You will, of course, be familiar with digital timepiece supremos Casio. However, some of you may not know that the Japanese company have, for some time, been making watches specifically for the outdoors market.
The Casio ProTrek, first launched in 1994, is now an established piece of outdoor gear and the update for 2017 has been hugely impressive. Paired up with the ViewRanger app, which we included in the Summer Outdoor 100, this smart watch is proving to be an indespensible bit of kit.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Casio ProTrek, or the Casio Pro Trek WSD-F20 if you prefer, is its somewhat chunky construction. It’s a fair old size sitting on your wrist. However, there’s a lot of brainpower behind the extra bulk. In fact, running on the Android 2.0 operating system, the Casio ProTrek is more like a computer that you can wear, rather than a watch.
“Paired up with the ViewRanger app, the Casio ProTrek is proving to be an indispensable bit of kit.”
While there are three buttons on the Casio ProTrek (Tools, App and the nameless Home button) pretty much every function on the watch can be done with a touch or a swipe of its 3.3cm screen. Out of the box, there are a series of activity-specific apps that track your progress hiking, swimming, kayaking, skiing, or whatever else you get up to in the outdoors. These all work fluidly and intuitively, utilising the low-power GPS that’s built into the Protrek.
