All of my Master-of-G watches emerged from my G-Shock toolbox to witness the chaotic unboxing of G-Shock’s recent iteration of its Mudman line of Mud Resist digital watches. They kept a keen eye on its functions, durability, and build quality. And though they are too proud to admit, they felt a pang of jealousy on account of the MIP screen on the new G-Shock GDG-B100.

But with that highly legible negative MIP screen came a trade off: a degradation of functions from the previous Mudman, the GW-9500.

Will you take this deal from the Casio devils?

First Impressions

I got the all black model of the G-Shock Mudman GDG-B100. So right off the bat, I was enjoying the aggressive, blacked-out aesthetic of the negative screen. It wasn’t completely murdered out since the metal buckle and light button shroud were a gleaming silver metallic color. Also, the labeling on the bezel was a muted white, and the secondary button labels were red.

The GDG-B100 line comes in three colorways. Besides the black which I got, there is a blue band and a sand colored band. The sand colored band is close to a tactical desert color. The blue one is muted so it also shouldn’t betray a camouflage getup. Each one has slightly different color accents.

The design highlights the display. What Casio designers have failed to do with LCD they hit home with MIP. The background of the screen being black, blends in with the back case. The high resolution brings crispness to the display details. The quality of the illuminated portions throttle the contrast to 11.

So my first impression is “Wow.”

I know that’s not really a big-brained take but I think wow is the best word for the job here. Especially since us Mudman wearers are not the sophisticated type. We bang into stuff and get dirty. We are the proverbial bulls in a china shop. So with the thumping our watches take it’s best to stick with the durable Mudman line.

The Fit

Soft. That’s the first word that came to mind when I donned the mudman on my wrist. The bio based resin has a surface that’s more gooey than the GW-9500. It’s also not as thicc. I’m happy to report that yes, the band did fit my 8 1/2″ wrist. Even on the last notch, there’s enough band to fit into the keeper, which is resin.

It’s a much softer wearing experience over the GW-9500.

Look, everyone knows that the Mudman GW-9500 is my favorite watch. Because it’s tough! Not because it’s comfy. To be honest, it feels like you have one end of a handcuff dangling off your wrist when you wear it. A lot of that comes from the hard plastic wings. It makes the watch tough, but you need to be tough to put up with it.

This new Mudman has hollowed out narrow wings that wrap around the band on the outside, and grasp the bezel of the watch itself. It looks like one of those 3-D brain teasers. These wings to the job to close the gap in the corners of the watch crotch and they do it with more comfort than the GW-9500.

But will they perform as well? The GW-9500 was the most loop-de-loo resistant watch on the planet. Only real life tough tests in the West Texas oilfield will tell. I am accepting applications for anyone wishing to test the GDG-B100 in the West Texas oilfield. Hold up. I just found a guy. Me.

Video Summary

I have a lot more to say about the G-Shock Mudman GDG-B100. The question hanging over all of our heads is if this is even a Mudman. Are we getting scammed? So stay tuned as we hash this out. Already so many of my commenters say NO!

My chaotic unboxing video was getting close to one hour before I decided to wrap it up. That was just the unboxing video. So, yea, there’s a lot more to say.

In the meantime you can watch the chaotic unboxing video or you can read this below summary generated by Google’s Gemini AI:

G-Shock Mudman GDG-B100 Unboxing & Review: An MIP Upgrade or a Master of G Downgrade?

Casio has introduced a fresh entrant to the Mudman lineup: the G-Shock Mudman GDG-B100 (shown here in the stealthy black GDG-B100-1CR colorway, sourced early via AZ Fine Time). Equipped with a high-contrast Memory-in-Pixel (MIP) screen, mud-resistant pushers, and an engraved running mole case back, the watch sparks an immediate horological debate. In this chaotic unboxing and bench comparison, Jim Kinkade puts the GDG-B100 head-to-head against his favorite beater, the Mudman GW-9500, alongside heavy-duty Master of G titans like the Rangeman GW-9400, GPR-H1000, and Mudmaster GWG-B1000 to determine whether this new release truly earns the Mudman crown.

