A watch is a piece of gear that you can take wherever you want to go. You can take it on a plane, have it with you when you go swimming, wear it in public.
You can’t say the same about other survival gear pieces like knives or axes. In conclusion, this best survival watch reviews guide will help you find the best one that will fit your lifestyle!
But why choose a survival watch? Why not take a regular watch? To answer this question, we need to take a look at how survival watches are made. The most essential feature included in all survival watches is their water resistance.
All survival watches are made to be waterproof to a certain amount of depth. Other features that a survival watch can have been a barometer, thermometer, some of them even include GPS sensors that will display your current GPS location in GPS coordinates and some will also allow you to input the GPS coordinates of a given area.
Over the years, survival watches had come a long way. Going from basic traditional battery-powered watches to state of the art smartwatches.
The choice is yours! Smartwatches have a significant disadvantage when it comes to battery life, they don’t tend to last as long as traditional watches do.
Despite that, they compensate by having a wide variety of other features that you won’t find in a conventional watch like a heart rate sensor, altitude sensor, GPS tracking and much, much more!
Best Survival Watch Reviews Overview
It is well-known that survival watches are made to be tough. They are built to withstand thermal stress and to be able to resist wearing and tear. Another great feature, besides the water resistance, is that they are made to be shock resistant as well. Dropping your watch on a concrete floor or some rocks won’t break it right away.
There are two types of survival watches out there on the market. The paracord style survival watch consists of a basic watch on top of a paracord bracelet.
The paracord watch will act as a tiny survival kit on your wrist, it will have the primary content of a survival paracord bracelet, like fire starting kit, a whistle, a right amount of paracord to use and it will have a basic watch that will display the time.
On the other hand, we have mechanical survival watches, which are more complex. Technical survival watches are packed full of goodies like GPS tracking, altitude and thermal sensors, barometers, alarms and way more!
When it comes to choosing your survival watch, we suggest you stick with a technical survival watch. It can be more expensive, but when your life depends on one of its sensors, you can say it’s a buck well spent.
Here are our top 10 picks for the best technical survival watches, with all their flaws and goodies.
1. Garmin Fenix 5x Sapphire
The Garmin Fenix 5x is a full operational smartwatch. It is stylish, and it does its job very well when in a formal meeting or when you are in a survival situation. This smartwatch is packed full of features! It contains lots of useful apps that can be installed on the device. Besides that, it comes packed with an outstanding GPS tracking system.
Pros
- Fully colored map tracking system.
- Water resistant up to 100 m.
- Fully packed with sensors for temperature, altitude, heart rate and more.
- 3rd party apps to expand its functionality.
Cons
- The heart rate monitor can sometimes be inaccurate.
2. GW-9400-1CR G-Shock Watch
Casio’s addition to the G-Shock series never stops to amaze us. The GW-9400 is an excellent survival watch, for a classic digital clock. This one is made to be both shock and mud resistant, as well as having an excellent water resistance rate. The watch’s battery is solar powered, meaning that you will never have to replace any discharged battery on this one!
Pros
- Precise calendar and hour display.
- Solar powered.
- Water resistant up to 200 m.
- Digital compass.
Cons
- The display is not lidded from the back, but from the sides.
3. Casio Men’s PAG240T-7CR Pathfinder
Another contestant in the world of survival watches, the Casio Pathfinder comes packed with a lot of features. Its main advantages are the fantastic water resistance rate and the fact that it can be powered by solar power. It has a precise digital mechanism that will display the hour and date without any errors. Being a part of the G-Shock series, it is also shock and mud resistant.
Pros:
- Solar powered.
- Water resistant up to 200 m.
- Quartz powered precise internal mechanisms.
- Shock and mud resistant.
Cons:
- Alarms can be hard sometimes to hear.
4. Casio Men’s Pro Trek Solar Sport
The main feature of this survival watch is the Tough Solar Power system. What does that mean? Well, the clock does not have an internal battery. Instead, it uses solar power to keep itself up. Once fully charged, this watch can last up to two years in the dark! You don’t have to worry about dead batteries anymore.
This watch is also water resistant and comes equipped with a digital and very accurate compass. The build quality is fantastic, it is made from durable aluminum and stainless steel, making it very resistant.
Pros
- Tough solar power.
- Water resistant to 200 meters (660 feet).
- Digital compass.
- Durable aluminum bezel & stainless steel back/case.
- Triple sensor technology.
5. Casio Men’s GA-100C G-Shock Analog
The watch face is relatively easy to see because of its luminous hands that can be lit by the backdrop illumination of the look for simple time telling in any light conditions.
The LCD screens give valuable data about the time and date to supplement the hands, anyway I wish they were lit by the back side light too because they can be difficult to see in low light conditions.
The pure hands can likewise hinder the LCD screens as they travel along the 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock positions, yet this is exceptionally just a minor issue.
Pros
- Easy to read luminescent hands.
- Show digital time & date on crisp LCD screens.
- Water resistant to 200 meters (660 feet).
- Digital quartz movement.
- Lithium-ion battery lasts for 5+ years.
