The three watches I wear the most
One analog, one digital and one ana-digi.
It will come as no surprise to regular readers of my site that the three watches I wear most are all Casio brand, and I wear them for very specific reasons.
Over the years I've bought a bunch of Casios, but my tastes have changed. I used to get along just fine with an F-91W or A158, but as of now, the three I wear most are as follows.
Casio W735H. I wear the W735HB-1A variant with the fabric strap. Bought one and liked it so much that I immediately bought another because there was only one eBay seller in the entire US who had them. He had 5 and I bought 2.
The W735H is big and chunky, but very comfortable and has a ridiculously good "Super Illuminator" night light.
Casio MTP4500D, another one that I acquired this year. There's no problem finding one of these as they are plentiful at the time I write this. It's my favorite type of quartz analog because it's time-only with small seconds. The fact it has a slide rule bezel and chronograph (which does work nicely) is a bonus. The hour indexes are raised and play with light nicely.
This watch looks way more expensive than it actually is, that's the best part. The worst part is the bracelet, and I will probably swap it out with something else in the future. I'm also still amazed that you absolutely cannot hear this thing tick, even when running the stopwatch. Ultra-silent ticker. Very nice.
Casio AQ230. I have two of these. One is silver with black dial, and the other a gold (obviously not real gold) AQ230GA variant. This little ana-digi is one of the very few watches I've ever been complimented on while wearing it in public. Simple, elegant, small, thin, fits under cuffs very easily. The black dial is the one I prefer over the gold, and it's actually very readable because the dial is uncluttered.
The AQ230 is the smallest watch I own. It's a 30mm dial (29.8mm to be accurate,) but since it basically wears like a wide men's bracelet, it works.
W735H gets the most wrist time
I'm a digital guy first when it comes to watches, but that's not the only reason the W735H is on my wrist the most.
The total weight of the watch is 47g, which is insanely light given its size.
The night light is the best I've ever had.
I do use the countdown timer, and use it often.
I really like seeing time + month + date + weekday all on one screen, all at once.
Side buttons are huge and easy to press.
Crystal is recessed and prevents it from getting scratched accidentally.
Black case = dings and scratches are barely visible.
Velcro strap fastener allows me to adjust size to an almost surgical level, and also switch size any time I want (great for hotter days.)
Vibration alarm allows me to be notified of countdown timer finish, hourly signal and/or alarm without the watch beeping at all. And yes, when the vibration alert is on, the watch is totally silent.
I have seen a photo of the W735H on a NATO strap, so yes, it's doable. If for whatever reason I wasn't able to get the W735H's I did, I would get the 1AV version, ditch the strap, throw on a NATO or a hook and loop (Velcro) strap and that would work for me.
Dumb guitar on the moment: The light-up acrylic SG
You're going love how much this one weighs...
Okay, first and foremost, this is not a Gibson. Obviously. I don't think they would ever dare build something like this, especially considering the low price it sells for.
Yes, this is one of the guitar types I said you should never buy.
So why am I bothering to talk about it? This is the first time I've ever seen a light-up acrylic SG guitar shape that you can buy right now.
As dopey as this thing is, it's ever-so slightly less dopey than a light-up acrylic Strat shape guitar. The SG shape does work a little better. Why? The SG has more of a "planky" shape and pointed horns, which does make the lights reflect more. I mean, if you're going to get a guitar that lights up, you might as well get the most reflective thing you can, right?
This is, however, assuming you can actually play this thing standing for longer than 15 minutes due to how much this weighs.
In most listings, the weight is stated. 5.6kg. That's over 12 pounds. Yikes. No, that's not total shipping weight. That's what the guitar alone weighs.
It is required to have a very well-padded strap with thick ends just to play this thing standing.
To put that in perspective, this guitar weighs as much as a double-neck SG.
Who would actually want this guitar?
This guitar is for only one type of guitar player. The SG fan. The guy who will play nothing but SGs because he loves them so much. The guy who thought, until now, that he owned every single type of SG that's ever existed. Well, he hasn't, because there's this one.
No, it's not made by Gibson. But it is, arguably, the best wall decoration for "the music room" in the SG fan's house. That's the reason to buy this thing. It's not for play because the thing is just too heavy. But it makes for fantastic functional decoration.
You really can't beat the value of a Glarry guitar
Glarry, for the moment, truly is offering the most for the least.
If you had told me 20 years ago that in the future, you'll be able to get a semi-hollow Telecaster style guitar for under $150 new, I would have called you insane. And yet, it exists.
I don't get impressed by expensive guitars and haven't for a long time. I have attended a NAMM show where I saw all the newest, latest and greatest guitar stuff there is. I've also seen the best of the best where vintage electrics are concerned. None of that highfalutin stuff impresses me anymore.
