The Pro Trek PRG-240 is essentially a classic when it comes to Pro Trek watches. Released in 2010, it is from a time when Triple Sensor watches were the realm of Pro Trek (or Pathfinder in the U.S.), when Pro Trek was the Casio brand known for its large watches, and before G-Shock started getting in on the sensor action with lines like the Rangeman and Mudmaster. Though it’s been eclipsed in recent times by newer models equipped with the Triple Sensor Version 3 (which is said to be more power-efficient), the PRG-240 series is a fan-favorite that is still being produced and sold. (In the U.S., the PRG-240 is sold as the PAG240.) Casio.com currently sells the PAG240-1, and Amazon sells the PAG-240B-2 with a blue case and cloth band and the PRG-240T-7 with a titanium band. Casio is reportedly releasing two new colorways soon: the PRG-240-3 and PRG-240-5.
The Casio Spain online shop confirms that the PRG-240-3ER and PRG-240-5ER are coming to Europe soon, with a list price of 199 EUR each. The PRG-240-3 has a green resin band, and the PRG-240-5 has a beige resin band.
The Tough Solar-powered PRG-240 has some unique features that keep it competitive with more recent models, such as a rotating bezel, dedicated one-touch buttons for the altitude, barometer/thermometer, and compass sensor measurements, sunrise/sunset time, and a duplex LCD display. Other features include 100-meter water resistance, world time, 1/100 second stopwatch (max 23:59’59.99” with split, 1st and 2nd place times), countdown timer (24 hours), 5 independent daily alarms, hourly time signal, battery level indicator, power saving function, and full auto EL backlight. The PRG-240 is large at 57.3 x 50.9 x 15.3 millimeters, but it is light at 65.4 grams (with resin band).
The most interesting feature for those accustomed to newer models is the duplex LCD. This is basically another LCD screen on top of the main one, which displays blue radial pointers. This display is most useful for indicating the directions in compass mode. The pointers can also refer to times or values on the 24-hour scale and barometric pressure graph surrounding the dial, for features like world time, sunrise/sunset time, and the barometer.
Update: Pro Trek Japan announced the PRG-240-3JF and PRG-240-5JF (27,000 JPY each plus tax) for a January 2021 release.
Update 2: Casio America released the PRG240-3 and PRG240-5 with a retail price of $280 each, now available at Casio.com.
Pro Trek PRG-240-3:
Pro Trek PRG-240-5:
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“on top of the poor water resistance rating (only 5 bar at most)”
The Pro Trek PRT-B50 (first Pro Trek with Bluetooth, other than the WSD smartwatch series) has 10 bar water-resistance. PRG-260 is not an active model anymore, seems to have been replaced by the PRW-3500.
LED backlight on PRW-3500 looks fine here: https://youtu.be/xaw6DvBqLl0?t=174
Yeah maybe a little uneven, but that wouldn’t bother me.
The PRW-3500 seems to be discontinued (and replaced by the PRW-3510) according to the Japan and Asia sites, but there are still some PRW-3500 models being sold by Protrek.com and Amazon.com. On Amazon, one is a little cheaper than the PRW-3510Y-8 model that Amazon sells (though not by much), and another one has a titanium band, and both of these models have a regular, non-inverted LCD display (albeit non-STN like you said) unlike the PRW-3510Y-8 with its inverted STN LCD. There is also the PRW-3510Y-1 with non-inverted STN LCD in Japan and Asia, but if buying this model from the U.S., it would be rather expensive as an import. For some people, there are some points in choosing a PRW-3500 over a PRW-3510 at the moment.
PRW-3510Y-8: https://amzn.to/3kG3WUf
PRW-3510Y-1JF: https://amzn.to/300Agcx
PRW-3500-1: https://amzn.to/3czsCLD
PRW-3500T-7: https://amzn.to/3kKEFIN
The EL backlight loses a lot of its brightness after a while, from my experience with my watches (Casio also mentions that in manuals). It seems like the LED backlight would have a longer lifespan.
I don’t think the PRW-3500 backlight would bother me in person either (also factoring in how much I would expect to use it on a daily basis), but I’ll take your advice and try to see it sometime.