# LAD WEATHER Watches.....Thoughts and Opinions Please.



## NalaJr (Oct 30, 2011)

Hey all,

I came across these watches in looking around online and they look pretty good. If you have never seen them, here is the website:
LAD WEATHER official website | Products list

If anyone has owned them or has any experience with them, how about posting up and telling about it. Not only do they look pretty good, but they also are priced really reasonably at about $50 or so, give or take a bit.

What do you think of them? Would you wear one, why or why not?

Thanks

Nalajr


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## hiker (Nov 18, 2012)

search this forum.plenty of threads on this and similar weathermaster/lacrosse xg 55 watch.
consensus is that for the price these are marvelous gadget/watches.accurate and have even more functions than casios and tissots.build quality may not match casio but look at the price difference!and for normal everyday wear they are usually tough enough..check generic/sunroad abc watches also.they have now ABC functions plus pedometer in same watch!no need to carry separate pedometer


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## cal..45 (Jun 4, 2006)

I have this model incoming: http://www.amazon.com/Weather-Altim...F8&qid=1436251156&sr=8-2&keywords=lad+weather

Once it arrives and I had a chance to test it under tough world circumstances (military training area), I have plans to write a short review about it, but this will still take a couple weeks though.

cheers


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## hiker (Nov 18, 2012)

waiting for your review...we want to know that how accurate and thermocompensated etc the sensors are.is light good?are alarms audible?is battery easy to change for a common g shock collector.etc


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## Rocat (Sep 17, 2013)

cal..45 said:


> I have this model incoming: http://www.amazon.com/Weather-Altim...F8&qid=1436251156&sr=8-2&keywords=lad+weather
> 
> Once it arrives and I had a chance to test it under tough world circumstances (military training area), I have plans to write a short review about it, but this will still take a couple weeks though.
> 
> cheers


Are you going for a positive lcd or a negative lcd this time? And yes, I am looking forward to your review as well.


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## cal..45 (Jun 4, 2006)

Okay guys, the watch arrived yesterday |>

As I wrote I will test it during my job but my next assignment is at the beginning of August, so a few more weeks to a final statement. However, here are a few points I can tell you so far:

First off: legibily of the (positive) display is mediocre. The background is somewhat of a greyish/greenish mix and that is not the best option to make a high contrast display. In fact I can read my negative GD-350 in a dimmed room better than this watch, which brings me to the point that you might wanna go for the negative display of the LAD in the first place. I also will probably order one to see for myself for the distinguished look and - of course - for the fun ;-)

*ABC functions: *

Altimeter is settable in 1 meter increments and it does have an altimeter lock! I set my watch to 88 meters altitude (my current home) and over night the airpressure raised by about 7mbar, still the altimeter showed 88 meters in the morning - great|> while in alti mode you can press upper right and/or lower right button. The first shows the altigraph of the past 34 hours, the latter shows the altitude of the last 34 hours, both will also show the hourly temperature.

There is also an altimeter record function (trek mode) that will record ascent and descent and probably some other data, but I hadn't the chance to play around with it yet.

Barometer shows the current airpressure, with a push to upper right it shows the barograph of the past 34 hours, lower right shows the sea-lever pressure of the past 34 hours. Barograph is fairly huge, it uses nearly the entire wide of the watch display, great |>

Compass is excellent and once calibrated, on par with my Recta magnetic field compass. The bearing duration is one minute, after that the compass goes into idle mode. The graphic display of the compass is the best I have seen to date on any ABC watch, it shows in the upper row the bearing in degrees and in the middle row the direction you are heading on kind of a ticker. A huge plus is that the compass is fully night operable, while you do a bearing you can press (and keep it pressed) the light button and backlight stays on as long as you need it, don't worry the compass won't freeze while light is on, unlike on a competitors product :-d Apropos light button: the LAD got it finally in the right place (for me anyway), namely on the right side of the case. As a left arm watch wearer I appreciate to have the light button this way and not having to reach over as with many other ABC watches (Tech4o, weather master etc).

*Timekeeping functions:*

In main menu the watch will show day of the week, time and date and the weatherforecast symbol. With a push of the upper right button you can switch from day of the week to temperature but thats it. Unlike the WM7 it is not able to show the barograph in timekeeping mode, not a big deal, but would have been nice nonetheless.

