nubie question about altimeter possible malfunciton of Module 2767 Pathfinder PRG-60

Thanks in advance for the help.

This is my 2nd G-shock I've purchased used this year on the bay. The first was for my daughter in ROTC, and it was the G-Shock GWM-5600-BC, with is a smallish, squarish, all black, reverse display with a bracelet band. She loves it and it fits her small wrist perfectly.

I purchased and received yesterday a Casio Pathfinder PRG-60, Triple Sensor, which I'm guessing is about ten years old. Module 2767, for which I found the Manual online, and followed the directions. I actually don't normally wear a watch, but I have a trip planned to Montana at Christmas time to go skiing, so I thought it would be cool to have a watch that told me temp, direction, and especially, altitude. Just for fun.

When I opened the package yesterday, per the manual, I set the digital hour, minutes and seconds, day, year and date, check. I set the analog hands, check. I activated the auto backlight, check.

The battery is on the 3rd setting, high. The watch looks almost brand new.

I checked the Compass, and it seems to function perfectly, check.

I checked the Barometer, and aside from using a scale I'm not familiar with ... 1020, 1040, etc, seems to work fine, check.

But I can't get the Altimeter to read anywhere close to the 100 ft (30 meters) altitude at which I am right now. In Timekeeping mode, I push the D button, the watch gives one beep, the the display goes blank where the time was displayed, then in about five seconds the numbers 2350 appear, with a tiny M letter just to the right. I take that to mean the watch sensor thinks I am at 2350 meters, but I am at about 100 feet altitude at the moment, in Los Angeles.

So I retry it, and the display again goes blank, then up comes 8250, then 5210, the five dashes, then -380, then -160, etc. then goes to five dashes for at least 20 seconds, then 7290, then dashes, then 155, then quick-blinks and shows -690, then 9885, then 9720, then 5675, then -30, then 6030, then five dashes, etc. all over about two minutes. Once last night the sensor read "err".

Is there some way I was supposed to have calibrated the altimeter, or is it broken? I don't think it is a battery issue since the battery is at the highest charge setting.

If there is something basic I failed to do, that would be great b/c I like the watch and all the other functions seem to work fine. If the sensor is broken, I'll return it to the seller for a refund.

Thanks.

Welcome aboard Dunnin!

The first thing you have to check is the battery. Though the display is showing that the battery is on high, you'll see that it not always means that the battery is working 100% specially when we're talking about batteries 10 years old. So first of all, let it soak a LOT of sun, just to be sure. If even after you put the watch in sun light for a whole day and this behavior still persists, regardless of being fully charged, the battery maybe faulty - again, that happens with old solar cells. If that's the case you just need to swap the battery, which is very easy to do on your own.

And BTW, the PRG-60 is a ProTrek, not a G-Shock - same brand and closely related, but quite different beasts

.

^thanks LUW. Protek - check!

I had read that with the Tough Solar Casios, every 7-10 years it might be necessary to replace the rechargable battery... at a cost of $30-$40, and always at an authorized dealer b/c of repositioning/replacing the seal, etc.. If this battery is so close to failing as to fail to operate the altimeter while still showing full strength, then I'll return the watch because replacing the battery is another half again as much as I paid for it to begin with. Having a cool novelty watch was worth $65 to me, for this ski trip, but honestly not worth $100 plus the aggravation of having to take the time to immediately replace the battery.

One of the reasons I wanted a Tough Solar was because I really dislike going out of my way taking watches to the jeweler every couple of years to have the battery replaced. I swear I would never see a jeweler if not for watch battery replacement.

This watch has gained 13 seconds in time vs. the time shown when I google "current time" at http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Pacific/d/-8, vs. 9:30 this morning... so that's 13 seconds in 9 hours, or about 36seconds per day.

Would this also tend to indicate a battery that is not functioning properly?

I would think so. A bad battery causes all sorts of erratic behaviors, so the first thing I would do would be address the battery. But you have to understand that (Tough) solar or not, it still has a battery, so you will​ have to replace it eventually. My oldest ProTrek (my all-around beater watch) is at almost that age, so pretty soon I'll have to open it up. Changing the battery isn't rocket science, it's pretty easy as long as you have the right tools and a good notion of what to expect (you'll find a ton of tutorials on the web). On some models of ProTreks it's a bit more complicated then G-Shocks because a few have two battery cells, but it's still doable on your own.

And about battery price: if you look around you will find better prices then what you quoted, but solar cells are always more expensive then regular cells. So is the price and hassle worth it? Depends on how much you like the watch; like everything else in life, old stuff always demands some form of investment.