Customer Reviews

Timex Men's T5J261 Ironman Solar Power 50-Lap Resin Strap Watch

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I own 8 Citizen Eco-drives and they are great watches. I thought that Citizen (and Casio) had cornered the market on the solar technology -- until I received my Timex Ironman Solar T5J261. I did my homework, read the specs, user's manual, reviews, and looked at lots of images. Let me tell you why this not only a GOOD simple and basic digital watch, but a POTENTIALLY GREAT watch with one SERIOUS FLAW [SEE BELOW]:

1. It is skillfully constructed and thoughtfully designed; the fit and finish are excellent. There are no sharp corners, lugs, buttons or crowns to catch on clothes or whatever. It's sleek -- even aeordynamic.
2. It weighs a mere 1.6 ozs -- you don't know you have it on!
3. It is SOLAR, which means a photoelectric cell will keep the battery charged in the ambient room or daylight. You'll likely NEVER have to change the rechargeable battery. The graphic battery icon lets you know when you need to give it some light.
3. It came FULLY CHARGED. I touched one of the buttons and it sprang to life -- and the battery level indicator showed that it was fully charged.
4. It is EASY to set. I set all the modes in about 1 minute. The setting functions are similar to the earlier model Ironman series -- intuitive and direct.
5. The price is very reasonable -- about $50.
6. It is water resistant to 100 meters [assuming you don't use the buttons under water]. Although not a "professional diver" per se, you can shower, swim, and snorkel with it.
7. The flexible, synthetic strap is long enough for any wrist and could be worn over most coats or wetsuits. The buckle is a substantial, satin-finished alloy (probably aluminum) with a large tang. It should last many years. The strap loop on the band has a lug on the underside which engages with the slots in the strap to keep the loop in a fixed location -- which keeps the excess strap from flapping about [a really clever touch].
8. The bezel is stainless steel with a satin finish on the face surface and polished edges. There are 4 recessed screws that appear to hold the bezel to the watch body -- a nice "techie" touch. The ONLY negative aspect of the design is the highly-polished INNER edges of the bezel, which produces distracting glare. The inner bezel return should have a non-reflective, satin finish.
9. The DISPLAY is excellent. I own one other (3-yr old) Ironman with the "Flix" feature. This display is nearly as good as the Flix -- which doesn't come with solar technology and finished off its battery in about 3 years. I cannot tell if the mineral crystal lens has any anti-reflective coating on the inner surface.
10. The "Indiglo" feature is excellent and (with 1 push) provides several seconds of total illumination when you're in the dark. The contrast between the black digital display and the light dial face is good (but not exceptional) and permits the data to be read even in relatively poor lighting conditions.
11. The watch has a programmed PERPETUAL CALENDAR that displays the Day, Month and Date. The time (hrs-min-sec) is displayed in 12 or 24 hour military formats. You won't have to ever adjust for leap years or short months.
12. This model has the 50-lap feature, which I haven't experimented with and won't use.

HERE IS THE FLAW: The specifications on AMAZON.COM for this watch indicate that it has a "mineral" crystal lens. IT DOES NOT! It is soft plastic and scratches EASILY!

It's a GREAT VALUE and I highly recommend this model -- if you will not be abusing this watch and subjecting it to activities that will scratch the lens.

Louis

Bought this watch as replacement for a regular 30-lap Ironman that cost me next to nothing and lasted years, mostly attracted by the ecologically-correct solar battery. Watch froze suddenly one night about 1 month after I started using it when I pressed the Indiglo button, then went dead for about 18 hours before coming back to life. Indiglo light is gone, though. Battery must've been fully charged, as I'd spent the previous day at the beach under continuous sunlight. Timex promised to replace it, but as I browsed through their website I noticed several poor reviews for this model, mostly from people who'd experienced similar problems with freezing. This leads me to believe that there may be an issue with the battery. Overall an unreliable watch and my replacement will not be solar, unfortunately. And it's only going to be a Timex because their customer service was responsive. "Keeps on ticking"?

When my Timex Ironman's battery needed replacement, a co-worker showed me his Casio solar G-Shock wristwatch that he had used for sports activities for about 5 years without any problem -- he bought it to avoid having to change batteries and recommended that I switch to a solar watch. However, the Casio G-Shock wristwatches were too big and bulky for me and the Casio solar models were priced more than I was willing to pay. This Timex Ironman solar model seemed to be sized and priced about what I wanted. However, the comments included several negative ones, so I added the watch to my cart but kept looking for other models. Then I noticed that the price had dropped BELOW $30 and I mentioned this to my wife, who said, "Try it -- it is cheap enough." So I ordered it. When the watch came in December 2009, my wife liked its looks and thought that it was "dressy looking" for a sports watch. Because one reviewer reported that his watch lasted only about a month, I have been regularly using the wristwatch for a month to see whether something stopped working. I have been using the chrono stopwatch, the alarms, and the Indiglo light. So far, everything is still working.