What I do get impressed by is how much you get for the money with a guitar. I, like most people, want the most for the least.
With the Glarry GTL, I did get just that because Glarry sent me the guitar for free. However, bear in mind I have paid for a Glarry before. Remember that Glarry bass I bought? I paid for that in full and still have it. But even if I had bought the GTL, it is worth its asking price.
Here's a few things to know that a lot of people don't realize:
Go price out a new semi-hollow Telecaster guitar body. Just the body. The lowest possible price you will find for one new is $80. And bear in mind that's before tax and shipping. Also bear in mind that's just the body with no hardware and no neck. With tax and shipping it's about $95.
Now look at the Glarry GTL Semi-Hollow, which is a complete guitar and look for what it sells for.
Now add in all the stuff you'd have to buy for your semi-hollow body just to get a complete guitar. Purposely go as rock bottom cheap as you can. You won't get anywhere near the low price the Glarry sells for...
...and that's when you realize what a deal the Glarry really is. The price is so low that you can't even beat it even if you parted together a guitar with nothing but used parts.
Remember: SEMI-HOLLOW
If you were putting together a solid body Telecaster guitar, then sure, you could probably get close to (but not beat) the low Glarry price.
But semi-hollow? No way. Glarry, for the moment, has the cheapest complete semi-hollow Telecaster style guitar.
Have you priced out a Squier Telecaster Thinline lately? It's almost $500.
And Fender? Over $1,000. You want American? That will cost you $2,200+.
In the end, if you have to fix anything on the Glarry, such as what I noted in the video like some high frets or the nut, that's acceptable given how rock bottom cheap the selling price is.
As long as you're not afraid to file a few frets and perform basic guitar maintenance, you absolutely do get the most for the money with a Glarry.
Ovation acoustic clone for ridiculously cheap price
It genuinely surprises me this thing is actually for sale.
I recently saw an Ovation Celebrity clone acoustic guitar for sale. It was unbranded and literally selling for under $100 new.
Yeah, that surprised me too, so I looked into it.
First and foremost: Not electrified. If it were an actual Ovation, it would have been.
Supposedly, it had a spruce top, but as to whether the guitar actually projected or not, that I don't know. I'm guessing not.
It was full size at 41" long, but at the same time ridiculously thin (for an acoustic), as a true Ovation would be.
What surprised me most was the headstock shape. It was really close to the distinctive shape Ovation uses. Too close? Yes, and that's what surprises me more than anything else.
I seriously doubt that Ovation clone guitar was actually any good (you would honestly be better off with a Yamaha FD01S for just slightly more), but when I saw the clone I just had to write about it just for the fact that yes, it exists.
Given an Ovation Celebrity is so cheap to buy (with some at near bargain basement prices), there's really no reason to get a clone.
Is a slide rule bezel on an aviation watch worthless?
Mostly, but there are some uses for it.
I did not buy the aviation style watch I did for the slide rule bezel function. But I decided anyway to try and use it anyway.
The main problem is the size of the inner ring numbers. Tiny-sized. Can I read them? Actually, yes I can. But in all honesty, if I really wanted to use the slide rule bezel regularly, getting something bigger would definitely be better.
I did try to see if there were any decent real world uses of a slide rule bezel on a watch. I found two.
Real world use of a slide rule bezel
These are a few examples of a slide rule bezel usage that are actually useful for some.
Restaurant tip
Rotate the bezel so the amount of the total bill on the outer ring is over the inner ring 10.
Look at the inner ring and find positions 11.5 and 12. 11.5 represents 15% and 12 represents 20%. Reading the outer ring number at those positions will tell you the bill + tip.
Example: You have a $45 restaurant bill. Rotate outer ring 45 over inner ring 10. Look at inner ring 11.5 and read the outer ring number at that position. You'll see it's hovering between 51 and 52. This is correct because the actual bill + tip is $51.75. Now look at the inner ring 12 for a 20% example and read the outer ring there. It's at 54. The is correct because 45 + 20% = 54.
More often than not, you will have to estimate the total.
Average gas mileage
You need to know how many miles have been driven since your last fill-up for this one. The next time you fill the tank, reset the trip odometer in your car.
At your next fill-up, read the trip odometer in your car. We'll say it's at 325 miles since last fill-up.
Fill the tank. We'll say you put in 9.5 gallons.
Now we need to divide 325 by 9.5.
My watch doesn't have a 325 on the bezel, so instead I will use 32.5 (roughly).
I line up 32.5 on the outer ring with 9.5 on the inner ring.
I then look at the 10 position on the inner ring. It's at about 34.
This is correct because 325 divided by 9.5 is 34.21.
Useful?
For me personally, not terribly. I bought my watch more for appearance than bezel function.
It is cool that I can actually perform real math functions on it, but will I actually do that? Probably not. But it's still cool it's there.