Pretty hefty discount from G-Shock official which you don't usually see from official websites.
Starbuy has this same colour currently for $469. So ignore the $599 retail price this deal is more like 37% off.
Even though this one isn't really my favorite colour either it's $130 less than the previous GBD-H1000BAR-4D (LE Barcelona) deal which was $429 shipped but to be fair that one was a Limited Edition colour.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/product/g-shock-gbdh1000bar-4d
Here is some customer feedback on the watch with photos: https://www.reddit.com/r/gshock/comments/n6dmbu/gbdh1000_rev…
TLDR: Good watch, Bad App. Solar charging seems to be better than expected improving the battery life.
Quotes
"8 days of battery life with 3 days of 24 hours of heart rate + GPS for 2 hours a day (with HR on) but absolutely no sun."
"exposed the watch to 2,5 hours during a cloudy day with light but no direct sun and it charged 1 full bar"
I know this watch might be confusing as to where it sits for some people. So here is me trying to give you a better idea.
Warning: This watch is chunky (63.0×55.0×20.4mm). And it's heavy (101 grams).
What kind of watch is it? Technically it's a GPS Fitness tracking watch.
I think it could be compared to Garmin Instinct (1) Solar which has been posted for $250 (Amazon UK) to $299 (Kogan). https://www.ozbargain.com.au/product/garmin-instinct
For fitness it has all the same sensors and it uses the same type of MIP display+Solar charging. It charges the main battery with a USB cable and from that battery has about 14 hours of GPS+Heart rate tracking in normal mode (18 hours with intermittent GPS). On the G shock the Time module and Step counter/notifications run off a separate battery for Up to 12 months from max charge.
Instinct (1) Solar manages 30 hours GPS tracking without solar, so if GPS+Heart rate use is important Garmin wins.
Big difference to Garmin though is the App. Many customers are not very happy with the G shock Move App and Garmin's ecosystem will be much better for fitness.
G-shock doesn't have NFC pay, neither does Instinct 1 Solar which I think is in a similar price range. But the higher priced Instinct 2 Solar does have NFC pay.
Who is it for? Here are just a few points I thought stood out on their own.
- MIP display is very easy to view in sunlight compared to OLED or regular LCD (MIP here is black and white, so good for data not for fancy colours)
- It's big and it's heavy (maybe you want something chunky that is durable/waterproof and heavy so it lets you always know it's on your wrist)
- Fitness tracking with GPS and Heartrate is less of a priority (battery life in these modes is not comparable to Instinct 1 Solar)
- It has large buttons (could be easier to trigger buttons while wearing gloves)
- Altitude and/or Temperature is important to check and see
- Don't want to charge often (With just Time and Step counter/notification functions so if you use this watch without GPS/Heart rate tracking it can run indefinitely off Solar charging - 8 hours of fluorescent indoor light per day or 2 hours window sunlight per week is enough - Rated battery life for the 3475 module is 12 months with Heartrate measurements off and no GPS use according to user manual)
If your response was positive to 5/6 of these points this might be a suitable watch for you.
Negatives are this watch with solar and USB charging uses a rechargeable battery (2 apparently) supplied by Casio. After maybe 6 years if the battery dies, it needs to be sent into an authorized Casio service center and have the battery replaced by Casio which will be pricey, probably less than the watch but pricey.
It does not use your run of the mill CR2032 battery which you can replace by yourself and perform AC reset.
Also if you are serious read the user manual carefully where it says the do's and don'ts of charging the main battery (powering GPS and Heart rate) with USB cable. It's a bit different to your usual lithium charging. Seems to me they want to you charge it from the last bar (around 25%?), not from 50% or 80% like you would your phone. And they warn against leaving it on the charger and overcharging. Follow these instructions to keep your battery from dying quickly.
Official Global website page for specs:
https://gshock.casio.com/intl/products/g-squad/gbd-h1000/
User manual:
https://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/009/qw347…
It’s very red!