There are two alarms which are pretty straight foward. There is no option to set them for a specific date nor for weekdays/weekends (timex style). Also no snooze option.

Stopwatch goes up to 99:59:59 hours (I think, manual is unclear about this) and you can count up to10 laps.

Countdown timer can be set to second and is also up to 99:59:59 hours. There is a progress beeping tone and at the end it will beep for 30 seconds.There is no option to repeat the timer.
A second timezone (T2) can be set freely to any time you like.
*
General stuff:*

the watch is lightweight (58grams) and not overly bulky, as a matter of fact for an ABC watch it is one of the smaller models (though it is not a small watch by all means) Wearing comfort is on par with most Casios/Timex's. The watchband width is 22mm and the strap can be simply taken off, which will allow easily the use of Nato/Zulu straps - great |>

The compass bezel is pure decoration and not rotatable. The crystal is acrylic, which I find preferable for a tool watch, but your mileage may vary.

Buttons are easy to push, however the pressure points are not too well defined and feel a bit waggly. The ABC button (upper left) is bigger than the others and stands out which I personally like, especially the location of the light button is big plus as mentioned earlier.

The LAD uses a good old el-backlight (green) that is rather dim - perfect to maintain your nightvision and for me bright enough, others might complain about it but I truly like this. Once the light button is pressed the light will stay on as long as another button is pressed within 3 seconds. This will allow fully night operation on that watch, including setting an alarm/timer or as mentioned earlier a compass bearing should you be in need of it - great |>

The LAD houses a CR2032 battery. There is no dedicated battery hatch, but four screws on the caseback. This might enhance the water resistance (5 bar/50meters) but it requires a small screwdriver for a battery change in the field. However, there is a low batt warning icon and knowing CR cells, it will take quite some time from first appearence to a total dead battery.

Alarm beeps are nice and clear - not as loud as on some of my Timex's - but sufficient and very long (30 seconds).

*Conclusion:*

In my opinion the LAD is a very good value. Considered the low price and the many (useful) functions other manufascturers can learn a lot. For those who are looking for a cheap, yet fully operable ABC watch, you can stop looking and give the brand a chance. In my opinion it does everything that is important (for me anyway) in an ABC watch and what I'm demanding: altimeter lock, current and seal level pressure, a big barograph, indefinitely backlight.

The compass is the best I have seen so far in any watch, no matter of brand and price, truly worldclass.

The overall contrast (and therfore legibility in rooms/dim light conditions) of the positive display is somewhat disappointing, like I wrote you might go for the negative display instead, I will definitely give this a try as well.

With some functions (timekeeping mode) the LAD is rather simple and basic but this doesn't have to be necessary a bad thing.The user interface is logical and ABC/timekeeping modes are nicely seperated, in my opinion a well thought design.

So far I hadn't the chance to take some pics, but I will add them as soon as I find the time.Hope you enjoined the reading folks.

cheers


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## Rocat (Sep 17, 2013)

As always cal.45, your initial review is very informative and thorough. I look forward to the final write up after your assignment.

Now if you and hiker could review the watch at the same time that would be epic. 

I feel, and I am sure there are others that feel the same way, you and hiker are the the only two on WUS, IMO, who actually use the watches as the were meant to be used. So to me, I take both of your opinions seriously when considering an ABC watch.

Have a good day.

EDIT*****

After looking at their home website. I had to chuckle. A watch company that has pictures of people doing outdoor stuff, but no one has on a watch. LOL


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## hiker (Nov 18, 2012)

the lad weather watch has more streamlined design so i think it will sell more than lacrosse xg55 watch which is one of my favorite ABC watches.lacrosse has a sensor "herniation" or "bump" protruding from the side like older ABC,s used to have.
whenever weather changes lacrosse is usually first watch i turn to!i seldom wear it now because of my casios but it remains on my table working as a weatherstation etc.
lad weather watch,s module resembles weather master 7 and lacrosse xg 55 but with minor differences as pointed above.for eg the weather master watch did not have temprature record function and graph was 24 hours duration and some other minor differences.

