Casio gives the Mudman a big digital upgrade but drops Tough Solar

Casio has gone in a slightly weird direction with the new G-Shock Mudman GDG-B100. It gets a MIP screen, Bluetooth notifications and proper run tracking, but Tough Solar has somehow disappeared along the way.

A much smarter kind of Mudman

The new GDG-B100 is the first Mudman with an MIP display, which feels like a very natural fit for this type of watch. MIP screens stay readable outdoors without needing a bright backlight. Plus we have already seen Casio use the technology effectively elsewhere in the G-Shock lineup.

In fact, we have been banging the drum for MIP displays in outdoor watches for a while. It seems to be a dying category.

The GDG-B100 also gets a red LED backlight, which Casio says helps preserve your eyes’ adaptation to darkness when checking the watch at night. But the bigger change is what happens behind that display.

Bluetooth connects the watch to the Casio Watches app and brings notifications for incoming calls, emails, social media, calendar events and reminders. You also get automatic time adjustment, activity history, around 300 world-time cities and the usual phone finder.

Casio has pushed the fitness side much further as well. The built-in accelerometer can track steps and calculate distance, pace, speed and calories during runs, with auto pause, lap tracking, interval timers and storage for up to 100 runs. Phone GPS can be used for distance correction, although there is no onboard GPS or heart-rate sensor, so this is still some distance from becoming a full sports watch.

It is a direction Casio has been moving towards across several G-Shock lines. The recently announced GBX-H5600 goes considerably further with optical heart rate and Polar-powered training metrics, while the new Mudman keeps things much simpler.

But Casio has made some odd trade-offs

The current GW-9500 Mudman uses Tough Solar, , but it still relies on a more conventional dual-layer LCD. For normal use you can pretty much forget about the battery for that one. The GDG-B100 instead runs on a regular CR2032 cell with an estimated lifespan of around two years.

Two years is hardly bad, and some buyers may actually prefer a cheap replaceable battery to another device that needs regular charging. Still, dropping solar from a watch specifically designed for harsh environments feels like an unusual choice. Particularly when Casio has just added a more power-efficient MIP display.

There are other differences too. The GW-9500 has a digital compass, altimeter, barometer and thermometer, whereas the GDG-B100 does not. In return, the new model adds Bluetooth, notifications, activity tracking and those more developed running features. It is also noticeably lighter at 66 grams compared with 81 grams for the GW-9500.

So despite the newer model number, this does not really look like Casio replacing the GW-9500. It looks more like a second branch of the Mudman family.

Mind you, the core rugged stuff is still here. You get 200-metre water resistance, shock and mud resistance, a Carbon Core Guard structure and a chunky bumper design inspired by off-road vehicles and survival equipment. The case measures 63.6 x 49.6 x 16.2mm, so nobody is going to mistake this for a discreet little fitness tracker.

Casio is launching the GDG-B100 in black, dark green and sand versions. The UK launch price is £200, while the Japanese price is ¥38,500, roughly $245 at current exchange rates. A US price has not been announced yet.