# Buying a Casio PRW-3000 from Japan



## Apollo83

Hi - first time starting a thread so hope I get this right...

I thought I'd just quickly share my experience of purchasing a Casio from Japan shipping to Europe as well as an overview of the watch itself, a ProTrek PRW-3000-1AJF

Step 1: Find a Japanese seller that will ship internationally.
I found a good place to start to be the English language Rakuten site:
Rakuten: Watches - Shopping Japanese products from Japan
For the watch I was interested in I could see the cheapest seller was Sunknots (known to some of you on this forum)
So I searched for Sunknots and found their site in Japanese language selling the same watch:
ŽžŒv �„ CASIO �„ PRO TREK�iƒvƒ�ƒgƒŒƒbƒN�j �„ PRW-3000-1AJF�y"ú-{�³‹K•i�z�y'--¿-³-¿�z
Opening the page through Google or Bing page translator made it much easier to work out what was going on. 
It turned out buying the watch direct from Sunknots would be ~1500Y (~$15) cheaper (incl. shipping) than from Sunknots on Rakuten.
So seller identified!

Step 2: Place order.
The sunknots web form cart checkout was really aimed at Japanese customers, so instead I turned to their contact form:
https://s501.asuka.jp/sunknots.com/support1.cgi
I sent a query asking:
-(in Japanese using Google translate again) if they spoke English (don't you hate when English speakers assume everyone can speak English?  ) and if not to please let me know - 
- (in simple English) do they ship internationally
- If so, what is the watch price and shipping cost (their reply to this was to act as my quote later if there was any confusion)
- What was the process for ordering.

They confirmed (using broken English) 27500Y for the watch an 1000Y for shipping to Europe (which was the best price I could find anywhere). They also said I could pay using PayPal and to provide shipping address.
I provided shipping address and followed their PayPal link to initiate a secure PayPal payment (checking to make sure links appeared genuine).
The next morning they provided an EMS tracking number, and the wait began!

Step 3: Receive Package
The EMS tracking was easy to follow at:
Post/EMS tracking - track-trace
I saw the package go through the following statuses:
-Posting/Collection
-Dispatch from outward office of exchange
-Arrival at inward office of exchange
-In Customs
-Departure from inward office of exchange
-Processing at delivery Post Office
6 days after confirming payment the package arrived (impressive speed for my neck of the woods)

Step 4: Unpackage watch
The outer packaging, marked fragile, was a thick paper bag which would not provide much protection from an impact. Fortunately, my contents were intact:







Inside, wrapped in some bubble wrap, was the card outer box, containing manual & watch box:







In that was the thicker card display box, containing the watch wrapped around a small white pillow:







The manual came in Japanese, but as mentioned elsewhere, you can download the English version here:
Watches [ Manuals ] - CASIO WORLDWIDE

Step 5: Use watch!
Finally, the mini-review:
So I decided to go with the negative display, black resin case and urethane strap version of the new 3rd generation Casio ProTrek 3000. i.e. PRW-3000-1AJF
I had recently decided to buy my first ABC. I was considering a ProTrek PRW-2000 or a Suunto Core when Casio announced the new PRW-3000.
What attracted me to the design was the slimmer case with cleaner, less rugged, less cluttered display with the option for negative display - closer to a Suunto.
What attracted me to the features was the improved accuracy and frequency of Altimeter, Barometer, Compass, Thermometer readings (made possible by lower power consumption on the detectors) - making the Casio more competitive versus the Suunto whilst retaining it's solar power advantage.
My concern going with the negative display was ease of reading it under low light. 
Here it is under foliage in natural sunlight:







Here it is again under a 50W desk lamp:







In general I'm happy with the display - only in very dim light, do I find it hard to read and then the easy to locate light with what appears to be twin led does the trick:







The functions of the watch seem similar to the PRW2000 - one possible difference is that the top third of the display is scrolling rather than static allowing a more complete description of the menu section/action.
I won't describe the functions in detail here as the manual covers them all very clearly.
The one thing I will call out is that the display is not duplex. Circular graphical display elements like the compass direction, barometer differential and trek log are handled by the circular graduations surrounding the central display.







Finally, the strap is flexible and comfortably fits my 20cm wrist (is that big? have we ever polled wrist size distribution on watchuseek? )








I hope this has been of some use.
Good luck if you decide to buy a Casio direct from Japan.


