CasioFT500WC Series | Men's Analog Watch | 100 Meter Water Resistance | LED Light | Date Display | Leather/Cloth Band | Regular Time Keeping (HR, Min, SEC, PM, Date, Day) | 3 Year Battery

For what most likely will be the cost of a decent sized family meal at your favorite fast food joint, you can get yourself a pretty good field watch.The Casio Forester is just a cool watch all around. Outside of its date complication and EL backlight, there really is nothing else. It’s a straight up, no-nonsense watch, that doesn’t need any fancy features or embellishments. 100m of WR should be enough to keep up with you day to day, it wears comfortably, and has a pretty quiet tick. Despite its dimensions saying it’s a touch under 44mm, it feels like it wears a bit smaller.My only gripe about this watch, is that the strap folds towards you, instead of away from you. Something totally permissible, but it still feels a bit weird.If you want or need a great watch for not a lot of money, the Casio Forester is not a bad watch at all.

This is my second one, not because the first one failed in anyway, but because I set it on a table and my dog decided to chew it. Even chewed it functions flawlessly but rather than a new band, this is so inexpensive I just got a whole new watch. It's a great casual watch for the weekend or heading to the great outdoors. Keeps perfect time and lightweight. Great watch for the price.

Excellent price for an accurate quartz watch that does everything a field watch should do (and more). The small LED at the 6 o'clock position is plenty bright to read the dial - no more wishing that cheap luminous hands and numerals kept their luminosity in the darkness. The 24-hour numerals are a bit small but, hey, if you can't add 12 to the current time, you probably ought not worry about military time anyway. The strap is velcro, so no fussing around with a cheap pin buckle. The date? Frankly, who needs that in a field watch anyway - but, if you want to know the date, there it is for you. The off-white dial complements the black and brown of the plastic case. The resin (AKA acrylic or plastic) crystal will probably get pretty scratched as you work in the yard or hike along brushy paths, but it's pretty easily buffed out if you want to restore the clarity. Looks great with jeans or khaki for a very casual look. A great weekend watch when you've no one to impress but yourself for making such a great buy!

I am comparing this to a Timex Men's T40011 Expedition Camper Black Fast Wrap Velcro Strap Watch. I think the target market for the Timex and this Casio are about the same...people who are looking for an inexpensive yet dependable watch to support their activities in The Great Outdoors. However, that watch doesn't need to have tons of bells and whistles on it, nor does it really need to be overbuilt.I have to say, in terms of styling this watch really has a lot going for it. It just *looks* outdoorsy. The band matches the color accents on the watch body nicely, and the numerals are complimentary to the entire scheme. It really is a sharp looking watch, especially when you consider the price point. And yes, in terms of flair I think it has the edge over the Timex, even though I could kind of do without the "Forester" name at the top of the watch.The band is nice and light nylon with a Velcro fastener. It has an entirely superfluous loop on it, though, intended to secure the end of the band. Not sure what this is for, since the Velcro keeps everything nice and tidy. It just makes it harder to take the watch off your wrist. I actually cut the loop off this watch. I'm also not a fan of the "Forester" name imprinted on the end of the band.In terms of function, the watch performs identically to the Timex with one distinction - the Casio is water resistant to 100 meters, while the Timex is water resistant to 50 meters. In practical terms, this means with the Casio you really have nothing to worry about when it comes to being near, around, or in the water. The Timex suffers a bit, since a 50 meter rating really means "showers and rain." The functions on these watches are otherwise identical - simple timekeeping, no bezel, and a date only. Honestly, since this watch was intended for a Boy Scout to have something simple with him as he's hiking around, the date function on either isn't that important for that.Now then, the illumination. The Casio features a rather nice backlight, activated by a dedicated button on the side. In practice I found the button a little difficult to manipulate. It just didn't seem as positive as the all-in-one crown and Indiglo knob on the Timex. However, the illumination does a good job in making the face easy to read in near- or total darkness, but isn't so bright that it's blinding.Since I mentioned the crown - the Casio has it offset at the 4:00 position, the Timex at 3:00. I found the crown on the Casio a little harder to manipulate because of where it is. Indeed, I couldn't pull out the crown at all while wearing the watch.So I have to say, this isn't a *bad* watch. It's a simple watch that will serve you well on outdoorsy things. It's light (indeed, I often forgot that I was wearing it) and keeps decent time. I do have to give the Timex the edge though, simply because of the way the crown is designed and the kind-of-weird light button on the Casio. But that isn't to say the Forester won't serve you well...it will.