If you are looking for a tactical timepiece which is rugged, has a tank-like build, analog & digital displays…and the most important… an affordable price, the Casio G Shock GA 100-1A1 is a right choice for you!
Casio watches are widely used by American soldiers, it is the most convincing quality guarantee of this Japanese brand. Toughness, reliability, simple usage, are what you can expect from the GA 100. Here is my Casio Black G Shock GA 100-1A1 Military Watch Review, hope this will be of some help to you!
[su_product_review_summary name=”Casio Black G Shock GA 100-1A1 Military Watch” asin=”B003WPUU0U” factors=”Quality@4“`Design@4“`Price@5″ score=”4.5″ summary=’
- The Casio Black G Shock GA 100-1A1 is one of the bestselling Ana-Digi tactical watches on the market now.
- Despite some shortcomings, such as weak LED light and quite-hard-to-read digital windows, this watch still offers you a lot of useful values: superb durability, high accuracy, practical timing features.
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[su_pros_cons pros=”
- Excellent toughness
- Cool design & color
- Convenient features
- Affordable price
” cons=”
- Weak LED light
- Quite-hard-to-read negative digital displays
“]
Design – Matte black finish with resin material
When it comes to men’s outfits, black is always the coolest & most approachable color. That’s why this GA 100-1A1 outsells other variations with different color schemes. The matte black body adds much to the watch’s sturdy look and makes it suitable with users of almost any age. Literally, it can fit in well with most casual apparels.
Oversized but not too heavy
Sized at over 50mm, this is not a small watch by any means. However, it’s not too heavy to comfortably wear all day long. Its weight is just 70g, even much lighter than a 40mm metal watch (normally 200 – 300g). For Casio G Shock watches, the feeling of unstoppable that they give their wearers doesn’t come from the heaviness, but the big size & hefty design instead.
The GA 100 is a tactical watch which is designed to be utilitarian, and a heavy body certainly does no good for users.
Well-protected dial & rugged case design
Needless to say, the No.1 character that drives users to the G Shock watches is their superb toughness. The glass is the most vulnerable part of a wristwatch. In order to protect it from accidental hits and bumps, Casio covered it with a prominent urethane bezel that can absorb external forces. Mineral glass alone is durable enough, along with a highly shock – resistant case, they make an extremely tough watch that can survive intensive physical abuses.
4 out of 6 pushers on both sides are also covered by protective guards. These guards add much to the watch’s rugged appearance, make it look bigger. I personally like this designing style, because the guards actually lend some points of interest to the case, a round-face resin watch would look too childish without these guards.
What’s not to love about the dial is the glass, it is highly reflective. You can read the analog display easily from any angle because the white hands contrast very well with the black background. However, the digital display can only be clearly seen upright (it’s the nature of negative display) and the reflective crystal reduces its legibility in outdoor use a lot.
Comfortable ribbed band
Among many watchband materials, resin is perhaps the wrist-friendliest. Leather straps are soft, comfortable, but they absorb your sweat and may stink if you don’t take good care of them (dry them out by the sunshine, for example). Metal bracelets are durable, impervious to water, but they’re too heavy and sometimes pull your arm hair. Resin bands get the best of both worlds: comfortable, lightweight, no bad smell, no hair catching.
However, resin bands are not durable if you don’t know how to treat them properly. A tiny cut can turn into a big wound and eventually break your resin strap. This material can suffer most abuses, except being cut.
One more thing, don’t twist or bend your resin strap too much, or else you would break it sooner or later. Resin is not as pliable as leather.
The adjustable strap of GA 100 has 2 lines of many holes to fit a wide range of wrist sizes. The 22mm band width (at the buckle) doesn’t make this oversized watch look disproportionate, because the case-band transition is very smooth.
Functionality
Following are some remarkable technical aspects of this watch:
Analog & digital displays: the GA 100 can display time in 2 ways. However, if you think that it can get the best of both worlds, you’d better think twice! The primary time indicator is the 2 analog hands, because the digital screen is occulted by these hands sometimes. Moreover, this negative displaying screen is not easy to read from various angles and in dim light conditions.
24-hour format: since this digital watch is designed for military use, the 24-hour format is necessary. In daily use, you can switch to 12-hour format if you prefer.
World Time: there’re 29 time zones for you to choose from. When you switch from one time zone to another, the hour & minute hands will move to the current time in that location (now it’s your Home city). In this World Time mode, your Home city’s time is indicated by the analog hands, the lower left digital display is for the World Time city. This function is very convenient for those who live or work abroad.
Orange LED light: most complaints about this watch are related to the LED light. It’s not bright enough to light up the whole watch face, but just the dial edge. You can read the time through the analog hands, but the digital displays are in total dark. However, remember that this is a tactical watch, in some combatant circumstances, the bright light from your watch can reveal your position to enemies, it does more harm than good indeed! If you want to read the digital displays in the dark, just simply shade it with your hand, the reflective light can help you see the whole dial clearly.
I’ve just highlighted some noticeable properties of the Casio GA 100, there’re many more interesting features that you can experience on your own:
- Stop watch function (1/1000 second): lap time, split time, elapsed time
- Countdown timer: 1-minute & 1-hour increments, with the measuring unit of 1 second.
- 660 feet water resistance
- Shock & magnetic resistance
And some other features…
As the Casio GA 100 is a digital watch, it’s highly accurate. You just have to set it once every 4 months at max, because it only runs off about 15 seconds per month. The battery life is not outstanding, but still acceptable. The watch needs battery replacing every 2 years or more.
In case you don’t like the total black body of the GA 100 1A1, there’re many other variations with different colors:
GA 100B – 4A: Red body, black dial
[imgb trackingid=”donatwald-20″ asin=”B005OAO20U” imgid=”61eAl7bKCxL” altimg=”Red body, black dial”]
GA 100SD – 8A: Sand-color body, black dial
[imgb trackingid=”donatwald-20″ asin=”B00CTNY0FM” imgid=”71%2B-xklMTML” altimg=”Sand-color body, black dial”]
GA 100LG – 8A: Ice white body, chocolate dial
[imgb trackingid=”donatwald-20″ asin=”B00HHJ8LRQ” imgid=”81vqc9GAhML” altimg=”Ice white body, chocolate dial”]
GA 100CM – 8A: Camouflage patterns (the whole watch)
[imgb trackingid=”donatwald-20″ asin=”B00OAPHR3E” imgid=”71jZ2q9gWTL” altimg=”Camouflage patterns (the whole watch)”]
GA 100CF-1A9CR: Black body, camouflage dial
[imgb trackingid=”donatwald-20″ asin=”B00KGGW8C6″ imgid=”910iRi1a%2B8L” altimg=”Black body, camouflage dial”]
GA 100 – 1A4: Black dial & body
[imgb trackingid=”donatwald-20″ asin=”B003DZDYG6″ imgid=”818XtFmB2eL” altimg=”Black dial & body, red hour hand, white minute hand, red guarded pushers, inconsecutive red parts on the bezel”]
Verdict
The Casio Black G Shock GA 100-1A1 is one of the bestselling Ana-Digi tactical watches on the market now. Despite some shortcomings, such as weak LED light and quite-hard-to-read digital windows, this watch still offers you a lot of useful values: superb durability, high accuracy, practical timing features. Different variations are offered with different prices, but most of them are under $100. At this price, you can’t go wrong with the Casio GA 100.
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