Display Upgrade vs. Sensor Downgrade

The most noticeable shift on the GDG-B100 is the swap from a traditional segmented LCD to a sharp negative MIP display—accompanied by a major change under the hood:

• Superior Viewing Angles: Compared directly against the GW-9500’s dual-layer LCD (which begins washing out into faint “8888” ghost segments around 30 to 35 degrees off-axis), the GDG-B100’s MIP display stays crisp and legible until the tall bezel physically blocks your line of sight.
• No Triple Sensor (ABC) Hardware: Unlike the GW-9500 and GW-9400, the GDG-B100 completely drops the Altimeter, Barometer, and Digital Compass sensors—signaled by its three-digit 100 tier designation and the running mole case back engraving.
• GBD-200 Module DNA: Internally, the GDG-B100 shares its operational DNA and interface with the fitness-focused GBD-200, trading environmental sensors for a built-in step-counting accelerometer, interval workout timers, and Bluetooth Smartphone Link.

Materials & The MagnaCut Blade Drag Test

To verify what parts of the GDG-B100 are actually metal versus resin, Jim puts his Spyderco Manix 2 Salt (CPM MagnaCut steel) to work on the hardware:

• Resin Bezels & Pushers: Unlike the metal-bezel GW-9500 variants or the metal-shrouded Mudmaster models, the GDG-B100’s bezel, side button shrouds, and textured mud-resistant pushers are entirely molded resin.
• Metal Accents: Only the front-and-center light button shroud, the double-tang buckle, and the four-screw stainless steel case back are metal—leaving the all-black watch just shy of a true “murdered-out” blackout aesthetic.
• High-Wall Screen Protection: The GDG-B100 features notably taller raised resin bumpers around the crystal than the GW-9500 or GBD-200, offering strong deflection against direct scrapes while raising questions about mud and grit drainage in the corners.
• Improved Front Light Ergonomics: Pressing the front-mounted light button triggers a night-vision-preserving red backlight, and its perpendicular button angle feels noticeably smoother and more natural to actuate than the angled front pusher on the GW-9500.

Interface, Stopwatch & Step Counter Realities

Running on the GBD-200 interface paradigm brings familiar quirks for traditional G-Shock users:

• No 1/100th-Second Stopwatch: Like earlier MIP fitness models (and unlike the newly released GW-BX5600square), the GDG-B100 stopwatch measures only in whole seconds without displaying fractions of a second upon stopping.
• Menu Navigation & Notifications: Accessing alarms or settings requires diving into sub-menus rather than cycling directly with the bottom-left Mode button, and Bluetooth phone notifications push all app alerts unless muted. However, Casio includes a dedicated Airplane Mode with a clear on-screen icon for users who want to disable wireless transmissions completely after syncing the time.
• Big-Rig Step Counter Caveat: Jim notes that non-GPS G-Shock step counters can register steering wheel vibrations during long commercial truck hauls across West Texas as false steps, making the GDG-B100 better suited for on-foot rucking and trail work than highway driving.

Wrist Comfort & 8.5-Inch Fitment

Where the original GW-9500 uses rigid, aggressive case wings to lock onto the wrist, the GDG-B100 takes a noticeably softer approach:

• Supple, Articulated Fit: The inner lug geometry features a chamfered, boat-hull taper with large relief cavities and a softer, more pliable resin strap with a geometric Kevlar-style texture, making it significantly more comfortable out of the box than the stiffer GW-9500.
• Big-Wrist Sizing: On an 8.5-inch wrist, the double-tang resin band fastens on the very last sizing notch while still allowing the plastic keeper to engage cleanly.

The Verdict

The G-Shock Mudman GDG-B100 essentially transplants the crisp MIP screen and step-tracking module of a GBD-200 into a burly, mud-sealed Carbon Core Guard chassis. While longtime fans of the Tough Solar, Multiband 6, ABC-equipped GW-9500 may view the three-digit model as a functional step down in pure survival instrumentation, buyers looking for a comfortable, lightweight, mud-resistant beater with unmatched screen contrast and red night-vision illumination will find plenty to like—once it survives Jim’s upcoming shop and Watch Bopper 5000 durability trials.

Conclusion

I forgot to mention earlier, that the Mudman GDG-B100 isn’t even available on the G-Shock website in America. I got this one from AZ Finetime. They are also listing them on Amazon, click here to buy one from Amazon.

Usually AZ Finetime gets the new models in and jumps the gun of the official release by a day or two. In that time Big E from Watch Once Over publishes a video review, which I always assumed were done from the backrooms of AZ Finetime unbeknownst to them. I could be wrong.

But anyways after AZ Finetime makes them available for sale they appear on G-Shock’s USA website soon after. That hasn’t happened yet.