- Support dual time zones.
- 1/1000th-second stopwatch.
Cons
- Analog hands can block LCD screens.
6. G Shock GD-120 Military Black
The watch has a negative show to fit with the blacked out look. The screen indicates everything from the time in computerized and clock screen arrangement to the date from the prearranged logbook with dates significant to the year 2099.
The drawback of a negative show is that it tends to be difficult to peruse in bright light conditions. Rather than having the capacity to look at your watch, you should press a button to initiate the backdrop illumination with a specific end goal to peruse the show.
This is a minor bother, however, a tough issue with all negative show watches.
Pros
- Pre-programmed calendar to 2099.
- Water resistant to 200 meters (660 feet).
- Comfortable resin band.
- Quartz digital movement.
- Military blacked out with a negative display to keep a low profile.
Cons
- The negative display can be hard to read in low light.
7. Casio Men’s Twin Sensor Digital Watch
On the off chance that you require the best survival watch, look no more distant than Casio’s Twin Sensor Digital watch. The immense idea about this watch is that you can get everything required for an essential survival watch in one sturdy and attractive bundle.
Casio still gives all of you the fundamentals with this watch in one spending bundle.
The bezel and case on this watch are decidedly built. The show is fresh and has an enjoyable format that doesn’t squander any space. Spinning through the watch modes is simple, and there is a particular pitch signal for the principle timekeeping mode.
When you’re in a mode other than the primary timekeeping mode, the neighborhood time will appear in the upper right corner, which I thought was really helpful.
Pros
- Digital compass and thermometer.
- Water resistant to 200 meters (660 feet)
Cons
- Backlighting only stays on for 2 second periods.
- Lack features of more expensive watches.
8. Casio G Shock Sport Watch
Finding a watch that can get hammered like this one, will be a laborious undertaking. G Shock merely observes like the rest with stun and manhandles a safe outline. This watch resembles a tank on your wrist.
You can utilize and manhandle this thing all you’d want to, and it’d be an ideal close by. It’s an excellent decision if you need a spending alternative for climbing or if you plan on doing amazing games and needs a quality watch, however, would prefer not to chance to break a more costly G Shock.
Pros
- Excellent budget G Shock
- Water resistant to 200 meters (660 feet).
- Shock & abuse resistant.
- Pre-programmed auto calendar.
- Comfortable resin band.
Cons
- Lacks features of more expensive watches.
9. Suunto Traverse Alpha Smartwatch
The Suunto Traverse Alpha is a survival smartwatch for the open air sportsman. The Traverse Alpha is a smooth and tried, and true smartwatch intended to overcome the components on account of its rough, hardened steel case, water-repellent nylon lash and scratch safe sapphire precious stone glass.
The Traverse Alpha has standard watch highlights like a stopwatch, cautions, and schedule and accommodating outsider applications given by Suunto.
The display is a digital screen protected by scratch safe sapphire glass. The display is effortlessly discernible, yet isn’t as top-notch as cell phone screens. The screen is illuminated by a red light during the evening with a specific end goal to be night vision good, which I thought was entirely fresh.
Pros
- GPS & Compass.
- Breadcrumb feature offers path home.
- Sapphire crystal scratches resistant glass.
- Water resistant to 100 meters (330 feet).
- Barometer, altimeter, and thermometer.
- Hunting & Fishing mode.
- Pre-programmed calendar.
- Syncs with phone notifications.
Cons
- Require occasional charging.
- Short battery life on most accurate GPS setting.
10. Casio Men’s G Shock Classic Analog
In case you’re compelled to bug out on a financial plan, or perhaps you merely need to get a good deal on your watch, at that point look to Casio’s G Shock Classic, simple watch. The G Shock Classic expects to epitomize everything that a G stun ought to be in one straightforward, lean and shoddy bundle.
In spite of the value, this watch doesn’t hold back on much. It has a similar G Shock unwavering quality that Casio fans are utilized to with its stun and mud safe plan.
The watch is additional water impervious to 200 meters (660 feet), and like other G Shocks, the catches can be utilized submerged, which isn’t something that all water-safe watches can state.
The timekeeping this watch is nearly in the same class as some other, yet I say almost. One of the requirements of getting a decent G Shock this shoddy is that it doesn’t bolster nuclear timekeeping.
There is no recipient inside the watch to synchronize the time up with nuclear time. This is definitely not a major ordeal, as this watch will keep time inside a couple of moments of nuclear time over the time of a multi-month.
Pros
- Shock & mud resistant.
- Water resistant to 200 meters (660 feet).
- Comfortable resin band.
- Easy to read analog display.
- A great price
Cons
- Digital date display is hard to read in bright daylight.
Best Survival Watches Conclusion
To summarize it all, a survival watch is an essential tool for any survivalist. Keeping track of time and your surroundings can sometimes be the difference between life and death.
Choosing the right watch for you is essential. Even if you don’t have a huge budget, some cheap watches on the market will not disappoint you. Make sure you pick the watch that suits you best and that has the features that you need. With that said, happy surviving!
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