Another sleeper watch: Casio AW-82

Found another ana-digi, and wow is this one good. Next to the Casio G-SHOCK DW5600E, this just might be the ultimate bang-for-your-buck tool watch.

Every now and then I check out watches online. Casio is one of my favorite brands, and while I was looking at different models, I came across the Casio AW-82.

How I came across it is interesting because I wasn't looking for it. Rather, it appeared as one of those "since you just viewed X watch, you might be interested in Y watch" things on Amazon.

As it turns out, the AV-82 is European market only and has absolutely no presence in the US at all. You won't find this one in any store in America, and it's not even listed on the Casio web site (but is on the Casio UK web site).

The AV-82 comes in six flavors. All of them have a silver plastic case. What changes are the colors and strap it comes with.

• Casio AW-82-1AVES
• Casio AW-82-7AVES
• Casio AW-82-2AV
• Casio AW-82B-1AVES
• Casio AW-82D-1AVES
• Casio AW-82D-7AVES

The toughest one to find is the AW-82B (the red one). There's usually no listings for it, and when you do, the price will be high. The AW-82B has some definite uniqueness to it as it's the only one of the lot to have its own unique color and a canvas strap with "FISHING GEAR" imprinted on it.

Which model would I go for personally? Not the red one. True, it's a collectible, but it doesn't look as good as the one I would get, the AW-82D-1AVES (black dial with metal bracelet). It's readily available, priced nice for what it is, and it could very well be the ultimate tool watch.

What makes the AW-82 (any model) possibly the ultimate tool watch?

On the surface, the AW-82 look like a plain analog-digital watch. But once you dig in, you find it's loaded with goodies.

10-year battery. Nice to have.

LED night light. Illuminates the analog face. Has configurable afterglow of 1.5 seconds or 3.

Has lume on the hands that actually works. Very cool.

Auto calendar. Programmed up to year 2099. This means it knows all the leap years so the calendar is never wrong.

Moon phase indicator. This is shown via the little blue circle at the right side of the digital display.

Fishing timer. This is where things get interesting. This is, technically, a Casio "Outgear" model. At the left of the digital display are little images of fish.

Does this feature actually work? In fact, yes it does, if you set up the watch correctly.

If you input the correct longitude and latitude data for where you live, the fishing timer is said to be pretty darned accurate from what reviews I've read by owners of this timepiece. And even if you don't fish, who cares? It's just a cool feature.

While true the manual does have presets for cities around the world, for best accuracy, you enter in the coordinates yourself manually for where you live. To find that info, you just go to any mapping web site that displays coordinate data on the map and get it from there.

For example, in the manual, the closest preset I could choose is Miami. But I don't live in Miami. I live in Tampa Bay where the coordinates are obviously different. Miami has a latitude/longitude of 25.7N 80.1W. Tampa has a latitude/longitude of 27.9N 82.4W. Since the Casio AW-82 doesn't do coordinate decimals, I would just round it to 28N 82W. That data allows the watch to calculate the appropriate time to fish. As for how it does those calculations, I've no idea. But it's supposed to work pretty great.

There are 4 fish total on the digital display. Supposedly, if all 4 fish are showing and all are filled-in (meaning not outlined,) that is the ideal time to fish.

I really have no idea how well or not well the fishing timer works other than the reviews I've read on it. But again, those who actually understand how to program the lat/long coordinates correctly do say it really works.

Dual time. The analog clock can display the home time and the digital display can display a different time or vice versa. Or you can have both display the same time. Your choice.

Stopwatch. Nothing you haven't seen before.

Timer with auto-repeat. A timer is nice to have. A timer with auto-repeat is even better. I use one personally for my workouts.

3 multi-alarms with snooze feature. Each alarm can be configured in 1 of 4 different ways. Daily alarm, date alarm (sounds at specific date of the year, such as someone's birthday,) monthly alarm or an alarm that sounds on every day of a particular month.

Button tones on/off toggle. I own a couple of Casio digitals that do this. Nice to have if you don't want to hear beeps when going through menus.

