# first impressions on the Casio WSD-F20



## dirkpitt73

As a longtime watch nerd and collector, I was excited when Casio announced the original WSD-F10 Android Wear smartwatch. I didn't love the look and no GPS was a bummer, so I decided to wait for the Gen 2 model. When they announced the WSD-F20 earlier this year, I was glad to see GPS and Pro Trek branding, which was smart - why _not_emphasize one of the most well know brands in outdoor, ABC, adventure watches!? I also like the new look with PRO TREK and GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM on the bezel, it's similar to other high end Casio non-smartwatches. On the downside, however, they kept the same flimsy (and much maligned) magnetic charging port and flat tire.
While I was planning to wait for the Misfit Vapor, impatience and love of the Casio brand got the best of me and I ordered a WSD-F20. It arrived yesterday and first impressions are as follows:


it's HUGE, by far biggest watch I've ever worn
but, it's very comfortable and quite attractive (I think); my wrist is 7.5"
the Casio software is beautiful, the graphics and UI very good, better than typical AW OEM stuff (looking at you Huawei)
if you're familiar with Casio ABC watches, the altitude, barometer, tide, sunrise/sunset, compass will be very familiar BUT super fancy and enhanced since on AW; it has hardware sensors just like a standard ProTrek/Pathfinder Casio
the dual layer display is great, I'm using the 2Layers watch face, which looks like a standard Pro Trek digital - when the watch is active, it's the full color backlit LCD but in dim mode it switches to the low power non backlit LCD, a different display altogether!
one of the coolest things I found is you can stay in the low power LCD mode AND use the ABC (or TOOL as they call it) functions, just like a standard ABC digital watch
the App button defaults to the "Location Memory" app, while poorly named, is a very cool mapping/GPS app where you can switch between Google maps (street, satellite, terrain) and MapBox (w/ offline maps); it has breadcrumbs, waypoints, cool little icon markers, voice memos and links to Moment Setter - I need to try it on a trail this weekend to give real feedback, but it looks slick and you can have it track every minute or every 6 minutes; I like that you can use hardware buttons to zoom and place markers here, very slick
I haven't used the Activity Tracker yet, but you start it for Trekking, Fishing, Cycling, Paddling or Skiing and you can set goals and track progress
Moment Link lets you sync up with other WSD watches in your group and keep track of and message them on the trails; I can't imagine my wife or friends having this big, expensive specialized watch, so doubt I'll get to use it, but looks very cool (anyone wanna go hiking!?)
Moment Setter is another Casio app; it kind of automates notifications for certain actions, like notify me with a message and show a map if I'm within x feet of this marker, or tell me 30 mins before sunset (or sunrise), or notify me when the barometric pressure drops or rises by x amount; it looks powerful, I haven't used it much yet
If you're interested in this watch, I'd encourage you to read the manual, it's actually quite good and because Casio includes so much of their own software, it's worthwhile vs. your typical AW watch manual which pretty much says, connect to the Android Wear app;-) Manual: http://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/019/WSD-F10_F20_F20S_EN.pdf
I haven't had a full day test of battery yet, but I put it on at 7:30 AM and at 12:30ish it's at 91%. I've read you can get a full day with GPS on a lot and 2 days with it off and using the dual-layer display.
The bad (or needs improvement):


no NFC
no speaker
no ambient sensor (why the flat tire!?)
the charger is insanely unstable, you need to set the watch down perfectly still and then move the magnetic port close to it and it snaps on; DON'T touch it or it will fall off (on the plus side there is a charging LED which changes color so you can tell if it's actually charging)
If there's interest, I'd be happy to start a Casio WSD-F10/F20 subreddit, surely some other folks have these models and there's so many unique functions to discuss. Would I be the only one there!? ;-) I feel like not many people have this watch, which is a shame because Casio is a bonifide watch juggernaut with lots of value to add at a pretty reasonable price when you consider there are plenty of Casio "dumb" watches that sell for much more.


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## BarracksSi

Nice and thorough rundown of the watch.

Seems like if anyone's going to keep a tool-like focus in developing a smartwatch, it'll be Casio.


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## Blackranger3d

Interesting. Thanks for the review.


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## drzeller

dirkpitt73 said:


