I am looking for the best survival watch. I like luminox becuase of their durability. I would like something that has the date, time, day etc. What do you guys use? Would also like it to have an accurate digital compas in the watch or regular on the band.
G-Shocks. I don’t currently own one, but it’s been reliable enough to where the last one I had, I through out due to it looking like turd on a stick. It was still cranking, just fugly. They ain’t luxurious, they ain’t HSLD, and they ain’t the coolest thing on the block, but they are like tanks.
Right now I’m flossin’ a Suunto Vector. I wanted the Core, but I’ve heard about of reliability issues with them.
A cheap ass Timex digital ironman. $26 at Walmart. I’ve worn these since 4th grade, and I’ve only had to go through about 3 of them.
Just tells time, date, and has a stopwatch/timer. All I need. I keep Zulu on one time zone and local time on another.
Never seen a watch with an accurate digital compass…doesn’t mean they don’t exist, just never seen one for myself.
What do you need it to do?
I prefer to keep a compass and that stuff in the form of a dedicated device… I have been in situations where someone points out that they have a compass built into their watch, but when I ask them if it has a good topo of the area built in there too… I usually get this sort of blank stare.
Oh, well… at least they know what direction they are facing as they are thinking about that.
I like simple G-Shocks and some of the Timex Ironman watches… when I was tasked with keeping tabs on a dozen guys bouncing all over a large part of the earth, I found and used the Timex USB Datalink - it is a wonderful watch for the amount of stuff it will hold and organize.
In my daily goodie bag now, I have two cheap-ass(r) casio g-shocks (time, CDT and stopwatch), one I keep set to local apparent noon and one set to GMT - a bit over the top maybe, but what the heck.
Double post
Gotta admit…GShock’s are probably the most durable watches out there. Ugly, yes, silly looking, you betcha, but tough? Tougher then the wrist it’s attached to.
That said… I am an analog kinda guy, I love not having to touch any buttons to see the time at night when I look down from my NVG’s, and it’s tough. I have a GShock…clearly I don’t use it haha. It was a backup I never needed.
Here is my TSAR after 2 years in Iraq:
I have an AWG101-1A Gshock that my uncle bought me when he was in China or Japan. Forgot about it thinking it was some cheap watch. Found it again in January, gave it a shot, and I really like it. Replaced my Fossil I’ve been wearing for years.
Have not abuse tested it, but supposedly its really durable. Solar powered, and has an atomic function.
Id stick with a G SHOCK. Not that expensive, tough as nails, reliable. I’ve had three since I entered basic training in September of 1988. I lost the first one in 1994. The second one I had until this Christmas. For Christmas my wife got me G Shock Pathfinder. This thing has stuff I wont probably use (altimeter, barometer, thermostat). But the one thing I like about it is the compass built into it. Could I use it with a map and protractor for land nave? Sure I could. But I don’t see that occurring. What I do use it for is work (architectural surveying). When I need a quick azimuth, its great for that and I dont have to carry a compass with me in addition to all the other crap I haul around. My wife says that’s why she got it for me, well that and the fact that the old watch was beat to hell and back.
I RARELY wear watches. I have a dress one my wife got me.
For work i had/have one of those G-Shock Tough Solar’s that i got a few years back
and i ditched the cheap band and replaced it with what is called a “Shark Leash”.
They may be shock resisdent but not very scratch resisdent.
I found they scratch rather easy. But that’s me, I’m tough on watches.
Timex watch you get at the PX or Walmart for $25. I wore that all through out my deployments. Went through two of them and that was it for four years. I don’t wear a watch now a days 
I’ve worn a gshock the last 11 years and its been 100% reliable
Suunto Vector.
Photo stolen from the net…
Also a G-shock convert. I have one of the newer solar powered ones, and even in the (cloudy) Seattle area, I’m able to keep it going 4 to 5 months before I need to either set it out in the sun for a few hours or put it under a florescent light to charge it up. I learned 2 tips that took me a while to figure out, because they are kind of buried deep in the documentation, but this massively increases the amount of time you can go before you need to recharge with the solar models:
- Disable the auto-backlight feature.
- Enable the power-saving feature.
G-Shocks are the Glocks of the watch world. Ugly…soul-less, but they work.
Well said.
Suunto Observer
Suunto Observer Black
Altimeter with resolution of 1 m / 3 ft , vertical speed, number of ski runs
Barometer with pressure difference measurement
Compass
Alti/Baro lock
Multiple watch functions, including dual time
Metal casing in stainless steel or titanium
Water resistant to 100 m / 330 ft
User replaceable battery
For me, less is more.
I have a Casio Pathfinder in titanium that I have had since 2004. A couple of years ago I supplanted it with a Suunto X-Lander.
Did that pathfinder give you problems? Did you have one with a compass? I’m curious if you upgraded because the Suunto is cooler (which it obviously is), or if the Casio actually wasn’t getting the job done. I’ve eyed both the Suunto watches and the Pathfinders for a future upgrade, wondering which one to get.
They’re not that ugly (but I also don’t think Glocks are ugly). They have a tactical beauty to them, like H&K.
