown timer was replaced with the time recorder, I have no idea. The good news is that newer, higher-end (meaning more expensive) atomic solar G-Shocks are starting to appear with decent, repeating countdown timers (watch for forthcoming reviews), but the GW-300 didn’t make the cut.

The GW-300 is a solid, affordable, and accessible addition to the G-Shock family. It’s not especially stylish or elegant, however for the number of features it packs, and at a very reasonable price, it’s definitely something to consider for people with active lifestyles.

By Christian Cantrell