Casio Pathfinder watch vs others

[Mike Saxton]

I have seen many discussion threads on Suunto vs Nike and others on the forum thread, and am wondering if anyone has experience with the Casio Pathfinder (PAW1200 – $299) series watch. It appears to have all the features attributed to the others but additionally remains calibrated with the US atomic clock signal and has a solar rechargable battery. I do not know the weight or what the face is made of, but will post data when I receive a response from Casio on emails I have sent. Any opinions? Thanks.
Link: http://pathfinder.casio.com/watches/hiking_trekking/PAW1200T-7V

Mike

[John S.]

I don’t have any of them, but would never buy that overpriced watch over a suunto vector which can be had for nearly half that price. Suunto quality is tops from everything I have read.

[Kathleen B]

I had a Casio Pathfinder watch for years, and it worked fine. However, it went through batteries more frequently than my compatriots’ Suuntos, the face got really scratched up (I’m off trail a lot) and the Suunto has a bigger face for all of us baby boomers who can’t see anymore. I switched to the Suunto and am glad I did.

[Robb Stanek]

I owned a Casio for almost 2 years, until I dabbled in the sport of Adventure Racing. It was then that I found out how much “drift” my watch had compared to Suunto’s Vector style watches (almost everybody had them).

I now swear by my Vector, and use it frequently. Would love a smaller package (it’s big on my wrist), but have found it to be the most accurate and reliable watch.

(oh, and ingore anything that Timex puts out, they haven’t quite figured out the styling, nor the user interface quite yet).

[Brett .]

Mike,
I own one of the Casio models (its called a TripleSensor in my region), and has become a reliable part of my navigation system which is composed of:
– Casio PAG40B-2V for Baro/Alt/Temp./cardinal direction
– Garmin Geko GPS for Lat/Long checks
– laminated map with grease pencil
– Brunton 9020G (the lightest and most inexpensive compass with adjustible declination I can find)

I did not buy the Suuntos because they do not have a temperature sensor, which is important to me; but I see many more Suuntos than Casios.

I use the Casio to get me oriented in the right direction, the Brunton for sighting course/headings, the GPS for marking waypoints, and the map of course for reference.

I can not comment on the other posters bad experience, but the Casio sensor is accurate to .5′, which is much finer resolution that you can read on the dial. In navigation terms, “drift” is not a characteristic of a compass, it is the tendency for a navigator to fly (or walk) to the left or right of course while maintaining a constant heading with, for example, an airplane (or body when walking). Heading is the direction you are pointing, course is a line along the ground. For example, an airplane might be pointing north, but a cross-wind from the East would cause it to ‘drift’ West. The airplane would end up far to the left of the intended destination and someone might blame the compass, when all along it was reading accurately.
Most people have inherent drift built in physiologically due to their stride (one leg longer than another, injury, etc..), and when blindfolded will walk slightly left or right of a straight line. Terrain and other features aggravate this tendency.

Interesting feature of the Casio, each instrument can be calibrated by the user very quickly. To align baro pressure with true altitude, correct the temperature, and even set the magnetic declination on the compass so it always points to True North at your location!

Casio has newer models which have all the features, but are the size of a normal watch. If I made the purchase again I would get one of those.

[Adam McFarren]

My Suunto X3-HR has a thermometer.

-adam

[Brett .]

Thanks Adam.

[Mike Saxton]

Thanks to all for your replies. I found the weight on another site as 2.8 oz, but never heard back from their customer support line on my other questions – perhaps that says something as well. Again thanks, Mike

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