இ Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary: ѾѾѾѾ Recommended with warm fuzzies. փ Positives: փ Unlike some timers that limit the number of hours they can count down from, this timer can count down from 99 hours, 99 minutes, and 99 seconds. փ Unlike some timers that use two buttons to slowly increment/decrement the time settings, this timer can be easily and quickly programmed by pushing eight buttons in a matter of seconds. փ The timer can also be used as a stopwatch to count up, instead of down, although the stopwatch still increments in seconds and not milliseconds. փ The rear of the timer allows for three ways to mount it, either using the magnet, hanging it from its hanging hole in the rear, or using its stand to prop it up. փ The rear stand also has a double function as a clip to hold small papers or cards. փ This timer comes with a 1-year warranty, which is good for an inexpensive product like this. ჯ Negatives: ჯ I wish that this timer also included a regular clock. ჯ The rear magnet needs to be stronger to prevent it from detaching from a refrigerator if you press the buttons too hard. ჯ The LCD display needs an on/off button to turn off the display, both to preserve battery life and to prevent LCD screen burn-in of the "00:00 00" digits. This timer is very handy for a variety of uses: kitchen, office or workplace, hobbies, afternoon nap timer, overnight alarm clock, and timing durations using the stopwatch function. It is more flexible than some timers that either cannot count down up to 99 hours, 99 minutes, and 99 seconds (over 4 days in duration) or have to be programmed by pushing two buttons to increment/decrement the time settings. To program the timer, you always just press eight buttons, which can be accomplished in just a few seconds. Many other digital timers require you to tediously press-and-hold two buttons to increase/decrease the hours, minutes, seconds. Do you need to count down 45 minutes of wait time for something in the kitchen? Press the [Stop/Reset] button to zero the display, followed by 0, 0, 4, 5, 0, 0, and then the [Start] button to start the timer. 45 minutes later, the timer beeps with a fairly loud shrill sound that can be heard throughout the house. You can press any button (not just Stop/Reset) to turn off the beeping. If you do not manually stop the alarm, the beeping stops after one minute. Do you want to take a 30-minute nap? Press Stop/Reset, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, Start. Do you want to use this timer as an alarm clock overnight after sleeping 8 hours? Press Stop/Reset, 0, 8, 0, 0, 0, 0, Start. Eight hours later, when you wake up and press any button to turn off the beeping, there is no snooze function, so you either have to get out of bed, or if you want to snooze for ten more minutes, you need to wake up enough to reach over and press Stop/Reset, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, Start. Just make sure that you do not drowsily push 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0 instead and end up snoozing for one hour instead of ten minutes :-) How about using this timer as a stopwatch? Press Stop/Reset and then Start to start the stopwatch. To pause the stopwatch, press Stop/Reset once. To resume the stopwatch, press Start. To clear the stopwatch, press Stop/Reset once to pause and a second time to reset the display back to "00:00 00". There is no on/off button and the LCD display always remains on. To increase the lifespan of the single AAA battery that this timer uses (and a battery is included with this timer), it needs to have an on/off switch. Just as important, being able to turn off the LCD display prevents screen burn-in. Over time, the "00:00 00" image may be etched into the LCD screen, reducing the display's clarity and legibility. Some timer/stopwatch devices also have a regular clock function, and this West Bend timer cannot display the a clock time. If the LCD display always has to stay on, it can at least just always display the clock time when it is not being used as a timer or stopwatch. And if this timer's display could be used as a clock, you would not even need to program the timer if you just wanted to watch the clock increment the seconds and minutes on its display. The rear of this timer provides three ways to mount it. You can either open up the spring-loaded stand to set it on a counter or table, use the rear hanging hole to hang it from a small nail or string, or attach the rear magnet to a metal appliance or surface. The magnet is not that strong so if you have this timer attached to a refrigerator and press too hard on the buttons, you can knock the timer off and have it drop onto the kitchen floor, possibly damaging it. It is possible to lightly press the timer's buttons without causing the timer to detach from its magnetic hold, but the safest way is to always hold the timer in your hand whenever you press its buttons to program it or stop its beeping. Many brands of small timers like this also use a weak magnet, so this is a common problem amongst digital timers. This timer comes with a 1-year warranty, so keep your receipt as proof of purchase if the timer malfunctions. But I imagine that the warranty does not cover damage due to the timer dropping onto the floor. Overall, this is a great little timer. I would have rated it 5 stars if it also included a clock function, which many other timers also have.
