why i stopped buying casio watches (for now)

On my wrist as I write this is my trusty Casio WS1600H. I wear it because it has almost every feature I want out of watch. The one thing it's missing is multiple alarms. But it has the countdown timer with auto-repeat (I use that often), great legibility, and is light in weight.

But if I want all the stuff, choices are darned few.

What I want is high legibility, multiple alarms, a display that shows time, month, date and day using three letters (such as THU for Thursday instead of just TH), a decent night light, a countdown timer with auto-repeat, and in a size that fits my smaller wrist.

I own a few Casios that almost get it right. Two of them are the F201WA and MWD100H. Both of these have an identical feature set even though they look very different. Feature-wise, everything is there. Five alarms, countdown timer with auto-repeat, time + month + date + day with 3 letters on display, but...

...the F201WA is a bit dim and the MWD100H doesn't fit my wrist that well. So close. So close.

Previously, I owned a WS1000H and WS1400H. These also share identical features. The WS1000H in particular is outstandingly good for legibility, and both models have all the features I want. So what's the problem? Front-facing buttons. I could not get used to that.

What's left that's available right now?

Two models, the WS1300H and WS1700H. And you guessed it, these both share the same feature set. I might be picking up one of these or both. The WS1300 looks to be the one that has a more legible display.

No front-facing buttons on either model, which is good. But there may be fitment issues. Both have lug-to-lug measurements of over 50mm. But based on my experience, that sometimes doesn't matter because the AE1500 - which is huge at a whopping 54.4mm lug-to-lug - does fit my smaller wrist. The only reason I'm not wearing one is because while it does have a countdown timer, it doesn't have auto-repeat, and I need that.

The WS1300 is a round case and the WS1700 is square, with the WS1700 being the larger of the two cases. In my experience, square digital Casios fit my wrist better. But the WS1700 has a really busy display going on.

Neither shows the day as 3 letters and goes with 2 instead, but I like the WS1300 display better because it's not as cluttered.

This is all the stuff I have to consider these days before even thinking about buying another Casio. It's why I wear the WS1600H now. That watch does not have have multiple alarms on it, but just about everything else checks out.

At this point, I've had enough experience from buying so many Casio digitals over the years that yeah, I get picky. I examine everything, read all the specs, watch YouTube videos on the watch if any exist, and so on. And I also make darned certain I can return the watch if it doesn't work out (which I have had to do several times).

Maybe there will be a WS1300 or WS1700 in my future, because at present, those are the only two I'm considering. I've gone through the entire Casio catalog, and if I make the buy, it will be one or the other. Or maybe both.

And if I do get either or both, I'll be sure to write about it here.

Published 2024 Oct 3