Live data from Hacker News

Casio F-B100W-1A

casio.com

311–320 of 407 posts

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#311

Casio has been leaving a lot of money on the table in terms of nostalgia products. There's been a low rumble of demand for the Casio CZ series of synthesizers for a decade or more, and a bunch of non-Casio companies have cashed in on it (Behringer makes CZ-1 Mini, Arturia has CZ V, several other phase distortion synths exist). It's incredibly cheap to replicate, a simple early digital synthesis algorithm that'll run…

the watches are a high end fast fashion brand in japan. it seems to be very lucrative

Not just Japan, they're widely popular globally as daily drivers, but also as "fashion" watches, with Gen Z too.

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#312
post #17

One thing I've never understood (and hopefully some Casio geek can shine a light on): why do almost all old Casio models have a 24/12h time switch taking the premium spot as one of the main 4 buttons, instead of having it buried deep in the (awkward) menus. Seems to me that something like alarm or stopwatch setting or a second menu action button would have been far more useful.

[deleted]

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#313

Casio has been leaving a lot of money on the table in terms of nostalgia products. There's been a low rumble of demand for the Casio CZ series of synthesizers for a decade or more, and a bunch of non-Casio companies have cashed in on it (Behringer makes CZ-1 Mini, Arturia has CZ V, several other phase distortion synths exist). It's incredibly cheap to replicate, a simple early digital synthesis algorithm that'll run…

Korg did it right - budget off-the-shelf processor, most of the money spent on the UI, wildly optimistic prices, no nostalgic ties. The expensive part of a modern synth isn't the DSP board, it's the industrial design and tooling needed to build the rest of the hardware. The CZ series was workable, but there really aren't many passionate nostalgic buyers waiting to drop a few hundred - minimum - on an expensive reissu…

This is where Behringer absolutely shine - about a decade ago they established a fully automated mega-factory in Malaysia designed around Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio, PLM/MES software, and Digital Twin technology.

Korg 2600 - ~ €1000 Behringer 2600 - €300

CZ Series doesn't have much cachet simply because phase distortion synthesis was the 'we have FM Synthesis at home' cheap alternative to 4 OP FM Synthesis in the 80s. About the only USP they have in that arena is the fact they're responsible for the 'Reese Bass' sound - the 'Wilhelm Scream' of Techno if you will.

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solar batteries typically last between 10 and 20 years depending on usage. They are very expensive unfortunately. Regular batteries are a better deal.

The batteries the gshocks use goes for about $15 or less. Regular batteries may be a better deal but that doesn't include the process of opening the watch, replacing the battery, and then resealing the case. I'll trade $15 and a 15 minute job once every 15 years for a 15 minute job every 5 years. And no watch with a regular battery will have auto-backlight (for the obvious reason). And also... if you want a deal, don…

I service my watches every five years to keep them waterproof. And at that point I always replace the $1 battery, regardless of its condition. That way my watches are always operational.

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#315

Hmmmmmmmm. I've always been a fan of the classic Casio aesthetic, and I want to want it, but this is a strange point in the functionality-vs-price space. A base F-91W costs less than half that, and my phone can already track steps with reasonable reliability. An entry-level fitbit costs about the same and monitors way more stats including heart rate, SpO2. Worse battery life and appearance, but if I wanted that featu…

I recently thought I could probably go back to a not-smart watch to not have to charge the watch all the time, but I don't want to deal with setting the time regularly either due to quartz drift and dst. So a bluetooth watch with two years of battery life doesn't sound like a bad idea really.

Even cheap quartz movements tend to drift by ±10 seconds per year, so you'd only really set it at dst. Maybe you're thinking about automatic watches which can drift by several seconds per day, and stop if you don't use it for 24/48/X amount hours. I have to set my automatic quite frequently

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use one of these daily. Got the expanded screen too. I love the USB design (the side of the board fits inside a USB micro B cable).

I'm curious, which features did you code into the watch?

I added a calibration feature for the pulsometer. Lets me set how many events I want to count in order to get the answer. Allows me to turn the pulsometer into an asthmometer. Use it every day at work, makes counting respiratory frequency painless.

If I remember right, I also made some improvements to the TOTP watch faces. Even maintained the repository for a bit while Joey focused on getting the Sensor Watch Pro out. Merged a lot of stuff.

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sensor Watch is the non-phone-connected OG: https://www.sensorwatch.net

Does it offer anything out of the box or do you have to program everything? It doesn't even seem to track steps

The movement firmware is open source and it has tons of features. Highlights include temperature compensation for seconds per year accuracy, and a TOTP generator that lets you login like you're James Bond.

People have written orbital calculators for this thing. Even the Chrome jumpy dinosaur game got ported.

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#318
post #17

One thing I've never understood (and hopefully some Casio geek can shine a light on): why do almost all old Casio models have a 24/12h time switch taking the premium spot as one of the main 4 buttons, instead of having it buried deep in the (awkward) menus. Seems to me that something like alarm or stopwatch setting or a second menu action button would have been far more useful.

A watch like the F-91W is a bit wonky in terms of the buttons. You're right the 24/12h makes no sense, who needs to switch between those two options regularly? The backlight button is also questionable, because it's not entirely clear what you're suppose to gain by vaguely illuminating the first 20% of display, which will be empty from midnight until 20:00.

At night it is more than sufficient. I even use it as a flashlight

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#319

I really like my F91W case with a Sensor Watch Pro board and accelerometer sensor. My favorite features: - Piezo alarm is much louder. - Countdown time can be incremented by tapping the watch. - LED color can be changed by adjusting RGB values. - It features sunrise/-set and moon phase info/calendar. - I changed the week day names to German abbreviations. - There are lots of intriguing watch faces that you can compil…

> Sadly, the project is in some disarray as the originator apparently lost interest and the community isn't moving uniformly.

What's going on? Can you give me more details?

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#320

Casio has been leaving a lot of money on the table in terms of nostalgia products. There's been a low rumble of demand for the Casio CZ series of synthesizers for a decade or more, and a bunch of non-Casio companies have cashed in on it (Behringer makes CZ-1 Mini, Arturia has CZ V, several other phase distortion synths exist). It's incredibly cheap to replicate, a simple early digital synthesis algorithm that'll run…

The (relatively new) Casiotone CT-S1000V and CT-S500 have CZ sounds included along with fun voice synthesis technology, and are recommended as a good cheap keyboard on some forums.
Post reply on HN