Safety catch (metal bracelet only). This is the style of metal bracelet where you press two sides to release it, and serves two purposes. First, to prevent the clasp from wearing out too quickly and second, to prevent it from accidentally being knocked open.

AW-82 vs. AE1200 and final thoughts

I own a Casio AE1200 which I thought had all the possible goodies you could get in a Casio timepiece for under 50 bucks.

The AW-82, while more expensive, puts up a very good argument against the AE1200. Both timepieces are absolutely chock full of features, both have 10-year batteries, both have several different models and colors to choose from.

I think in the end it all comes down to style. The AW-82 has a more upscale look while the AE1200 has a more military look to it.

I will say that when it comes to price, you simply can't beat an AE1200. On the link for that model above you'll see an offering that at the time I write this sells for just 15 bucks. That is so cheap considering how just plain good the AE1200 is.

However, the AW-82 has better styling to it, and more traditional measurements. 46.8mm lug-to-lug, 40mm case size, 13.5mm thick.

If you know watches, you know 13.5mm is a bit chunky. However, the crystal of the AW-82 is domed, and the CR2025 battery it uses is bigger which allows the watch to run for 10 years before the charge wears down.

Is there any ana-digi that has as many features as the AW-82?

Answer: No. You can't do any better for for the price. Your only cheaper choices with similar feature sets are all-digital models, also from Casio. Namely, the AE1200 mentioned above and the AE1000 (also just 15 bucks).

On a final note, I did mention the DW5600E at top, a G-SHOCK model. I consider that the ultimate tool watch simply for the fact the case is ridiculously over-engineered and will withstand any punishment you throw at it. There is no other watch where I could say, "Yeah, take it in the ocean and swim with it. No problem." If you want the ultimate bang-for-buck, the DW5600 is it. Or, if you want something with the same style and ruggedness with atomic timekeeping, that's the GWM5610 model. Twice the price, but has a lot more features (solar powered, time zones, auto-EL, auto-timekeeping, etc.) Not the most stylish thing, but totally rugged and a great tool watch.

permalink

Guitar of the week #69 - Epiphone "1955" Les Paul Custom

I definitely see a future collectible here, while at the same time being a great player's guitar.

Those who know my opinions on guitars know I don't like gold hardware simply for the reason that the gold rubs off with regular play of the instrument...

...but I make an exception because the Epiphone "1955" Les Paul Custom just looks so damned good.

These are the things that make this guitar awesome:

• Split diamond inlay on the headstock. These are only on Les Paul Custom guitars, so it is totally appropriate for this one. The truss rod cover even states it's a Custom model.
• Block inlays. Not trapezoid, but still look great. I believe it is abalone or at least an abalone look.
• P90 pickups. Single-coil Les Paul goodness at its finest.
• Gold screws and gold pole pieces on the P90 pickups. Epiphone didn't have to do this but did anyway. Nice touch.
• Gold text on "poker chip" pickup selector plastic with gold color metal for switch housing and correct orange color switch tip. Again, Epiphone didn't have to do this but did anyway.
• Bound body, front and back.
• Bound neck.
• Bound headstock.
• Triple-ply black-white-black pick guard with gold screws and gold body mount.
• Gold-color tuner metal.
• Gold screws for both cavity covers on the rear.
• Gold-color strap buttons.
• Gold-color screws for the truss rod cover.
• EVEN THE FRICKIN' OUTPUT JACK IS GOLD.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a totally "fully loaded gold" Les Paul Custom. All the bases have been covered with this one and Epiphone did not skimp on anything.

I really mean it when I say this is one seriously good looker of a Les Paul.

Future collectible? Absolutely.

Good players guitar? Also a yes, but there are three things to note here.

First is something I already mentioned. The gold will rub off with regular play. Specifically, it will rub off in the upper area of the bridge and the stop tailpiece where the player's wrist rests when playing.

And no, there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop the rub-off other than not play it. But that's no fun.

There is however a nice part to the gold rubbing off from playing this guitar. It is genuine player wear and it does look cool when it happens.

