A Review of Casio Solar Atomic “Mudman”

This is one tough watch, and is made to handle whatever life might throw your way.  It’s designed specifically to handle the grit and filth of muddy environments and, as such, is the perfect timepiece to accompany you on your next mud run.

Featured image courtesy of J. Beitia

Here’s a quick rundown of the key features:

• Solar powered design should never require a battery replacement
• Atomic timekeeping automatically keeps watch in sync with military time sources
• Sealed, mud and shock resistant case that is water resistant to 200 Meters
• Automatic, tilt responsive backlight that illuminates when you turn your wrist towards your eyes
• World time, stopwatches, alarms and countdown timer
• Easy to read display w/power meter

This watch is my dirty work/exercise/hiking/mud run/zombie apocalypse watch, and the time keeper of my collection.  I set my mechanical watches to this, as it’s atomic time function keeps it in perfect sync with government time sources.  This watch has seen me through a lot of hard work, training sessions and a Tough Mudder, and is as solid as the day I bought it.

It’s a very light watch and the strap is comfortable, solid, and well ventilated.  This, combines with a case design that features little nubs on the back of the case. The result is that the actual contact the watch makes with your skin quite minimal.  This really helps when working out or doing anything strenuous where you find yourself sweating a lot.

The negative commentary I can offer on this watch is really pretty limited.

One bullet point would be the stiffness of the buttons.  This is by design and is a result of the sealed, mud resistant case, but the fact remains that button presses require a fair bit of force.

I personally would have liked an interval timer as well.  I use the countdown timer for timed interval workouts often, but there’s only one timer, so you need to restart it after each break.  I occasionally like to do workouts with several minutes of timed activity followed immediately by short, timed breaks (ala “Insanity“) and having an interval timer that cycles through two intervals – work + break, for example – can be nice.  This is a minor complaint, but it would have been nice.  I’ll ding one point on “Utility” for these items, but I was tempted to give this watch 5 stars across the board.

Other than a few very minor complaints, this is the perfect watch for anyone looking for a durable, no nonsense workhorse on their wrist.  At about $100, the bang-for-the-buck calculation makes it a real no-brainer.  If you only ever bought one watch and only cared about utility, this would be a great way to go.  I expect this watch to see me through many more adventures.

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If simple wrist-top utility is all you want from a watch, then you can stop reading.  A modern quartz timepiece is the only way to go.  Still, there’s something to be said about the character of a mechanical watch. With that in mind I offer up a review of my newest watch: a beautiful new diver’s watch, manufactured in the USA by a small new startup.  A Review of The Anstead Oceanis

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