Timex Men’s T49686 Digital Compass Canvas Strap Expedition Watch
July 12th, 2010 | 
Author: admin
Author: admin
- Quartz movement
- Canvas strap
- 100-hour chronograph with lap and split options, 99 minute countdown timer, daily alarm
- Indiglo night-light
- Water-resistant to 330 feet (100 M)
Product Description
Highly Accurate Digital Compass
100 hr Chronograph
Compass Directional Ring
Alarm
Timer
One Touch Continuous Heading
Bearings based on 16 cardinal points measured in degrees
Allows user to set declination angle based on geography
Fast-Wrap® strap
All day INDIGLO® display
Timex INDIGLO® Night Light
Night-Mode® feature
100m water resistance
1 year guarantee from Timex
Watch size – Case=40mm Face=30mmAmazon.com Product Description
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Timex Men’s T49686 Digital Compass Canvas Strap Expedition Watch
I’ve been looking for a backlit watch for a while. I previously relied only on my cell phone for time, but eventually I couldn’t deny a watch is much more convenient. To further justify the purchase I looked for a durable water resistant watch that does more than just tell time, yet doesn’t cost a fortune. This Timex T49686 fits the bill perfectly.
Pros:
* Digital compass. This is the extra feature that makes it more than just another watch.
* Simple, no nonsense styling and colors. It’s relatively plain and it’s all black (with a little bit of white/silver accents).
* Water resistant to 100m. While I don’t plan to dive with it, I can certainly swim with it.
* At 41mm diameter, it’s one of the smallest digital compass watches available, if not the smallest. I don’t like unnecessarily huge watches.
* Standard 20mm band. If I don’t like the band or it breaks, finding replacement is trivial.
* The back of the band is water resistant nubuck leather, so it’s quite comfortable to wear.
* Very reasonable price. Fifty bucks is good value considering all the features.
Cons:
* The fabric (outer) side of the band can be made from better material. I got loose threads around the buckle hole after only a week of use. Fortunately I can burn and seal them off with a lighter.
Other thoughts: The watch has been functioning flawlessly for me. I don’t see it resetting itself even after many button pushes.
Update:
The compass works, but it’s not the most accurate instrument out there. Even the manual says that the accuracy is +/- 10 degrees. I found that it’s also extra prone to interference. If all you need is general direction than this will do fine, but if you want precision then get a serious dedicated compass.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is the first time I am writing a review for a product.
Everything works fine as it should except sometimes the watch completely resets for no reason.
I am about to call the manufacturer and find out if I am doing something wrong or is it a faulty watch.
Digital compass works flawlessly and has a tilt adjustment.
I mainly purchased this watch to locate the direction of Qiblah or the direction of Kaabah to pray towards. Sometimes I am on a road or at the University, so this watch becomes handy except when it resets itself.
Nice surprise is that this watch has a leather and canvas strap. The leather part that touches your wrist is comfortable and water resistant. 11/22/09
UPDATE:(01/10/2010). After speaking to TIMEX customer service, I found out that one had to pay $8 for shipping and handling to ship it TIMEX, even though the CSR agreed that it may be a defect. Such a large company asking it is customer to pay $8 for shipping and handling.
Watch resetting has a cycle, it seems like it resets after you use the compass 3-4 times. The fifth time it resets. Other than this issue, the quality and accuracy is very good.
Rating: 4 / 5
I got this watch with several others from Timex for my boyfriend to choose from (a Camper and two analog-digital combos), and this is the one he picked out. It has a really good quality, very comfortable strap, which is nylon lined with water resistant leather. That is the main reason he chose this watch over the Expedition Resin Combo watch, which has a plain nylon strap and is less comfortable. He also liked the look of the dial and thought that the digital compass was a cool feature, even though he wasn’t specifically looking for a watch with one. It seems to work well so far and is nice for hiking to know which general direction you’re looking from a mountain view, etc.
Rating: 4 / 5
Just got this watch in today from Amazon. The first thing I noticed is the design. Very simple and easy to read face without too many overcomplicated distracting features. I want to quickly glance at a watch and know what time it is and sometimes get the date. This watch fits the bill nicely.
Setting the date and time was super easy and not overly complicated. I didn’t even crack open the instructions. The buttons are nicely designed and easy to push. The digital feature makes no noise, which I like a lot because my previous Timex watch had hands and you could definitely hear the second hand ticking. I think that it was to remind me that the watch could “take a licking and keep on ticking.” Sorry folks, couldn’t help that pun.
The digital compass feature is an added cool bonus and the azimuth directions are fairly accurate when I placed it next to my old reliable Silva compass. This watch weighs a svelte 1.4 ozs according to my digital weigh scale and doesn’t feel like I have a boat anchor on my wrist.
Like the previous poster mentioned, I noticed some loose lint on the fabric band which was easily burned off with a Bic lighter. The fabric is a bit stiff around the wrist, but will probably loosen and conform better once it gets broken in. The watch strap has the standard pins that lock into the side bars of the watch, which is very convenient for finding and installing standard replacement straps. I almost purchased a different version of this watch until I found out that replacement straps can only be purchased direct from Timex, which is such a pain because you have to wait for shipping and the price markup is just ridiculous. Another previous poster mentioned the watch resetting itself, but I haven’t experienced that phenomenon yet. Maybe they just got a dud, which happens.
Overall first impressions of this watch are good, but only time will tell. So far my only concern is how well the fabric wrist strap will hold up to the everyday rigors of life and whether the plastic bezel lens will be prone to scratches compared to a glass bezel lens.
Rating: 5 / 5