Customer Reviews

Intermatic TN711C Security Timer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Very basic timer. Works as advertised. My parents have a simliar timer built on the same winding clock mechanism and it's been working for 30+ yrs. I think it's better than the ones you need to replace a battery.

Plug it in and off you go. Super simple to use and operate.
Build quality is not bad considering the price.
If you look closely at the photo, this unit only has a socket to accept a 2 prong plug. Its listed as being great for auto-switching lighting which is true as long as your lights have only a 2 prong plug. Unfortunately mine are the 3 prong type (even though the lights themselves aren't grounded), but a voided warranty, a drill and 5 minutes is all it takes to fix that (obviously not advised if you need a grounded outlet!!!)

works great... not to-the-second reliable, but if you're aiming for 10pm and it goes off at 10:01, you're not gonna be upset, right?

the unit plugs into the wall, with a receptacle on the right for your lights/fans/etc. The wall-plug is grounded, so you CAN'T flip it upside down. SO if your outlet doesn't have a lot of clearance on the right hand side, uh-oh!

the red tabs turn stuff off, the bluegreen ones turn stuff on. I had some Xmas lights plugged into this, and had it set up to turn on at 6am-8am, and again from 3pm-10pm. Worked exactly as expected.

One caveat - the unit gets warmer than you'd expect. not too hot to hold, just warm.

We use it in my son's room to turn off the light after he's asleep. We've had it a few months and now it's making a constant buzzing noise. It's so loud I don't know how my son gets to sleep each night, but he doesn't seem to mind it. I would. It's a very annoying sound.

I bought my first Intermatic Security Timer about nine years ago, and just bought a replacement, because the original was starting to lose time. At this low price, I don't mind replacing it every nine years. I've been very happy with this timer. I use it to control a lamp in my bedroom, and have never noticed any clicking or buzzing, as other reviewers had noted. In the winter, I set it to go on when I get up in the morning and off when I leave for work, and to be on when I get home. Of course, I use it when I go on vacation. The security feature is the variable timing, so I don't recommend it for anyone who wants it to go on and off at the same exact times.

This timer is easy enough to set, and would probably work fine if it didn't think time had stopped. The clock never moves. Other than that, it works just fine. If I change it to the time it supposed to go off or on, it goes off or on, depending on which time I change it to. The manual on/off switch works, too.

For the price, it isn't even worth the time to return.

Maybe I was in too much of a hurry to realize what I had ordered, but when I got the timer in my hands it was clear that it is designed to be imprecise. It varies the off and on times by about 15 minutes from what is set to give the impression that the timed function is being operated by a human and not a timer. That's good for lights when no one is home for security - not so good when one actually wants the timer to operate consistently. I wrongly assumed from the description that it might me a controllable feature.

This is a great timer. It turns things on and off, which is what timers like this are supposed to do. It's not accurate down the time minute, but is close enough, if you are turning lights on around the time when it gets dark outside or using it for security purposed, when very accurate timing might actually give away the fact that your lights are on a timer.

The only downside I have with this timer is a light "clicking" noise, which sounds like the timing mechanism or something within the timer. Everything still works, but it's not exactly "whisper quiet."

If you are using this in a situation where you need total silence, such as a bedroom you are sleeping in, you might want to look at a non-mechanical timer.

This is a good, functional, basic timer. We have several. They work well. However, the mechanical gears make a racket, at all times. The gears can be heard from more than 20 feet away. These devices are not recommended for bedrooms or other areas where a person seeks quiet. In bedrooms and our den, we are replacing mechanical timers with digital timers.

No one broke into our house, so it must have done its job. We needed seom simple timers when we went on vacation and these were a great value and very simple to use. The "fuzzy" start/end timing was a nice feature, allowing the start and end time to vary a half-hour from the exact time marked on the dial, to throw off burglars who might be watching the house.