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     I didn't mention Timex because I was only focusing on the BEST and most DIVERSE brand of digital watch, which is G-Shock. If you're looking for me to defend that, I will gladly.

     I've owned two timex Ironmans, this one and this one. The first one broke in a month when I was hiking (the band pins snapped off when I slipped down a rock) and the second one I didn't like very much. The display is an awkward shape, the numbers are ugly and the icons for the alarm and stuff are in weird places. And all the timing functions and birthday functions are really just gimmicks.

     I have owned several G-Shocks, ranging from the classic GW-5600e to the Riseman. None of these ever showed any wear, but I did end up selling 3 of them in order to buy a more expensive watch, a Suunto Core. All 7 of my G-Shocks have been very good looking-rugged, with good color and beautiful display layouts-and all of them have very useful features-like automatic EL and auto-start timers. The Riseman was a fantastic altimeter watch and my GW-9052 survived a 55 foot fall from a roof, hours of swimming in the ocean, and I kept it on 24-7 for nearly a year without it getting a single scratch. Both my Ironmans, on the other hand, had terrible plastic over the display that was hard to wash and easy to scratch.

     Ironmans definitely have more functions, like turning off whole submenus and having date-specific alarms (which my Riseman had), but those don't make up for their poor design and poor durability, when compared with G-Shocks. And if you still think that the Ironman is a better watch, look at this and look at the dozens of G-Shock forums out there, and the few measly Timex forums.

I purchased a pair of AKG Q701 for my studio and are the most comfortable headphones I have ever owned. The ear cups completely surround your ears (unless you have fairly large ears I guess) so you don't have parts of your ear hurting from the blood being squeezed out after long periods of use. While these headphones are out of your listed price range, AKG makes headphones in all price ranges and if the other models are as comfortable as these, you will be in sonic heaven.

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Let's see what we can dig up (hope you don't mind Amazon links):

K-240 -$99 -- Same design as the Q701, but different ear cup material. From the reviews, they don't appear to cause any uncomfortable ear sweating. NOTE: These are open-backed so sound will escape into the real world without a care. Maybe hearing your death metal opera trance as they approach your desk will help people to realize you don't want to be bothered. ;)

K99 - $62 -- These don't seem as comfortable as the 240s, but the reviews seem to generally state otherwise. I would think these are only good for a couple of hours at a time before they become uncormfortable.

K77 $50 -- Based on reviews, these are bad for glasses wearers and they have some sound leakage from the outside. They can also make your ears sweat if it's hot. For $50, these are some good work phones, but you may wish you had shelled out a little more in the long run.

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Sorry for only pumping AKG, it's the only brand I can really vouch for at this point. There are plenty of other headphones out there if these are not your style. Sennheiser makes some really good phones, as does Sony. If you decide to continue your search: Open-back is great for long listening sessions, but allow noise out. Closed-back can get hot but are usually the best at cancelling out noise. You are going to want something that can cup your entire ear without touching/compressing any part of the lobe.

Good Luck!

Nope. For monitors I usually just buy what's on sale and is a reasonable / decent brand.

Since it's your health at stake, I would suggest putting the majority of your budget into ergonomics moreso than the monitor itself.

Unfortunately resolution seems to have "maxed out" at 1920x1080 (ie: 1080p HD panel resolution) and when you get into the larger screen sizes it actually works out that you'd prefer more pixels, but it's very difficult to find those types of panels.

Edit: looks like you maybe would want to look into WUXGA monitors for some extra pixels.

Edit-Edit: Oooh, drool: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Hewlett+Packard+-+ZR2740w+27%22+LED+LCD+Monitor+-+12+ms/4155563.p?id=1218456803916&skuId=4155563&ref=06&loc=01&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=4155563

Edit-Edit-Edit: Pant, pant! http://reviews.cnet.com/lcd-monitors/dell-ultrasharp-u2711/4505-3174_7-33913833.html?tag=mncol;txt ... 2,560x1,440 pixels!

Asus, 27" 1080p panel, $320: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=VE278Q-DT&cat=MON

Articulating wall-mount, $120: http://www.amazon.com/Ergotron-45-243-026-Wall-Mount-LCD/dp/B00358RFJ8

Sit/Stand keyboard thingy (this is like $300, but don't get that one in particular): http://www.ergomart.com/SIT_STAND_AKP/Quicklift-Sit-Stand-dtl.htm

The reason I suggest the sit/stand style with articulating arms on the monitor / keyboard area is that you can adjust the monitor up / high and stand to type, as well as sit back down. It might help you to be able to change positions because if you are going to be keeping your neck in a fixed position, it is possible that you will end up taking more stresses in your back / shoulders, etc.

WHEN YOU TYPE: make sure your elbows are at your hips. Not at your rib-cage, not flying out like chicken-wings. Not in front of your hips / over your thighs. The elbows are a key indicator to the "quality" of your ergonomic setup. Any deviation from "elbows at hips" and a general 90-degree bend to your keyboard will cause a cascading effect as to tiring out other parts of your body.

Good luck, and I hope you find something that works for you...

--Robert

The watches in the main post (in my opinion) are ugly. However, Casio makes some nice looking G-shock watches made of stainless steel as well as the plastic ones in the main post. They have quite the variety.

I have owned my stainless steel Casio G-Shock GW810D for four years. It has been worn daily, and suffered the abuse as a result. It does not show any wear except for micro-scratches on the outside of the stainless steel band where it would rub against objects. I've hit the watch against several hard surfaces at high speeds on accident, to no effect. I've swam with it, washed it in a sink with soap and water many times, immersed it in sand, saltwater, mud, all to no effect. The watch crystal (glass part) remains unscratched. The only plastic on this watch is a durable, hard-rubber like plastic on the perimeter of the watch itself, and the buttons. The Bezel and band are all stainless steel.

As for features, my favorite is that I never have to set the time, since it sets itself to an atomic clock. It accepts radio bands from the US, Japan, Germany and the UK (this is how it sets itself to an atomic clock). It recharges the battery via solar energy, I've never had it be low on power or changed the battery. It has a green backlight which can be activated via a button. The backlight also activates if you tilt the watch up to view it. This is really neat, since all you have to do is bring up your wrist to view the watch and the light turns on for a few seconds(only works when environment is dark). Under the time it shows the correct date as Month/Day or just day of the week. The watch has world time zones, so you could check what the time is anywhere else. Stopwatch, countdown timer, alarms, etc. are also on the watch. An aesthetic I like about this watch is that the Display is reversed, light colored numbers on a black background.

If i ever lost my watch, i would purchase the same model again, even though i got mine for $70 on sale, I would pay the more expensive ~$130 to replace it.



TL;DR: Casio G-Shock (at least my model) is great, lasts forever, never have to set the time, looks good. It is the AK47 of watches, but better looking.


EDIT It seems my watch is an anomaly, from searching throughout the internet this model now appears to have dark numbers on a light background. The model number on mine reads GW810D, what is for sale now is GW810D-1A