This $56 Casio watch is a vintage retracement dream

When I was in high school, I just wanted a Baby-G Casio watch – partly because they came in fun colors and partly because all the cool kids had one. When I finally convinced my mom to buy me one, I loved it so much that the battery died a few years later. It’s been over 20 years since then, but with 2000s fashion invading my TikTok algorithm, I think a lot about the fact that my watches were just watches. thoughtfulness Cool sometimes I want to go back to that time… and then I remember that the main reason I got interested in smartwatches was to track steps.

And then I discovered the Casio WS-B1000, which is only $55.95 and syncs with your phone for a while. And Tracks steps. What?!

It’s no surprise that today’s Casio watches are better than the analog watches I wore in my youth. However, it never occurred to me to look it up. It doesn’t matter that I review a Casio watch. The Casio Wear OS watch is more durable A few years ago, it was a huge sports watch, at a time when the Wear OS bus had constant flat tire problems. But after some searching it turned out to be Cassio It has updated some of its watches For more fitness tracking functionality while maintaining the classic Casio design.

The WS-B1000 is one of those watches, albeit a very simple one. It has no optical heart rate monitor, OLED display, advanced health sensors, contactless payments or LTE connectivity. This device features Bluetooth for connecting to your phone, an accelerometer for tracking steps, classic stopwatch and timer functions, alarms, sedentary reminders, and an LCD display with backlit buttons. In other words, smart enough to qualify as a fitness tracker — but just barely.

A few years ago I might not have liked this feature set. But these days, I’ve reached a point in my fitness journey where I’m recovering from the mental and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged overtraining. It’s a long and frustrating process, and to my surprise, it’s devices and apps that prioritize convenience and simplicity over “hard work”. Many of today’s smartwatches give you active minutes, standing goals, calorie burn goals, and other goals—so many goals to hit each day that it can be exhausting. So the WS-B1000 can do that only Track steps or act as a stopwatch? It is positive.

And you know what? The three weeks I spent testing the WS-B1000 were fun. I forgot how great it is to set a simple step goal and try to achieve it. With this watch I can just look down and say, “Whoah! It’s 4 o’clock and I’ve taken 2,000 steps.” If I want to check my history, I can go to the Casio app and see a rough history. Nothing special, just what I wanted. In terms of accuracy, I typically got between 500 and 1,000 steps on the Apple Watch Ultra — I wear it on two different wrists and talk with my hands. But if you decide to do something like this, the overall goal is to move more, and it’s totally fine for that.

There were other little things that I liked too. Because the watch doesn’t need sensors, chips and a huge battery like a smartwatch, it’s significantly lighter. It weighs just 36 grams and for the first time, it didn’t look like I had a giant hockey puck strapped to my wrist. I never had to worry about charging the damn thing – it runs on a coin-sized CR2016 battery that lasts about 10 hours. 2 years

The nice thing about the Casio app is that it syncs the time automatically, so you don’t have to fiddle with buttons to reset the time or set an alarm. (I Impressively The same was true of vintage watches at the time; I can never remember how it was done or what drawer I put the instruction manual in.) You can program it from your phone.

Obviously, this watch is not suitable for people who want to get the most out of their smartwatch. But if you’re like me and want to take a break from your fitness routine or prefer minimal fitness, this is a great option. And let me remind you that it’s only $56! While most common trackers in this range are fitness bands, this Casio watch is beautiful and stylish.

Unfortunately, I only have two wrists and as a wearables reviewer, I’ll have to swap the Casio for the next smartwatch on my review list. But I have a very good feeling that this is the watch I would choose among the products.