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The Casio F91 is about the only small watch that you could launch at a Nokia and expect to survive
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Or is it? You see, there are precisely a billion of these small digital Casio watches out there
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And while the F91 is the most popular, there are many more modern alternatives that look just like it
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My question is, are any of them better? Are you wearing the wrong watch
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Well, today we find out. I tracked down five of the most similar models to take a look at in this roundup
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You'll find each of them linked in the video description. Thanks to Amazon for covering the cost of these for the sake of this video
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And oh boy, does some of these look similar. So here we have the original F91, but we've also got the F105W
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the W59, W-86, W-202 and W-217H. They also accidentally sent me two of the W-86
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So stick around to the end of the video to find how you can win that one, because there's no point in me having two of them
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Rather than taking forever and talking gradually through each one of these
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we'll go section by section. Let's begin with the size and looks
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then we'll move on to the performers' differences compared to the original. The most visually similar to the F-91 is the W-59
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This one has a similar shape, an almost identical colour scheme with only some minor differences
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It's a fraction deeper and has more traditional styled logs, though, at a glance
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most people would struggle to notice any difference at all. On risk, they feel virtually identical
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Next up, we have the F105. This looks very similar again, just is a little larger overall and has a primarily blue theme
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In a blind test, with each separate, you'd still be hard-pressed to differentiate them when it comes to size
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as it's only a couple of millimeters bigger and both are very small watches still
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But if that F105 took steroids, it would probably look something like this
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The W-86 is the first one where you start to notice some proportional differences
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The case is about 25% chunkier and 3 millimeters wider than the F but retains the concealed lug design not present on those previous two alternatives This colour way is perhaps the most different to the F91 with turquoise bars above and below the display
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Despite this, it definitely still retains that traditional Cassio Digital look. Now we move on to a couple that stray from that aesthetic
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There's the W202, which you may recognise if you follow my channel for a while
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It's clearly a variance of the B640 with the curved sides and the
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different style of display. You'll also notice that the buttons are arranged differently too
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indicating the presence of a different module inside. While those aspects are certainly different
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than are old faithful, the colours are very similar and the proportions are also small just like
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the F-91. A piece that isn't so small is the W-217 H. Comfortably the largest in this roundup
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this watch is here for those of you who have larger wrist and are looking for a bigger alternative
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that still maintains some of that retro styling. By no means is this a huge watch at 38mm, it's no G-shock
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However, it has a great deal more wrist presence than the F-91. You have the same blue, red and yellow accents, though
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along with the square shape and three-button arrangement. So that's a brief overview of the aesthetics
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but let's talk about the upgrades. After all, there'd be no incentive to switch from that cheap legend
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if there were no improvements on offer. The first area is water resistance
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Some of these options have what Cassio claims to be improved performance over the F91
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which is already known to perform better than the 30 metre rating that it's been given
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At first, I thought the best would be the F105, which on Amazon had its water resistance listed at 100 metres
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which would have been the best rating of the bunch. Unfortunately, it looks like this is an error
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as the manual that comes to the watch states that this watch is just 30 metres splash proof, like the F91
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This is evident by the fact that it doesn't have a printed bar rating on the rear, unlike the other options
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Unfortunately, the remaining four alternatives have 50 metres or 5 bar water resistance
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which should give you more reliable and consistent water performance over the original F91
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Unusually, they're still using the same four screw case packs to achieve this
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so I anticipate any gains must come in the form of improved gaskets or something Just be aware that using the buttons while underwater could still compromise the seal regardless of the stated rating so definitely avoid that
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Normally, though, water resistance wasn't really a pitfall of the original F-91W
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The terrible backlight is, you'll often struggle to read the time in anything other than pitch black conditions with this piece of rubbish
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Luckily, several of these more modern casios have improved backlights, though, they do very significantly
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The W59 has a disappointing side light that only performs marginally better than the F91
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This one really isn't a notable improvement. The chunky W-217H also has a sidelight, but it's substantially better than those previous two
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so it's more than usable, as is the W-202, which features a bright dual sidelight setup
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The best backlights are those on the F-105 and W-86, which both house the incredibly effective blue LED system
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that I would usually associate with that illuminator branding, even though a couple of others have got that branding too
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This provides incredibly strong low-light performance when activated, a giant leap from that on the F-91
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If you're in a manual job where you might be in dark environments, this could be the crucial factor
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All of the watches, including the F-91, have comparable resin construction, though each of these alternatives appears to be finished to a better standard than the original
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You'll notice when you look closely, the edges and lines, are more precise and the texture of the material feels a tad nicer too
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Despite this, they're all fundamentally going to perform about the same, but there is some design variety when it comes to straps
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The F105 has a strap that is identical to the F91, whilst the others all look slightly different and feel higher quality
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My favourite is that on the W86, which feels the best and looks cool with this like triple vent arrangement on each side
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That on the W-217 is also worth a mention, as it feels a supple
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and has these strange protrusions on the rear that prevent the strap from overextending
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I'm unsure what the proper purpose of these is, maybe to stop your hairs from getting trapped in the gap
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Who knows? When it comes to functionality, they all feature alarms and stopwatches like you might expect
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but the W202 also features a customizable countdown timer should you need it That model does lag behind when it comes to battery life though Cassio Stage you get approximately three years of usage per battery with that one
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versus the seven years plus that you can expect with all the other options, including the F91W
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Realistically, it's not that much of an issue given how easy it is to unscrew the back
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and replace the battery yourself, but it's something to bear in mind given how inexpensive these watches are
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because in some cases, it might work out more cost-effective to buy another watch
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though I'd highly recommend avoiding unnecessary waste when you can. On Amazon, these alternatives typically retail for close to double the F-91
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with the W-59 sitting somewhere in between. I'll link them all down below, but which would I actually recommend
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Well, obviously, your aesthetic preferences are going to come into it. But for me, I think the best watch here is the W-86
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And luckily, that's the one they sent me two of. It has a combination of the best water resistance, battery life and backlight
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along with the chassis that isn't too enormous. It still feels comfortable and quite similar to the original when it's on wrist
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Surprisingly, it's also among the lowest priced here at the time of recording
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My second choice would be the F105W. While it doesn't have the marketed water resistance boost
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it provides you with a piece that is about the same size as the original, just with a much better backlight
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That alone is worth the price increase in my books. My least favorite is the W-217H
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It just feels unnecessarily big, which is evident by the large gap
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between the acrylic and the display. Nevertheless, it could be the only viable choice
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if you have a massive wrist, and it could provide a cheaper alternative to a G-shock, though I wouldn't expect
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the same level of impact resistance. I feel like some of the charm of the original F91W
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is that it's so small that it barely gets hit anyway, which might not be the case for a watch
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that's almost double the thickness. If you're looking for more information, list the main specs of these in the description too. And importantly, let me know in the comments
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which out of these is your favourite or if you think I've missed one off this list. In fact, I'll get
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in contact with whoever leaves the best suggestion in the comments and you will have won this watch
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If you enjoyed the video, don't forget to subscribe. I'll see you next time. This video is
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continue, there's a link in the video description