My watch loses a little over 3 seconds per week and is not as accurate as some of the regular battery watches I have. The alarm is not as loud as the alarm on my old Casio F-105 wristwatch (which gains 4 seconds per week and is the most inaccurate digital watch I own, but it was much cheaper and has lasted through several battery and watchband changes). The 3 alarms are useful, including the options to set the alarms for weekends, for weekdays, or for daily activations. The little protrusion at the end of the watchband that "anchors" the retaining loop to the end of the strap so far has been useful and not bothersome (I figured that I could cut it off if I got tired of it). There is a question about how to change the watchband if it breaks, since it does seem to require a band that is specifically designed for this watch, but I figured that I would cross that bridge when I came to it, if the watch lasts that long.

Anyway, so far, so good. I like the watch and its size and price. The crystal does not show any scratches, yet, and the shiny interior rim of the bezel has not been bothersome to me. And I am very pleased that my watch is still working.

UPDATE April 24, 2010: One reviewer complained that the watch lasted about four months before breaking down, so I was waiting for that amount of time to pass to see if the watch did give problems. After the first month of full-time, day-and-night use, I started using the watch in rotation with my other wristwatches. I used the solar-powered watch only on certain days when I went out and wore my old Casio F-105 around the house. The Timex solar-powered watch was left in a relatively dark area for two to three days at a time before being worn out in lighted areas. So far, everything still works!

I did notice one light scratch on the crystal (but my older watches clearly look pretty used in comparison to this one, so it still looks pretty good). In addition, I did notice that, when setting the seconds, the minute shown does not advance to the next minute when the seconds are between 30 to 60 seconds and the seconds are reset to zero -- the minutes on my older Casios and older Timex Atlantis 100 do advance to the next minute. Consequently, with this Timex, after setting the seconds, the minutes have to be adjusted (I reset my wristwatches weekly to the Universal Coordinated Time shortwave broadcast -- if you reset the watch less frequently, then the additional adjustment step for the minutes would be less of a nuisance). Furthermore, if the time settings in the other time zones are to be kept current, the minutes have to be adjusted in the other two time zone settings (T2 and T3) -- the minutes are not automatically conformed. Of course, if you do not use the other time zones regularly, you do not have to keep the minutes current until you do travel, but for a watch that is listed at about $80 at some websites (but not, of course, Amazon.com), I would think that the time-setting process would be better. Other than that adjustment irritant, I still like the wristwatch.

UPDATE June 25, 2010: During the early morning hours of June 21, 2010, I pushed the Indiglo Night-Light button and the light did NOT go on. The watch's instructions say that, if the battery is low, the beeps and the night-light are disabled. I left the watch on a window sill on that day to give it enough light to remove any doubt that the battery was charged. The rest of the watch continues to work, including the alarms. When I press the night-light button for four seconds, the watch beeps and the "NIGHT-MODE" moon icon appears, so the night-light button does not appear to be disconnected. The "NIGHT-MODE" feature is supposed to allow the Indiglo Night-Light to be turned on when any of the other buttons are pushed, not only the night-light button. It is convenient to have the night-light turn on at night when you push other buttons to change modes or set alarms, without having to keep pushing the night-light only button every time. However, the convenience of having an Indiglo Night-Light with a "NIGHT-MODE" option on a solar watch that does not have to have a battery changed periodically is diminished significantly when the night-light does NOT turn on at all after less than six months of use. Since everything other than the night-light is still working at this time, I am now waiting to see what else, if anything, fails before the one-year warranty period expires.

Regarding the battery, the Amazon product description said, "The watch's most unique feature is its rechargeable energy source that uses natural and artificial light, so no batteries are required." However, the watch's printed instructions say, "Timex strongly recommends that a retailer or jeweler replace battery" and the back of the watch has a notation, "ML2016 BATTERY."

