Reviews > Electronic Devices > Watches > Freestyle Watches Navigator 2 > Test Report by Larry Kirschner

Freestyle Navigator 2.0 Watch

TEST SERIES BY LARRY KIRSCHNER

INITIAL REPORT - September 16, 2009

TESTER INFORMATION

I've been an intermittent camper/paddler since my teens, but now that my kids are avid Boy Scouts, I've caught the backpacking bug. I typically do 8-10 weekend hikes per year, and have spent time over the past few years backpacking the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico and canoeing the Atikaki wilderness of Canada. I like to travel "in comfort", but I've shrunk to medium weight, and continue to work toward going lighter and longer. With all of my investment into these ventures, I expect my wife and I will continue to trek long after the kids are gone…

INITIAL REPORT
September 16, 2009

PRODUCT INFORMATION & SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: Freestyle A
Year of Manufacture: 2009
Country of Manufacture: China
Manufacturer's Website: www.freestyleusa.com
MSRP: USD $125

Listed Weight: Not provided
Measured weight: 61 g (2.15 oz)

Listed width (diameter): 45 mm (1.77 in)
Measured width: 45 mm (1.77 in)
Measured depth: 14 mm (0.55 in)
Color: Black band/Black face (Other color scheme: Black band/Silver face)


ITEM DESCRIPTION

The Freestyle Navigator 2.0 watch comes from a line of watches designed to be "high-quality, water resistant, [and] durable" timepieces suitable for the active lifestyle. The Freestyle website states that the watch is good "for life - surf, skate, snow, wake, ski, bike, action sports, extreme sports" or whatever. To give the watch this capability, it is built with a number of features, elucidated below.

Water resistance. The watch is built with water resistance to 100 m (330 ft/10 atmospheres). This makes the watch suitable for most water sports, but not deep water diving.

Compass. The watch contains a compass which is stated to be accurate to 1 degree. It can also be re-calibrated if needed. The compass has 16 cardinal directions, although it was unclear to me why this is superior to the good old 4 directions I normally use. It also has a feature which allows declination adjustment. The online product manual includes a chart of the proper declination adjustments for major cities around the world. This photo shows the compass in action, with the single arrow on the upper left of the photo pointing north, and the triple arrow indicating south. As can be seen, my kitchen table is oriented at 29 degrees, which is north by northeast.



Other features. In addition to these specialized features that make the watch suitable for hiking (and a wide variety of other sporting activities), the watch has a nice array of "typical" watch features, including 2 time zone settings, a 30-lap chronometer with running or split time measurements, 2 interval timers, and 3 separate alarms. When the timer is used in split-time mode (i.e., lap timing), the times for each individual lap can be viewed by using the "recall" function. Also, the timer can be set to different modes, such that the watch will do different things (i.e., stop, reset, or start counting up) once the time has expired. The watch also has a lighted dial which is activated by pressing one of the buttons. The light can also be set to be turned on just by touching the bezel of the watch.

All of these features are controlled by a set of 4 buttons located around the perimeter of the watch, in a fairly standard arrangement. The watch has a bezel marked at the 4 cardinal directions (N, S, E, W) which can be rotated relative to the face of the watch. There is no crown on the watch, as all functions are controlled by the buttons.

The watch itself appears to be made of a metal alloy with a steel backing. The band is made of a rubberized material which attaches seamlessly to the watch face. One of the innovations in the watch is the use of "Free Fit Technology," which is a mesh band in the center part of the watch band, as shown below.



The buckle of the band has two narrow teeth which can fit anywhere into this meshing, giving the band complete adjustability.



Also, the free end of the band has a small hole in it, which fits into a clip which prevents the free end from sticking out from the band itself, as shown below.




INSTRUCTIONS AND WARRANTY

The watch came with a booklet in 7 languages describing "watch care, warranty, and contact information." This appears to be a general instruction pamphlet, since some of the instructions (such as cautions about using the crown underwater) are not applicable to the Navigator 2.0. The other instructions are straightforward, and include a caution about severe impacts on the watch and advice to avoid exposing the watch to chemicals and such.

