5X as the Ultimate Outdoorsmans Watch

Former Member over 8 years ago

The one thing that was most awesome about every Casio G-Shock/Pro-Trek I ever owned was the solar power -- never needed a replacement battery.

Now bear with me here because I know the Fenix line is a totally different kind of watch that uses significantly more power, however, given the 20/72 hr limitation when being used in GPS/Ultratrac (when you're likely to be outside getting sun), has there been any investigation into how much adding solar juicing might increase battery life and make charging less frequent? This would be an unmatched capability for those who backpack too, to be able to charge it up with the sun between power sources.

I just bought the 5X last month, and obviously it's no contest between a Pro-Trek and a Fenix, they're not in the same league, but I miss the crap out of my solar powered device. It seems like the panels can be pretty compact based on how little space is taken up by panels on the Casio line. It wouldn't be effort-free, but it should be doable. Dunno whether others have thought of/requested this, but this is the one thing the watch lacks as an ultimate outdoorsman's tool.

0 jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

One thing I'll do with Garmins (haven't needed it with a f5 yet but have with the va/vahr/fr 230), is you can actually charge it while it's in use. For that I use a battery based cell phone charger, and just bring the charging cable with me (no reason a solar based one wouldn't work too).

If you stop for a break/food, etc, just pause the activity and hook it to the power source for that 10-20 minutes (on some watches, you need to change the "USB MODE" in the system settings to "Garmin" for this, but I just leave it that way).

The problem I see with solar on the watch itself would be "where?". You don't want to make the watch larger or obstruct the display, and may not be something many folks would want day to day. But using "boost the battery when you can", it allowed me to double the battery life on a watch (that was plenty for me)

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Not in the Pacific Northwet

I live in the PNW, where solar is a no go. Between the cloud cover and tree canopy, it's a nope. I have a friend who regretted carrying a solar charger on a 400 mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

I haven't taken my F5X backpacking yet but have done many trips with my F3 & F3HR. The battery is much less of a limitation than you'd expect.

First, it gets 20 hours of GPS time, but you don't want to record your whereabouts while you sleep in camp. Those 20 hours might be 2 or 3 days of hiking.

Anker makes a battery pack for $10 that weighs about 2.7 oz and has 3200 mah. That will charge a F3 almost 10 times, I'm not sure what the battery in the F5X is like. Anyway, that little device and a USB cable makes it more like 20 to 25 days on the trail.

0 tickerguy over 8 years ago

Yep; I have a ~7000mah pack that is ~6oz all-in that I bring when hiking. It will charge the F5x for far longer than I'll be away from the ability to reload it, and it can also top up my cell a couple times as well should I be somewhere that it works (which is not a lot, but it's nice to have the capability.)

I find that does the job for me.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Embed the solar into the watch band and make it an accessory band for people who want it. It won't work for the Fenix 5 but how about future watches?

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Would not bring much

The power consumption of a Fenix watch is just way higher than what a solar panel integrated in the watch face and/or band could gather. So much so that it would make very very little difference.
As mentioned by others, making use of a separate battery pack and/or separate small (but considerably larger than the watch frontal surface) solar panel would be the solution..

0 Volker over 8 years ago

The one thing that was most awesome about every Casio G-Shock/Pro-Trek I ever owned was the solar power -- never needed a replacement battery

Has the new Casio wsd f 20 watch, which comes wit gps and mapping, a integrated solar panel?

0 Dr Phil over 8 years ago

Doesn't look like it has solar charging...http://wsd.casio.com/us/en/wsd-f20/products/