How good is the Saitek Clock advertised in sales at $42.95.
I am thinking of purchasing 10 clocks for a Chess Class I am teaching in school and wondered if these would be a good buy??
Thanks
H.A.Payne
Make sure you learn how to set them. That seems to be the common clock that many TDs are unlikely to know how to set.
One beef I have with them is that many models count down the delay seconds without showing the time remaining, so a TD can come up to a game seeing what looks like the last few seconds counting down and then find out a few seconds later that the person didn’t actually flag.
My personal preference for that price range is the Exaclibur/GameTimer. It shows both minutes and seconds in the entire time control (seconds are small until getting under ten minutes) and has an additional numerical display of the delay countdown. Common mistake with that one are that people set the delay time without turning on the delay, or they try to set hours and minutes (it does minutes, even hundreds of minutes, but not hours).
Saitek (blue) are very good and durable clocks but they have some serious limitation (not sure if it is important to you or not).
They do not support increment (aka Fischer bonus) mode, so for example those are not suitable for FIDE norm tournaments. One can think of other situations where having bonus is important, however if you are getting this for a scholastic program as you indicated with most of events being G60/G45/ G30 / G25 d5, you should be fine.
An alternative that doesn’t have any limitations and within $42.00-$45.00 range is DGT North American Timer. The good thing about DGT NA is that they are pre-programmed for most popular time controls (with US style of delay) in USA.
If you are looking for the best deal on chess clocks, please send me a private note.
Mikhail Koganov
Don’t even think about buying a clock unless it supports both increment and delay. Sooner or later, you’re going to need both.
The buttons on the Saiteks I have seen are noisy. In the event of a time scramble, that gets unpleasant for nearby games.
I hate the way the Saitek counts down the delay seconds. The entire main time disappears from the display, as it counts down 005, 004, 003, 002, 001, before re-displaying the main time. This can create confusion, the last thing you want in a time scramble.
Bill Smythe
No good digital chess clock has ever yet become available for purchase by the public.
The Chronos clocks are absurdly difficult to set, even tho they cost the same as a 16 GB Android touch pad (computer) which can do 5,000 things that are more complicated.
Most other digital chess clocks are also too difficult to set.
Someday a manufacturer will put a cheap pad computer into a robust stand. It will have a self-explanatory user-interface screen full of labeled boxes for choices (for length of first time control, amount of delay or increment, etc).
And the choices will offer unlimited flexibility in the design of time controls.
Being a computer, it will easily save any time-control design for easy reuse later. And it will save it as a human friendly descriptive name, not as number 1 or 2 etc.
When that day arrives, the digital chess clocks of 2012 will be understood as being the archaic hassles that they really are.
I forgot to bring my Chronos to the US Open in Vancouver last year, and bought the DGT North American at the tournament for $45. I have been using it regularly since and like it better than the Chronos. It’s cheap, good-looking, and has all the features the tournament player like me needs. The only drawback is that for some reason (I think it’s a bug), it adds increment from move 0, instead of move 1, so an anal person like me in order to achieve the true G/90 + 30’ inc, has to set the clock as G/89:30 +30’ inc.
Michael Langer
Austin, TX
See the first three posts in this thread. (After that it went off-topic.)
Bill Smythe
Buy the clocks from sales. You will be supporting the federation and you will also have consistency as your entire batch of clocks will be the same. Also I am sure that if any of the batch is defective, sales will exchange or refund your purchase price. I am guessing that your question concerns price rather than features as you are best situated to understand the needs of your students and the level of play that you intend to use the clocks for.
That’s no bug, that’s by design.
I once thought that was wrong, too, but now I see the light. If the increment starts from move 0, then, for example, G/90 inc/30 is equivalent to G/120 inc/0 for a 60-move game. That is, if you play your first 59 moves quickly, then let your clock run out on move 60, the total elapsed time when you flag is exactly 120 minutes.
If, by contrast, the increment starts from move 1, then, in the above scenario, you will flag after 119 minutes 30 seconds.
60 moves has long regarded as a convenient (though perhaps arbitrary) standard for comparing increment controls to non-increment controls.
Bill Smythe
We had a lot of problems with the blue Saiteks at a recent state scholastic championship. Several froze. One recycled back to the original time. The kids found them hard to set.
I like the DGT NA. Has all of the major features and is sturdy. The on/off button is tucked away so that it won’t accidentally start the timer. You can find a wholesaler that will sell them well within your budget.
A couple of years ago, ToysRUs was selling the Gametimer II clock under the name Pavilion for around $20. After that Christmas, I haven’t found such a great deal. The Gametimer II clock has a better clock face than many other clocks and shows delay/increment as well as the countdown of seconds. The only problem with them is that on some clocks the pressing of the clock has a too audible click.
Thank you,
I will be looking at the Excaliber/game timer also. I taught(volunteer) middle and high school students in a Christian School last year 3 days a week 1hr classes.
They did so well in their other studies (good improvement) That the School Administrator ask if I would teach 5 days a week and pick up from 1st grade on. As long as my health holds out. I am expecting a little rougher treatment of clocks this year 
I started with 22 last year finished with 20 in a tournament(inhouse) and signed up 30 for next year, that looks like it will increase by about another 25 or 30.this coming school year.
Thanks Again
Harry.
Thank you Bill, I will keep that in mind.
Harry
Thanks,
I will check out the DGT/NA also.
Harry
Thank you very much Mikhail, I will keep you in mind. What is the shipping time roughly to Texas. I should be ready to purchase sometime in Sept, or Oct.
Thanks agian
Harry.
Can’t go wrong with that. It’s at least the second best clock on the market. And it’s far less expensive than the (arguably) best.
Bill Smythe
I have used the blue Saiteks with scholastic players for some years now and find them very adequate for scholastic play. Out of field of somewhere between one and two dozen in heavy usage, I’ve only ever seen one non-battery failure.
Taste can differ, but I find it the best clock for scholastic players. I find them much easier to set than the Excalibur, the buttons (while not the quietest) feel much more solid than the DGT’s rocker,and you have the lower price from the Chronos. [And my personal clock for play is the Chronos.]
I’ve been putting together hardware specs for a clock based on one of the low cost single board computer platforms (Raspberry Pi or similar.) One big challenge is providing power that will last… I’ve also thought about running the clock proper on LED displays and the programming via regular screen.
See last question on Arbiter’s Notebook: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/geurt170.pdf
Bill and Luis,
Thanks for the explanation and the reference about how the increment is handled on DGT clocks.
Michael
I thank everyone for their helpful replys, as I think the School wishes to purchase these clocks on their own (I have suppied the chess equipment so far to date) I will present what has been said and see what they say. I am sure it will be buy what you think is best. But I do want them involved.
Thanks Again
Harry.
If I were buying a bunch of clocks for a school, I’d feel most confident with the reliability of the DGT NA, and most comfortable with its operation. Other affordable clocks seem to have various problems and/or peculiarities with their operation.
My personal favorite remains the Chronos, but its price tag obviously puts it out of reach for a large purchase.
Bill Smythe