G-Shock #35: Panda

At the moment I write this article, I’m in the Drôme, southern France with a very poor (useless) wifi connection, so I can’t rely my article on “GPS” or “My G-Shock”, where I usually verify my information I use for G-Shock articles. It's my son Bram's birthday. He's happy with his Planet Naboo with Royal N-1 Starfighter, while I'm happy with my new "Panda"

This article is about the GR-8900A-7ER, also known as the “Panda”. When you look at the colors scheme, it’s pretty clear where this nickname comes from, but in the beginning some people also called it the “Stormtrooper”, but real G-Shockers already know this name is already given to the creamy white G-9000 Mudman, as it was a popular watch worn by the military troopers in Iraq.

Frankly, I also like the name “Panda” better than if it would have been “Stormtrooper”. The Star Wars Stormtroopers are of course very popular, but maybe the choice would be too easy. Still a good excuse to use my sons Lego Star Wars Stormtroopers for some photography.

I bought this G-Shock shortly before I went on vacation, although it had been on my wanted list for quite a while. At the time the G-8900 and the GR-8900 models were released, a lot of other interesting models came out, like the Dee & Ricky II and Parra. I simply had to make choices what to buy.

As I really familiar with this model, I assumed it would be similar priced to the G-8900A, but it costs quite a bit more. Soon I found out why, the GR-8900 is a Tough Solar model, while the G-8900 aren’t. As I personally like the Tough Solar feature, I don’t care paying a little more for a solar model. With the amount of G-Shocks I have gathered in my house, I have to change batteries a lot. When you have done a lot of these battery changes, the animo of starting a one again is not that high. Maybe I am just lazy.

In May I visited a hip hop/dupstep concert (Kraantje Pappie) in my hometown and was amazed about the large number of G-Shocks worn by the audience, from who a lot were hardly a third my age. How different compared with the last time I saw this artist performing at the Shock The World party in June 2011, where the audience was not only older, but also more classy. Maybe this was the G-Shock Avant-garde. One thing both audiences had in common, a love for the XLarge G-Shock models. GD-100, GA-100, GA-110, name them and you found them in the crowd. The G-8900 and GR-8900 were not released in June 2011, but I was surprised to see many 8900’s during the concert in my hometown. I almost felt myself humble in my multicolored G-001 Jason (it was Friday 13th).

Birthday pie break

A few months ago Bram had a Lego workshop at a the Lego Superstore. While Bram was building, I was a bit looking around in the store, when my eyes fell on two special sets, which are normally not available for sale. One was a Nemo (“Look, a clownfish”, -”no daddy, that’s a Nemo”), the other set was a Panda. As a AFOL (Adult Fan Of Lego), I could not leave this packages behind, so I took them home. It was also a nice Mother’s Day present. That Panda might become handy. All I need was buying a G-Shock Panda.

About two weeks before I went on vacation, I had a chat with Dimer of Ace Jewelers. I met him about a year ago during a Kaliber 2010 meeting (Dutch Language forum at WatchUSeek). I am proud that Ace Jewelers are now even the sponsor of the G-Shock Forum. I asked Dimer if they had the GR-8900A-7 in stock. He told me they had, but didn’t know the price. We both forgot about this watch, until I was thinking what to bring to France and what to write about.

A few days before I left on holidays, I contacted Ace if they had the GR-8900A still in stock, which was fortunately. On a recent photo of the display case at Ace Jewelers (above, photo by Dimer van Santen), I also noticed the G-8900A, but this one was unfortunately already sold. These new 8900’s seem popular. Next day the package was delivered by UPS.

The “Panda” is a white G-Shock model, with a crisp negative display, a black inner ring on the bezel and black buttons, which nicely contrast with the white resin. Where, in my opinion, the contrast of the negative display to the shiny white resin on the DW-6900SN-7 that is made popular by Eminem, is a bit too much, it looks perfect on this model. Probably because the big black buttons, with fishbone grip structure, and the inner ring, break the hard contrast of the black solar cells and negative display. Only the purple ring around the eye and the text ILLUMINATOR break the monochromatic color scheme. Somehow it just only stress the fact the watch is further only black and white.The comparison with a panda didn’t just fall from the sky.

