Casio Gents Watch G-Shock Radio Gravity Defier GW-3000BD-1AER

This watch is big and chunky. It is a mat black metal case and the metal strap is black but slightly shiny. The number are a turquoise blue the hour and minute hands have a blue tip and white (slightly yellow) body. The second hand is blue. The hour and minute hands and the numbers on the face are all very luminous. I have used this at work (emergency services) and it has been comfy to wear, undamaged and most importantly easy to read at a glance. The model with an LED is, to me, useless. I often need to know the time while both hands are on a steering wheel, weapon or subject so I don't have a spare hand to operate a watch light. This makes the glow in the dark essential to me. Tritium lit watches are brighter but I have heard these little gas filled tubes can break and they have a limited lifespan. To be honest all the other functions are nice to have but i probably wont use them much. The only down side is the small size of the little dials which you cant read easily in good light and not at all in the dark.
I require a reliable, tough easy to read watch with a smart appearance and this is it. I would highly recommend this watch to anyone in the forces or emergency services or anyone who wants a tough good looking reliable watch. As soon as you open the tin and feel the weight and see the quality you wont be disappointed.

Be aware that although the colour on the Casio generated photo of this watch, as displayed by Amazon, is black background with pale blue numbering and white hour and minute hands, the actual colouring of the numbering is turquoise, with yellow hands. I was disappointed that the actual watch did not look like the photograph (which in my view looks much better than the actual watch) and returned it.

I'm a huge fan of watches - my equivalent of jewellery, but I was looking for something rugged, hard-wearing and reliable for everyday wear. I've not owned a Casio for many years, but their G-Shock range has a renowned reputation for being virtually indestructible. Initially i wanted to avoid digital watches and found this relatively new addition to the G-Shock range. WHen it arrived, i was initially very pleased - the watch offered many features including multiple time zones, worldwide radio updates to keep it spot on time, timers and all sorts. BUT, this was the main problem. Changing all these settings on traditional G-Shock watches is relatively tricky unless you are very familiar with the brand, but the buttons are clearly labelled and you have a digital display to guide you, however, on an analogue display, this has to be achieved with the hands (both the main time hands and a few small indicator hands). Personally, i found these totally baffling, and i'm by no means a luddite.

These difficulties eventually became too much and the watch was returned and swapped for a Casio Pro Trek PRW-2000T. I needed to be able to change time zones and setting quickly due to my work and travel. Often, there can be a few weeks/months between needing to do this and i found it impossible to remember the settings without close inspection of the manual.

If you are intimately familiar with the G-Shock and/or Casio way of doing things, you may well struggle less. Were it not for these difficulties and if based purely on looks, feel, ruggedness - this review would be at least 4-star.