The warranty policy is also presented in this booklet. The warranty is fairly generic, and covers the watch for "defects in materials and workmanship for the lifetime of the watch (under normal use)." Notably, the battery, watch band and crystal are not covered, nor is "accidental breakage or damage due to normal wear or misuse of the product." This makes me concerned, since a hiking watch has the possibility for receiving a lot of abuse. Hopefully, the Navigator 2.0 will prove itself sturdy enough so that these concerns will never be tested.

Although I initially thought that instructions for the watch were not included, I was eventually able to find them in a "hidden" compartment in the base of the packaging material. Seven small instruction packets were included, each one in a different language. Given that the 4 buttons are marked on the watch face as "start/stop," "lap/reset," "mode," and "light," I assume I could have figured the whole thing out with a little bit of trial and error, but the instructions were helpful. The instructions are also available on the Freestyle website, where they are easy to locate and download if needed.


TRYING IT OUT

When I pulled the watch out of its packing, I was first intrigued to see how the watch would feel on my wrist. My current watch is a Timex Ironman series watch, with basic features that are fairly similar features to those of the Navigator 2.0, excepting the compass. The Navigator is just a little bigger in the face but about the same depth as the other watch. Having never weighed my watch before, I was rather surprised to see that the Navigator 2.0 was about 50% heavier than my Timex (which weighed in at a svelte 40 g/1.4 oz). When I put it on my wrist, I could tell the Navigator was heavier, but it does not feel "heavy" to me. As can be seen in the photo below, the two watches are just about the same size.



The Free Fit band allowed me to easily adjust the watch to the proper size, although the clip which holds the end of the band makes rapid adjustments on the fly difficult. In order to adjust the band, it is first necessary to disengage the clip from the end of the loose end because with the clip in place, there is not enough slack in the strap for me to slide the buckle out. Anyway, I found the watch comfortable to wear.

Looking at the dial itself, it is well laid out with each of the displays (time, date, feature, etc) easily visible. The watch also has a second indicator which sweeps around the outside of the watch to allow an easy measurement of seconds elapsed. In the photo at the top of the report, the second indicator is the little arrow at about 26 seconds. In the photo just above, the second indicator is at 45 seconds.

Around the perimeter of the watch under the crystal are markers at the four cardinal directions, as well as numbers indicating 30, 150, 210, and 330 degrees. Other numbers are not shown because of the markings for the four buttons. Because the dial is black with white numbers, I found that it was sometimes difficult to see the numbers unless I turned the face to a specific orientation relative to my overhead light. The bezel rotates freely around the watch with stops every 6 degrees (i.e., 15 stops between 0 and 90 degrees). The marking on the bezel for East is replaced by the Freestyle logo in a slightly raised position, so I found that using this gave me the best leverage for moving the bezel.

I next spent several minutes playing with the buttons. The first thing I did was adjusted the time, which was easily done. I next played with all the combinations of buttons in order to test the compass, timer, alarm, and chronograph features. I found that everything worked intuitively as expected. The buttons are easy to manipulate, and the controls are fairly similar to other digital watches I have owned (included my current Timex). The features cycle in the order of time -> compass -> chronograph ->recall ->timer -> alarm and back again to time.

The compass seemed to be reasonably accurate as I tried it out sitting in front of my computer. It indicated both true north as well as the orientation in 1 of the 16 cardinal directions. The only feature that I was unable to get to work was the bezel-activated backlight. Following the instructions, I was able to get the proper icon to display, but manipulating the bezel does not make the light go on.


EXPECTATIONS FOR THE NAVIGATOR 2.0

So far, I like the Navigator 2.0. It is a very snazzy-appearing watch, and would look quite respectable with a suit and tie. The watch seems sturdy and the features seem well thought-out and functional. I generally buy fairly inexpensive watches since I can be hard on them. This watch seems like a step up from my usual, and I expect it will show enhanced durability to go along with its nice sense of style.


THE STORY SO FAR

Impressive
• Comfortable, adjustable wrist band
• Good features for reasonable size and weight
• Compass feature very handy