Casio G-Shock GWBX5600-1 Review 2026: Worth Buying?

The square G-Shock has looked almost the same since 1996. Then Casio did something unexpected. It took the classic 5600 case, dropped in a Memory in Pixel screen, and added solar charging, radio sync, and Bluetooth. The result is the GWBX5600, and watch fans sold out the first US run on launch day.

I spent weeks with this watch on my wrist. I wore it to the gym, in the shower, on a plane, and under terrible office lighting.

This review covers the screen, the battery, the app, the price, and the two things that genuinely annoyed me. No marketing fluff. Just what you actually get for $180.

In A Nutshell:

• The MIP display is the whole reason to buy this watch. Memory in Pixel technology gives you a sharp, high contrast screen that stays readable at bad angles and in weak indoor light. Older square G-Shock screens made you tilt your wrist. This one does not.
• Tough Solar plus Multiband 6 means you set it once and forget it. The watch charges from sunlight and office lighting, and it pulls a radio time signal overnight. You will likely never touch the buttons for time setting again.
• Bluetooth is a convenience feature, not a smartwatch feature. The Casio Watches app handles world time, alarms, and settings in seconds. There is no fitness tracking, no notifications, and no heart rate sensor.
• The case is light and familiar. At 49.1mm by 44.1mm by 13.4mm and only 51 grams, it wears like a normal square. Bio based resin covers the case, bezel, and band.
• Two real weaknesses exist. The LED backlight is weaker than expected, and the crystal is mineral glass rather than sapphire. Neither is a dealbreaker, but both matter at $180.
• Value is strong but not obvious. Cheaper squares already offer solar and radio sync. You pay extra here purely for the screen.

Casio G-Shock GWBX5600 Overview

Last update on 2026-10-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The GWBX5600 sits in the 5600 Series, which collectors simply call the square. Casio released two resin versions. The GWBX5600-1 uses a positive display with colors pulled from the classic DW5600UE. The GWBX5600-1A1 uses a stealthy negative display on all black.

Both share identical internals. You get a Memory in Pixel LCD, Tough Solar charging, Multiband 6 radio reception, Bluetooth Smartphone Link, and 200 meter water resistance. Shock resistance comes standard, as always.

The spec sheet reads like a greatest hits list of G-Shock features. What makes it interesting is the packaging. Casio did not grow the case or add a crowded interface. It kept the familiar square shape and simply upgraded the screen underneath. US retail price sits at $180, which places it above the basic squares and well below the metal models.

The Unboxing Experience

The GWBX5600 arrives in the standard G-Shock cylinder tin, not a fancy presentation box. Pop the lid, and the watch sits wrapped around a plastic insert with the instruction booklet tucked underneath. No extra strap, no tool kit, no charger, because solar watches do not need one.

The first thing you notice is weight, or rather the lack of it. At 51 grams the watch feels almost hollow in your hand. That is normal for resin squares, and it stops feeling strange after an hour.

The second thing you notice is the screen. My first reaction out of the tin was simply wow. The display looked sharper than any digital G-Shock I had handled before. Casio ships the watch partly charged, so it was already running. I set the time through the app in under two minutes.

Design And Build Quality

Casio resisted the urge to redesign anything. The GWBX5600 keeps the rectangular case, the raised protective bezel, the four buttons, and the resin strap with the familiar keeper setup. Place it next to a DW5600 and most people will not spot the difference until the screen lights up.

The solar panel ring around the display carries a subtle brick pattern. That pattern nods to the original DW5000C from 1983, which is a nice touch for people who care about G-Shock history.

Build quality feels exactly like a good square should feel. The resin has a slightly matte finish. Button presses give a firm click with no mushiness. Nothing creaks, rattles, or feels cheap. Casio has made this case for forty years, and the refinement shows in small places.

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The MIP Display Is The Headline Upgrade

Memory in Pixel is the technology that fitness watches use to stay readable in sunlight without draining the battery. Casio brought it to the square, and the difference is immediate.

Standard LCD screens on older squares wash out at certain angles. Negative display versions suffered worst. You would glance down, see nothing useful, then tilt your arm to catch the light. The MIP screen removes that habit completely.

Contrast stays high in bright sun, dim rooms, and everything between. Text edges look crisp instead of slightly smudged. It is the difference between an old calculator screen and a modern e reader.

Casio also added two font styles and four display modes. You can show date and day, year with date and day, or a triple time layout. Switching takes a couple of button presses.

Tough Solar Power In Daily Use

Tough Solar is the feature that quietly makes this watch easy to own. The panel surrounds the display and feeds a rechargeable cell. Normal wear keeps it topped up with no effort from you.

