Timex T5K491 Stopwatch

First the instructions are on what appears to be rice paper, circa 1947 from Japan and the font is somewhere below 4 pt. Now I see lots of great reviews but I wanted a stop watch to count down and count up for certain lab experiments, simple in terms of what this does. This watch has so many bells and whistles that you may spend hours trying to figure out what goes on and where. Take the timing for laps. You can time up to 100, but try and find out how to reset them. Not clear. Then try timing down, say from 3 minutes. Multiple clicks and it starts at 2:00:00 then pops up to 2:00:59!

Then there is the Timex web site, the timer is out of stock and they have no pdf of the instructions, so beware, do not lose your rice paper.

In addition there is supposed to be a light to better see the display. I can see the little blue light on the right center but frankly I cannot see that it produces anything worth using. One must use this out in the open on a track, or in my case I moves it very carefully over lab glassware.

In my opinion this has great complexity but poor human factors interface. Just having a simple clear function would be of great help.

I love this stopwatch mainly for the following reasons:

Very nice design and great build quality;

the size: it can easily fit in the palm of the hand;

when setting any mode, you can increase or decrease the value in question. Say you want to adjust the minutes to 40. If you keep the button Start/Stop pressed and you exceed 40, you can press the Lap/reset button to step back to your desired value. This is really important and time saving feature when it comes to setting anything;

the Power Save and Power Down modes to prolong the battery life is simply very practical.

Dual time;

two timers (multiple modes);

two alarms;

Pacer.

Oh yeah, and the chronograph :)

I really recommend it for both professionals and amateurs.

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Great stopwatch!

The countdown timer is great...it has 2 cdt which can be used individually or together (link them together)

The audio signal is loud and clear

Has EL backlight

Rugged look that is also water/sweat proof

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I bought, and now have lost, this stopwatch. I may find it again in the future, but in the mean time, I love this stopwatch so much I''ve just ordered my second one. I use it as a ref for roller derby.

Lots of PROs. Here are some exceptional ones:

A lot of features. A lot. Also, a lot of shortcuts if you''re willing to get to know your stopwatch.

Keeps record of, and shows lots of types of statistics.

Dual timers, each having multiple modes. This allows (for example) timing penalty minutes for two skaters at once, without having to do math.

If you do know math, it can be set to time, and then display, things like a skater''s lap/overall MPH when trying to perform the 25 laps in 5 minutes requirement.

Power-save modes for a longer-lasting battery.

The CONs:

The back-light. From other reviews, I see I am not the only one who bought one whose back-light simply didn''t work. Seems to be a not uncommon manufacturing defect with this model.

The Instructions: They''re small, there''s no easily available PDF, and not all of the functionality (tips and tricks) are described (all basic modes are described, though).

Not for light users. You can''t just hand it to someone else and trust that they won''t go into a mode they can''t get out of. It is usable, but there really are so many features that sharing your watch with another ref or volunteer could get them lost and confused if you don''t take the time to familiarize them with the user interface, first.

On my first one, one button had to be pushed extra-firmly if you wanted to be sure the click had registered. That is, the positive-feedback click was not a sure indicator that it had been activated, so I had to look at the stopwatch (take my eyes off the track) to be sure, or consciously push very deliberately.

I''d recommend this stopwatch to feature-heavy users willing to know their stopwatch. I would not recommend this stopwatch as a beginner''s stopwatch.

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Works like it''s supposed to, except for one thing: the Indiglo light doesn''t work. It turns on when you press the button, you can see the blue LED in there,,,, but it''s nowhere near bright enough to view the thing in the dark. I pulled the battery it came with (3.21V) and put a new one in (3.61v) and that made no difference.... So if you have to use a stopwatch in the dark, this one isn''t the one to buy. I also didn''t get it wet, so I don''t know how waterproof it is (the instructions say not to press any buttons when its wet, so I wouldn''t expect much there).

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