Casio G'zOne Ravine C751 Phone (Verizon Wireless)
Review by Renegade : Tough phone

Mine went through a full cycle in a high-efficiency washing machine. Came out with no damage and I assume a little cleaner. Discovered it when dryer started and removed it, so don't know if it would survive that. Obviously the kind of phone I need, lol!

Casio G'zOne Ravine C751 Phone (Verizon Wireless)
Review by K. Wright : Durable and versatile

I am surprised there is such a variance of reviews.My mic works fine and people can hear me clearly. I was pleasantly suprised that this came with a video as well as a camera. The internet site works fine. I love the pedometer that comes as a free feature. Also has a neat compass-tide chart-sunrise sunset feature. I didnt want a smart phone. I just wanted a durable easy to use phone. I am extremely satisfied.

Casio G'zOne Ravine C751 Phone (Verizon Wireless)
Review by L. B. Glass : Pro: Mechanically rugged; good sound; data optional. Con: VZ software awkward; preloaded with crapware; charging cradle elusive

I chose this phone because I wanted something rugged (I work outdoors, climb radio towers, crawl in attics and basements). I did not want anything that used Google's Android operating system (because Google spies on you through Android), nor did I want anything with a mandatory data plan (expensive; besides, I want to use my phone as a phone and use my Netbook for the Internet). Several acquaintances had earlier Casio models (Rock, Boulder) and recommended that I try this one. Here's my experience so far.

Pros:

* Mechanically rugged, though it does have some weak spots (detailed below). I've dropped it and dunked it in water without ill effects.

* Fairly good voice activated calling, even through a Bluetooth headset.

* Data plan is not mandatory, so you can shut off unnecessary data services to save money.

* Automatic daily backup of your address book is free, as on most Verizon phones, even if you don't have a data plan.

* Camera "flash" (actually an LED chip) doubles as a flashlight.

* "G'Zone" software is occasionally useful. Compass is handy.

* Outer monochrome LCD display is always on; good when you want to glance at the time.

* Speaker is quite loud.

Cons:

* Verizon has tinkered heavily with the basic BREW operating system software, adding its own quirky and inconsistent "features" and removing the ability to customize certain parts of the user interface. For example, the "shortcut" keys cannot be set to go to certain key places in the user interface (such as the entry of a new text message).

* Built-in text messaging software is awkward. It insists upon grouping texts into "conversations," and makes it needlessly difficult just to view and respond to the latest message(s) that came in.

* While voice dialing usually works, voice-to-text is hit or miss. Also, the phone sometimes responds as if you have said "No" when you say "Yes" -- frustrating because you often have to start voice-activated calling over several times or just go to the keypad.

* The "G'Zone" thermometer is never accurate.

* Battery life is typically only two days. When battery is low, phone disables exactly the features you might want to use the last bit of battery power for. Bluetooth shuts down (even if you really need your hands free!) and the flashlight will not work. The latter can actually be dangerous if you need the flashlight to see in the dark!

* The phone comes loaded with "crapware" and "nagware," and the shortcut keys are preset to take you to some of it. For example, the "up" key, which is easy to hit inadvertently, comes pre-programmed to take you to a data service for which there's a charge. The phone is also preloaded with lots of software that tries to get you to buy things, including ringtones, games, wallpaper, and ringback tones. (Many parts of the user interface, such as the backgrounds behind the menus, can't be customized by you -- only by paying for images from Verizon.) The phone also comes with an app that tells you the city where a call is originating pre-installed... but it's only free for a month and then starts nagging you to pay $2 a month to keep it. This is even worse than the "crapware" and "nagware" which comes pre-installed on a PC, because you cannot just uninstall it! (I've finally managed to keep most of it at bay, though the rather crude music player app still sometimes starts when I don't want it to.) Verizon should either offer a version with no annoying extra "apps" or enable the user to uninstall them. My recommendation to people who do choose this phone: tell Verizon to disable all data so that the unwanted software on this phone doesn't keep making data connections and running up your bill. Use something with a larger screen, like a tablet PC or Netbook, for the Internet.

