My favorite G-Shock smartwatch is a Black Friday steal

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Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Casio has been making some of the best non-touchscreen smartwatches for several years now, and my favorite is available for a great price in Amazon’s Black Friday deal promotion. It’s the G-Shock DW-H5600. Normally, you’ll pay $299 for one, but at the moment, it’s $170. For that price, it’s an absolute steal.

What’s more, while you can get the ordinary black version for this price, the attractive blue model is also available. I love colorful G-Shock watches and quite liked this color when I reviewed the watch, so this would be the one I’d choose. Why is the DW-5600 the pick of G-Shock’s connected watch range? The classic square G-Shock case makes it very easy to wear, unlike some of the bigger G-Shock watches, so it becomes the G-Shock for people who don’t usually find G-Shock watches fit their wrists.

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Even though it’s not quite as large as some G-Shock watches and doesn’t have a touchscreen like most of the best smartwatches, it still has plenty of ability and performance. It’s shock-, vibration-, and water-resistant, with a heart rate sensor on the back. It can track your fitness, movement, and sleep. Casio teamed up with fitness smartwatch experts Polar to interpret the data from the sensors in its own Casio Watches app, which is available for iOS and Android. The watch will also show notifications from your phone.

The DW-GH5600 doesn’t need charging as much as most other smartwatches, as it uses solar power to keep going. However, when I reviewed the watch, I did find the battery required a top-up using the included proprietary charger, which clips to the watch’s case when it doesn’t see enough sun. This may not be necessary if you don’t have the 24-hour heart rate and blood oxygen level monitoring active, though.

The other downside to note is that the DW-H5600 suffers from the same problem as many other square G-Shock watches: It is difficult to push the side buttons, which are hidden deep beneath the guards on the side of the case. However, the Casio Watches app lets you set most of the features that require digging through the menu, and it’s a far quicker option.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Interested in the G-Shock DW-H5600? One last thing to know is it’s not really a direct alternative to the Apple Watch Series 10 or the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7. It’s more up against fitness smartwatches with a more watch-like design, such as the Garmin Vivomove Trend and the Withings ScanWatch 2.

I love the DW-H5600 because it looks excellent, goes with most things you’ll wear, and will be appreciated by watch fans and tech fans alike — all while still providing a high degree of functionality.

Even at its full price, I think it’s a good purchase, but at almost half price, the DW-H5600 is a must-buy.