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## npad69

congratulations! i received mine after 4 trips to my local casio shop bugging the sales staff about this module, i guess they are pretty relieved now that im out of their hair lol. the only option for me was the negative display (its the only unit which arrived at that time) so i fired up my card and bought it. other than being hard to read in low light, the negative display more than compensates in the 'coolness' criteria. the light button and the auto EL function does the job anyway and there is definitely no need to scrimp on battery juice since light is free


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## ice_man

I should have seen this before I bought mine and saved some money.. But, it's okay since this is an awesome piece...


Tapatalk.


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## HereComesTheBOOM

Ok, I may regret not holding out for this one & getting the PRG-200GB instead a little now ;-)

Great write up, thanks for sharing









20cm (8") is on the large side I believe, but nothing too extreme yet. Right above average I'd say.


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## anathema

Anyone know if any of these sites are selling the PRW3000T (Titanium) yet ? I'd love to get one, and there are pics of finished models from Baselworld, but nothing on any Japanese site? Any idea anyone when they are out or do I just not know how to search?


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## Icosahedron

Thanks, Apollo; this thread is an inspiration. I've about decided I can't wait for the US release and will have to order from Japan.

On the Rakuten site all but three of the vendors for the -1JF model (the basic B&W version) are sold out, so it might be wise for interested parties to move quickly. Other vendors turn up on Amazon but are considerably more expensive. BUT several vendors warn that the warranty is valid in Japan only; worth thinking about before committing $300+.


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## Socom

Yeah. Mine has been shipped today from Sunknots.
Wonder how long it will take to Germany...


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## Chrisek

Nice write up, and digging the negative display!

sent with aloha


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## rosse

The only information about titanium version (prw-3000t-7JF), I've manage to find so far is here (pdf), but with some info in a circle next to it, which is unclear to me. Translating the pdf itself reveals - "8february"


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## Apollo83

Socom said:


> Yeah. Mine has been shipped today from Sunknots.
> Wonder how long it will take to Germany...


Are we taking bets? 
My money on 29 Jul.

Please do share any differences in your experience on this thread. The bigger the sample size the better.


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## hiker

rosse said:


> The only information about titanium version (prw-3000t-7JF), I've manage to find so far is here (pdf), but with some info in a circle next to it, which is unclear to me. Translating the pdf itself reveals - "8february"


how can 3000t be released on 8th februry .?its too late


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## Socom

Apollo83 said:


> Are we taking bets?
> My money on 29 Jul.
> 
> Please do share any differences in your experience on this thread. The bigger the sample size the better.


It is in customs now.... :roll:
Wonder how much they're going to rip me off. :-|


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## Apollo83

Looks like lots of you are ordering the watch, so I thought I'd share some set-up tips for the PRW-3000 (should apply to some other protreks also):

Step 1: Find your bearings!
Lookup your Latitude, Longitude & Altitude on a suitable website.
I used this one:
Google Maps Find Altitude
Lookup your magnetic declination on a suitable website.
I used this one:
Magnetic Declination

Step 2: Set your timezone & location (for accurate sunrise/set)
In timekeeping mode, long press E (top left button) until city displays.
Use A & C to pick your nearest city with correct timezone (LON for me)
short press E to display Lat
use A & C to adjust to correct Lat
press D (bottom left buton) to display Long
use A & C to adjust to correct Long
short press E to return to timekeeping mode

Step 3: Set your magnetic declination (for accurate compass)
press C to select compass mode
long press E until calibration displays
press D to display DEC
use A & C to adjust magnetic declination
short press E to return to compass mode.

Step 4: Set your altitude (for accurate absolute altitude)
press A to select altimeter mode
long press E until alti displays
use A & C to adjust altitude to known altitude
short press E to return to altimeter mode.

Step 5: Switch on Auto Light
Long press L (bottom centre button) until LT displays on screen

Step 6: Switch on Mute
In timekeeping mode, long press E (top left button) until city displays.
press D multiple times until KEY is displayed
press A to toggle to MUTE
short press E twice to return to timekeeping mode

There are some other settings you could do, especially if you are out of range of the radio signal. Also Power Saving can be toggled off but I'm not sure why in daily use you'd want to...

Worth noting that Steps 1 to 3 may need to be performed any time you change your location by a large amount (travel, accurate hiking far from home).
Step 4 needs to be performed every time the air pressure changes substantially. I've remembered by home altitude (12m) so I can set it before I head out any time the absolute altitude is important to me. If only there was some kind of lock 
Relative altitude is of course good to use any time and the accuracy of the new detectors really are impressive.


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## Chrisek

Thank you for the tips! More helpful than youvmay guess for someone new to abc watches like myself! :beer:

sent with aloha


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## betotototo

So does the PRW 3000 from Japan let you change the form of units of measurement - switching from Metric to Imperial, etc?