I wore the watch under long sleeves most days and never saw the charge level drop below high. Office lighting alone adds a small trickle of power. A single weekend outdoors fills the reserve completely.

The practical benefit is obvious. No battery swaps, no sealed case being opened by a technician, no water resistance gamble every few years. A basic DW5600 needs a new cell roughly every five years. This one should run for a decade or more without any service visit.

Power saving mode kicks in when the watch sits in darkness, shutting off the display to protect the charge.

Multiband 6 Radio Timekeeping

Multiband 6 lets the watch receive atomic clock signals from six transmitters covering the United States, Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The watch attempts an automatic sync in the early morning hours while you sleep.

In my testing the sync worked reliably when the watch rested near a window overnight. Place it in a drawer or a basement and reception drops, which is normal for every radio controlled watch.

The payoff is accuracy you never think about. The time stays correct to the second, daylight saving adjusts itself, and you never fiddle with buttons after a time change.

If you live outside a signal zone, Bluetooth covers you instead. Having both systems means the watch has two independent ways to stay accurate, which is more than most watches at this price offer.

Bluetooth And The Casio Watches App

The GWBX5600 pairs with the free Casio Watches app. Setup took me about ninety seconds. Open the app, hold the lower right button, confirm the pairing, and the watch syncs time and home city instantly.

The app handles the boring tasks. You can set all five alarms, pick your world time cities from 38 zones and 55 cities, configure the timer, and toggle the mute function. Doing any of that with four physical buttons is slow and mildly annoying.

There is also a phone finder function that rings your handset from the watch.

Set expectations correctly though. This is not a smartwatch. No notifications reach your wrist. No step counting happens. No heart rate sensor exists. Bluetooth here simply removes button fiddling, and that is all it promises to do.

Comfort, Size And Wearability

The case measures 49.1mm long, 44.1mm wide, and 13.4mm thick. Those numbers sound large on paper, but the square shape sits flat and short on the wrist, so it wears much smaller than the spec suggests.

On my seven inch wrist it disappeared within minutes. Fifty one grams is light enough to forget. The watch fits under a shirt cuff without catching, which many chunky G-Shocks fail to do.

The bio based resin strap stays flexible and conforms quickly. Casio lists compatible wrist sizes from 145mm to 205mm, which covers most adults comfortably.

The buttons are the only ergonomic complaint. They sit small and slightly recessed, so people with large fingers or gloves may struggle. The upside is that accidental presses almost never happen.

Durability And Water Resistance

G-Shock durability needs little defending at this point. The GWBX5600 carries the full shock resistant construction, with the module suspended inside the case to absorb impacts and vibration.

Water resistance is rated at 200 meters, or 20 bar. That covers swimming, snorkeling, and recreational diving without any worry. Showering with it is fine. Saltwater is fine as long as you rinse the resin afterward.

The resin case and bezel shrug off knocks that would scar a steel watch. Scratches on resin also hide well because the material is matte and dark.

The weak point is the crystal, not the case. Mineral glass handles daily life, but it will eventually collect fine hairline marks from door frames and desk edges. The protective bezel sits proud of the glass, which helps a great deal.

Backlight Performance After Dark

Here is where the watch stumbles slightly. The GWBX5600 uses an LED backlight with an auto light feature and afterglow. Tilt your wrist in the dark and the screen illuminates for a couple of seconds.

The problem is brightness. The light output feels noticeably weaker than I expected from a 2026 flagship square. It gets the job done in a pitch black room, but it lacks the punch of the Super Illuminator panels Casio uses on other models.

Part of this is physics. MIP screens work by reflecting ambient light, so they need less backlight by design. Still, when you pay $180, you expect every component to feel premium.

If you work night shifts or check your watch in dark environments often, test this feature before committing.

What The GWBX5600 Does Not Do Well

Honest reviews list the misses, so here they are.

The backlight underperforms, as covered above. The mineral crystal is the other obvious omission. Sapphire would have made this watch close to perfect, and competitors at similar prices increasingly include it.

Availability has been genuinely frustrating. Casio sold out the first American allocation on release day, and stock has come and gone since. Expect to pay above retail from some sellers.

The value argument also has a hole in it. You can buy a square with solar and Multiband 6 for considerably less money. You are paying a premium purely for the screen, and not everyone will feel that upgrade justifies the gap.

Finally, there is no step tracking, no notifications, and no heart rate monitoring. This is a traditional watch with a modern screen.

