Customer Reviews

Timex Unisex T54281 Ironman Triathlon Sleek 5/1 Resin Strap Watch

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I've been very familiar with the Timex band as 80% of the watches I've bought in the last decade have been Ironman Timex watches. So the familiar feel of the buttons was a great plus to buying this watch.

The only downgrade from previous versions of the Ironman is the 50 lap "memory". I've had other Ironmans that allow you to save previous runs, swims, bikerides, or whatever else you've been timing. Now you can only save one... with up to 50 laps. When a new time starts, you must delete your old one first.

But my biggest complaint is the band. When I first put the watch on my wrist I fell in love with how it feels. The unique look of the band also fit my wrist like a glove and I thought I had the perfect watch. Unfortunately, it has just suddenly came off twice in the last half year I've owned it. And not from anything too rough. The last time I was just driving. And putting it back on was worst than solving a Rubik's cube. And if you want to replace the band, forget it, findng a replacement has been fruitless thus far. A price to pay for such a unique look.

Recommended? In the end, no, I regret buying this watch. If they can figure out how to keep it held together better this would be a wonderful watch to own. Though 2-3 times more expensive, my favorite watches of late were made by Nike.

I was willing to spend up to $80 on a watch that/had did a few basic things:
1) large display with large easy-to-hit lap button
2) had at least two time-lines independently running, so that I could see a cumulative time and a last-lap time

This watch does it. I looked at other watches for more money and the money was not even a consideration, because this watch covers those perfectly.

I use it for speed work and road races. Its 50 lap is going to cover a person in any race (if you're doing an ultra marathon, they're not going to have mile markers that often anyway!). There are a couple of display formats, but I use the default, which has a cumulative time in the large numbers and, when one hits the lap button at a lap/mile, it freezes everything on the display, showing the cumulative at that last click as well as the last mile's time. It holds this for 10 seconds and then resumes, with the cumulative time on the bottom and the current lap on the top. One could probably switch those around, but I've not tried.

Its 50 lap memory works well.

Its 3 alarms are cool and it also has an interval timer, which I must admit I've not used.

Timex OBVIOUSLY put a lot of thought into the design and functionality of this watch. There are no silly things that were added that are of no use. Clearly they interviewed runners to determine exactly what this watch should have. The night mode is also cool--if one holds down the light button for 4 seconds, the watch enters night mode, and now any button click at all will turn the light on for a short bit. Very useful for night/early morning runs.

This watch has a lot of nice features, and works well. Unfortunately, its band doesn't fare so well. I had this watch for less than a year before giving up on it. In the last 3 months or so of its existence, I had to epoxy parts of the band back together no less than 10 times (in at least 6 different places). With most watches, if the band isn't very good, you can simply replace it. Timex chose a customized band that isn't user-serviceable. If you need any repair work done to the band, you need to send it back to Timex, pay for shipping, pay a $7 handling fee, and wait up to a month to get it back. That's if you kept the receipt and can prove it's under warranty. If not, you'll have to pay $10 for the replacement band.

In addition to the problems with the band, within about six months, two of the buttons lost a good deal of sensitivity (naturally the two most commonly pressed buttons). They still worked, but they had to be pressed very hard, and sometimes needed to be pressed twice for the watch to realize they had been pressed. I never considered this a major issue, as it happened to a lesser degree on previous Ironman Triathlon watches as well, and it didn't seem to be getting any worse.

I've owned many Timex Ironman Triathlon watches over the years, and have always been happy with them, until now. This watch has been a thorough disappointment. It was the most expensive of their watches that I've bought (their less expensive, but more reliable models are no longer available in stores), and it suffered multiple failures within a year. And when I looked into the prospect of getting it repaired/replaced by Timex, I was disappointed to see that Timex won't stand behind their products enough to even pay return shipping on warranty repairs. Many other companies stand behind their products so firmly that they'll even pay shipping BOTH ways. Not Timex, though!

I ended out replacing my watch with another brand watch. It cost less than half as much, and appears to be much more durable, along with being made from nicer, more expensive materials (professional looking fully-metal band with smooth hinges all around). It unfortunately lacks some of the features that this watch offers, but until Timex goes back to standard watchband connections, I do not plan on buying another one of their watches.

I've used a Timex Expedition (B0000D1662) for years, but this is less expensive, more stylish, and more functional - it's as though the prices are backwards.

The IronMan30 has a night-light system that far surpasses the Expedition, with brightly glowing number elements rather than a weakly back-lit face, a more elabore lap/split chronograph, a simpler and more accurate timer, separate day/weekend/weekday alarms, and a recessed face.

That last feature is very important: I've had to replace my Expedition every few years because the face always got scratched, soon after purchase. But the IronMan30 has a recessed face that hasn't been scratched yet!

The IronMan50, by contrast, has what the 30 has plus 20 more laps. If you have more than 30 (even more than 10?) laps to time, you should probably invest in a more expensive watch - one with a heart monitor if not also a compass and/or altimeter, depending where you're doing those laps.

I bought one of these watches shortly after Timex introduced them. I was new to running at the time, and this was my first running watch. I chose this watch because I didn't need tons of bells and whistles, and the low profile of the watch appealed to me.

It worked great for about 10 months, and then one day it just...died. I think it was a winter day; I pressed one of the buttons before starting my run, and the display went blank. A new battery didn't help. It was still under warranty, so I shipped the watch (and a check for "shipping and handling") to Timex for warranty service. They replaced it with a new (or refurbished?) watch. After about 1 year, the exact same thing happened -- cold day, button pressed, dead watch.

Note that even though these watches carry a 1-year warranty, you still have to send Timex a check to get them serviced if they fail. This is spelled out in the very, very fine print of the owner's manual.

I have had a number of Casio watches over the years and they have worked fine with occasional battery and band replacement. Black rubber bands get stiff and crack. I received this Timex watch as a present two years ago. I have replaced the battry once and that is OK, if kind of soon. But the band has now cracked and it looks like the whole watch has to be scrapped. The band is integral to the watch.

Very sad - excellent watch but the band is integrated into the design. It wraps up along the side and help create some of the waterproofing quality. I called Timex about this and they do not make replacement bands. The only way to get it serviced is to send the watch in for warranty repair, which gets you a new watch.

Timex did graciously replace one under warranty, but now my second has had EXACTLY the same problem and I don't have the patience to send the thing in for a few weeks every time this happens. Really truly unfortunate because it is a nice watch.

I've owned 3. All 3 had the same problem, the band is defective on these watches. It will break, you can't fix it, Timex will insist you buy another whole watch and not repair the band...
I played the return game twice and wore the 3rd watch until it too broke.

Lightweight, comfortable, functunal, but defective band design.
That's why they are on sale everywhere.

It's a nice enough watch, but the watchband separated from the watch body in less than six months. This isn't one you can replace it, it's molded into the body. I emailed timex, and I got a "We don't make watchbands, contact ..." when I asked if it was possible to replace the watchband. In other words, an even more disposable version than they normally make. I've worn Timex watches since I was a kid. I think this may be my last one.

I bought this looking for a cheap watch to go running with. Like so many other people I ignored the bad reviews and focused on the good ones. Initially I was very impressed with the watch. It was light, comfortable and had all the features I was looking for. After using it for a couple of months I went to put it on and it was completely dead. I replaced the battery and everything was fine. I then used it almost daily for my summer ocean lifeguard job, and the band came off the watch and I haven't been able to get it back on. I purchased this watch on January 9, 2007 BTW.