I bought this watch specifically for traveling abroad so as not to check the time on the phone and not waste the battery. I didn't think I would use it every day, even after my trip. My friend also has a porthole, but his watch has a blue backlight that evenly illuminates the entire screen. I was expecting the same light and was excited reading the reviews for this watch. The light the watch has is an orange light coming from the left side of the screen. It's not terrible and you can definitely tell the time in the dark. It certainly wasn't a deal breaker. These clocks are small. I have very thin wrists so I knew I wanted a small face. Due to the small size, however, the keys are also very small. Accessing the light button on my wrist was a bit problematic as I could only really hold the button down long enough to read the watch. I think they are perfect for a small wrist and that was probably the deciding factor in purchasing this watch.