2010年7月14日星期三

The Casio Protrek PRW1100

In other words, all titanium cases and bracelets, and all sapphire crystals, were not created equal. It's intriguing, however, to see Casio fitting their toughest watches with some very tough materials.Of course, the news can't be all good. The PRW-1100YTJ-1JF is not available in the US (hence the "J" in the model name) since most Americans aren't interested in paying $450 for any type of watch, much less a Casio. But the true Casio aficionados have their sources. If anyone out there has a titanium Casio with a sapphire crystal, let me know what you think of the quality. Otherwise, I'll be forced to buy one myself in the name of product research.Additional Resources:Review of the Casio Pathfinder PAW1200Review of the Casio Pathfinder PAW1300-3VThe PRW-1100 home page. Last March, I wrote about the Casio Pathfinder PAW1200, a very impressive watch which manages to pack multi-band atomic timekeeping, solar power, and three sensors (digital compass, altimeter/barometer, and thermometer) into a single package. The PAW1200 series was a landmark achievement for Casio since it finally brought together the convenience of both solar power and atomic timekeeping with the diverse functionality of the Pathfinder line.But even though they got it all into a single package, the PAW1200 wasn't exactly the nicest package. I reviewed the PAW1200-3V, a big green resin model which engulfs my narrow wrist like a python. I'm ok with the size of the watch (all that technology has to go somewhere), but I felt like the material (plastic all around) left some room for improvement.Enter the PRW-1100YTJ-1JF. The Protrek PRW-1100YTJ-1JF steps it up a notch by wrapping up all the features of the PAW1200 series in a very cool black titanium case with a synthetic sapphire crystal on top. Why is titanium good? Tough and light. Why is sapphire good? For all intents and purposes, it's scratch proof.Admittedly, I have never owned a Casio titanium and sapphire watch, so I can't vouch for the level of quality.