AlsoRan
14 Mar 2006, 02:24 AM
World Cup Referee Watch by Casio
I received a certificate for this watch at Christmas. It just arrived. There isn't enough information on the OSI site to really know what you are getting. This is such a cool piece of equipment, I thought I would post a review here. I know that scepticism runs deep, so let me say that I am not employed by OSI or by Casio. I have no ulterior motive. I am just an old fart who referees for sheer fun. I am currently a USSF 8 and AYSO Advanced. I plan to go USSF 7 and AYSO National this fall. I do mostly upper division AYSO and competitive youth games, and occasional adult leagues. My other referee watches are the Digi Soccer Watch, which I have abandoned, and a Timex Expedition, which I loved, but am ready to relegate to backup.
The Hardware
The first thing that you will notice is that the watch is asymmetric. There are two control buttons on the left (mode, adjust) , and three on the right (start/stop, vib, reset). The start/stop button is large, and protected from accidental pushes by a berm on three sides. The vib button is used to toggle the alarm between an audible beep and a vibrating alarm. There is also a light button on the face of the watch.
The display on the watch is large and legible. This was an issue for me with the Digi. The display on the Digi is just too small. The three lines of display on the Digi are all identical, making it more difficult to read quickly. By contrast, the Casio is very clearly delineated into three distinct regions, each one of which is easy to read.
Functions
The picture on the OSI website shows the watch in normal timekeeping mode. The upper display is the date, the second line shows the day of the week and the seconds, and the large lower display shows the time. Other modes are stopwatch, timer, interval, world time and alarm. I am used to using the countdown timer on my Timex. I look forward to using the stopwatch mode on the Casio this weekend.
Stopwatch
In stopwatch mode this watch shows it was designed for Soccer. I can set a target for the stopwatch (i.e. 45 minutes). When I enter stopwatch mode, the upper display shows 00' 00, the middle line shows STW, and the lower display continues to show the current time. So I can be ready to start the game, and tell whether I am starting on time or not without changing modes. When I press start/stop, both the upper display and the lower dsiplay begin counting up. If I want to record stoppage time, I press start/stop and it pauses the upper line, but the bottom line continues counting time. At restart I press start/stop again and the upper time starts again. The amount of stoppage time is the difference between the two timers. When the target time is reached by the lower display, the alarm goes off. The alarm is either an audible beep or a vibration. There is no alarm for the upper time - so I am on my own once we are playing stoppage time.
I record the player number and elapsed time for goals and misconducts. It will be a joy to not be going let's see, 19 minutes left, and this is U14, so 35 minus 19 is 26, no wait, 16...
Timer
When I enter timer mode, the upper display shows the current time, the middle line shows TMR, and the lower display shows the countdown timer. Timer mode uses nine preset timer intervals: 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45. I scroll through the list of intervals and select the interval I want. The basic timer function is pretty standard, I start it, it counts down to zero and gives the alarm. What happens next depends on whether I am in auto-repeat mode. If I am in auto-repeat mode, once the timer alarm reaches zero, it starts over again - it will do this up to 100 times. If I am not in auto-repeat mode, upon reaching zero the lower display goes into elapsed time mode. So, if you prefer to use the countdown timer, you set it for 45 minutes with auto repeat off, time the first half, track the half-time interval, and start again.
Interval
Interval mode allows me to set up to 9 distinct time intervals. At the end of each interval, the watch will alarm (beep or vibrate). The example in the manual is that you set the first interval for 45 minute first half, the second interval for 5 minute halftime, and the third interval for a 45 minute half. I don't buy that. But, this feature seems like it is perfect for the proposed new fitness exam. Set interval 1 to 30 seconds, interval 2 to 40 seconds, interval 3 to 30 seconds and interval 4 to 40 seconds. Set the auto-repeat feature on. These intervals then correspond to the 150m run and 40m walk. If I am still alive and still running once the repeat counter says 10, I've met the minimum standard for World Cup. :-)
World Time
This mode is for grins. It is basic two timezone functionality, but you select a city code rather than an offset.
Alarm
Standard stuff.
Oddities
When adjusting the stopwatch target time, or the timer duration, the upper button lowers the time, the lower button raises the time. This seems counter-intuitive.
There is an auto-light function. If it is on, you simply raise the watch, tilt your wrist 40 degrees, and the backlight comes on. I imagine this is an indispensible feature for one-armed referees on poorly lit fields. Otherwise it seems gimmicky.
Overall
This is a great soccer watch. Unfortunately, it is a $40 watch with a $40 engraving and commemerative can. I couldn't care less that Germany 2006 is etched on the back or that it comes in a nifty can. It is easy to use and easy to read.
