Electronic Chess Clock

[Tom O'Donnell]

I am trying to decide which electronic clock to buy. Anyone have strong feelings pro or con regarding any of the major brands?

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

If it's being used for blitz - and specially by kids who like to bang the clock a lot - the Chronos is the only way to go. Montreal's Cafe Pi has had 7 or 8 of them for several years (they are in use constantly - day after day), and I don't know of any that have "died" completely.

[Jordan S. Berson]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

I have had a Seitek 3 for at least a year. It's good for fast and slow play. I haven't really found any flaws or limiting factors yet...

[Ferdinand Supsup]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

If it's being used for blitz - and specially by kids who like to bang the clock a lot - the Chronos is the only way to go. Montreal's Cafe Pi has had 7 or 8 of them for several years (they are in use constantly - day after day), and I don't know of any that have "died" completely.

Chronos indeed and seconded but has some limitations on incremental time control. Very good in US time controls because they usually use time delays instead of increments.

Thanks!;)

[Garland Best]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

I have had a Seitek 3 for at least a year. It's good for fast and slow play. I haven't really found any flaws or limiting factors yet...

I favor the Saitek 3 as well. Because they accept 3 custom time controls means I can program them to have both the regular (G/90m + 30 second increments) and active (G/25m +5 second increments) time controls the club use preprogrammed in and swap between either. Buttons work easily (no guessing if you pressed it properly, unlike the old Saitek 2!) and you can tell accross the room if it is your move.

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

Nothing wrong with a Saitek 3 as long as a) you don't plan to play in some kind of official FIDE tournament with it (in which case clocks are likely supplied anyway) and b) whoever is playing Blitz with it treats it with respect - it WILL break if both buttons are pressed hard at the same time, unlike the Chronos which are built like tanks.

[Jason Nguyen]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

I have 4 clocks

Chronos "Touch" - Awesome for blitz, the best according to many. Super durable, large display for various time modes, such as move count, full HH:MM:SS display etc.

Chronos GX "Button" - Got this for the tactile feel of the buttons which IMO feel alot better than the "touch" sensitive pads. Same features as original Chronos, slightly easier to set, more compact and just as durable.

Both Chronos have slight drawbacks with time increments as Ferdinand noted. They are also not the most intuitive to set, you have to read the manual at least once and/or watch the tutorial videos on online. Though once you get the hang of it they are fairly easy to set and you can also save a handful of presets.

DGT North American - Lightweight, easy to use and comes standard with many time controls used in Canada/US (duh). Also great for blitz as the levers are very soft and easy to press. Large display.

Saitek Competition Pro III - Very customizable as mentioned. There is no time control I can't set on this one. My first clock and I still use it on occasion when the Chronos doesn't allow proper increments. Only problem is durability. The front toggle switch is broken (although it can still be set), and the move buttons are not as smooth as either the DGT or Chronos making it the worst out of the bunch for blitz IMO.

Chronos is the most expensive ($100+) but will last forever. It's the one I use the most unless I can't get a specific time control on it. I'd recommend the button version if you go for it. But if you only want one clock, the Saitek III is the winner due to the time control flexibility.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

My last Chronos purchase was a "touch" - I have seen quote a few "button" ones with broken buttons (they are usually easy to fix/replace - but not always). (all the Cafe Pi clocks are "touch").

I have never had problems with increment settings on them - however, that is on the "long" model - it may be different on the "short" (or "blitz") model.

[Ferdinand Supsup]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

I have never had problems with increment settings on them - however, that is on the "long" model

Hi Hugh,

I also have the touch "long" model but I could not find from the user manual how to set increments say 90 minutes with 30 seconds increment per move. Can you please share how to set it? Appreciate your time for my request.

Thanks!

[Jason Nguyen]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

Hi Hugh,

I also have the touch "long" model but I could not find from the user manual how to set increments say 90 minutes with 30 seconds increment per move. Can you please share how to set it? Appreciate your time for my request.

Thanks!

I like to know too please! that manual is a disaster. I can't figure it out either.

[Roger Patterson]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

you want mode CH-P5 or CH-P6 (the first does 1 time control with increment, the second does two time controls with increment).

[Jason Nguyen]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

you want mode CH-P5 or CH-P6 (the first does 1 time control with increment, the second does two time controls with increment).

Awesome. Thanks Roger. I recall trying some of the preceding "Progressive" settings P1, P2 etc.. and they didn't have increments so I didn't bother going as far as P5. The other increment settings I found were more like delays.

So then, I must retract the only drawback I originally listed for the Chronos series and now recommend these clocks as the top pick!

[Roger Patterson]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

well, probably the drawback of a lousy manual is still true :-)

I think it was a year or so before I figured out that I wanted CH-P5 or CH-P6. Before that I was using a mode that had a move counter on it which I don't like. (so actually, there is another mode that does the increments but with a move counter enabled - but I have long since forgotten which mode that is.)

My button has come off once or twice but I just put it back on - no problem really.

The other oddity is that you have to unscrew the entire clock casing to change the battery - on the other hand, I've had mine 9 years and haven't changed the battery yet.

I'm not convinced that the Saitek III s will stand up to blitz punishment but the rubber doohickey that you use to change the settings sure works a lot better than how the Saitek II changed settings. Also, the Saitek III only takes I think 3 user settings? (although that is much better than the earlier Saiteks.) (Chronos is 12).

You could probably make a good living setting people's digital clocks for them at tournaments. I'm always asked for help at tournaments I'm visiting (The tournaments I organize, clocks are supplied).

[Stephen Wright]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

One disadvantage from a TD's point of view is that it can be hard to read the display from certain angles if you're not actually seated at the board - all the LCD elements are visible, so you see 88.88. Not good when trying to observe time scrambles.

[Ferdinand Supsup]

Re: Electronic Chess Clock

well, probably the drawback of a lousy manual is still true :-)

Hi Roger,

Thank you very much for sharing and appreciated your immediate response!

I found out from the "Additions to the User's Guide" in separate sheets that six progressive modes have been added: PR-C1, PR-C2, PR-C1A, PR-C1B, PR-C2A and PR-C2B.

Intended use: Sudden-death chess with progressive timing and 2 or 3 time controls.

Description: These are progressive modes similar to CH-P6 and CH-P7, but with the addition of move counters.

Me too has to retract the drawback on incremental time control I've mentioned earlier.

Before I forgot, Chronos can generate several Chess960 starting positions as a newly added feature for the "long touch switch" version.
Cheers!