Casio unveils GPR-100, smallest GPS-enabled watch
By Darren Murph 
posted August 22nd 2006 10:45AM
posted August 22nd 2006 10:45AM
Maybe there's some mass conspiracy to tackle an overweight epidemic among humans, or maybe folks these days are running just for the fun it, but regardless of the real agenda, Casio is cashing in on the statistically-driven-jogger craze by unveiling the GPR-100. Hailed as the "world's smallest GPS-enabled watch," the unit combines all the goodness found in your average wristwatch with the swank abilities of GPS in order to better analyze your exercise. Similar to other arm-dominating contraptions we've seen, this waterproof wristwatch syncs up with GPS satellites to calculate the time, speed, distance, pace, and averages of your run, while keeping track of your route should you deviate from the beaten path. You also get a "fully automatic" calendar, stopwatch, alarm, and even a backlight for those late night excursions. The biggest dig on this otherwise fanciful little timepiece is the battery life; the rechargeable LiOn apparently lasts just 2 hours in "normal operation," while legging out 4.3 hours in "low power mode." While this GPS watch will certainly attract less negative attention compared to earlier efforts, the compactness comes at a price -- at a whopping ¥54,000 ($476), you might be better off evading the GPR-100 entirely this September, and redirecting your energy (and cashflow) towards that tried and true Nike+iPod setup.[Via Engadget Japanese]
Well, I guess there are some benefits to jumping on the bus a bit late: I just bought this watch new in South Africa for ZAR800 (i.e. only a touch over $100!). I'd done my research before buying this watch, and was also worried about the battery life, but there's one bit of info that none of the websites I read looked at: With time-keeping only (i.e. no GPS), battery life is between 7 and 11 days (according to the hefty manual). There's also a "low-power" GPS option, which stretches battery life to 4 hours. Seeing as I've only bought the watch to train for a half-marathon, that's good enough for me. Plus the watch's other unique functions (correcting time based on satellite signals, auto light-on etc) make this seem like a good buy. Oh, and you may have to charge it regularly, but it at least has a cool seperate docking station!
Let me burst your bubble: a good watch is usually more than 200$ and a specialty watch (ie Rafting, Hiking, with sensors and other stuff) is about 400$ so that doesn't make it very expensive for its category
The Garmin Forerunner 305 seems like a much better deal. 10-hour battery and heart rate monitor, about half the price and not much bigger. I own one and love it. If you're a runner, a GPS watch is a very useful tool for pacing yourself as well as keeping a log. Downloading tracks to Google Earth is a way cool feature.
http://www.garmin.com/products/forerunner305/
If it had Bluetooth, to provide a GPS feed to my handheld, I'd actually consider wearing a watch again.
I have been doing a lot of running laity and plan on doing a lot more. My current watch is an old Timex Ironman that has just about no features. I would so love to have a watch like this.
No thanks, I think I'll stick with my Casio G-shock solar-powered, atomic time-keeping watch. ;)
This watch isn't for camping, it's for running/biking. It doesn't tell you where you are or how to get somewhere, it uses GPS to monitor how far you've run/biked and how quickly you've done it.
If I was going to spent that much on a watch, I'd do it right and pick up a suunto X9i.
http://www.suunto.com/suunto/main/product_short.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673958098&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723697223384&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442492820&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395903526&bmUID=1156276053531
Sooooooo much cooler . . .
AND only $25 more.
Any serious runner/biker knows that 2 hours of battery life is not adequate for many races. Given that a half-marathon takes about 2 hours in itself... I predict utter failure. Casio sure didn't do their market research.
Second the motion on the Garmin x05 products. I have a 301 (w/ heart monitor) and bought the 205 ('cause I never used the heart monitor). It locks on to the satelites much faster than my 301. I'm curious how these smaller watches (like the Casio or Suunto) perform, though.
Thanks for sharing...
regards
SBL
http://www.sblgis.com/
I'd like a GPS watch that actually shows GPS coordinates
in Lat/Lon so that I could use it for running (with a
heart rate capability) as well as geo-caching. Oddly,
GPS watch manufacturers seem not to show the most basic
function of any GPS unit --> LAT/LON
Yoo want me to spend that much for two hours battery? then what.. stop running (or come back home to recharge it) for three hours and come again..
that sounds sick.. i didn't expect casio to let this piece see the light!