Review of the Casio GW

I've tested this(and several similar watches) in different parts of the country, and I'vefound that the immediate area you are in is much more important than whereyou are in the country. For instance, in big cities, I've found that it's moredifficult for the watch to pick up a signal than in more rural and suburban areas,presumably due to the tall buildings. I've also found that I get better signalat night (you can initiate calibration manually to test this). The bottom lineis that the watch should be able to pick up a signal anywhere in North America,though depending on your exact location, your milage may vary.The resin model of this watch is readily available in both navy blue (GW300A-2V)and black (GW300A-1V). In Asia, it's available in several colors, so ifyou look around enough, you might be able to find a nice yellow or green one(though be sure it will work with the frequency the atomic clock in Fort Collinsbroadcasts as opposed to the atomic clock in Japan). Casio also offers a verysimilar metal model (MTG900DA-8V) for a little additional heft and price. Youshould be able to pick one of these up just about anywhere Casio watches aresold for anywhere between $60 and $99.What I like about the GW-300:Solar powered. No need to worry about changing the battery,even after prolonged storage.Atomic timekeeping.I don't want to get into the specifics of charging times in this review (theyare documented very thoroughly in the manuel), but I will say that the solar-poweredfeature works very well, and as I said before, unless you live in a cave, it'snot something you'll have to worry about. In other words, wearing the GW-300does not mean having to start scheduling daily watch sunnings in order to keepit running. I have found that it keeps sufficiently charged just with day-to-day(or even occasional) use, as long as the power saving function is enabled.The atomic timekeeping feature also works fairly well, though sometimes it canbe difficult for the watch to pick up a strong enough signal for a long enoughperiod of time that it can calibrate itself. It will attempt to calibrate fourtimes a day (2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m, and 5 a.m.) since it assumes that you willbe asleep and motionless during one of those four attempts. Actually, the manualrecommends taking the watch off before you go bed and leaving it in a positionwhere it can easily pick up the radio signal, however I have found that whenI am upstairs in my house, the watch will calibrate evenwhile on my wrist just about every night. If I sleep downstairs in the basement,the watch will successfully calibrate maybe 50% of the time.