Casio F-B100W: a little Bluetooth, a long battery life, a fussy step counter
Casio’s £55 digital watch makes a persuasive case for modest smarts. Hands-on reports like the convenience, while its manual explains the step counter’s limits.
Casio has found a modest job for Bluetooth: set the time, help locate your phone and leave you alone. The F-B100W adds a step counter to a familiar resin digital watch, with a battery Casio rates for about two years. There is something appealing about a connected gadget whose most demanding daily interaction might be timing the tea.
Fresh attention comes from TechRadar's September 8 hands-on, which found the watch enjoyable as a simple daily companion. Its reported £55 UK price places it firmly in considered-purchase territory for a basic Casio. The question is whether the phone connection earns that premium, particularly when the fitness feature has some important limitations.
A useful app you needn't keep visiting
Casio's specifications describe a 26g watch measuring 41.9 by 38.1 by 8.8mm. It uses a CR2016 battery, with the two-year figure presented as an estimate. You get a countdown timer, five daily alarms, dual time and a stopwatch that can retain up to 200 records. The step total and goal progress appear on the watch itself.
The CASIO WATCHES app handles settings, activity data and automatic time adjustment. Its world-time selection covers approximately 300 cities. Phone Finder makes the paired handset sound an alert, a genuinely practical use for a radio connection when the phone has disappeared somewhere nearby.
The Accoutrements review from August 23 shows how that arrangement works in ordinary use. The reviewer said he bought his watch, used the app to configure time updates, a countdown and a second time zone, and expected to need little further interaction with it. He particularly liked the slightly larger fit compared with an F-91W and the improved backlight.
That is a useful account of ownership because the conveniences are specific. Setting a second city on a phone is straightforward. Checking its time on your wrist afterward does not require rummaging through the phone again. The app does the fiddly setup work, while physical buttons handle everyday use.
The pedometer has an 18-second wrinkle
The step counter needs more scrutiny than the cheerful retro styling. Casio's module 3589 manual says the displayed total waits about 18 seconds after walking starts before increasing. Once continuous walking passes that period, the display includes the preceding steps. The delay is intended to reduce miscounts.
Do not diagnose a broken sensor by taking three steps across the kitchen and staring at the number. Equally, do not assume that every movement registers correctly. Casio lists stop-start walking, pushing a shopping cart or stroller, vibration, and unrelated hand movements among conditions that can upset the count. Short bouts of walking are also on its caution list.
The phone-link instructions add another distinction: transfers to the app can lag behind the watch. A temporary disagreement between the two totals is therefore not, by itself, evidence of missing steps.
These details make the F-B100W easier to understand as a daily movement prompt. They do not establish its measurement accuracy against another tracker. Neither the TechRadar account nor the Accoutrements review supplies a controlled step-count validation, so there is no basis here for claiming that the little Casio outperforms a dedicated fitness wearable.
Try reading it before falling for it
Accoutrements' strongest complaint was especially relevant to a watch meant to simplify life: despite the bigger case, he found the time digits smaller than the F-91W's. He also disliked the space taken by the top graphic bar and the year-month-day date arrangement. Those are useful checks to make in person, particularly if quick readability matters more than extra information.
The price deserves the same sober look. TechRadar reported UK stock shortages in its September article; that is a dated observation, not a promise about today's availability. Check your local seller and avoid treating a quoted overseas price as a delivered import price.
For someone who wants accurate phone-synchronised time, a handy timer and a rough nudge to walk more, the F-B100W has a coherent purpose. Its charm survives the caveats. Just make sure you can read the time comfortably, and let the step count encourage the walk rather than grade it.
Image: Accoutrements' source-video thumbnail, identifying the hands-on review discussed above. Watch the original review.