Casio Ultimate Pathfinder

The following review was published in the August, 2009 issue of Sea Kayaker magazine, which is on the newstands now:

Time and tide wait for no man. The Pathfinder keeps track of both, not to mention direction, temperature, altitude, air pressure, and phases of the moon.

Casio Pathfinder PAW 1500 Review

The Casio Pathfinder series of watches are advanced digital timepieces designed for rugged outdoor use. I recently tested the Pathfinder PAW 1500 model, which is one of the most advanced in the Pathfinder line. The PAW 1500 is a solar-powered, multi-band atomic watch like others in the line, but also features three sensor modes in addition to timekeeping. These extra sensors are the direction sensor digital compass, the pressure sensor barometer and altimeter, and the temperature sensor thermometer. This is an impressive collection of instrumentation in a compact package that fits comfortably on all but the smallest wrists.

The timekeeping function offers the accuracy of radio-controlled calibration by receiving time signals transmitted in Germany, the United States, England and Japan. In the U.S. the signal is transmitted from Fort Collins, Colorado. The Pathfinder watch I tested had no problem receiving this calibration signal from my home in Mississippi. The watch adjusts its time automatically at periodic intervals, but I also performed a manual calibration and the signal was received within two to three minutes. Current time is displayed in hours, minutes and seconds. Checking the time over a four-month period against other timepieces and my cell phone, I concluded that the Pathfinder is extremely accurate and would be excellent for navigation purposes. Timekeeping functions also include world time, a countdown timer, a stopwatch, five different daily alarms and a tide graph and moon phase indicator.

The moon phase indicator is a graphic display in a small circle at the top left of the main display face that shows the current phase of the moon as viewed from the northern hemisphere. A glance at the indicator tells you which quarter the moon is currently in.

The tide graph is naturally a useful function for kayakers. You can set up the tide data based on your selected home city or nearest port city and adjust the tide graph to high tide time at a particular date. After setting this up, the current tide condition is graphically represented, showing the range from high to low and spring tide, intermediate tide and neap tide.

My favorite feature of the Pathfinder PAW 1500 is the digital compass. With the push of a button, the main display switches from current time to a digital bearing readout. Turning your arm so that the watch face is horizontal to the horizon allows it to acquire an accurate bearing in just seconds. I was impressed with the accuracy of the compass when I tested it earlier this year while sailing in south Florida. Bearings were compared between the Pathfinder compass and the vessel compass and GPS chartplotter. The Pathfinder compass was consistently within a five-degree margin of error in comparison with the other compasses and was just as quick to acquire new bearings during course changes. The compass can be calibrated manually for magnetic declination and calibrated to match another compass such as a deck compass. The rotary bezel on the watch allows navigation to a precise bearing while keeping the north indicator on the bezel in a position indicating magnetic north. It’s certainly convenient to have an accurate compass right on your wrist at all times, and nice to have the redundancy it provides as a backup to deck mounted compasses and hand-held GPS.

The pressure sensor mode of the Pathfinder PAW 1500 allows it to function as a reasonably accurate barometer and altimeter. Like the compass, each of these instruments is accessed with one touch from a dedicated button on the side of the watch. The barometer shows current barometric pressure as well as a graph indicating changes to assist in making predictions. The barometer function has proven useful in monitoring the ever-changing spring weather in my region as low-pressure cells move in every few days, bringing rain followed by dry air high pressure systems.

The altimeter function uses a pressure sensor to estimate altitude. Although I haven’t tested the watch very far from sea level, the current reading of 140 feet at my home location is accurate to within 20 feet or so. This altimeter is not intended to be accurate enough for aviation of course, but can be useful to climbers. Sea kayakers aren’t likely to need it anyway.

The built-in thermometer is perhaps more useful, and in testing it matched readings on an indoor-outdoor mercury thermometer I had at the house. The thermometer will not function properly, however, when the watch is being worn, as body heat interferes. It has to be removed from the wrist and acclimated to the surroundings for about 20 to 30 minutes to get a true reading.

The Casio Pathfinder PAW 1500 not only combines all these instruments in a wearable watch, but does so in a package that is rugged and waterproof to 200 meters. It is rated safe for SCUBA diving at normal depths and is tough enough for hard wear in outdoor activities. I’ve worn my test sample through long days of hard work in the boat shop and in the interior refit of a classic Alden schooner where it was frequently banged against a bulkhead or other solid object and subjected to the dust and vibration of power tools. The watchband is black resin, and is tough, flexible and secure. It features a heavy stainless buckle and a wide range of size adjustment slots. The inner side of the band is grooved in a non-slip pattern so the watch won’t rotate on your wrist when it’s wet or sweaty. The built-in solar powered battery never needs replacing and only requires a small amount of light to keep it charged, especially when the watch is in the power-save mode. A green display light that is easy to see allows nighttime use and can be set up for manual activation or to come on automatically when the watch face is tilted up toward the wearer.

As rugged as it is, the Pathfinder is an attractive watch to my eye, anyway and it does not seem too big or heavy for everyday wear unless you have small wrists. It’s a serious looking instrument, and recognizable to many as I’ve had comments about it from coffee shop clerks and others who were familiar with the design. It’s not a cheap watch at the MSRP of $350, but for all the features and the build quality, I think it’s worth it especially as I found online prices as low as $217.90. More information on the Pathfinder PAW 1500 and other watches in the Pathfinder line can be found at: http://pathfinder.casio.com/

I liked this watch so much that I ended up keeping it, working out a trade with the editor at Sea Kayaker. For anyone who is interested in getting a deal on one, I recommend getting it here:

Casio Men's Pathfinder Multi-Band Solar Atomic Ultimate Watch #PAW1500-1V

The Garmin Colorado 400C: The Ultimate Hand-Held GPS?

