I had always wanted a Casio Pathfinder- they have an altimeter and barometer, and now they even have a compass, a temperature gauge, solar charging and even the atomic radio signal from Fort Collins. Of course, the altimeter isn’t exact, it’s based on barometric pressure which changes. But if you know your starting elevation, it accurately shows your progress as you climb. There are even GPS watches, but they are an extra cool Thousand. I’m happy with the watch except for two issues: First, it is a bit bulky. Weighing in at 2 pounds, and approximately the size of an Ipod touch, it looks a bit silly strapped to your wrist and after a few weeks creates a noticable difference in muscle tone between your two arms. It can be dangerous when you move your arm, because the weight creates some momentum that is hard to stop. On the bright side, it turns your wrist into a deadly weapon, if needed.
 The second disadvantage, and this may just be me looking for perfection and a bit too nitpicky, is that the trade off for all of the amazing features of the Casio Pathfinder is that they had to get rid of one of the features- giving you the time. These new state of the art watches have so many gadgets crammed in, they weren’t able to also have a basic watch. According to the manual, “our research demonstrates that most Casio customers already have a watch on their cellphone, and no longer list “giving you the current time” as one of their top priorities in a watch. So we have traded that feature for other, more exciting and helpful ones, such as temperature and a compass.” I was surprised at first that my new watch doesn’t actually have the ability to track the time. But with so many other cool features, it isn’t much of an issue. And anytime someone stops me in the street or at a mall and says “Excuse me, but do you happen to know the barometric pressure?” Or “Hey, do you know which way is South West?” I’ll be ready to help them out.
Thank you for that little bit of information about the time. I read somewhere that without the radio transmissions, that watch will loose about 20 seconds per month! Even though that is about 4 minutes per year, it will make a significant problem for me when I am maybe overseas for a few years. Do you know all of the transmission sites that help these watches get the right time? I would like to know if they have one in Iraq or Afghanistan. Also, you had this coming, please do not exagerate the weight of the watch. You said “It [the watch] can be dangerous when you move your arm, because the weight creates some momentum that is hard to stop.” You have got to be kidding.