Huge disappointment
Very disappointed with the quality of this watch. I liked the look but after wearing it only for one week I noticed that my watch stopped and the reason was the dis-attached weekday hand that was obstructing the minute hand from moving. I would not recommend this watch to anyone due to its low quality and craftsmanship.
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No regrets
This is my first Pathfinder and I am really impressed. I am putting it through its paces right now in Afghanistan and it is doing very well. I bought it to replace a 4 yr old G-Shock (tough solar) that would not recharge anymore. The functions are great. The compass is accurate for general direction and navigating. The barometer has been on par with several other instruments I have at my dispossal in the military. I have not had a chance to really play with the altimeter but its generally within 5 ft of the GPS unit I also use. I had to go into the programing and input the lat and long for my position (extreamly easy) to get a more accurate sunrise and set times and they are spot on now. I see some of the other reviews about the functions and I offer this. If your are trying to reach a barn a few miles north of your position then the watch will get you there (if you have oriented your map properly and know how to do terrain association of course). If you are looking for a roll of quarters on the ground the same distance away use a GPS. The only reason I didnt give it a 5 star rating is comfort. It has a great large face and unless you cinch it down tight (not comfertable) it will slide down and pinch the top of your wrist when you turn it up during some activities like pushups or holding a guardrail. Also It has two small "wings" underneath it that keep the watch centered really well on your wrist and support the bands. The draw back is that despite the fact that I am not a hairy man those little plastic parts have managed to pull and tug on all 4 hairs on my wrist...not comfertable. I typically wear my rugged time peices through just about anything...I take this one off before I go to sleep to keep the hair pulling and wrist pinching to a minimum.
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Awesome watch!
Even though I'm not a pilot I've always liked the Skyhawk/Navihawk titanium line of Citizen watches. My brother is a commercial pilot and has an older one. He loves it. They are just too cool. But I never liked the fact that they didn't have a backlight for the LCD displays. Well now they do! It has an amber backlight that works great. This watch is the new titanium version of the much heavier stainless steel JY0000-53E that came out last year.
Of course the weight of this watch is ridiculously light due to the Titanium construction. For such a big watch I can hardly tell it's on. I can't stand a heavy watch bouncing on my arm. And be aware this is definitely a big watch. But that seems to be the trend now (which I like).
The atomic time function works like a charm. I also like having world time at my fingertips. I have family members that live overseas so it's nice to be able to check their local time at a glance.
It's great knowing I will never have to change batteries with this watch. The solar-powered "Eco-Drive" is an incredible feature that every watch company should have.
The watch has 2 alarms world time zones (43 cities) solar power atomic time a countdown timer a chronograph a slide rule UTC time a 24 hour clock ultra-light and nearly indestructable titanium construction 200 meter waterproof mineral glass and it looks outstanding. What more could you want? I think it even does the dishes bathrooms and windows. But I haven't looked up those features yet in the 115 page manual (English portion).
One thing that's missing is a one-touch feature to bring all hands to the 12 o'clock position to clear the LCD displays during certain times of day. The hands occasionally obscure your attempts to read the LCD's. Another little gripe is you have to pull out and turn the crown to check the date. And it'll show you the date of your second time zone only. You have to do a couple more steps to get your home zone date if your second time zone is across the dateline from you. I think there's a way to set the LCD 2 to show the date all the time but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. (Correction 4/1/08: I don't think there is any way you can get LCD 2 to show the date.)
Forget Rolex Breitling and Omega. They might look cool and have their high-falutin image but they have nowhere near the functionality and practicality of this new Citizen. And they all cost about 10 times more. They are also much heavier.
Bottom line: It's virtually indestructable ultralight maintenance and adjustment free. I never have to set the time again nor will I ever have to change a battery or put it in a watch-winder (for automatics). I'm a big fan and proud owner of one of the coolest watches on the planet.
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Best Display and Very RepsonsiveThis is my fourth HRM and by far the best. The display is big and very readable even in dim light without using the indiglo. My last two HRMs were the older model Timex Ironman 100 lappers. They became very unreliable even with new batteries. I used to have to use electrode gel just to get them to work at all. This HRM gives me an accurate reading immediately and continues to do so as my heart rate changes during my workout. It works great even without electrode gel. It doesn't have any fancy features but I don't need them. It does record your time in the zone that you can set and you average and peak heart rates. It also has a recovery time feature that measures how many BPM your HR drops in one minute. The sensor belt will also work with the HR display most treadmills and other indoor machines. This HRM has already improved my training significantly because it is so accurate and responsive. I highly recommend it.
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Great simple watchI bought one of these a couple years ago in Singapore. I love it. It is my staple everyday watch. They are tough and withstand a fair bit of abuse. I wore mine while training and flying aerobatics up to 6Gs. Still works. The movement does tend to be fast some say by 5 to 15 sec per day. My experience is that I notice it is running fast by a few minutes every little while and then I correct it. Not an issue especially since it is an automatic watch. If I go more than a day without wearing or shaking it it stops anyway so who needs longterm accuracy?
I love it. I'm buying a second one in dark green. ...May start a collection.
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