If you asked me now which military watch looks like a tank on the wrist, I would answer without hesitation that it is the Casio G Shock Rangeman GW 9400. Fully-featured, tank-like built, cool classic military green, these advantages alone are enough to make this piece one of the most sought-after tactical watches in the market now. Get interested? So let’s see what we have with this “tacti-cool” watch! Here is my Casio G Shock Rangeman GW 9400 Review, hope this will be of some help to you!
- Quality
- Design
- Price
- The Casio G Shock Rangeman GW-9400-3CR is a heavy-duty tactical watch that offers you not only a dozen of useful features, but also an eye-catching classic-modern military style.
- Aesthetically, it has some differences to other digital pieces. For just around $200, this watch is a real bargain for those who want a cool & reliable tactical watch!
- Rugged but stylish design
- Eye-catching classic army green
- A lot of useful features
- High reliability
- Tank-like toughness
- Difficult-to-read negative display
- Reflective metal buttons
- Quite small displaying screen
Design – exudes military traits, a perfect combination of classic & modern styles
What makes the Casio Rangeman GW-9400-3CR outsell its competitors in the same price range? After reading so many customer reviews about this watch, I realized that what people like most is its military appearance, especially the olive drab color. It’s reminiscent of the World-War green that I’ve seen in movies and video games. This really is a big plus! Since the market is now full of digital tactical watches with camouflage patterns or black color, a classic green piece is considered a desirable rarity.
55mm case size, 17mm thickness – It’s not a small watch by any means
Yes, this watch is just for those who love oversized timepieces. The buttons’ guards not only significantly increase the case diameter and thickness, but also add much to the already-robust appearance of this watch. Despite its big size, the GW-9400-3CR is not uncomfortable to wear all day long, because it’s rather lightweight, just 93g totally. The rugged design of the watch is enough to give you confidence and unstoppable feel, heaviness just does no good to wearers in tactical situations.
Metal buttons & rivets – What I like most about this watch’s design, but they also cause some inconvieniences
What make the Rangeman series look different to other G Shock models are the stainless steel details on the case and dial. Do you agree with me that no matter how well a resin watch is made, some bodies just feel it’s cheap simply because of its material. Resin is an amazingly durable material which is most suitable with tactical watches, but it doesn’t look as cool as metal. So to get the best of both world, Casio design the Rangeman GW-9400-3CR with a resin body and a few stainless steel details on it. Perfect combination!
However, I think they had better matte out the metal buttons of this watch, because they’re highly reflective, which is quite dangerous to soldiers in tactical use. Fortunately, you can matte out these metal details easily by yourself (use sandpaper, for example). In case you just use this watch in normal outdoor activities, just let them be, some twinkles just make your watch look nicer under the sunshine.
Comfortable resin band & stainless steel buckle, band-keeper
The band is very comfortable on the wrist. The case-band transition is also very smooth, so the 22mm strap doesn’t look too small for this 55mm watch.
The band keeper is made of stainless steel instead of resin, so it’s very easy to accumulate scratches overtime. However, I think this is not a big deal since the G Shock is designed to be a beater watch. This metal keeper actually adds a focus of interest to the band. As I said above, well-designed metal details really make a resin watch look cooler.
In a word, the Casio G Shock Rangeman GW-9400-3CR is a rugged military-style watch, with classic green color scheme that is aesthetically distinct from dozens of digital tactical watches out there.
Functionality
When it comes to functionality, the Casio GW-9400-3CR is a fully featured digital watch. In this review, I can’t show you the full list of its properties, following are just some most useful features of the watch:
Solar-powered battery: This means the watch doesn’t need battery changing very 2-3 years. But you have to wear it at least one day per week to keep it running.
Mineral glass: some people just keep asking why Casio doesn’t use sapphire for this watch. In my opinion, mineral glass is better for a tactical watch. Although sapphire is 10 times harder and provides better scratch-resistance than mineral glass, but then it’s too brittle to stay in uncracked condition for a long time. A few minor scratches are not a big deal! After all, this is a beater watch, not a dress watch, right?
Barometer, Altimeter, Compass, Thermometer: this is why I called it a fully-featured tactical watch. It has a lot of useful features for combatant situations. They may be very helpful in normal outdoor use, too!
10M shock resistance: this means you can drop the watch from the height of 10M and it’s still okay!
200M (660 feet) water resistance: although the Casio GW-9400-3CR is not designed exclusively for divers, it can be used in scuba dive without any problem.
Multiband 6 Atomic Radio controlled self-adjustment: this is not a must-have function, but you might feel it’s helpful sometimes.
Negative display: this is what’s not to love about the watch. A negative display is rather difficult to read. Don’t trust online images, the photographers just show you the watch from some most readable angles. The reflective glass makes for a disadvantage in outdoor use. But you know? This watch features negative display for a reason, it indeed looks cooler than positive-display cousins.
There’re a few more features, such as 1000hr 1/100th second Stopwatch with Split times, LED backlight for night read, Sunrise-Sunset mode…You can check them out in Casio manual, somewhat interesting!
Verdict
The Casio G Shock Rangeman GW-9400-3CR is a heavy-duty tactical watch that offers you not only a dozen of useful features, but also an eye-catching classic-modern military style. Aesthetically, it has some differences to other digital pieces. For just around $200, this watch is a real bargain for those who want a cool & reliable tactical watch!
Check out other versions of Casio G Shock Rangeman at Amazon!
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