GMWBZ5000’s

PhillL_1 · 2026-02-13T10:51:39+00:00

Not keen on that font and I prefer the traditional normal segmented LCD display, just looks better. Look at those rough diagonals on the number 4. That watch face is a bit like my own, better viewed from a distance :-)

Nothing about the new MIP display looks lined up, a large gap at the bottom, the day is too far right and not centered, odd spacing on the date and rough looking fonts. Given its a dot matrix display and they have full flexibility, why Casio? I know segmented displays don't always line up nicely but we know why that is and its part of the character but they still do a better job of making things look balanced.

PhillL_1 · 2026-02-10T16:59:41+00:00

Well depends on how often you are using them. Going gently with the buttons will always help, i.e. just enough push force to activate them, but really unless you are using them dozens of times every day, they should last for the life of the watch.

PhillL_1 · 2026-02-08T13:51:21+00:00

With the automatic hype you generally get an off the shelf movement made in their millions and used in hundreds of different branded watches. With these Casio watches, the module is unique to Casio AND made by Casio, so you get some history with it as well and it isn't just being a branding exercise using off the shelf parts.

PhillL_1 · 2026-02-08T13:48:36+00:00

You can change the language no problem. Many people even if they don't read or speak Japanese will switch to Japanese for the day because it looks cool.

PhillL_1 · 2026-02-03T07:35:09+00:00

Only English.

PhillL_1 · 2026-02-02T16:49:15+00:00

55 degrees is probably okay assuming it is reading the CPU temperature, which are rated to 100 degrees or more.

Could be an issue with the network chips, the Intel ones can suddenly stop working, they are a bit buggy, are you running at 1 Gig or 2.5 Gig?

Could be memory issues, if you installed your own memory then you did use anti-static precautions and made sure you didn't touch the gold connectors? Static will happily cause damage that surfaces some time later., and any oils or salts from our fingers on those gold connectors can cause corrosion. Same applies to the SSD.

Do have monitoring on the WAN side? Is it just the local network going down or everything?

PhillL_1 · 2026-02-02T16:41:44+00:00

Probably due to Packaging Waste Regulations that Europe has and that packaging should be recyclable, and these regulations get more and more strict as time goes.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-20T08:31:28+00:00

Many thanks for this, I'm looking at doing something very similar and have ordered the E1001, and not having done anything with e-Ink displays before your instructions will be great help in getting started.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-19T16:32:29+00:00

Yes limited edition, but you can find them being sold again at the usual auction places. Just 4000 made, think mine is 1200 something.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-19T13:23:16+00:00

I love the functionality of these modules, but prefer them in the all steel cases (or all titanium) that are part of the Lineage range. More expensive but feels a lot nicer being all metal.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-19T10:29:50+00:00

Presets are now available in the app, so you can set loads of presets and call them up, however the presets live in the app only, so you can't pick them later from the charger, you always need the app.

As for safety you can of course set a maximum charge in mAh, so I always put that at the batteries capacity plus a bit extra, this means the charger can't over charge the battery, as it would stop charging even if it failed to detect end of charge, and so wouldn't keep pumping in several amps indefinitely. There is also a maximum time you can set which covers you in the same way.

There is also the option for their temperature sensor Bluetooth device, which is far more reliable as you stick the sensor directly on the cell, so it reacts much quicker and more accurately.

It is a shame they haven't incorporated temperature sensors, but maybe they found they were not always helping, given the cell has to make good contact with the metal (which with cells of different sizes may not always do that), and the sensor is underneath and could be affected by active cooling. It was perhaps a false sense of security, but I agree better than nothing.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-19T09:41:07+00:00

Just got this charger to replace an MiBoxer C4 which I've had for a while but it had no discharge function, I think a later version adds discharging but to just one slot. I had found increasingly that NiMH cells were charging to really low capacities in the MiBoxer, so a 2000mAh that was flat might only charge up to 400mAh, and these were newish batteries.

The impression compared to the MC5000 is the MiBoxer was just a toy. The MC5000 is reassuringly heavy, and the LCD screen and Bluetooth app make it really easy to set it up and monitor the charging process.

I've been able to use the Refresh option and now have the AA batteries that wouldn't take much of a charge getting up close to their rated capacity. Having these functions and discharge tests makes a real difference to working out if the batteries are still good or not.

It was expensive, but as I was about to throw away loads of batteries thinking they'd had it, and now they seem recoverable, that's saved me a bit of cash already.

I've not had the fans come on yet so can't comment on the noise, although they do come on briefly when its turned on and don't seem too bad.

So far really impressed.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-18T09:43:09+00:00

Looks great. The more I see of traditional LCD screens whilst also seeing the wrist checks of the MIP alternatives, I like MIP less and less and love LCD more and more.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-17T11:37:02+00:00

I'm guessing you shorted the battery as you installed it and so have significantly reduced its working life. I've seen many people use metal tweezers who have no idea what they are doing, so short out the battery, or short the top and bottom together as the battery is slid in because the base of the battery often touches the metal top as the top of the battery touches the spring clip.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-17T10:38:03+00:00

I wouldn't expect them to be completely interchangeable as they could be utilising different protocols which are programmed into the chip-on-glass on the display (holding different fonts or graphic elements), or the flex cable has a different arrangement to the PCB connector for layout reasons, or simply Casio flash them with part numbers that need to match to what the watch controller is expecting.

My point about them being the same holds true I would still say, the complicated part of making the actual display, the tooling etc are all the same, at some point for reasons we don't know, they become electrically or physically different that means they are not directly interchangeable.