> As a longtime watch nerd and collector, I was excited when Casio announced the original WSD-F10 Android Wear smartwatch. I didn't love the look and no GPS was a bummer, so I decided to wait for the Gen 2 model. When they announced the WSD-F20 earlier this year, I was glad to see GPS and Pro Trek branding, which was smart - why _not_emphasize one of the most well know brands in outdoor, ABC, adventure watches!? I also like the new look with PRO TREK and GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM on the bezel, it's similar to other high end Casio non-smartwatches. On the downside, however, they kept the same flimsy (and much maligned) magnetic charging port and flat tire.
> While I was planning to wait for the Misfit Vapor, impatience and love of the Casio brand got the best of me and I ordered a WSD-F20. It arrived yesterday and first impressions are as follows:
> 
> 
> it's HUGE, by far biggest watch I've ever worn
> but, it's very comfortable and quite attractive (I think); my wrist is 7.5"
> the Casio software is beautiful, the graphics and UI very good, better than typical AW OEM stuff (looking at you Huawei)
> if you're familiar with Casio ABC watches, the altitude, barometer, tide, sunrise/sunset, compass will be very familiar BUT super fancy and enhanced since on AW; it has hardware sensors just like a standard ProTrek/Pathfinder Casio
> the dual layer display is great, I'm using the 2Layers watch face, which looks like a standard Pro Trek digital - when the watch is active, it's the full color backlit LCD but in dim mode it switches to the low power non backlit LCD, a different display altogether!
> one of the coolest things I found is you can stay in the low power LCD mode AND use the ABC (or TOOL as they call it) functions, just like a standard ABC digital watch
> the App button defaults to the "Location Memory" app, while poorly named, is a very cool mapping/GPS app where you can switch between Google maps (street, satellite, terrain) and MapBox (w/ offline maps); it has breadcrumbs, waypoints, cool little icon markers, voice memos and links to Moment Setter - I need to try it on a trail this weekend to give real feedback, but it looks slick and you can have it track every minute or every 6 minutes; I like that you can use hardware buttons to zoom and place markers here, very slick
> I haven't used the Activity Tracker yet, but you start it for Trekking, Fishing, Cycling, Paddling or Skiing and you can set goals and track progress
> Moment Link lets you sync up with other WSD watches in your group and keep track of and message them on the trails; I can't imagine my wife or friends having this big, expensive specialized watch, so doubt I'll get to use it, but looks very cool (anyone wanna go hiking!?)
> Moment Setter is another Casio app; it kind of automates notifications for certain actions, like notify me with a message and show a map if I'm within x feet of this marker, or tell me 30 mins before sunset (or sunrise), or notify me when the barometric pressure drops or rises by x amount; it looks powerful, I haven't used it much yet
> If you're interested in this watch, I'd encourage you to read the manual, it's actually quite good and because Casio includes so much of their own software, it's worthwhile vs. your typical AW watch manual which pretty much says, connect to the Android Wear app;-) Manual: http://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/019/WSD-F10_F20_F20S_EN.pdf
> I haven't had a full day test of battery yet, but I put it on at 7:30 AM and at 12:30ish it's at 91%. I've read you can get a full day with GPS on a lot and 2 days with it off and using the dual-layer display.
> The bad (or needs improvement):
> 
> 
> no NFC
> no speaker
> no ambient sensor (why the flat tire!?)
> the charger is insanely unstable, you need to set the watch down perfectly still and then move the magnetic port close to it and it snaps on; DON'T touch it or it will fall off (on the plus side there is a charging LED which changes color so you can tell if it's actually charging)
> If there's interest, I'd be happy to start a Casio WSD-F10/F20 subreddit, surely some other folks have these models and there's so many unique functions to discuss. Would I be the only one there!? ;-) I feel like not many people have this watch, which is a shame because Casio is a bonifide watch juggernaut with lots of value to add at a pretty reasonable price when you consider there are plenty of Casio "dumb" watches that sell for much more.


I like the watch, but need a heart rate tracker. Maybe next time!

David

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


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## dirkpitt73

Yeah, it's always a trade-off. I do like the flat back, which not all HR enabled watches have. I think given the focus is on exploration vs exercise, they omitted. 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk


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## guzzi850m2

I am quite interested in this watch. The Fenix5x cost almost 100k Yen in Japan but the Casio can be had for about 1/2 price. 

100k Yen is app 880$.

The Samsung Gear3 Frontier is also quite nice looking, so will check them both more out. 

I have sort of binned my plans of getting another Pro-Trek, the above mentioned watches can do so much more but okay will need charging often which might be annoying to me.


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## sunpowerhiker

I saw one of these on the wrist of a guy while out hiking the other day. So while chatting I asked him about it as I never saw one before.

Sadly since he just got it, he really did not know how to operate it to show me all the functions, but it was impressive. 




Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


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## dirkpitt73

Couple other cool things I've discovered:

You can correct the time via GPS with any of the Casio watch faces. This means it can be worn for a long time not connected to a phone and still be accurate. It even works in timepiece mode where Android Wear is turned off.

Also, if you set always on display to off, it will allow you to use any watch face, even third party, and when it goes dim the monochrome LCD will turn on. This is really slick because dim mode on most AW watches isn't very readable in direct sunlight but the mono LCD is made for that. 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk


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## Gerald Zhang-Schmidt

Greetings from a long-time Suunto forum contributor.

Just spent three weeks in China with the Casio ProTrek Smart, started putting detailed-look-videos on it in a YouTube playlist and will aim for a review (and more in-depth videos) later this summer.


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## dirkpitt73

I've watched a couple of your videos, nice job! I'll be sure to check them all out. I started a subreddit on the WSD series here, please subscribe if you are a Redditer: https://www.reddit.com/r/casiowsd/



Gerald Zhang-Schmidt said:


> Greetings from a long-time Suunto forum contributor.
> 
> Just spent three weeks in China with the Casio ProTrek Smart, started putting detailed-look-videos on it in a YouTube playlist and will aim for a review (and more in-depth videos) later this summer.


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## wctah

Nice rundown i really like this watch and the display is great.


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## Gerald Zhang-Schmidt

Not quite first impressions, but being active almost exclusively on the Suunto forum here on WUS, I don't want to start a new thread... Have had a WSD-F20 since end of June, used it on travels through China in July, and finally got around to publishing what has turned into only part 1 of a review (with even more videos on my YouTube channel than used in that).


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## Bocciaa

Huge cons for this watch that we dont have dedicated application for phone or computer where we can store our activities history for later looks and comparing between...

Послато са SM-G955F уз помоћ Тапатока


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## briancruz

Nice review, thanks for sharing!


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## peagreen

Other manufacturers demonstrated years ago that the "flat tyre" isn't necessary.
I don't even feel the urge to read any of the specs after seeing that. I know myself well enough to realise it would hurt my brain every time I looked at it.


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