Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1468 in Watches
• Brand: Casio
• Model: EDB610-1
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 2.90" h x 3.30" w x 4.90" l, .38 pounds
• Band material: Resin
• Bezel material: Resin
• Case material: Resin
• Clasp type: Buckle
• Dial color: Silver-tone case, Digital dial
• Dial window material: Mineral
• Movement type: Quartz
• Water-resistant to 0 meters

Features

• Quartz movement
• Protective Mineral crystal protects watch from scratches
• Case diameter: 40 mm

Amazon.com Product Description
Presenting unsurpassed innovation, the quartz-powered Casio Men's Databank Digital Watch #EDB610-1 features a classic digital dial face, which comes protected by a sturdy mineral dial window. A perpetual calendar display brings at-a-glance convenience, and other high-tech functions include an 8-digit calculator, a multi-alarm system, and a 300-page databank. For a flashy contrast, the 40-millimeter resin case is a stunning silver tone, while the stationary resin bezel is a sleek black. Other details include a black resin band, which is accompanied by a reliable buckle-clasp closure to ensure your convenient fit. Catering to your fast-paced day, this exciting timepiece brings you style and convenience.

Development of the Timepiece Business
With the launch of its first watch in November 1974, Casio entered the wristwatch market at a time when the watch industry had just discovered digital technology. As a company with cutting-edge electronic technology developed for pocket calculators, Casio entered this field confident that it could develop timepieces that would lead the market.

In developing its own wristwatches Casio began with the basic question, "What is a wristwatch?" Rather than simply making a digital version of the conventional mechanical watch, we thought that the ideal wristwatch should be something that shows all facets of time in a consistent way. Based on this, Casio was able to create a watch that displayed the precise time including the second, minute, hour, day, and month — not to mention a.m. or p.m., and the day of the week. It was the first watch in the world with a digital automatic calendar function that eliminated the need to reset the calendar due the variation in month length. Rather than using a conventional watch face and hands, a digital liquid crystal display was adopted to better show all the information. This culminated in the 1974 launch of the CASIOTRON, the world’s first digital watch with automatic calendar. The CASIOTRON won acclaim as a groundbreaking product that represented a complete departure from the conventional wristwatch.

Casio transformed the concept of the watch — from a mere timepiece to an information device for the wrist — and undertook product planning based on this innovative idea. We developed not only time functions such as global time zone watches, but also other radical new functions using Casio’s own digital technology, including calculator and dictionary functions, as well as a phonebook feature based on memory technology, and even a thermometer function using a built-in sensor. The memory-function watches became our DATA BANK product series, while the sensor watches developed into two unique Casio product lines of today: the Pathfinder series displaying altitude, atmospheric pressure, and compass readings.

In 1983, Casio launched the shock-resistant G-SHOCK watch. This product shattered the notion that a watch is a fragile piece of jewelry that needs to be handled with care, and was the result of Casio engineers taking on the challenge of creating the world’s toughest watch. Using a triple-protection design for the parts, module, and case, the G-SHOCK offered a radical new type of watch that was unaffected by strong impacts or shaking. Its practicality was immediately recognized, and its unique look, which embodied its functionality, became wildly popular, resulting in explosive sales in the early 1990s. The G-SHOCK soon adopted various new sensors, solar-powered radio-controlled technology (described below), and new materials for even better durability. By always employing the latest technology, and continuing to transcend conventional thinking about the watch, the G-SHOCK brand has become Casio’s flagship timepiece product.

Today, Casio is focusing its efforts on solar-powered radio-controlled watches: the built-in solar battery eliminates the nuisance of replacing batteries, and the radio-controlled function means users never have to reset the time. In particular, the radio-controlled function represents a revolution in time-keeping technology similar to the impact created when mechanical watches gave way to quartz technology. Through the further development of high radio-wave sensitivity, miniaturization, and improved energy efficiency, Casio continues to produce a whole range of radio-controlled models.

Customer Reviews

Yet another databank
I've owned 4 models in this Casio series as far back as ~ 1983.

The best model of the databank series, rating a 4/5, was the mid-1990s release with a mini-bulb for lighting and a silk screened keyboard ... it rated 4/5 because it was a real stainless steel case, the keyboard remained readable for its lifetime, it was easy to clean and it only died because I lost it. Both the strap and watch case lasted over 5 years, the LCD was more readable than the newer releases. It was not perfect though, because the light ate batteries and memory was not FLASH or eeprom memory ... you lost everything during a battery change.

