What is the Best Tactical Watch For Survival And Prepping.?
Or more importantly -
- What makes the right wristwatch to help you survive?
- What wristwatch improves your prepping equipment?
- What's a 'tactical' watch anyway?
What makes the right wristwatch to help you survive?
As with all prepping and survival - always choose what fits your particular survival needs and enhances your prepping equipment.
When it comes to a tactical watch, you want as many features as possible, in order to have all bases covered.
Tactical watches are very well designed and will normally meet all the requirements for prepping and survival.
But, as with most things, and even more so with equipment that is very specific, you going to be looking at spending decent money to get good gear.
What wristwatch improves your prepping equipment?
Regardless of the disaster situation, you must have a good watch at all times.
A good tactical watch is your survival friend and much more than just something to help tell the time - in some cases it can be mean the difference between life or death.!
All the top watch manufacturers offer a good selection of Mill-Spec/Tactical watches, but look out for the more established companies in the tactical market.
You wont go far wrong with these ones here;
- Casio watches, *they also manufacture the great G-Shock range.
- Timex watches offer a range of virtually indestructible military watches.
- Suunto watches, these are the higher end survival watches
What is a tactical watch anyway?
The terms 'tactical watch and military watch' are pretty much the same and somewhat interchangeably.
But to be a little more specific, military watches are required to meet exacting military specifications - this is known as 'Mil-Tec'.
Interestingly, the tactical watch is designed to meet a broader specification.
The way I see it is, the tactical or military watch is simply a wrist watch with far more usable feature beyond that of simply keeping the right time, and must also be more than capable of withstanding a lot of extra stresses and abuse.
Main features to look out for:
Battery Life
Having a good battery life is essential, although it is very much dependent one how much use the watch gets.
But realistically you should get at least 1 years life from the watches below, if not more.
One plus is that they only use the very common Lithium coin batteries, which are small, easily stored and very cheap - so no real problems there.
Some of the high end models can also offer Kinetic or Solar as a power source thus eliminating the need to worry about batteries at all.
Tough
It has to be rugged enough to withstand a lot of abuse.
The main frame - the actual main casing can be made from several hard wearing materials ranging from titanium steel, through carbon fibre and even military graded plastics.
But it has to protect the main working parts, so it needs to be tough.
The outer shock band is the first level of protection, and must be able to withstand shock and knocks from all directions.
A hard wearing silicon rubber is proving to be the best choice to wrap the body in and many manufacturers use it.
Design
Good design is essential to your tactical watch - even simple things like purposefully designed to not snag or catch on your clothing can make all the difference in a well designed 'for purpose' wrist watch.
You will notice a lot more curves on a survival styled watch.
Some high end watch offer a 'negative display'. A simple concept meaning the background is black while the text is white.
Very good at night preventing giving away position or the need to switch on a glaring bright back-light.
Optional Features
Features shown above are from the excellent Garmin Tactix GPS Multi Sport Watch with Outdoor Navigation .
Features, such as a compass or GPS are very handy to have, along with other interesting functions like a barometer or altimeter - in fact there are quite a few unusual features that have been added to some tactical watches, one being a ballistics calculator..!
If all you need is accurate time then something like the G-Shock GW-7900-1ER is one such watch and offers a few interesting features such a built in radio receiver to ensure exact time, all the time.
So consider your needs and choose your watch accordingly: Fortunately most good tactical watches come 'fully loaded' with just about all you will need in a survival situation.
Functions To Consider
- Auto time update (via built-in radio receiver)
- Compass - *essential
- Thermometer *another important ffunction
- GPS - *a nice feature to have
- Barometer
- Altimeter
- Sunrise/sunset times
- Inverse LED screen *for better night vision
Best Tactical Watch For Survival And Prepping:
It would be silly to say what the best watch is as there's really no best tactical/military watch as such - it very much depends on you own personal needs and the situation your in.
But having any watch is far better than having no watch....
Top Picks For Survival Watches:
Best Tactical Watch For Survival And Prepping:
Top GPS Watch
Everyone knows of Garmin, one of the best GPS. But Believe it or not, Garmin is actually one of the leaders in tactical GPS watches.
Toughest All Round Best Watch
The Casio G-Shock range offer a superb selection of tried and tested rugged watches for all situations. The Rangeman is fully loaded with features.
Modern Military Design
High end manufacturer who produce superb modern tactical watches. They offer a full range of military styled watches with many features.
Expedition Range
Virtually indestructible and built with a fully quartz movement to help keep track.
Basic features, but ideal for path-finding and tracking with a 16 point compass.
Good Value For Money G-Shock Watches
Digital:
The Casio G-Shock Mudman.
The Tough Solar MUDMAN, features direction and thermo sensors that can help you keep your bearing regardless of weather.
A one-touch easy access button goes directly to compass and thermometer mode.
Analogue:
The Casio G-Shock Mens Combi - equipped with the basic functions:
A very tough 200mtr water resistant analogue watch with back lighting.
Exceptional value at under £60 for anyone who prefers hands rather than digital.
Final Thoughts.......
What really is the
Best Tactical Watch For Survival And Prepping.?
Well, it's your shout really, but if your prepared to spend decent money there's some pretty good gear to choose from.
It really does boil down to personal choice with a lot of equipment, but with a watch you need certain functions as a minimum.
I would say a compass is a must, and possibly solar or kinetic powered to alleviate the need for replacement batteries - this is your bare minimum.!
My favourite watch for survival is the G-Shock range.
I own the G-Shock Rangeman GW-9400-1ER – an amazing bit of kit..!
Fully loaded with just about every survival function you might need, and from a prepping viewpoint, probably the best choice of tactical watch to have with you in a survival situation.
2 comments
I’d also consider a wind up watch as a back up. If the SHTF and certain weapons are deployed then EMP could render any digital watches useless. Something to consider with all electronic equipment.
I have been badly let down by Luminox watches. The straps are £30 + and last a year. I have been fortunate not to lose the watch on two occasions. Since buying Nato straps this is no longer a problem. I always have two because they get minging after a couple of weeks and can thankfully be easily taken off and cleaned..