I received this watch as gift to replace an Avocet Vertech that finally died after 10+ years of hard use (cracked case). Let me preface this review by stating that my primary need for this watch is for outdoor recreational pursuits, not as an everyday watch. I much prefer a classic analog watch for every day use; this is kind of too techno-geeky for my taste. As an everyday watch it's fine; as an outdoors tool I find it to a bit lacking.

The altimeter is good with some nice tracking functions. I am wondering if it will prove to be as accurate as my Vertech (the chip in the Vertech is temperature compensated during calibration). Digital compass is nice for general use or a quick check of direction but not good enough for navigation; I would still carry my trusty Silva Ranger. The rest of the stuff on here is nice but to me it is just "fluff". Atomic time keeping is great but to be honest, plus or minus a second or two really doesn't matter much to me. The light feature is very nice, something my Vertech didn't have. Solar power is nice, but replacing a battery every couple of years is no big deal to me. The titanium band is a big negative for me. Good for looks but not practical for use. Being a bracelet, once it is adjusted to your wrist that is the only place it will go. It will never fit on the outside of a shell or glove where I need it in winter when climbing and skiing. And in warmer weather I would rather not have a metal bracelet type band on my arm when having fun outdoors. I checked with Casio about replacing this with a resin or nylon band.... Forget it, can't be done. You have to order special parts to attach to the watch head along with special pins and Casio seems very reluctant to do this (one of the reasons I received this as a gift was it was advertised as "multi-band" and the gift giver thought it referred to the watch band). Lastly, the functions on this watch are not very intuitive; this watch has an instruction manual that is 153 pages long. That's at least 100 pages more than I want to read to learn how to use a watch. When I am cold, tired and hungry I want something that is easy to use, not have to look at a cheat sheet to figure out which buttons I need to press..

So for the bottom line.... I would return this if it were an option. If your primary need is for an outdoors friendly watch that is easy to use, I'd give this a 3. There are better choices out there for less money. If you are into the latest tech stuff and are looking for something to impress your friends, then I would give it a 5. I ended up giving it a 4. Also this would be a good watch for a world traveler. That being said it will never replace a dress watch or a nice casual sport watch in the looks department. This watch is going to end up in my top drawer most of the time but will see occasional use when I travel.
3 stars

Downsides: The watch is rather large but thinner than the Suuto I was considering. The instruction manual is small but a half inch thick! The lighted dial seems rather dim to me. At first I thought it would get brighter after it got a good charge but it's still dim.

Upside: Solar powered (no batteries!) and super accurate time piece. The Atomic Clock calibration feature works fine and automatically adjusts at midnight. This feature will work in the US, Japan, and Germany.

Note: I have the titanium band. If you adjust the band, there is a very small metal bushing inside. When you push the pin through, it will likely fall out. You must replace this bushing or the pin will not stay put. To use the thermometer, take the watch off or it will only read your body temp. While using the compass, hold it horizontally or it will be off.

I would buy this watch again. 5 stars

I gave this as a gift to my husband. He hasn't taken it off. He loves all the functions. We enjoy traveling and he has found many functions that come in handy while traveling. One of the features he loves is the dial that lights up when a button is pressed. At night he can push that button and actually see the time. 5 stars

I got this to replace my earlier solar atomic watch which had a plastic band failure. I got the ti band and had it adjusted at a local jewelery store for $8. I am very happy with it. On a recent climb to (map stated) 5964feet the casio's altimeter said 5980, without any presetting etc. Obviously the temp is an issue on your wrist, and anyone out to explore will have bruntons, silvas galore strapped to them. But navigating subways in strange cities the compass will work well enough as will the world time function. Overall just what I wanted. 5 stars

Just received my watch today and wanted to contribute to the reviews that helped make my decision. Bracelet is plenty large for all wrist sizes. I had to stop by a jeweler and have 3 links taken out. It fits perfectly now. Immediate impression is this is a very good looking watch. I am a little dissapointed with the barometer thus far. The manual implies that there should never be a need to calibrate the barometer but if one arises, luckily they gave instructions to do so. Mine read 29.75"Hg out of the box. As a pilot i checked this with my local airport's recorded weather briefing (only minutes old) and NOAA web site's reported pressure, both were 29.93. I went ahead and calibrated mine to 29.95 (only shows .05 "Hg units) and it has been changing well with the reported pressure changes the rest of the afternoon. Altitude works well so far. I am upgrading from a Highgear Summit that showed altitude in 1 foot increments while the pathfinder shows 20 foot increments which is obviously not as precise but to be fair, the Highgear fluctuated wildly. Compass seems adequate. I wouldn't use it if you had to navigate to a destination to the degree but for general reference it is fine. One thing i wanted to remind buyers is Amazon's excellent price guarantee. When i ordered this watch last week it was listed at $223.00. The day after it was shipped the price fell to $214.00. I contacted amazon and they promptly refunded the difference. You can read the details but it has to be within 30 days of purchase and must be an item sold by "Amazon", not another vendor. All in all, a good buy. 3 stars