pfeiffer@uwvax.UUCP (Phil Pfeiffer) (07/26/85)
Q: When does "50M water resistant" not mean "50M water resistant" ?
A: When it refers to Casio watches.
My wife and I don't do a lot of scuba diving, but we do dive regularly when
we're on vacation. We average between ten and twenty dives a year, at depths
heretofore not exceeding 50'.
I have an older Casio watch, stamped "water resist 100 meters" ( 328' ). My
wife had a 50M ( 164') water resist Casio, which died after a dive to 25M
( 82' ) two Sundays ago, during an advanced certification course.
Sunday evening Linda noticed moisture inside the crystal; by Tuesday, her
Casio was zombied.
Yesterday Lin dug the Casio watch user's guide out of a dresser drawer.
Rereading the guide, she discovered a table detailing "proper use" for
Casio watches which we had somehow missed. I reproduce the part of the table
that's relevant to this discussion below:
Case designation Splashes, Swimming, car Snorkeling, Scuba
rain, etc. washing, etc. diving, etc. diving
WATER RESISTANT Yes No No No
(--> Lap swimmers beware !!)
50M WATER RESISTANT Yes Yes No No
(according to the guide, this watch "does not permit underwater button
operation". We never had any problems with operating the buttons,
however, in previous dives down to 50').
100M WATER RESISTANT Yes Yes Yes No
(according to the guide, the 100M watch "permits underwater button
operation (except where buttons are countersunk)" )
200M WATER RESISTANT Yes Yes Yes Yes
Note that "50M water resistant" and "100M water resistant" doesn't mean
what divers might think these terms mean. Note, however, that Lin's 50M water
resist watch worked fine down to 50'. My 100M watch still runs as well as it
ever did ( i.e., reasonably well, if you don't mind a watch that resets itself
to "Sunday, January 1, 12:00 midnight", several times a year, for no apparent
reason).
P.S.: According to the user's guide, the watch might have survived, had it
been overhauled immediately after we had noticed the condensation.
--
-- Phil Pfeiffer
"Fundy's long, and Fundy's wide, Fundy's fog, and rain, and tide,
Never see the sun or sky, just a green wave rolling by." [Gordon Bok]heneghan@ihu1m.UUCP (Joe Heneghan) (07/29/85)
I have a CASIO G-SHOCK that I bought at Venture for $35 (1/2 price). It has a lot of good features and I've noticed a few abnormalities: While ice sailing last winter @ -30 with a windchill of -60, I noticed a little condensation under the crystal. As soon as I got warmed up, it went away. Sometimes on the hour the alarm goes off at about 1/5 the volume when the alarm is intentionally set. I was getting a rash under the wrist band but when I loosened it up a little, it was fine. The day of the week field is "bleeding" a little. In spite of these anomalies, the watch keeps good time and all the functions appear as advertised.
repete@inmet.UUCP (08/01/85)
[]
I agree with the basic sentiment that talking about water resistance at
50 meters and then saying that the watch is not even appropriate for
snorkeling seems a little odd. On the other hand, when I wanted to buy
an inexpensive diving watch 2 years ago (I *LOST* my 10-year-old USD Doxa
that always kept perfect analogue time :-( ), it seemed to me that something
rated at 50 meters wouldn't provide an adequate safety margin for
scuba; a factor of 2 (max 25 meters) is about the best that I would want
to count on. Therefore, I bought the Casio TS-1000, rated at 100M.
I've had it down to 50 meters with no problem other than narcosis (me,
not the watch). I guess I'm slightly surprised that Casio doesn't rate
it for scuba, but then again some people dive below 50 meters frequently,
which might well cause problems. Sport divers who frequently exceed the
halfway point for the 200 meter watches more often file obituaries than
complaints to Casio, so I guess Casio feels confident about that one.
ihnp4 Rich Peterson
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