So for a bit of context, I’ve worn a Protrek for three years and love it. I recently bought this GBD-H2000 to dip my toes in the sport/smartwatch field. I always loved Gshocks as a kid so this seemed like a good middle point between sport watch and Gshock ruggedness.

I’ve worn it for like two weeks now and here’s my first impressions : I love the bare aspect of this watch. I didn’t want a color screen, too many fancy apps on it etc, I have two young kids and want to spend less time on my phone already so I felt like having a “phone” on my watch would be a step back. I love that it connects to my phone to better see my trails and sleep analysis etc but I didn’t want more on the “smart side” I even disabled notifications so not get my attention eaten anymore away from my family.

The rugged side of it I love it but I feel like we’re not yet on the real Gshock ruggedness level. I understand it’s a sport watch so lightness is important, yet it does feel quite a bit on the cheap side, it being all plastic and all, and some of the screen protection plastics are not full but hollow plastic shell which makes it even more cheap feeling.

It’s been said a lot but the app, even though not being the horrible crap it’s said to be, is really not what you’d expect from a high level company like Casio. Some translations are a bit off, some UX aspects are really bad (like you can set the sleep time at different places which is not ideal), and the amount of personalisation is quite limited compared to a Garmin.

Battery wise, when using the GPS set to high precision and making trails of a few hours every two days, I get about one week out of it. Don’t expect to charge the whole smartwatch side of it by solar like it’s been said in reviews, the manual says that only the time and “simple watch” side of it charge by solar (from my understanding).

So all in all, I love that it’s light, I love the gshock style, I love how bare and simple it is, compared to a real smartwatch. I just wished it inspired more ruggedness and toughness instead of cheap plastic feeling. The battery is totally fine to me and the app, even though it could really use some work, is useable.

I bought it with a 15% discount so those negative sides are a bit better accepted.