Second are the tuners. These are the old-style gears with the "tulip" buttons on top, and it is totally period correct for a '55 inspired style. The downside to this is that the gears are nowhere near as good as a set of metal Grover Rotomatics. It can arguably be said that the absolute best set of tuners you could put on a Les Paul is a set of Grovers.

HOWEVER... there are Grovers in gold that would totally work on the '55 Epi Les Paul Custom. Yes, they exist. You'll even see from that link that there's even a tulip-shaped button version.

The third thing to note is that this Paul has a flatter-than-usual 14" fingerboard radius. The normal radius is a rounder 12". Although I can't confirm this for certain, I don't believe there is any drastic difference on this particular Paul for having a 14" fingerboard radius instead of a 12" due to the fact it uses medium jumbo and not jumbo frets. The neck shape is reported to be a C and not a D. That paired with with 14" radius should make for a very comfortable playing neck.

In the end, the "1955" Epi Les Paul Custom is a damned fine guitar. I rate it as an instant collectible and also a genuinely good player's instrument.

On a final note, this is one of the rarer instances where an import Epi Les Paul is actually worth its price tag. All the binding is there, all the gold is there, all the things that make it a true Les Paul Custom model are there and accounted for. The guitar is missing nothing.

permalink

1990s grunge songs I hated the most

In 1990 I was in my mid-teens and in 1999 I was in my mid-twenties, so it's safe to say I was right within the target market for grunge back in the day.

In all honesty, most grunge music just sucked. While true it was definitely better than the glam rock that preceded it, it still had a boatload of suck.

These are the grunge hits from the '90s that I hated the most.

Silverchair - Tomorrow

I remember the first time I saw this band on MTV. I hated them. They sucked. To me, it was painfully obvious they were only on MTV because they "sounded grunge". Absolutely terrible.

Pearl Jam - Animal

There are a few songs I like from Pearl Jam, but this is one of their worst. This song literally sounds like an unfinished demo that was slapped together with hardly any thought at all. The only reason this got any airplay back in the day was because Pearl Jam was still hot at the time. Crap song.

Mad Season - River of Deceit

This is a slow, droning song with boring guitar tones and is a total yawn-fest from beginning to end.

Bush - Machine Head

This was one of the last grunge acts that was still out there before the whole scene died. Very bland, generic sound with a vocalist that sounds whiny as hell.

Alice in Chains - I Stay Away

This band, like Pearl Jam, has a few good songs, but this is not one of them. Very overprocessed sound and way too much vocal layering, making the whole song just sound annoying.

Hole - Violet

The only reason this act ever got anywhere is because the lead "singer" of this band was dating Kurt Cobain. This particular number features the lead "singer" belting out notes out-of-tune and sounding like she was in a drunken stupor while recording (which is probably true).

L7 - Pretend We're Dead

Anyone playing guitar for 3 weeks could have written this. Dumb song, dumb lyrics, off-key vocals. This song is a total pile of crap.

Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike

Literally combine Pearl Jam + Soundgarden together. Great idea, right? Wrong. Bad idea. The vocals in this song clash in a real bad way and it never should have happened.

A small collection of '90s grunge songs that didn't suck

Aside from the more popular titles, here are a few that are actually pretty damned good.

Meat Puppets - Backwater

Technically not grunge but called grunge anyway because it was a rock song released that wasn't glam in the '90s. It's just a good rock song.

Veruca Salt - Seether

L7 sucked. Hole sucked. Veruca Salt did not. This was one of the few '90s grunge bands with girls in front that did it right.

Stone Temple Pilots - Vasoline

This song really captures the STP groove. I have absolutely no idea what the song is about, nor do I care. The guitars are perfect, the bass is loud and gritty, the drums are organic and beautiful, the vocals are mixed perfectly.

This song is just so damned good.

Oh, and another thing. I don't know who directed STP's videos back in the day, but the whole "throw random crap in a video and make it stylistically cool" was something few got right. Vasoline is done right. It's visually different and cool without being disturbing. It rides really close to being disturbing but doesn't cross the line. The director just did an awesome job there.

