Walking Equipment and Accessories

Casio G-Shock GBD-H1000-1 Heart Rate Monitor | Review

This trusty smartwatch from Casio won’t be letting you down anytime soon

Why We Chose The Casio G-Shock Heart Rate Monitor: bombproof, great battery life, classic design

While most smartwatch makers seem to be making sleek looking minimalist designs in 2020 – just like the Suunto 9 Baro and Polar Grit X – it’s refreshing to see a brand stick to the tried and tested formula of building a watch that’s able to survive a lifetime’s worth of abuse in the outdoors.

Casio need little introduction when talking about outdoor and adventure watches, or any watch in general, actually. They’ve been in the game for 74 years, and their G-Shock line of watches have become synonymous with durability.

“We’re pretty certain that you could drive a tank over this watch and it’ll come out unscathed”

This model of G-Shock continues the tough as nails heritage and it’s also packed with modern day smartwatch features, from GPS tracking to VO2max readouts. We’ll get into all of those a little later in the review.

Who Is The Casio G-Shock Heart Rate Monitor For?

Given the amplified size and weight of this watch, we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for the fast and light crowd – there are certainly many other smartwatches out there that can do the same job as this G-Shock but in a more trim package. With that said, we’d be happy recommending this watch to people who place value in a watch that is simply going to be able to last through whatever you throw at it.

Build

The first thing to note in regards to the build is of course the sheer size and tough stature of the G-Shock. We’re pretty certain that you could drive a tank over this watch and it’ll come out alive (we’re admittedly yet to try this though).

All of this beefiness has resulted in a hefty weight of 106g. Now although that may not seem like a lot, it’s certainly heavy for a smartwatch. The G-Shock certainly feels weighty in hand, compared to, say, the 64g Polar Grit X. Given this weight, you’ll see that this watch hasn’t been designed for those with tiny wrists, or just gram counters in general.

A straightforward screen is easy to view, even in direct sunlight. Photo: Mike Brindley

The Casio G-Shock features a basic heart rate monitor. Photo: Mike Brindley

There are five buttons in total on the watch. Photo: Mike Brindley

Off the bat you’ve got ISO 200 water resistance built in – that’s an equivalent of 20bar pressure, or 290.075 psi – more than enough to bring with you on your next scuba diving adventure.

“Then you’ve got the renowned G-Shock toughness. The G-shock series have been going for 37-years”

Completing the whole build is an understandably simple and tough looking screen, which has enough room to provide a good amount of data on your wrist. Different modes and statistics can be viewed by navigating the watch menu via two buttons on each corner of the watch, and a large central button located on the left hand side.

Heart rate readings are easy to check. Photo: Holly Burns

Features

In terms of features, the G-Shock is packing everything you’d expect from a modern day smartwatch; GPS, wrist heart rate measurements, training analysis, training data (up to 100 runs), digital compass, altimeter, barometer and a thermometer.

All of these features are powered by a battery that’s said to last around 14-hours with continuous smartwatch use (GPS & heart rate tracking), with an astonishing 12 months in regular watch mode without battery saving functions enabled, or 34 months, with battery saving enabled. These astonishing figures are further boosted by solar power charging when you’re in clear sunlight.

Tester’s Verdict

”The Casio G-Shock GBD-H1000 has joined me and my trusty Suunto 9 for some trail running missions in the South Downs, Peak District and Lake District and while the aesthetics aren’t my cup of tea, I’ve been left impressed with the GPS and heart rate readings that I’ve been seeing.

“If you’re looking for a watch that you can simply depend on, I’d certainly recommend the G-Shock for you.”

“While not exactly true to my Suunto 9 (that’s to be expected), the stats I’ve been getting back from the G-Shock have averaged out fairly similarly – enough for me to trust them if I were to take this watch out on its own, that’s for sure.

“Something I have noticed with this is its phenomenal battery life. After taking it out for a test, and leaving it in a drawer for just over a week, the watch has only lost one of the six battery bars – that’s impressive at a time where we’re frequently seeing smartwatches requiring constant charging, even when in a non battery intensive mode.

Testing the Casio G-Shock Heart Rate Monitor in the South Downs. Photo: Holly Burns

“After looking into this a little more, it turns out I had unknowingly turned the watch on it’s power saving function. The watch had quite intelligently noticed that it was placed in a dark environment (my draw) and turned itself onto the power saving mode. Casio say it’ll reach an astonishing 34 months from a single charge in this mode. These figures are staggering, particularly as someone who uses a Suunto 9 as my daily watch – it’s yet another win on the reliability side of things for the G-Shock.

“All in all, if you’re looking for a watch that you can simply depend on, I’d certainly recommend the G-Shock for you – the watch isn’t going to fail on you in environments where other more technical smartwatches will simply not cope. Would I reach for it for ski touring and trail running missions? Perhaps not, but I’m sure there’s hoards of people in the UK where this watch will be the perfect companion for their next mountain (or water-based) adventure, and I’m sure I’ll see lots of these watches kicking about for years to come.”