Avoid the resin watch straps, they always break when you least expect it, whether its from Casio or others. Woven nylon with velcro bands can be bought at sports shops and are more durable. The cases for the 2000 models were all resin, the 'steel' ones were simply painted atop resin ... and I've lost 2 watches when the hole in the resin that holds the strap pins breaks, the watch case is useless.


Since the earliest model new features are major improvements but prior features were removed, made come backs, or are removed again! I'm writing this detailed review in the hopes Casio will finally get a databank we can all rave about.

Navigation has rarely been a problem. In the older models, a beep in watch mode is different from others, so one can cycle through modes without looking at the screen. Keep the old mode, but GIVE A DISTINCT beep or sound as one enters a new mode as an option.

The background lumination went from a tiny power hungry micro-bulb to an ELD display, much more pleasing and power saving. This is a super plus. Please allow it to say ON as once cycles through MODES.

Make the numbers on the TIME, DAY and DATE readout HUGE and viewed by default. We don't need a year readout, that can be a shift- or scroll button item. The DB37H-1AV screen is ideal, just add a keyboard.

Make a calendar function.

The silk screen or painted numbers on the resin casing always fade with time. Silk screen flat keypads weren't as easy to use as raised keypads, but they kept their labels longer. Make a version with all raised or embossed labels that can be identified by touch.

The screw-on battery case is a dream, batteries can be user serviced. For a watch of this price, its not practical to have it serviced by a watch technician, it can be 25-50% of the cost of the watch!

Keep the password feature for all data and telememo.

The perpetual Schedule mode .. and multiple schedule memos is a key function I use, and the super compact 1 week look ahead schedule view on the LCD is great. I can keep anniversaries, birthday, holidays etc., in the watch and get an entire week's preview of upcoming events. This mode was removed in this watch, hence the 3 Star rating.

While a palmtop serves better than the DB, its easier and more convenient to just carry a watch, and actually serves as a more reliable backup for palmtops with ultra-crucial names, numbers and data, thanks to its low power consumption and non-volatile memory. If there is a way to upload schedules to a DB without loosing the current total amount of memory or the watches other features as other models have, it would be a plus.

Finally, as a watch it keeps excellent time. It really does keep to near +30 sec a month, usually moving slightly faster. This is referenced against US Standard time using the atomic clock time by NIST.gov

Keyboard Writing Wears Off
I have had 4 Databanks from Casio; this is the fifth.

Pluses:
1)Nicer mode menu. Pressing a button on the keypad gets you to where you're going right away. Very, very nice.
2)Bigger main number display. Real easy to read.
3)nice loud alarm
4)Very accurate clock crystal
5)addition of @ symbol to text input, turning this into an "E-databank" able to type in email addresses.
6)metal case, is very durable. Its been dropped hard many times. Keeps on tickin'.
7) battery life is great.

Minuses:
1)Keyboard writing will wear off in 6 months. You'd better memorize the key placement by then.
2)If you're buying a resin band model, the band will break in about a year. It is not replaceable, because of the form fitting, custom design. I'm using the watch at the moment attached to my belt buckle with a small carabiner clip attached to the surviving half of the band.
3)The telememo feature has bizarre spacing of the numbers, making some numbers initially unrecognizeable.
4)calculator functions accessed through one button, have to cycle through +, -, x, /. Did I mention that the keyboard writing will wear off in 6 months, and that you'd better remember the placement of the characters?
5)Schedule Memo is gone. Replaced with 1 daily and 4 yearly alarms
6)button press combinations to access some functions are needlessly complicated, even after reading the manual...

The programmers got carried away
This style is the latest version of the Casio databank series. As with others in the series , it does what is promised, is reliable and potentially is a very convenient way to keep info, schedules, alarms and phone numbers close at hand wherever you go.

I say "potentially", because the usability of this product has dropped radically from previous versions. Whereas before with just a couple of button pushes you could quickly and easily call up, say, a phone number, with this version it's more complicated. If you switch into phone number mode (which is harder to do until you memeorize the locations of the almost too small to recognize icons) which requires multiple instead of the previous one step, it tells you that you're in that mode but requires more pushes to actually get any info. Basically, although this model has a couple more features that the previous model, and has larger (though dimmer) characters in the display, the interface is so inferior to the previous generation, that it can not be recommended.

Someone just got too carried away with being "techy" and never actually tested this design in the real world. Until they fix this, look for the older model- they're still out there.