Features:

• Touchscreen with anti-fouling coating
• Low energy GPS
• Pressure sensors, accelerometer, gyrometer, and compass
• Low energy Bluetooth V4.1
• Online Calder
• Alarm clock
• Contacts book
• Reminders
• Stopwatch
• Timer
• Torch
• Google translate
• Google Go

Hands On:

Being a smart-watch, the Casio Pro Trek is more of a wearable computer than something that simply tells you the time. This smart technology runs on the Android 2.0 Operating System, which for anybody under the age of 32, is the same thing that powers virtually every smart-phone that isn’t made by Apple. If, like me, you’re a committed Apple user, this can make the operating system a little less intuitive than for people more familiar with Android.

That said, after having the watch on my wrist for a morning, scrolling through the numerous functions became second nature.

Which leads us neatly on to the functionality of the Casio Pro Trek because, let’s face it, if you’re parting with £450 for a watch, you want it to be pretty handy. Happily, the Pro trek is. Everything on the watch is either a swipe of the screen or a press of one of the three buttons on the right of the face away.

There is a series of activity-based apps, that track your progress and statistics as you hike, kayak, cycle, ski, or whatever else it is that you like to get up to outdoors. All of these use the low-power GPS within the Pro Trek to accurately pinpoint your exact movements. I used the Paddle app while kayaking on Lake Windemeere and found it kept up with my location and activity fluidly.

The Verdict:

We had our hands on the latest Casio Pro Trek for a few days, and in that time, really grew to like it. It’s reassuringly sturdy, really feeling like a genuine piece of outdoor gear that will become indispensable within a few trips into the field.

Like many smartwatches, the Pro Trek is, to an extent, a vessel for a smart phone, the advantage being that you can just glance at your wrist to get the information needed, as opposed to having to stop and root through your pack or pockets for your mobile. The danger, of course, being the battery going while you’re still a long way from home, but this is the case across the market.

Both the inbuilt apps, and downloaded ones, such as the ViewRanger worked both well and fluidly. Using the watch quickly proved to be intuitive and easy, and with extended use it’ll surely become second nature. The Pro Trek also looks good enough to wear to work, or on a night out around the city (although you may want to wipe the mud off it first).

In short, we think that the latest Casio Pro Trek is a real winner.

For more information see casioonline.co.uk