infact lacrosse xg 55 and weather master also had some minor difference.which was that lacrosse recorded absolute pressure records while weather master recorded sea level pressure recorded ( at one hour intervals automatically)..i preferred lacrosse because when big storm used to hit the watch software in weather master would sometimes get confused and perceive this pressure change as altitude change,same happened in my timex ws 4 watch which i sold later (this is trouble with altitude lock alone with no barometer lock i guess).this is ofcourse not a trouble for those who dont use barometer a lot.and in most cases weather master (and maybe this lad watch also ) is very accurate.and ofcourse if you keep watch on absolute pressure (rather than on graph and history you can have the idea of actual pressure drop even in case of big storm etc).



in hills ,specially near tropics etc the weather changes in minutes.wthin half an hour i have seen sunshine turning into snow storm.here the barometer helps a lot.it is only indication what lies ahead.barometer does not only warn us about rain but windy weather also.winds recently killed a guy who was paragliding and he did not know that winds are about to hit!he got banged against the moutain he jumped from.
so barometer must be accurate also....and watches must have preferably both alti and baro locks ,but if there is no alti or baro lock than even raw data like casio gives is also helpful.atleast you know that there wont be any confusion due to large pressure changes.
let me give an example.once we had 8 mb pressure fall in few minutes.the alti lock watches i had perceived this pressure change as altitude change 
and graph showed only one or 2 mb pressure fall.this is what i am talking about.

i think lad weather watch also has same sea level pressure records which might be influenced by sudden pressure changes like in weather master watches..but cant say till i use it myself.
so thats why i got brunton adc data center and lacrosse xg55.
lad weather watch i nearly bought a year back but something came up and i could not get it..
for the listed price if this watch is missing some build quality etc even than it is ok i guess.


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## hiker (Nov 18, 2012)

i think the casio,s release of SGW 1000 outgear triple sensor is an effort to compete with the likes of lad weather watch and weather master watch etc.by producing a casio brand ABC watch at sub 100$ price ..
but here is a suggestion to casio. 
SGW 1000 is good concept but to beat the competition you will have to use a bigger CR 2032 battery,a better strap than is usually present in outgear series and a bit more functions..0.1mb barometer resolution will help,as will the one hourly altimeter/barometer data record function ,which must be automatically stored rather than manually storing the values!
and storm alarm is great idea but it also must be like in suunto core.once you turn it on it remains turned on!no one remembers to turn on weather alarm when one is hiking /walking and is dead tired at night!


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## GaryK30 (Dec 14, 2014)

My LAD Weather Sensor Master (LAD004) arrived a few days ago. I'm disappointed that the strap is scratched up on both sides due to the cardboard packaging through which they put the strap. They should have put plastic around the strap (or the whole watch) to prevent this, like Casio does with Pro Trek models that come in a cardboard insert inside a wooden box.









I also noticed that there is a small scratch on the crystal, even though it was covered with a plastic protector, and there is a long, thin scratch on the bezel. Both of these scratches are easily visible in bright light, as shown in these pictures.

















As cal..45 noted, the display contrast leaves a lot to be desired. It has black digits on a greenish background. The contrast is far worse than on any of my Casios. In normal indoor light I find it pretty difficult to read. Here's a picture taken in bright indoor light showing the display contrast in comparison with my Rangeman. I wish they would have used a lighter background on the display.









The sensors seem to work well so far. I adjusted the barometer slightly to match my local NOAA weather station's value, but corrected for my altitude. I also set the altitude properly for my location. The watch can show sea level pressure, but only for the one-hour data collection increments. I haven't found a way to show the current sea level pressure if it's far past the top of the hour. According to cal..45, the watch has an automatic altitude lock. I wish Casio would add an altitude lock and sea level pressure to their ABC watches.

Due to the various scratches and the poor display contrast, I'll be returning the watch.


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## kamo (Sep 13, 2010)

I ordered the negative display version of Cal's watch from Amazon last week. Should be with me by end of this week. Hopefully, there will be no issues like scratches and silly packaging. I will post my thoughts as soon as i get it. I am curious about the legibility of the netgative display. Will let you all know...


