| W6LBV |
Rating:      |
2014-01-17 | |
| Reporting for Duty, Sir! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
It’s now approaching seven years that I have owned and have used this watch. Overall, its performing exactly as I hoped it would. But time has taken some slight toll on it.
The Tough Solar regularly synchs with WWVB, Ft. Collins on 60 kHz, and the displayed time is always invariantly accurate. The watch receives enough light to its PV cell to keep the on-board battery charged and it has never run out of power. The case and wrist-band have survived well, mechanically. Thus the basic mission of the watch continues.
However, the little position-sensor that activates the electrical back lighting of the dial quit several years ago. I can no longer read the dial when I am in darkness, simply by rotating my wrist.
I have traveled with the watch and have discovered that synching with Ft. Collins is more difficult in the eastern portion of the US than it is at home in the west. That’s understandable, and not a defect.
I also have noted an significant increase over the years in the VLF noise floor around my home; the spectrum is being increasingly polluted with man-made electrical noise. On a few nights the watch will not synch with Colorado at all, and on other nights it synchs only in the middle of the night but not again later as dawn approaches. This is not a failure, as the watch will continue its time keeping based on the last valid synch, and the accumulated error over a day or two is not significant. I have also noticed the same noise problem with my fixed, wall-mounted 60 kHz clocks. Many of these clocks which used to function perfectly now will not synch at their in-house locations, and I have to take them outside for re-synching.
I am fully satisfied with the service this watch has provided, and I would not hesitate to replace it with a newer model. But only if my Tough Solar ever quit, of course.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by W6LBV on 2007-08-14
For many years I've wanted to own a really untouchable wrist watch, and with the recent purchase of a Casio WaveCeptor/Tough Solar watch I now have one.
By my definition an "untouchable" watch is one which never needs attention...ever! No time setting is required, no battery replacement, and the watch always runs perfectly. This is the solar WaveCeptor. Its displayed time is reset early each morning through reception of the NIST WWVB 60 kHz time signal broadcast from Ft. Collins, Colorado via a receiver internal to the watch. There is no consumable battery to be replaced; a small photovoltaic cell in the watch recharges an internal battery. A few minutes of sunlight exposure seems to be sufficient to ensure days of subsequent operation. The watch has more timekeeping "features" included than anyone would probably ever need, and it is mechanically shock resistant and waterproof.
The Casio is slightly thicker and slightly heavier than a "normal" watch, but it is attractive and is still quite comfortable to wear. The main digital time display has numerals that are about a full 1/4 inch in height, and time readability is very good. An internal electroluminescent backlight is activated in darkness by a slight movement of the wrist. Overall, everything about this watch is very satisfactory.
The miniature, thick instruction manual is quite detailed. With only four operating buttons on the watch case, multiple button presses are required for most commands. Frequent use of the manual will be needed when the watch is new.
Casio offers a broad product line for these watches, and for these they use several different models of internal electronics modules. Some study of the Casio Web site will be necessary to find a suitable model with suitable features at a suitable price.
The central issue, of course, is whether the internal receiver is reliable and usable for setting exact NIST time. I live in San Diego, CA, about 864 miles (1390 km, great circle distances) from the WWVB 50 kW (ERP) transmitter station. Judging by the watch face's permanent RSSI display, the received signal here has never dropped below the maximum indicated level, independent of time of day.
Synching of the watch with WWVB occurs automatically four times each morning, at 2 a.m., 3 a.m, 4 a.m, and 5 a.m. local time. Each night I set the watch on an interior bedroom table, with its internal antenna oriented toward Colorado but with no other special precautions. It has never failed to synch up each morning (and that action is user-verifiable), and the watch usually synchs on all of its four daily attempts. Manual synching is available at any time.
Several years ago NIST performed an upgrade of the WWVB transmitting station, increasing its ERP to the present level. In recent months I've noticed that all of my WWVB-controlled clocks are synching much more rapidly (much less delay, and/or not having to wait until darkness) than in past years. I believe that the WWVB signal strength has been improved, and that the watch should be synchable in most of North America.
So with this watch I finally have what I have wanted: time on my wrist known to be as exact as NIST's own clocks (neglecting the 5 millisecond average radio propagation delay time between Colorado and California!). But why the craving for time accuracy? Well, it's satisfying to watch the network television news begin to roll at exactly 6:00:00 p.m., NIST-based time. Or to note that a local broadcast radio station has an eighteen second delay loop on their network program feeds. Or to meet a friend for a noon lunch, and to know that it really is exactly noon and I haven't missed the start time. Or even, as I once did, to walk into NIST physics division headquarters in Boulder, Colorado (home of the country's primary standard atomic clock), glance at the digital time display panels in the hallways and then at my watch, and happily note "we’re in complete agreement!" In short, to be "totally accurate."
Only one higher level of time accuracy still remains to be achieved: GPS-derived time! But it will take a few more years until that technology becomes affordable. Until then, I'll rely on my fine untouchable watch.
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| VA7CPC |
Rating:      |
2007-07-19 | |
| Miracle on the wrist |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I got mine (a "Forest" model, browns and brown/green colors) for $80 Cdn at a local department store, "on special". It's a bulky watch, but not a heavy one -- model GW-002KA.
It's solar powered, with both local time and GMT (or time in any other zone). Has a glass crystal, recessed deeply into the bezel so it won't get scratched or broken.
It picks up WWVB (60 kHz), from Vancouver BC, every night, if left near a window. Has an indicator to tell you if it's been synchronized within the past 24 hours, and will flash the date/time of the last synchronization with one button-press.
So accuracy is better than one second.
A really neat, reasonably-priced, very tough toy.
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