* While the phone can take a pretty good beating, it has some weak points. For example, many of the plastic parts are covered with a thin rubber coating that's subject to scratching and not resistant to cosmetics. Ordinary sunscreen, for example, caused the coating to blister and then come off in spots. (Given that this is a phone that's supposedly designed for people who spend a lot of time outdoors, I'm amazed that they coated it with a coating that couldn't withstand Banana Boat spray-on sunscreen!) So, while the phone won't fall apart, it can quickly wind up looking ugly and beat up.

* Headphone and USB ports are sealed by o-rings which gradually wear and will let water in if opened and closed a lot. This would not be so much of a problem if the battery life was not relatively short. You have to open the USB port every day or two to recharge because the charging cradle is hard to come by; see below.

* Internal microphone is in a strange spot: at the right top of the keypad. Works OK if you hold the phone in your right hand, but misses most of your voice if you hold the phone in your left hand.

* Headset jack isn't the standard size. Need an adapter to use most headsets and headphones.

* "End" button has to be pushed twice or three times to end a call. Until I got used to this, I would put the phone away while there was still a connection. Once ran up nearly an hour of dead airtime and exhausted the battery due to this quirk.

* There are contacts on the side of the phone for charging, but no charging cradle was available for the phone when I bought it, even at my local Verizon store. When one did appear, it was ridiculously overpriced: $27.99 on eBay, without the transformer. (A listing here on Amazon was even more outrageously priced: $34.99.) It's mostly just a toy-like piece of plastic and a few wires; it shouldn't cost that much! I finally obtained one from a fellow Ravine owner who bought it but gave it up. Why? Because he'd "skinned" his phone -- which had begun to look beat up, though it still worked fine -- with a hard rubber case to hide the wear. The phone wouldn't fit in the cradle unless he removed the case, which he found to be too much trouble to do every other day. The USB jack can wear out quickly on a phone that must be charged every other day, so Casio and Verizon should never have shipped the phone without making this important accessory widely available, inexpensively, from Day 1. And they should have designed the cradle in such a way that when the phone was "skinned" (and thus had a little extra width to it), it would still fit.

* Bluetooth support is idiosyncratic. For example, pressing the headset button normally lets you dial by voice, but if the call history screen is up (or if you selected the number for your last call from the call history), the phone dials the number highlighted on that screen when the headset button is pushed. In other words, if you use the call history to dial a number and then shut the phone (as you're likely to do), the button on your Bluetooth headset will redial the previous call when you expect it to allow you to issue a voice command. And if the built-in music player app (triggered by one of the few outside buttons) is active, you can't voice dial at all. Another annoying quirk: incoming caller announcements don't go through the Bluetooth headset. Even when you're using Bluetooth, they come out the speaker. Bad for privacy.

* Too few outside buttons, and too few options for programming them. My Motorola Quantico had more.

* Antenna is at the bottom of the phone. This makes it easy to cover with your hand (shades of the iPhone!) and harms signal strength.

* Loading ringtones other than ones you've bought from Verizon is (intentionally?) very hard to do and requires you to have a memory card in the phone (which shortens battery life).

* Backlight isn't bright enough to make screen readable in bright sunlight, even at highest brightness setting.

Overall, I thought this phone was the best choice among the limited number of ruggedized devices Verizon had at the time I needed one. (They now have the Samsung Convoy, which might turn out to be as good or better.) However, I'd like to see an even simpler, no-nonsense, rugged phone (never mind frills like the cosmetic, fragile rubber coating; give it something that LASTS) without "crapware" or "nagware" and with needed accessories such as a charging cradle. Better battery life would also be a plus; this phone is big and heavy enough that I am surprised it doesn't last longer on a charge. If I don't see improved products from Casio/Verizon by the time my phone is up for replacement, then next time I probably WILL try the Samsung.