Was this STP's top song? Not by a long shot. But it's one of my favorites.

permalink

Guitar of the week #68 - Oscar Schmidt OS-300

A cheap Strat clone at a good price. A very good price.

The Oscar Schmidt OS-300 comes in a bunch of different finish options, and is the same price as the Squier Bullet Strat.

The guitar comes in natural finish, black, transparent blue, sunburst, seafoam green, or a purple burst.

Functionally, the OS-300 and Bullet Strat are basically identical and probably sound pretty much exactly the same.

If you're looking for a dirt cheap Strat clone to mod, the OS-300 is actually the better choice because it has a maple body. Or at least that's what the Amazon description for the guitar states.

I know for a fact that Squier Bullet Strat guitars have basswood bodies. Nice enough wood, but it dents very easily and it's also really easy to strip a screw hole when dealing with basswood.

Maple on the other hand, even if it's a soft maple (I'm not sure which on the OS-300,) can handle mods much better. If you need to drill an extra hole or cut out some area under the pick guard for whatever reason, you'll have an easier time dealing with the maple body compared to basswood.

It should also be easier to refinish the guitar, should you decide to change the body color.

In short, if you want a decent first Strat or something that will take to mods fairly easily, grab an OS-300.

permalink

Should bands even bother with physical media anymore?

Does anyone care if a band releases physical media anymore?

Maybe.

Let's talk about the compact disc for a moment.

Ever since the CD was introduced in the 1980s, audiophiles have always, repeat, always hated the format. And I know exactly why they hate it. It's because digital audio is "squashed," and the fidelity is vastly inferior compared to other media formats.

Today, the music CD is for all intents and purposes a totally dead format. Nobody plays CDs in cars anymore, instead opting just to play music directly from a smartphone or small portable player. Who would want to deal with discs when you can stuff so much more music on something so much smaller where the audio quality sounds the same if not better when using a file data format like FLAC?

Every audiophile knows, or at least should know, that nothing sounds as good as a freshly pressed vinyl record, provided you play it on a quality turntable. That is the gold standard of recorded audio, so to speak. Nothing before or since has been able to reproduce the how good fresh vinyl sounds.

I won't get into why vinyl sounds so good because I could write a tome on it, but in short, it is the audio that sounds best to humans.

Now aside from all that, from a band or artist's perspective, there are 3 things you need to know about vinyl:

1. Vinyl is the only physical audio media format worth paying for.
2. Audiophiles purposely seek out vinyl because it's just that damned good.
3. Vinyl is the only truly collectible audio format.

Some bands make compact cassettes, because there is a company out there who still makes them. All well and good, but... no. Bad choice.

You can obviously still make CDs. All you need is a computer with a CD burner for that.

But then there's vinyl.

On Amazon, vinyl shows up more than you might think.

So what's so damned cool about vinyl?

Well, I mentioned the collectible reason above, but there's something else.

The artwork.

There are vinyl collectors who don't even own record players. They buy vinyl records just because they look cool.

Out of every audio media format that's ever existed, a record album cover is, as far as I'm aware, the largest amount of space where a band can put dedicated artwork on it.

For example, on the Alice Cooper School's Out vinyl record, that actually looks like a real school desk and even opens up like a school desk.

If you're an artist or a band looking for something cool to sell, consider vinyl

There are certain things artists and bands can sell that are cool. T-shirts is one of them. Can't go wrong with that. There's also other little novelty items like mugs and little stuffed bears you could sell too.

But the vinyl... now that's a collectible right there, even if it's just a single and not a full album.

If you search Google for "create your own vinyl record", there are companies out there who will manufacture your record right now. And that's cool.

To answer the title question of this article, yes, bands should bother with physical media...

...but only if it's vinyl. To hell with the CD. I'm glad that media is dying. Optical discs are good for movies and data, but audio? Nah, that time has very much passed.

On a final note, I was never into vinyl, said honestly. But I totally respect the format, and just from a collectible point of view, the vinyl is just so damned cool. I am one of those people that would buy it just for the artwork.

permalink