Customer Reviews

Polder Digital Timer with Vibrating, Audible, and Illuminated Alarm

5 star:		(127)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

It counts up! It counts down! It counts in seconds and minutes, and in minutes and hours! It vibrates, flashes, and beeps! It stands up, clips to things, or hangs by the sheer power of magnetism!

The versatility of this timer really is wonderful, and I really like the lack of a five-minute "warning beep" (which may be nice if you're watching pasta, but isn't so good if you're trying to spend twenty minutes in meditation!). It does exactly what I wanted it to do, and it's small, portable, and cheap to boot.

I needed a simple countdown timer. As a speaker I needed a timer that will not make a noise but will tell me when my time is up. The three simple choices of alarms or no alarm at all work. It is an ideal size with large digital numbers that make it easy to read. I was amazed how hard something like this was to find but was delighted in how well this works.

Nice features include:

*All the secondary features are operated by little bitty two-position switches on the back. That sounds bad, but it's good, because it means the presence of the additional features doesn't complicate basic operation. Very simple to use, which is surprisingly not the case even with some less full-featured timers.

*Big display. Bad eyesight (like, say, mine) isn't an issue.

*Indicates seconds as well as minutes and can be stopped and re-started, so you can interrupt an activity and not have to start over at the nearest minute.

*Nice heft in the hand. The unit and its buttons aren't microscopic.

*Comes with batteries, though they're not alkalines.

It was worth the $15 I paid for it. At $10, it's a steal.

Not perfect, but good for the money. I've tried several of the available timers for the kitchen, and was amazed at the very weak volume of many of them. This one is loud enough. One flaw is that the start/stop button is too easy to bump and turn off if you are carrying it in your pocket (in vibrate mode, for instance). They should have a lock button for this or make it recessed. You can set this timer to count down minutes/seconds or hours/minutes, and you can choose any or all: light flash/vibrate/audible beep. I bought two.

I bought this little gadget to help my daughter keep track of computer time. She'd barely had a chance to use it before I swiped it.

Why would I do that when I already had a bunch of timers -- stove clock, Palm Pilot, bedside alarm and even a stopwatch? As it turns out, the Polder is everything the others are not. It doesn't require that I read a manual to figure it out. It's much more accurate than those spring-wound kitchen timers that routinely run a minute or two off. Still other timers have alarms that give just a single, demure little "plink" which I often don't hear. Not my Polder: with its three signal modes, I can hear and/or see and/or feel it, so it always gets my attention ... even when I'm asleep. (In fact, I've started using it instead of an alarm clock -- at home and when I travel; it's easier to set/re-set, its alarm tone is audible without being grating, and its signal continues long enough that it's hard to miss.)

Being able to combine alerts -- sound with vibration, for example -- can be a boon. The ability to change from hours/minutes to minutes/seconds is also handy. Its small size and flat-ish shape make it extremely portable, so I usually just slip into my pocket when I'm wandering around. (The clip-on piece never worked for me. It regularly unclipped and sent the timer flying.) It uses its two AAA batteries gently so I don't have to replace them often.

All these features are translate into a real asset to someone like me with a serious tendency toward absent-mindedness. I burn fewer dinners, show up late to fewer appointments and oversleep less often.

The reason I gave the timer four instead of five stars is that it died yesterday, after about a year. But it was a hard-working year. And because I've come to rely on the timer, and because the price is so reasonable, here I am back at this page, ordering another.

This is a great little timer. I've bought three Polder 212-00 digital timers so far. After I lost my first timer, I looked at other timers, but none measured up to this one so I decided to take my chances again because this is a GREAT timer. I bought one for myself and one for the teacher's aid in my classroom. I love that it can be used to time in hours and minutes, as well as in minutes and seconds. The buttons on the back make it easy to switch between the two, and it's also easy to choose how to be notified when the target time has been reached (red flashing light, vibration, or beeping). The notification options were very important to me because I needed a method of noise-free notification.

The only two drawbacks are 1) the battery cover is also the clip, and 2) you can't go backwards if you pass up your target time - you must clear the time and start over.

Not being able to go backwards if you pass up your target time isn't a real problem for me. It happens, but it can be quickly remedied. It might be a problem for others.

The first drawback is really a problem because I carry it around in a bag with my other supplies. Having the clip on the battery cover means that the cover comes off easily, since the clip gets caught on things within my supply bag. Usually the batteries stay put, though.

I can be very distractable, so a timer to remind me that the tea is done, rather than have it ruined by brewing for much too long, is of real value. Ditto for the lunch in the microwave at work, so I don't forget all about it for an hour. But, I don't want to drive others nuts with the sound of my timer always beeping. The light-only mode in this timer does the trick perfectly, with a very large illuminated flashing red band across the top of the timer that is hard to miss when I'm working at my desk.

Oh, and I bought another one for my wife, at home recovering from knee surgery. Using the hours/minutes mode that goes up to 19 hours, I can set the four hour interval for her medications and be sure she'll get them on time. Most kitchen timers won't go over 99 minutes, not nearly long enough.

I expect the vibrate mode to be equally useful once I get to try it out - just wish they had made it less likely to accidentally push the on/off button and turn off the timer when in my jeans pocket.

Still, this gadget does several things no other time can do - so I declare it a winner.

This timer was exactly what I was looking for; which was, a timer that would not wake up the house in the early morning hours. It has always been distracting to me to have to watch the clock while doing yoga (good for meditation too) or reading before getting ready for work. My kitchen timers will wake the dead - bought that way on purpose so I can be in the basement and still hear them - so I couldn't use either of them to help me know when it was time to get ready for work. The Polder is easy to set no matter what time or style alarm you want. For exercise I use the flashing light and vibration. For presentations at work I put it in my pocket with the vibration alarm on - very discrete. I think it is perfect and plan on buying a couple more.

As with other reviews, I have had the experience during mindfulness practice of a timer that "pinged" on 5 minutes, 4, 3, 2 and final. This disrupts the meditative process. I have also experienced the "explosive" single bell going off like a fire alarm causing me to jump "off my cushion!" The Polder 212-00 Digital timer can easily clip on my shirt and peacefully "buzzes", or "vibrates", or "flashes a red light"--or all three at once. I encourage all serious "mindfulness sitters" to buy one of these timers. I believe you will be as happy as I have been with my purchase.

I bought this timer because of the rave reviews and low price. I guess you can't expect a lot for under $10.00. Well, I got what I paid for!
Not a lot. This timer is extremely small and light weight. I can completely cover it in my hand. Once you have set the timer, you have to be extremely careful how you handle or carry it. The start/stop button is the same button and if you accidentially just barely touch it, it will stop the timer and you might not even be aware you did it. You also have to change the setting on the back of it if you want to set it for one hour or more, or chage it if you want it set in minutes only. If you forget to make this change, you will mess up the time. This is very easy to do as it's hard to tell how it's set just looking at the front of it. Also, it doesn't show the time counting down so you can't tell how much time is left before it buzzes. I now realize that just because a product gets good reviews it can be completely wrong for me. Live and learn!