I was reading Chesslife and it was advertising the Zmartfun chess clock. Seems like its similar to Chronos clock. Only less stylish.
Although it might be very useful for chessplayers with problems with thier eyesight.
Just curious if anybody had a chance to check it out.
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I own or have owned the majority of digital clocks on the market and know a lot about the different ones and their aspects. I also am an optometrist with one of my special areas of activity being Low Vision (I was the clinical director of a Low Vision clinic for 4 years). In this area I deal with people with visual impairments and their seeing things in their environment. So this is an area that I do have some expertise in.
I found the web site for the Zmartfun clock and looked at the three LED color options along with reading the user manual. Here are my thoughts on it:
I thought I read somewhere that they wanted to provide a lesser expensive clock for people to use. At $89 this is not the cheapest option. Yes it is $15 less than the Chronos can be had at this time, but I don’t know if you don’t get what you pay for.
The first thing that I thought was that this was a clock modeled after the Chronos, especially in operational design and function. The external differences are the color(s), the Zmartfun clock has a plastic body versus the Chronos aluminum and the Zmartfun clock is basically a box with the display being vertical versus the Chronos which has a visually ergonomic angle to the display (more on this later).
The Zmartfun clock also takes 4 C batteries versus the Chronos taking 3 AA batteries. The 4 C batteries should last longer between the need to change them and I bet it also adds a good amount of weight and heft to the clock. Of course the Chronos is not a lightweight clock either with its aluminum body and so.
Visually I wonder which color LED would be best. I don’t like the all black body and background for the display. There is no contrast there except for the LED display. I would like to see a lighter colored framing around the displays. This would help with finding the display for the visually challenged. A number of visual problems have problems with red lights, so I have a concern about that color LED. The blue provides good contrast. The green should also be good, but I don’t know about it in all lighting conditions. I guess I would buy the green LED model, if I were to buy one. I would like to see a better quality contrast in the clock and display area.
The angle of the display is more of a concern for me than the color. With the display being vertical as it is, I would think it far more preferable to be on a flatter angle as pretty much all other digital clocks are. The Chronos, Saitek, Excalibur, DGT and even the Duel Timer all have their displays on a more ergonomic, flatter angle than the vertical. I know that a good number of the analog clocks are on the vertical, but this makes the player stoop over or down to see the display at a 90 degree angle. The flatter angled displays are easier to see from the typical position of the seated chess player.
The Zmartfun clock only comes with touch sensor buttons. I own both the touch sensor and traditional button Chronos clocks. I find that I prefer the traditional button when playing anything faster than Game 60. I like the quiet of the touch sensor when playing the slower time controls. I prefer the more substantial feel of a click of the regular buttons when playing faster.
This clock does compare and compete with the Chronos. For only $15 dollars more, I think the Chronos a better value:
a. The Chronos has an aluminum body versus the plastic one of the Zmartfun. I have heard of plastic body clocks actually breaking if dropped. The plastic body would not stop me from buying a clock though. I own an Excalibur, Saitek Competition Pro, DGT XL and DGT American all with plastic bodies and they’re fine. However, at the $100 price tag that the Chronos and Zmartfun clocks live around, I think the aluminum body is more rugged and all.
b. While the blue or green LED of the Zmartfun would provide good contrast, the Chronos contrast is good and not a deal breaker. The beige or cream color of the Chronos is not the best for contrast. The Chronos in the black or blue body provides excellent contrast even for the visually impaired.
c. The display of the Chronos is at the flatter more ergonomic angle than the Zmartfun. This is important when playing a chess game and using the clock.
Thanks for your review. I already own a Chronos touch clock. I doubt I’d buy a Chronos regular though. I have an Excaliber that does great and I use more often at clubs anyway.
As for me, it doesn’t really make a difference at any time control that I’d prefer regular over touch, or vice versa.
The biggest reason I got the touch style was that I’d play in clubs, and especially the younger players… would really bang the clock buttons with whichever piece they’d just picked up. That kinda grinds on me with a higher quality clock. I consider my Excaliber clock the “don’t care if it gets banged up” catagory. I end up playing more with the Excaliber anyway. Since I mostly use my Chronos touch for tournaments (which I never go to nowadays), and if I have someone come over to my house. Occassionally I"ll drag it to the chess club though. Depends on my mood. Its a bit more of a hassle to drag my tournament set around.
I’d like to get an INSA clock though, for nostaliga. Its a sweet looking analog clock that doesn’t need batteries. I first saw it for sale many years ago… maybe mid 90’s.
I guess I didn’t originally intend to use the Chronos touch for mostly tournaments and at the house… but thats how it ended up. Mainly because its way faster to drag my smaller chess bag around to clubs. The “tournament kit” has a folding wood board, and a larger bag, and just more of a hassle to drag around. Of course, in a tournament (if I ever play in one), would be worth the extra effort to use my better chess stuff.
The smaller bag is the orginal chess bag (in electric blue) that the USCF has been selling for many years. Has a leather chess board, Excaliber II clock, and inexpensive wooden chess set. BTW, the leather board and bag are both over 20 years old, and still stands up to the test of time.
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I also have a folding wooden board with the larger bag for tournament play. It is a bit cumbersome to carry to club, so I usually carry one of the smaller bags designed for the roll up boards. Of course I play with wooden pieces exclusively. My blitz set is a Liberty Series from the House of Staunton. That thing is built like iron. I have a regular button Chronos paired with this set and I now use a silicone board from Dewain Barber and his American Chess Equipment. That board is great.
I use my touch Chronos with the folding board and a nicer tournament set, also from the House of Staunton.
I also have a few leather roll up boards from the House of Aragon. I have a green one that goes with a HOS Zagreb '59 set and the Saitek Competition Pro clock. This is my Barnes & Noble set. I just used it today at B&N.
Anyway, while I like the idea of the Zmartfun clock, I don’t see it being nice enough to spend that kind of money on.
My club set has the HOS “Championship Series”.
Its similar to the Liberty series. HOS wasn’t stocking the Liberty Series chess set at the time I was purchasing a wooden set for my club bag, so it wasn’t an option that was available to me.
Its too bad USCF doesn’t stock leather chess boards anymore. Thats where I got mine. Its dark brown with the squares printed in white.
So much better than vinyl.
Edit: It looks a lot like the ones from House of Aragon, just white ink instead of buff ink.
I saw what I think was a Zmartfun clock in use at the U.S. Open. (At least it matches the description: boxy, black body, blue digits on a black background.) My first thought was that it was almost completely unreadable, and this was in excellent lighting conditions. (Actually, I am censoring myself and not stating what my very first thought was.) To say that the contrast was inadequate is a definite understatement.