CasioGW9400-3CR Rangeman G-Shock Olive Solar Atomic

I’ve worn this GW9400 Rangeman for 4 Solid Months, felt it was appropriate to offer an honest review. My background wearing wrist watches in the modern era would have to start in the year 2013 when I purchased an Omega Man on the Moon. I can’t remember the exact model but it did not have the self winding feature. IOW you had to wind it daily. I purchased it new and at the time it was the closest new model as to what the astronauts wore at the time of the first moon landing. I wore it close to a year and decided what I really wanted to wear was a dive watch but not just any dive watch, I bought a new six digit Rolex Submariner, from a trusted seller saving $1100 off the $7500 MSRP price in 2014. If you’ve owned and wore one then you know what a beautiful time piece it isThe Submariner purchase led the way to buying and wearing Seiko diver watches and to date I now own approximately a dozen Seiko diver watches. During this accumulation period I sold the Rolex as I found it was spending too much time in a drawer. I also found that when I wore the Sub, it attracted unwanted attention and I preferred how any and all of my Seiko divers flew under the proverbial radar, even the Mac Daddy of them all, the Spring Drive TunaSo after 5 years of wearing Seiko divers Imy attention strayed and I started looking at G-Shocks. I settled on this Rangeman mainly due to the Atomic timing feature but I liked the appearance of this particular model with the dark dial over the other easier to read alternative. I was also attracted to the olive drab case and band color vs. the other models black case and bandOn the subject of dial view ability, the detractors that have worn this model then sold it only to buy and wear black case and band with the easier to see dial, in a way, I’d have to agree with them that the dark dial is harder to read at times but with the push of the dial light illumination feature, the dial is now more easily read. It does take a certain level of commitment to wear this watch but IMO, the trade offs owning the dark dial is very much worthwhile. Anyways, I’m all in with this watch and although I’ve only been wearing it for 4 months, I have to say I rather enjoy everything about it, and trust me, this is coming from someone whose majority of diver watches are automatics and not quartz. I have purchased a few quartz dive watches, one of which is a solar powered Citizen and to be quite honest, I’m not particularly fond of quartz watches, until I purchased this G-Shock. Now, the quartz vs. antomatic dicotomy doesn’t matter to me. In fact, my favorite feature of this watch is it’s ability to sync with the Atomic clock in ColoradoOn that note, I find more often than not, most nights this watch will automatically sync with the Atomic clock yet there are times it won’t. That said to sync manually is easy to do and I need to state the fact tgatbI spend a lot of time awake after midnight and well into the morning. It’s just the schedule I keep so I’m up during the time the Atomic sync takes place and it’s enjoyable to watch this action take place. The fastest I’ve seen this watch sync is two minutes. Other times it’s a lengthier processThis watch has a timing feature. I’ve used it but I have other means to carry out timing when needed so it’s not a feature of this watch that is used often, and I only mention it as it is there if you want itAdmittedly, all of the other features this watch offers, I don’t use, like it’s ability to record temperature. If I want to know the ambient temperature and am not near an actual thermometer then I look to my phone’s weather app, which is quite accurateAnother feature this watch has thatbI don’t use it the altimeter. I spend most of my time in Florida where I live (north central). We are mostly at or near sea level. I have no need nit desire to know how many feet above sea level I am, yet this watch has that ability to inform you if you wantWearability. This is an easy watch to wear IMO. The band is quite comfortable. At this time I find no need to swap the stock band for something different yet if you want to there options to change to a NATO or ZULU fabric bandAs you are likely to know, this watch is waterproof and has a depth rating of several hundred feet. Nice to know if I wanted to snorkel or free dive, this watch is more than capableG-Shock watches are known for their ruggedness. I’ve banged mine into a wall once or twice with no ill consequence but I am not one to abuse my watch nor subject it to rough wear. I live and work on a farm so for day to daily tasks, it’s quite up to those challenges though built to far exceed themTo wrap this review up and in closing I want to say, I’m impressed with what this watch can and will do. What it does for me is to easily tell time at a glance and that is what I wear a watch for, it’s ability to let me know what time it is yet as mentioned, will do more and look good doing it

I agonized over which model G-Shock to get. I was replacing a Citizen Promaster Dive watch that I love, but that chews up batteries. Long story short, I decided that is going on ebay, and I am getting a G-Shock.I had one G-Shock solar back in 2010-12 that I had a lot of problems with (holding charge) but I think I did something to cause that, and given the reviews, I knew this would be a watch I could trust. The issue was, there are about 50 models of this thing between standard and limited edition models, and it is hard to know which is which and why what seems to be the same exact thing is $200 more from another seller. I can tell you: These watches have become collectable, and some of the limited edition and Japan only models fetch a lot of money here in the USA. If you are not going to collect it or are not locked into one of the special colors, you can get the one you want much cheaper sticking with the regular USA only release.I'm mostly an avid cyclist and camper, so I wanted features that would be beneficial to me, and I tend to shoot and hunt a lot, so naturally I wound up settling on the Rangeman Master of G series. The only question became, black with positive display or green with negative. I read scores of reviews, watched every video. I was concerned with the reviews that slammed the readibility of the watch, but then I read a few where the reviewer said he could not be happier that he went with the negative display. So that sold me.The price I paid, to me, was very fair. This watch is worth all of the $200 you will pay for it in my estimation.Pros:- Very, very comfortable to wear. Unlike my last watch that always rattled around on my wrist, this one stays put and I forget I have it on. This to me is one of my favorite things about the watch, I forget I am wearing it so I am never thinking "my watch is bugging me, I need to take it off for a bit."- Cool looking. Yeah, I know, but that is one of the things people look for when they are watch shopping. Does it make them happy to look at?- Functionality: Excellent so far. I have not gotten deep into the calibrating of the altimeter or anything like that, but the buttons are easy to push, the automatic time reception is so strong that most nights it picks it up while I am asleep with it on my wrist, and I am nowhere near a window.- Negative Display: Yes, at times it can be hard to read, and I might need to tilt my arm a little more than with a normal watch to get the right angle, but in the daytime, I find it very readable, and at night, I have gotten used to the arm movement you need to use to turn on the light automatically, so no problem there, either.- Band: Love the dual fasteners, the metal band retainer looks good and works great, no sliding around for me and no annoying scratching as I type that makes me want to take off my watch like my previous one. I took that one off all the time at work, the GS? Never.- Color: The green is just about right. whoever said it looks like a WWII tank nailed it. But in no way do I feel like it screams "I am a mall ninja" or "I am a seal team 6 wanna-be!" I don't feel like a poser wearing military gear.Cons:- I wish I could make the light stay on longer, it would make it easier when cycling functions or trying to read the seconds display at nightIn summary, I am VERY glad I got the one with the negative display, and this is from a guy who needs (but does not own) glasses. I think the negative display is really neat. I think there is a Japan only one that is black with the negative display if the green does not do it for you.

What is arguably the best looking rangeman, is hard to read without pushing the light button.