The Garmin Colorado 400C with pre-loaded g2 Blue Charts may be the ultimate hand-held GPS receiver that I've been waiting for. The recent release of this unit makes me glad I held off on upgrading from my basic Garmin Etrex unit that I've navigated with for years. I've had my eye on several different units from Garmin, all with the on-screen chartplotter function, but I've been torn between a larger, fixed mount marine chartplotter and the handheld GPSMap 76Cx.

The old Etrex unit is a reliable GPS receiver that provides accurate position information, as well as waypoint routing, distance, speed and time to go, but there is no charting capability unless it is connected to a PC. Of course, I still carry and use paper charts, but I've been wanting the convenience of an on-deck chartplotter since using an older Garmin 182C during a Gulf crossing on my friend Artie Vaugn's boat. Seeing the vessel's position right on the chart and being able to quickly determine distance from that position to navigational hazards is especially handy - even more so on a small, often wet boat than on a larger cruiser.

While accurate coordinates are all you really need, and the ability to get these from a small electronic device the size of the Etrex is a modern marvel compared to pre-GPS days, you still have to plot your vessel's position on the paper chart to know where you are. On a small open boat, trying to wrestle with a full-sized paper chart in the cockpit when the wind is up or keeping it dry in a driving rain is daunting in comparison to using an all-in-one GPS/chartplotter combination.

More sophisticated hand-held units like the GPS Map 76cx and the Etrex Legend offer unlimited charting options, by means of a micro-SD card slot, but each region has to be purchased separately. Only Garmin's proprietary charting software, Blue Charts, will work in Garmin units, and until recently it has been quite expensive to purchase if you anticipated cruising over a wide area passing through several of the Blue Chart regions.

The larger, fixed mount chartplotter units like the 492C began to be offered with pre-loaded charts for all U.S. coastal waters, and though more expensive than hand-helds, the value of the charts more than made up for the price difference for those needing many regions. But a fixed mount unit requiring a connection to an on-board 12-volt electrical system is not feasible for many small boats and especially for such craft as sea kayaks. Even the 478C, designed to be portable and movable between a boat and a vehicle, requires a 12-volt connection and will not run on self-contained batteries.

I considered the 478C last year when I was still sailing Element, my Wharram Tiki 21 catamaran. But to use this I would have to install some kind of basic electrical system, which the boat did not have and I did not want on that size boat. I almost went ahead and bought a GPSMap 76Cx, along with one chart region, for my area of the Gulf of Mexico as the price kept falling. But it would cost $400 for the unit and another $150 or so for the one chart. I could use it on Element or in my kayak, but I knew I would eventually have my Tiki 26, Element II, that I'm building now, and would need to purchase multiple chart regions. This would make the cost much greater than the $700 478C, so I decided to do without and wait to see what was available when my new boat was finished.

Now, it appears that I have my answer in the new Garmin Colorado - a hand-held portable with pre-loaded charts of all U.S. waters and the Bahamas - enough coverage to keep me busy for awhile. This is the sort of GPS receiver I've been hoping Garmin would introduce - a true handheld chartplotter with the same built-in coverage of U.S. waters as the bigger units, but the ability to run off disposable AA batteries. Like the GPSMap 76Cx, it also has a micro-SD card slot so you can purchase additional charts if your cruising takes you beyond the coverage of the pre-loaded charts. Best of all you get all this for just $600 - a price that will probably start dropping after it's been in in production awhile.

A major change from the older handheld units is the user-interface. The Colorado 400C uses an Ipod-style "Rock 'n Roller" input wheel for easy one-handed operation. The wheel rotates clockwise and counter-clockwise to move through the lists on any of the screens and to zoom in and out on the charts. It can also be used to enter text using an on-screen list of alphanumeric characters. The wheel is at the top of the unit, designed to be in the natural position for the thumb, see below:

While the screen on all hand-helds is smaller than the larger, fixed-mount units, it is still quite usable as a chartplotter and the portability makes up for it. On a boat like my Tiki 26, I'll be able to use it from either side of the cockpit, depending on which tack I'm on, or take it down below if I'm working out a route or just want a break from bad weather.

The screen shot below from the Garmin website gives you a pretty good idea of how the g2 Blue Charts display on the Colorado 400C. Screen size is 3" diagonal, or 1.53" wide by 2.55" high.

Like the older Garmin handheld units, the Colorado 400C is waterproof. It uses 2 AA batteries with a projected run time of 15 hours, or it can be connected to a vessel or vehicle 12-volt system via an optional power cable. Built-in memory includes the capacity to store 1000 waypoints and 50 routes.

There is also a built-in electronic compass and barometric altimeter, as well as tide tables and sun and moon rise and set information. An alarm mode includes four alarms: anchor drag, off course, deep water, and shallow water.

All-in-all, the Colorado 400C seems to have everything I would want in a handheld GPS chartplotter. The small screen is the only disadvantage as opposed to larger, dedicated plotters, but you can't have everything with such portability. I'll be watching this unit in the coming months for user reviews and tests and when I get closer to launching Element II, I'm sure it will be on my outfitting list. The best place to get a good deal on electronics like this that I've found is Amazon, as they usually beat everyone else's price and you can get it with free shipping and no sales tax. It's in stock now at the link below if you can't wait, or you can watch and see if the price falls after the initial introduction.

Garmin Colorado 400c Handheld GPS