G/30 plus 5 seconds delay? Put it on preset 6A. Play. Any other single time control plus 5 seconds delay? Put it on preset 6A. Hit “Edit.” Use the cursor pad to change the digits (left and right to select a digit, up and down to change). When you’re done, hit “Edit” again. Play. Five-minute blitz? Preset 2A. Thirty-second increment? That’s the only one that’s a little complicated. Preset 3B or 3C, change the number of moves in the primary time control to zero, and change the secondary time control to zero.
Jeez, this is one of the easiest clocks on the market to set. I can’t believe people have so much trouble with it. I figured it out just by looking at the bottom of the clock.
The Saitek Pro sets pretty easily. You can make adjustments without having to press buttons twenty times. It has many different presets. The only problem with the clock is the display of the delay. Once the brightly lighted button that I like is pressed, it hides the actual time and counts down to 0 before going back to the remaining time. That might not be a problem in the middle of the game, but it is a source of confusion in severe time pressure. You may not know if you are on your delay time or on your actual time. That contrasts unfavorably with the GameTime clock that shows everything on its display. I am still trying to figure out why the DGT NA displays a flag at the end of a first time control even though time control has been made and the extra hour added. I also do not like that many of the clocks do not add the time when time control is made and adds the time only after all of the time is gone. When a scoresheet is not complete because of time pressure, it adds extra anxiety not knowing if or when the time will be added. This is the same problem as with analog clocks. This increases the likelihood of mistakes and spoils the games. I think many of theses clocks are best designed for only one session time controls.
I agree that sometimes the manuals are less than helpful. Each of the clocks I have learned to set was done through putzing around with it for a while before looking at the manual. One clock could only be set completely opposite to the manual. There are often shortcuts that the manual does not tell you about. The worst manual, or rather instruction sheet, had 1 pt type.
In order to add time at the correct move number, the move counter would have to be turned on. A lot of people (or a few noisy ones) don’t like the move counter for a variety of reasons.
On the Chronos, you have the option of turning the move counter on (in which case the secondary time will be added at the appropriate move number) or off (in which case the secondary time is added when the primary time expires).
Personally, I like the move counter, but if you’re going to turn it on, make sure you are the observant type who always remembers to press his clock, and always notices if his opponent does not. Otherwise the move counter can get off by a move, creating problems at the control.
OK, you gents convinced me. I have a guy who wants to sell me his Saitek Competition Pro clock for two drinks. Normally, that would be a great bargain, but not so much at the Parsippany Hilton.
I don’t need another chess clock and I don’t have gobs of cash to spare. Clearly, that means I should obtain this clock, master its quirks and join Keith and Harry in their fight to uphold its good name.
Semi-seriously: The trouble I have with the Saitek Pro is navigating from the paused display to the pre-set mode, to the saved favorites…and so on. It’s somewhat easier on the blue scholastic Saitek.
The perfect chess clock will come along around the same time chess is solved.
This video is clear as mud. As an instructional video it fails on almost any level. I was chuckling throughout as the demonstrator clearly was unable to provide any kind of algorithm for setting this clock.
I just had a great idea. I’ll share it with y’all some time next week.
You get from paused display to preset mode the same way on both Saitek clocks: hold the “Pause/Reset” button down for three seconds. (Or, as Akzidenz likes to say, “Hold the button down and say, ‘There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.’”)
If you’re well-used to the blue Saitek, navigating the presets on the silver Saitek will throw you off, I’ll grant you that. The blue Saitek is navigated using just the up and down buttons. The silver, on the other hand, works like the menu bar in a Mac or Windows application circa five years ago: You use the left and right buttons to move from the 1’s to the 2’s to the 3’s, etc., and the up and down buttons to move from 1A to 1B to 1C, etc. You can jump from the middle of one “column” to the top of a neighboring “column” by pressing the left or right button most of the time, but the 3’s are an exception, because those are the compound time controls, and moving right will take you from primary to secondary to tertiary instead unless you’re at the top of the “column.” Ditto if you’ve saved a compound time control to one of your user-defined presets (7A, 7B or 7C).
Here’s a map to help you visualize just what it is you’re navigating through:
ETA: It occurs to me that you can also use preset 4A, 4B or 4C for a simple increment time control; you don’t have to use 3B or 3C and zero out the secondary time.
I just had an experience with the silver Saitek last night. I showed up to play a game in a club tournament, shook hands with my opponent (who provided the clock in question), popped my earphones in, and started to play. After four moves, I noticed the clock wasn’t running at all. I picked it up, and after about two minutes, discovered why. It was set for G/100, d/5 - and as a custom setting, it actually had to be saved before the clock would run.
As I was saving the setting, the TD wandered over. I chuckled and told him about this thread on the Forums, then went back to my board and promptly “innovated” my way into a lost position.
I’m glad I bought my kid the blue Saitek. At least I can set that one.
It doesn’t have to be saved to a custom slot. If you’re in edit mode and you hit “Edit” without hitting “Store,” your edited setting will remain in memory (even if you turn the power off and back on) unless and until you switch to another preset.
This didn’t have anything to do with whether the setting would remain in memory. The indicator for slot setting showed two dashes. The clock wouldn’t actually begin running until I saved the setting.
Then you must have hit “Store” without intending to, or without knowing what it did, at which point the clock wanted to know which slot you were going to store it in. You can edit a time setting without storing it.
I didn’t press anything on the clock other than the plungers and the bottom switches (though I didn’t turn it off).
Again, I wasn’t editing a setting at all. The clock was set when I arrived at the board. We just started playing, and the clock was not running. After four moves, I picked it up, checked for modify/lock settings on the bottom of the clock, pressed the plungers a few times, then noticed the “–” slot setting in the corner (which caused me to press the up arrow once; this changed the slot setting to 7A). After that, the plungers operated the clock. shrug
Not a big deal, either way. I kind of wish the clock hadn’t worked, given the result of the game.
Again, I note that I didn’t turn the clock on or off. It was on and already set for G/100 when I got to the board. What I couldn’t figure out was why it wouldn’t run when we started it.
Your map is a good guide; I’ve copied it in the event that I can’t destroy all the silver Saiteks currently in circulation before I have to deal with another one again.
So, apparently the person who furnished the clock didn’t finish programming it, and the players tried to start using it anyway.
It’s interesting that this Chronos thread is mostly about the Saitek. (Now, now, moderators, that’s no reason to delete the Saitek posts or move them to a new thread. We’re happy the way it is.)
You are not the only one with that idea, Boyd. The guy who offered to sell me his Saitek Pro for two drinks at the Parsippany Hilton bar, (you don’t wanna know how much that would cost), has pulled the offer off the table.
He now prefers to hold onto the clock himself, so he can savor the joy of destroying it—literally—by brute force. I think he is serious.
How will we learn to set the darn thing if everyone who owns one is determined to crush it into tiny pieces?
We’re happy the way it is.)