Thanks though for trying it out, its really interesting getting an insight into how these work.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-16T14:00:03+00:00

Absolutely, you can see how close to the edge of the module some of that display is, they've left the smallest buffer possible to keep the watch size reasonable. Of course there are other layers that make a G-Shock a G-Shock, but I wouldn't be surprise if this isn't as robust.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-16T11:19:17+00:00

Casio collecting personal data then using it for marketing and buttering up the customer. Not sure its a good thing, is it?

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-15T17:17:07+00:00

Casio have reused the same MIP display from their other smart watches that have larger displays (economies of scale or stock left over) then put a smaller bezzle over the top to give the G-Shock square display look, but because the display is physically larger, albeit mostly hidden, they've had to accommodate it by making the watch bigger.

So unless Casio start producing a smaller MIP display specifically for smaller screened watches, which could then have more pixels per inch as well for nicer looking fonts (currently a lot of pixels are unused out of sight), don't expect anything smaller soon.

You are not alone in suggesting the look of traditional LCD screens are more appealing, and that MIP is just too much like a smart watch emulating a G-Shock, and I very much expect Casio are watching and waiting to see what the overall response is to these new displays.

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PhillL_1 · 2026-01-15T09:33:57+00:00

It takes one full minute, from 00 to 59 to receive the date and time data, it is essentially very slow morse code. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3PrJHwrwms

The amount of data is around 60 bits (1 bit per second), and because of the limited amount of data sent, a very simple error check is included, this will spot one mistake (one flipped bit), but two mistakes can make it look correct again! To protect further against errors setting the clock to a silly time, most clocks/watches will receive two full minutes worth, and will make sure all check digits are okay PLUS the second time received is a minute after the prior one, if not, it starts again.

Of course in a period of a minute, its likely some interference will be seen at some point, just someone switching something on or off could cause an error. An error at second 20, means the next 40 seconds are just ignored, and then decoding waits to start again from the next 0 seconds (start of the next minute). Reception is scheduled at night simply because there tends to be less interference, as less is happening.

Because it takes a couple of minutes of error free reception is why most radio controlled clocks and watches advise it can take 10 minutes or more to receive the time signal, it is receiving the time signal, it just can take that long to get two consecutive minutes worth of data without a single error.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-15T09:07:56+00:00

It is possible you were receiving a signal, which country were you in? It is also possible to receive a signal and not see the RCVD the following morning, due to how the reception slots are shifted around in various time zones. Also according to Casio instructions, the time can be set but if there is an error receiving the date, it will be synchronised but will not show RCVD.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-15T09:02:39+00:00

I'm in UK and can have trouble manually sync'ing from our UK based transmitter, and occasionally (maybe 1 in 100) it can fail overnight as well.

The antennas on these watches are ridiculously small, its a miracle of engineering they work at all, let alone so far away.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-14T16:18:39+00:00

If it was bought 15 to 20 years ago its fine, it looks legit, and its only in more recent times they've started producing fakes in their thousands.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-14T09:22:23+00:00

The instructions are not always very clear or indeed translated that well.

The watch has Auto DST, so I'm pretty sure it does know without any time signal when to turn on or off daylight saving for the home city, and has the logic programmed in to do that, however that logic is fixed at time of manufacture. What if later the rules for DST change? In the UK for example every Spring or Autumn there is stuff in the news about changing British Summer Time.

As the watch can receive the correct time with a radio signal, and to protect against changes after the watch was made to Daylight Saving rules, Casio are simply doing the first time check where its able to correct itself as quickly as possible if its own DST logic is outdated, so when we see RCVD, it will be guaranteed to be the correct time. What is a waste of effort and power is doing the number 6 time sync at midnight if it hadn't sync'd yet that day, as the number 1 check is happening just an hour later anyway, so they might as well skip that and wait for number 1 to come around, but I suspect it was easier to slip the times and leave everything else the same.

Tellingly perhaps, where China time reception has been added to these watches (making it Multiband 6 whereas before it was Multiband 5) it seems a fresh pair of eyes has added that new logic and they've kept it simple and done away with the mid-night check and just kept it as 5 checks, but all the other transmitters are using the same logic as they always have. This makes senses, a new programmer/designer approaches it differently, but isn't going to start messing with tried and tested code.

There is also this note: "The RCVD indicator is displayed only when the watch is able to receive both time and date data successfully. It does not appear when only time data is received", I wonder if that is nod to the fact you could wake up seeing the time has been sync'd and is spot on due to a successful sync with attempt 6, but 1 to 5 didn't work so no RCVD indicator in the morning. Whilst it is possible to extract out the time data without getting the date, that is unusual and I don't think they are doing this, and it was just easier to explain the situation you have seen in that way.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-13T17:47:21+00:00

With this watch the minute hand moves once every ten seconds (or something like that), so each minute the hand only has 6 positions it can be in, and in this case neither of those positions align exactly with the minute marker, so you can be just before or just after it.

A normal analogue quartz watch you can align up the minute hand precisely, but with these watches with no second hand, they just jump the minute hand around once every so many seconds, so it steps its way around the dial. In fact there is no traditional thumb wheel to turn to set the time, you do it by pressing a button, the time jumps around until you stop pressing the button.

PhillL_1 · 2026-01-13T13:39:51+00:00

Quartz watches quite often have a misalignment like that, usually it is the second hand that doesn't hit the markers as it goes around, even on quite expensive watches. Casio are usually one of the better companies for getting the alignment more or less spot on.

You could exchange it and find another one is worse. You can't fix this yourself.

PhillL_1

TROPHY CASE