G-Shock GWM5610U - Did Casio Ruin a Classic?
483Why Casio? I finally decide to buy a classic G-Shock 5610-1 and it turns out you messed it up! I bought this on Amazon several days before Black Friday. The good news? It was on sale for $80 (Canadian) and this is by far the cheapest I've ever seen it! The bad news? They recently updated the model to a new variant called the 5610U-1 that changes the smooth bluish green Electroluminescent EL blacklight that it has been using for decades to a single side lit white LED instead! Booooo! That glorious EL backlight is part of the charm of these vintage Casio watches! The Amazon listing still shows images and descriptions saying it has an EL Electroluminescent backlight so not only did they change the model but it seems no one noticed!
Now, to be fair to Casio they did upgrade a few other features and it's possible the switch to an LED actually saves battery life meaning a solar charge will go even longer! But is that worth loosing the iconic cool glow?