I'm asking because I'm interested in the 3000T and upon research, I ran into a seller on Amazon that states:

"This watch can not switch the unit of measurement, Distance unit :Meter, Temperature unit Celsius"

Link of where I got this information:
Casio PROTREK Triple Sensor Ver.3 Tough Solar MULTIBAND 6 PRW-3000T-7JF Men's Watch (Japan Import): Watches: Amazon.com


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## Chrisek

Yes, as long as Tokyo is not your home city you can switch between imperial and metric units. 

Edit: known for the non-ti version. Do they have the same module?

sent with aloha


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## Plinko

For those who own this watch, when in altimeter mode, does it display rate of ascent/descent?


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## Apollo83

Plinko said:


> For those who own this watch, when in altimeter mode, does it display rate of ascent/descent?


Hi Plinko,

No. (at least as far as I can see)
It has 2 altitude displays:
1) Altitude Tendency - this is a graphical representation of the change every 5 secs or 2 mins (depending what frequency you have set).
2) Altitude difference - this is the numerical altitude difference relative to your initial altitude (you can set the initial altitude)

The first of these kind of shows you rate of change graphically at a glance - steep line quick, shallow line slow 
I use the second most often - hit the button to initialise, hike, stop and see altitude change.

Finally, Trek Log mode can also be switched on. This keeps track of cumulative ascent, descent as well as max and min.


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## fraza

hello be happy withe this watch
and i have just a note 
the service mail EMS its so speed and is same time not expensive like dhl FedEx ups ;;;etc
i hope all use ems and whose no know ems its a service postal worldwide in all posts office in world they use this way 
i from Algeria and i buy phone from Korea lg in " days i have it on door lol


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## afrowuwu

I noticed that there are 2 models of PRW3000-1 in the market, one being PRW3000-1AJF, the other being PRW3000-1ACR.
Does anyone know the difference between these 2 models please?
Thanks!


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## Apollo83

afrowuwu said:


> I noticed that there are 2 models of PRW3000-1 in the market, one being PRW3000-1AJF, the other being PRW3000-1ACR.
> Does anyone know the difference between these 2 models please?
> Thanks!


Hi Afrowuwu - Welcome to the forum.

Casio watches typically have some logic behind their codes.
I can't find the generic link to the naming convention (maybe someone else can post it in the Links Sticky?)

So from memory (!)
The watch name is:
PR = Protrek
W=Waveceptor (Radio controlled time)
3000 = model number
-1 = Colour of Black or -1A = Black with Negative display
JF = Market code of Japan.

So you have 2 watches that are genuinely different:

PRW3000-1 (Black positive display)
PRW3000-1A (Black negative display)

After that comes the market code JF for Japan.
Sometimes you have different codes for Europe vs North America.
Or sometimes they just have 'export' versions.
I'm not sure what CR is (I'd guess 'export')

Typically there is no difference in the functionality of the watch due to this market code - usually just documentation, possibly packaging and in some cases aesthetic difference e.g. I seem to remember 'illuminator' in Japan was marked 'foxfire' instead on some watches.

I only have the JF model so can't definitively say whether there are any differences compared to CR.


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## nepatriot

afrowuwu said:


> I noticed that there are 2 models of PRW3000-1 in the market, one being PRW3000-1AJF, the other being PRW3000-1ACR.
> Does anyone know the difference between these 2 models please?
> Thanks!


The "JF" one is intended to sell in Japan; the CR is intended to sell outside Japan. Sometimes there are codes for specific markets, like the US or EU. The biggest difference between these is the language used on the materials, and the warranty. Different countries may have different consumer protection laws or legal requirements when it comes to warranty, so if a Japanese manufacture intends to export directly into a particular market they may create a separate item number, usually designated by an extension like "CR", to differentiate those items within their internal logistics and supply chain. If they do not plan to ship directly to a market, they may make a more generic exportable selling unit with a more generic warranty, and materials printed in multiple languages. The "CR" may be that.

In all of these instances, typically the unit itself is the same, with perhaps some small cosmetic differences, like a symbol or color, or the language or measures used on various screens. Sometimes there are more model choices for a market where they expect to sell a lot more of an item, while a smaller market (in terms of how many units they plan to sell) may have one model only. Apart from that the item itself as far as materials and functions are usually the same, and in many if not most cases they all are made in the same factory and production lines.

The cost difference between export and non-export models is driven by currency exchanges and even just plain old manufacturer mark up vs. the market's economic situation, such as I can charge more for this in Japan, but in India I have to sell it in for less or else risk having very low sales.


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