Pros And Cons

Pros

• The Memory in Pixel display delivers genuinely excellent readability in sunlight, shade, and dim indoor lighting, which removes the wrist tilting habit older squares demanded.
• Tough Solar charging means no battery replacements, no case openings, and effectively zero maintenance for a decade or more.
• Multiband 6 and Bluetooth give you two independent ways to keep time accurate automatically.
• At 51 grams the watch is light, flat, and comfortable enough for all day and overnight wear.
• The 200 meter water resistance and shock resistant case handle swimming, gym sessions, work sites, and travel without complaint.
• Four display modes and two font choices let you customize the layout to your taste.

Cons

• The LED backlight is weaker than it should be at this price point.
• Mineral glass instead of sapphire leaves the crystal vulnerable to hairline scratches over time.
• No fitness tracking, notifications, or heart rate sensor, so it will not replace a smartwatch.
• Cheaper squares already offer solar and radio sync, so the price premium buys only the screen.
• Stock shortages have pushed street prices above the $180 retail figure.
• The small buttons feel fiddly for larger fingers.

GWBX5600 vs DW5600UE vs GWM5610U

Three squares cover most buyers, and choosing between them is simple once you know your priority.

The DW5600UE is the budget legend. It gives you the shape, the toughness, and the 200 meter rating for well under $70. It uses a standard battery and a standard LCD. For a knockabout beater, it still cannot be beaten on price.

The GWM5610U sits in the middle. It adds Tough Solar and Multiband 6 for roughly half the GWBX5600 price. It uses a conventional LCD screen and has no Bluetooth.

The GWBX5600 adds the MIP display and Bluetooth on top of everything the GWM5610U offers. The screen is the only reason to pay the difference, so look at both watches in person if you can.

Casio G-Shock GWBX5600-1 Price And Value In 2026

Last update on 2026-10-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Casio lists the GWBX5600 at $180 in the United States, with UK pricing around £159. That positions it above every basic and mid tier resin square and below the metal GMW models, which start well past $400.

Is it good value? Yes, with one condition. If display quality matters to you, the price makes complete sense. You get a screen that no other resin square offers, plus solar, radio sync, Bluetooth, and real toughness in a 51 gram package.

If display quality does not matter much, the math gets harder. A GWM5610U delivers most of the same functions for far less money.

Supply remains the wildcard. Check that you are paying close to retail and not an inflated resale figure before you commit.

Who Should Buy It And Final Verdict

Buy the GWBX5600 if you love the square shape but have always wished the screen were clearer. Buy it if you want one tough watch that handles work, travel, swimming, and weekends without ever needing a battery or a time adjustment.

Skip it if you already own a solar square and feel happy with it. Skip it if you want fitness features, because the DW H5600 serves that purpose better.

My verdict is straightforward. The GWBX5600 is the best resin square Casio currently makes. The MIP display changes the ownership experience every single time you glance down. The weak backlight and mineral crystal keep it from perfection, but neither spoils the watch.

For $180, this is the square I would pick in 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between the GWBX5600-1 and the GWBX5600-1A1?

The GWBX5600-1 has a positive display with colors inspired by the DW5600UE. The GWBX5600-1A1 has a negative display on an all black case. Internals, features, size, and price are identical on both models.

Does the GWBX5600 have a sapphire crystal?

No. It uses mineral glass, which is standard across most resin G-Shock models. The raised bezel protects the glass well, but deep scratches cannot be polished out the way they can on acrylic.

How long does the Tough Solar battery last?

The rechargeable cell typically lasts well over ten years with normal light exposure. In full darkness with power saving active, the watch can run for several months on a full charge before needing light again.

Is the GWBX5600 a smartwatch?

No. Bluetooth handles time syncing, world time, alarms, and settings through the Casio Watches app. There is no step counting, no heart rate sensor, and no phone notification display.

Can I swim and dive with this watch?

Yes. The 200 meter water resistance rating covers swimming, snorkeling, and recreational scuba diving. Rinse the watch with fresh water after saltwater exposure to protect the resin and buttons.

Does Multiband 6 work everywhere?

It works in regions covered by the six atomic signal transmitters, which include the United States, Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Outside those zones, use Bluetooth syncing instead.

Is the negative display hard to read?

Not on this model. The MIP technology gives the negative version far better contrast than older negative LCD squares. Readability stays strong in bright sun and ordinary indoor lighting.

How big does the GWBX5600 wear?

The case measures 49.1mm by 44.1mm by 13.4mm and weighs 51 grams. It wears flat and light, fits wrists from 145mm to 205mm, and slides under a shirt cuff easily.