 

The size of the watch is similar to other XLarge models, like the GA-110 and GD-100. Although these watches look pretty big, they are pretty light weight. If I’m correct, it weighs less than 70 gram. The strap with a double closure buckle give the watch a tough and sturdy look. As a G-Shocker that loves the look of the late 90’s G-Shocks, I pretty much like this model. From all new XLarge models, this one comes pretty close to the look and feel of the old 90’s models. Maybe I almost dare to compare it a bit to the DW-9300 Raysman, although, without the Mud Resistant bezel structure. With case dimensions of about 54 x 51 x 14 mm, this is indeed a pretty large G-Shock model. The raised ring around the display is pretty high, approximately 2mm. Together with bumpers this will protect the crystal from accidental scratching. Of course it’s not a 100% guarantee against dents and scratching, but most of the impacts come from the side when you swing your arm. Before I owned G-Shocks, I seemed to have a patent pending on scratches from walls and door knobs, now in the past 12 years I own and wear G-Shocks it only happened to me once.

Above: The test displays of the GR-8900A

So what’s on board. The GR-8900 uses the 3269 module. It might be a solar model, it still is a basic model, which still comes with a good and complete functions. Like the case, the display is also pretty big and the time digits are very bold and clear, even though the display is negative. When you scroll through the test displays, you’ll notice it uses the same display as the Atomic version (GWX-8900) as the RCVD indicator can be seen.

The GR-8900 has LED backlight, which is very clear. The light is spread almost perfect even over the display. As I love the energy consumptive EL backlight pretty much, I might going to love the new LED backlight in the future. The LED backlight time can be set to 1.5 seconds or 3 seconds. By pressing the light button for a few seconds the Full Auto Illuminator is activated. In Timekeeping mode you can choose the Date or the selected World Time in the upper screen by pressing the upper right (REVERSE) button. This function, which can be found on several modern G-Shocks is pretty handy for all kind of use. I hope this feature will appear on many more new G-Shock models. It is also possible to mute the button tone.

When leaving the Timekeeping Mode, you first enter the World Time mode. I counted 48 cities, which I guess are spread over the usual 31 time zones. Always handy for travelers or people who correspond all over the world. The DST must be input manually, due to the lack of standardization i DST changing dates. The calendar is programed until the year 2099 and you can’t guarantee that DST changes are still applied or that the change dates are still the same.

Next you find the Alarm mode. 5 alarms here, where the last Alarm is a Snooze alarm. Of course we also find here the obligatory Hourly Chime. You can’t program the date of an Alarm, but instead the current time is shown in the upper display. Seems good enough for me, as I never use the Date Alarm feature.

The last two functions are the Stopwatch mode and the Countdown Timer Mode, both with a capacity of 24 hours. A pity that in both functions the upper screen is used. In the Stopwatch mode it displays the elapsed hours, in Countdown Timer mode it displays the original programmed time.

I think that the GR-8900 is a pretty complete watch with good looks and good functionality. The Tough Solar feature is a nice plus, although it makes this watch more expensive than it’s non solar brother the G-8900. In The Netherlands the recommended retail price is €149.-, but most shops sell it for €139.-. As written above, I got this watch from Ace Jewelers in Amsterdam. The online store has a chat function during opening hours, which I can recommend for checking availability. If I’m correct they offer members of WatchUSeek, an interesting discount. Of course this watch is also available in other countries. I can’t do a search on internet now, but my guess is that the prices worldwide are pretty similar of those in Europe. In the US the € is often changed for $, but with the higher shipping costs intercontinental, it is probably best to check price and availability locally first.