Casio Pro Trek Manaslu PRX7001T-7 – Review

One of the most complicated Casio’s to ever hit the market has got to be the Pro Trek Manaslu Special PRX7001T-7.  This piece debuted at Basel Fair 2012 and 1st became available for sale April of 2013.  The 1st piece we received came and left so quickly, we didn’t even have a chance to review it.  Today, we received the piece back in stock (will hopefully have a couple more soon) and had to work fast before it left.  So now… On to what makes this piece so incredible.

The PRX7001T-7 is the 1st fully analog watch to display time, altitude, barometric pressure (and its differential), temperature.  It also has a compass, alarm, stopwatch, has automatic hand correction, 2 different sleep modes, low temperature resistance, is radio controlled (with Casio’s proprietary “Smart Access Technology”), and solar powered with  a 7 month power reserve.  Thanks to its “Multi Mission Drive” system, which consists of 5 separate motors, all of these functions are now possible.

You’ll want to use time keeping mode as a reference, which can be indicated by the mode hand (shortest hand with white luminescent arrow) is pointing to the day of the week.

We’ll start with Smart Access.  This function allows the user to change time zones by unscrewing and pulling out the crown and then turning until the second hand points to the desired city located on the chapter ring.  There are 29 cities to choose from and an option for automatic or manual adjustment of day light savings.  The radio control feature will automatically attempt to receive signal between midnight and 5 AM up to 6 times (and will stop attempting as soon as signal reception is successful).  There is also a manual receive option which can be done by pushing the mode button (lower left) until the mode hand reaches the R/C indicator around 11 o’clock.  From there you would hold down the lower right button for 2 seconds, and the watch will attempt to receive signal manually.

To use the compass, you simply push the upper right button while in time keeping mode.  It will take a few seconds to register, but the second hand will become an indicator for magnetic North.  No matter what direction you turn the watch, the second hand will always point North to help guide you.  You can exit the compass by pushing the mode button.

The altimeter can be activated by pushing the lower right button (which says ALTI).  From there, your hands will adjust to display the current altitude.  The hour hand indicates 1,000’s of meters or feet, the minute hand indicates 100’s of meters or feet, and the second hand indicates 10’s of meters or feet.  You can toggle between meters or feet being displayed by pulling out the crown and holding the upper right button for 2 seconds.

The barometer displays atmospheric pressure very similar to how the altimeter works.  You enter the mode by pushing the mode button (lower left) once from timekeeping mode.  The hour hand will indicate 100’s for hPa (10’s for inHg), minute will indicate 10’s for hPa (1’s for inHg), and seconds will indicate the 1’s for hPa (0.1’s for inHg).  You can also check the barometric pressure differential by pushing the upper right button while in barometer mode.  The second hand will point between 12 and 6 o’clock to indicate the difference.  Basically, the 3 o’clock is the 0 difference position.  Between 12 and 3 is positive (indicating positive change in weather).  Between 3 and 6 is negative (indicating a negative change in weather).  The watch automatically checks every 30 minutes or so, so you do not need to go into barometer mode to see the differential.  You can also toggle between metric (hPa) and US (inHg).  You would pull the crown out and hold the upper right button for 2 seconds, as you do for the altimeter.

To check the temperature, you would push the mode button twice from time keeping mode (or until the mode hand points to THERMO).  The watch will then adjust and display the current temperature.  To get the most accurate reading, you’ll want to have the watch off of your wrist for about 20 minutes.  If you don’t, it still reads very close, but your body temperature will effect the results.  To display the current temp, the watch uses the hour hand to distinguish 10’s of degrees in Celsius and 100’s of degrees in Fahrenheit.  The minute will display 1’s of °C and 10’s of °F, ands seconds will display 0.1’s of °C and 1’s of °F.  Again, you can toggle between °C and °F by pulling out the crown and holding the upper right button for 2 seconds.

The alarm is very easy to function. Once you go into alarm mode (push the mode button until the hand reaches ALM), the hands will display the current time set for the alarm.  You can adjust by pulling out the crown and rotating to the desired time.  The second hand will indicate AM or PM and you can also adjust the hour and minute hand independently by pushing the lower left button.  You can turn the alarm on or off by pushing the upper right button with the crown closed.

The stopwatch is pretty self explanatory and works like most any other chronograph.  You just need to put the watch in stop watch mode by pushing the mode button until the hand reaches STW.

The PRX7001T-7 also some great luminescence on the indexes, hour, minute, second, and even mode hand.  If that’s not enough, there’s also a white LED light that can be activated by pushing the centralized button below the 6 o’clock area.  Should you hold down that button, it will turn the auto light on and off.  If you pull the crown out and hold the button, it will toggle the light between 1.5 seconds length of time, to 3 seconds length of time.

Functionality of the watch is tremendous, but quality build and finish are top notch as well.  The 50.1mm piece is incredibly light weight due to it’s titanium case and bracelet.  The total weight is 120g, which is very surprising for its size.  The bezel and portions of the bracelets links are immaculately finished using the highly labor intensive Zaratsu hand finishing, which is a Japanese artform applied to katana blades.  As with any other piece of this caliber finish, it makes for a mirror type finish, and shows incredible quality.  Of course, to keep with the quality, this Pro Trek has an anti-reflective coated sapphire crystal.

To be completely honest, I love this watch.  The technology along with high quality craftsmanship is definitely something that could peak any collectors interest.  This is one of the highest quality Casio products to ever hit the market.  The PRX7001T-7, Manaslu Special was named after the 8th highest mountain in the world, found in the Nepalese Himalayas.  This is appropriate to me for two reasons.  One, it is made to endure the rugged conditions and provide a ton of tools useful to climb Manaslu, but also because of the mountain of functionality and capabilities this timepiece has.

MSRP on the PRX7001T-7 is $1,600.  While it is one of the most expensive Casio products you will see, it is still a tremendous value for the technology and quality you get.

Hope you enjoyed!  Please feel free to call us at 1-800-486-3996 with any questions and check out AZFineTime to see all the latest and greatest from Casio.

See our video review below…