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## cal..45 (Jun 4, 2006)

Hi Gary,

I'm sorry reading about your bad luck with that watch. Are you returning it or do you exchange it for the negative version? You're right, the sea level pressure is kind of a "stored" data, which will only allow to be seen by the last full hour and every full hour for the last 36 hours (I think). Since the airpressure is usually not too far off during one hour I consider this negligible, but ymmv.


cheers


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## GaryK30 (Dec 14, 2014)

cal..45 said:


> Hi Gary,
> 
> I'm sorry reading about your bad luck with that watch. Are you returning it or do you exchange it for the negative version? You're right, the sea level pressure is kind of a "stored" data, which will only allow to be seen by the last full hour and every full hour for the last 36 hours (I think). Since the airpressure is usually not too far off during one hour I consider this negligible, but ymmv.
> 
> cheers


Hi cal..45,

I'll probably just return it for a refund. I've seen some comments about the negative display readability that make me think it's as bad or worse than the positive display, which makes sense if the same grayish green back layer is used on the negative display versions.

It's too bad this sensor isn't available in a watch with a higher contrast display and better construction quality for somewhat more money (e.g., slightly recessed mineral crystal, 100m water resistance). The sensor features are excellent for a $45 watch. The altitude lock works pretty well. I set it at 1020 ft originally. The farthest off I've seen it is about 980 ft, and this is with two storms blowing through. Certainly it has much less variation than any of my three Casio ABC watches, which lack an altitude lock.

I wasn't really upset with the way sea level pressure is shown. It's more of a design quirk than a flaw.

Also, they should use better packaging that doesn't rub on and scuff up the strap before you even open the box. The good news it that, due to the use of standard lugs, it should be easy enough to use a 22mm NATO type strap in place of the OEM strap.

Regards


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## webvan (Dec 11, 2008)

My Pyle-Sport PSWWM82BK came in yesterday, it's the same watch as the one being reviewed here as far as I can tell. Amazon had one left for 49€ but it seems someone ordered it at the exact same time as I did, or completed the purchase after I'd added it to my basket rather, so I couldn't buy it, first time I see that problem on Amazon. They had two "used sold by Amazon" models, one "Good" for 41€ and one "Like New" for 47€. I took a gamble on the "Good" one as the descriptions were similar (box damaged, some damage on the front, side, back of the product)...figuring I could always send it back if it was beat...turns out it looks absolutely like new, including the box!










Not a lot to add to Cal.45's excellent review, it seems to be amazing value for money! The altitude lock works very well when it's static, no miracles however when you're out and about and with the 2 mb drop during my outing this morning it gained the expected ~15 meters

I wish there was a way to view SLP/MSL/QNH pressure outside of the value on the top of the hours in its memory not just ambient pressure. I thought you could do that when calibrating the altimeter but there's no way of getting out of calibration without saving the new value.

Oh one thing I didn't see mentioned, and it's a detail, it the shape of the end of the strap that prevents the keeper from sliding out. Pretty nifty and not something I'd seen on any other watch, and I've seen a few ;-) Talking about the strap it's not made of the most supple rubber and I'm not sure how long it will last. It should be easy enough to replace it but it will hard to match the curved ends though.










About the acrylic glass I actually see it as an advantage as scratches can be easily removed with Polywatch and of course a cheap glass cover could be added too, the size seems to be 33mm, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

Anyway thanks for sharing the info about this great watch without which...actually I'd seen the LAD004 version on Amazon but none of the (many) reviews had spotted the automatic and effective "altitude lock" and it sounded too good to be true at that price compared to the cheapest ABC Casio, the SGW-1000, with a smaller battery and of course no "altitude" lock.


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## cojack (May 11, 2020)

In January I bought a Lad-Weather SENSOR MASTER V lad048. I decided for a Lad-Weather after reading some reports, that, amongst other favorable things, classified Lad-Weather as quite reliable. Also, I liked the design. 
But three months later, the sensor button has fallen off, just while sitting on the table out of nothing, without any harsh treating before. While I tried to place the sensor button back into it's opening (position in the clock), it jumped out again, fall to the flour and the tiny little washer get lost!! (on the photo it is still there)

I had sent three emails to Lad-Weather, asking what to do. But there was no answer at all, not even a notice that they got the mail. This "support" mail address is not even worth its name!

My conclusion now: poor quality product, even poorer quality of support. A huge and costly disappointment. Keep your scrap! I will go for a Garmin or Suunto now.


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