UPDATE Nov. 2, 2010: The Indiglo Night Light did NOT work after June 21, 2010. Although I waited to see if anything else stopped working, nothing else did -- everything else worked. Now I had a decision to make -- the one-year warranty period was going to expire in December, so should I return the watch for warranty repair for only the Indiglo Night Light? Other reviewers had reported that the entire watch ceased to function, so I was fortunate because everything on my watch except the Indiglo Night Light still worked. Furthermore, if I returned the watch and got another one back, the replacement watch may be worse -- one reviewer reported that the replacement watch only lasted one month. On the other hand, a watch's night light does use up battery power, so the use of the Indiglo Night Light was one of the main considerations when I decided to try a solar-powered watch and the loss of the night light was a significant inconvenience. For my Inova X1 flashlight, I had to return the flashlight twice under the limited lifetime warranty before getting one that is still working and that is a later, brighter model, so I figured that I had to try getting warranty service at least once for my Timex solar-powered watch before giving up and switching to a Casio.

Having to pay $8 for warranty "shipping and handling" is irritating, and adding the cost of mailing the watch back with insurance was even more irritating, so when I read on the Timex warranty return site that there may be a postage-prepaid mailer available, I sent an e-mail message to Timex asking for a mailer to be sent to my home address. I received a reply saying that a mailer was sent and I did receive the mailer. I wrapped the watch in bubble wrap and enclosed it with an explanation of the problem, a copy of the Amazon.com invoice of the purchase, and an $8 check, and dropped the mailer in a mailbox on Oct. 1, 2010 -- the mailer does NOT provide for insurance coverage, but I did not want to pay to send the watch back (the watch cost me $28 in Dec. 2009, and the price went even lower after I bought it). The Timex warranty website says that warranty returns take 2 to 4 weeks. I am still waiting for my watch.

UPDATE Nov. 13, 2010: As a follow-up to my Nov. 4 update, when I reported on the receipt back of my watch (it bore a sticker saying, "CANNOT BE REPAIRED") and the receipt of a T5J721 with it (WHICH UPDATE HAS NOT BEEN POSTED), the watches finally recharged after a couple of days and are now working OK, except for the T5J621's Indiglo Night Light.

I liked the look and functions of the watch, but after about 1 month of wearing the watch, its backlight went dead and the watch started freezing. I sent it to Timex and had to pay $7 for them to ship me a new one. Again, after about a month with the new watch the same problem occurred. I looked at the reviews on the timex site and it is clear that this particular model has a major flaw with its design. I decided to stop throwing money at this garbage watch and go with a Casio G-Shock which I am very pleased with its reliability. Don't bother with this watch (even for its $22 dollar sale price today)

This watch has already proved its mettle while cycling and swimming. The functions are diverse and the lettering is clear. No problem with cycling (and taking a spill) in rough terrain. Heartily recommended.

I bought this watch because I wanted the functionality of an Ironman with a nice look and feel that I can wear on a daily basis. This has met all of my expectations so far and I like the fact that it is solar and I won't have to deal with batteries. I think it looks better than the picture and is extremely lightweight and comfortable. No complaints here.

I needed a cheap watch to use when I travel. If I lose it, it's not a big deal. This watch was on sale and I liked the solar feature. I've owned the watch a month and I am happy with it so far. I have not had the freeze up others have described. I like that the watch will go into sleep mode to conserve the battery. I have found the little nub on the underside of the band loop to be a simple and clever design feature that really works well. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

Update 7/2011

I've had this for a few months now and problems have started to crop up. First the light no longer works. I don't use it much, if at all, so not a major loss. The other problem is with the watch spontaneously resetting itself. I have multiple watches so I don't wear this all the time. So I thought the problem was that the battery was not getting charged. So I made the effort to wear the watch on sunny days when I knew it would get plenty of light. That didn't solve the problem. The watch still reset's itself every so often. It's too bad as the main reason I bought the watch was because of the solar function.

This watch is just what I wanted, sturdy, holds a charge, 3 alarm. So far it's been working no problem and i've had it for about 2 weeks. Solid screen, indiglo works just fine, and it's actually not that big. I've noticed people have been complaining about their watches randomly turning off. it hasn't happened to me, but in the manual, it says that if the watch doesn't receive a charge for over 1 month, then the display will turn off in order to conserve battery life. So far, theres no cons about this watch!

This is a very excellent work watch for me. It is tough and it is solar so I do not need to purchase batteries. I work hard, and since it is water resistant, I do not have to worry about water or sweat.

This watch is easy to use. The watch face is the perfect size for some of us leaner types with smaller sized wrists. It has a good lap memory (50 laps) and easy to read split times. I really like this watch