Pros
Large Display
Intelligent count-up and count down functions
vibrating alarm function
easy to use buttons
Cons
overpriced
limited availability
I received a certificate for this watch at Christmas. It just arrived. There isn't enough information on the OSI site to really know what you are getting. This is such a cool piece of equipment, I thought I would post a review here. I know that scepticism runs deep, so let me say that I am not employed by OSI or by Casio. I have no ulterior motive. I am just an old fart who referees for sheer fun. I am currently a USSF 8 and AYSO Advanced. I plan to go USSF 7 and AYSO National this fall. I do mostly upper division AYSO and competitive youth games, and occasional adult leagues. My other referee watches are the Digi Soccer Watch, which I have abandoned, and a Timex Expedition, which I loved, but am ready to relegate to backup.
The Hardware
The first thing that you will notice is that the watch is asymmetric. There are two control buttons on the left (mode, adjust) , and three on the right (start/stop, vib, reset). The start/stop button is large, and protected from accidental pushes by a berm on three sides. The vib button is used to toggle the alarm between an audible beep and a vibrating alarm. There is also a light button on the face of the watch.
The display on the watch is large and legible. This was an issue for me with the Digi. The display on the Digi is just too small. The three lines of display on the Digi are all identical, making it more difficult to read quickly. By contrast, the Casio is very clearly delineated into three distinct regions, each one of which is easy to read.
Functions
The picture on the OSI website shows the watch in normal timekeeping mode. The upper display is the date, the second line shows the day of the week and the seconds, and the large lower display shows the time. Other modes are stopwatch, timer, interval, world time and alarm. I am used to using the countdown timer on my Timex. I look forward to using the stopwatch mode on the Casio this weekend.
Stopwatch
In stopwatch mode this watch shows it was designed for Soccer. I can set a target for the stopwatch (i.e. 45 minutes). When I enter stopwatch mode, the upper display shows 00' 00, the middle line shows STW, and the lower display continues to show the current time. So I can be ready to start the game, and tell whether I am starting on time or not without changing modes. When I press start/stop, both the upper display and the lower dsiplay begin counting up. If I want to record stoppage time, I press start/stop and it pauses the upper line, but the bottom line continues counting time. At restart I press start/stop again and the upper time starts again. The amount of stoppage time is the difference between the two timers. When the target time is reached by the lower display, the alarm goes off. The alarm is either an audible beep or a vibration. There is no alarm for the upper time - so I am on my own once we are playing stoppage time.
I record the player number and elapsed time for goals and misconducts. It will be a joy to not be going let's see, 19 minutes left, and this is U14, so 35 minus 19 is 26, no wait, 16...
Timer
When I enter timer mode, the upper display shows the current time, the middle line shows TMR, and the lower display shows the countdown timer. Timer mode uses nine preset timer intervals: 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45. I scroll through the list of intervals and select the interval I want. The basic timer function is pretty standard, I start it, it counts down to zero and gives the alarm. What happens next depends on whether I am in auto-repeat mode. If I am in auto-repeat mode, once the timer alarm reaches zero, it starts over again - it will do this up to 100 times. If I am not in auto-repeat mode, upon reaching zero the lower display goes into elapsed time mode. So, if you prefer to use the countdown timer, you set it for 45 minutes with auto repeat off, time the first half, track the half-time interval, and start again.
Interval
Interval mode allows me to set up to 9 distinct time intervals. At the end of each interval, the watch will alarm (beep or vibrate). The example in the manual is that you set the first interval for 45 minute first half, the second interval for 5 minute halftime, and the third interval for a 45 minute half. I don't buy that. But, this feature seems like it is perfect for the proposed new fitness exam. Set interval 1 to 30 seconds, interval 2 to 40 seconds, interval 3 to 30 seconds and interval 4 to 40 seconds. Set the auto-repeat feature on. These intervals then correspond to the 150m run and 40m walk. If I am still alive and still running once the repeat counter says 10, I've met the minimum standard for World Cup. :-)
World Time
This mode is for grins. It is basic two timezone functionality, but you select a city code rather than an offset.
Alarm
Standard stuff.
Oddities
When adjusting the stopwatch target time, or the timer duration, the upper button lowers the time, the lower button raises the time. This seems counter-intuitive.
There is an auto-light function. If it is on, you simply raise the watch, tilt your wrist 40 degrees, and the backlight comes on. I imagine this is an indispensible feature for one-armed referees on poorly lit fields. Otherwise it seems gimmicky.
Overall
This is a great soccer watch. Unfortunately, it is a $40 watch with a $40 engraving and commemerative can. I couldn't care less that Germany 2006 is etched on the back or that it comes in a nifty can. It is easy to use and easy to read.
Pros
Large Display
Intelligent count-up and count down functions
vibrating alarm function
easy to use buttons
Cons
overpriced
limited availability