I am about go to over-the-board soon - I want to get started on a formal rating this summer, and am looking at the market for chess clocks. I have an analogue clock, but others at my chess club recommend I get a digital one. Sure enough, many local tourneys here use delays and increments....

So, I see that there are a few choices :

Saitek Scholastic - Bright blue. Plastic. Have not seen this one live, but is very budget friendly... Any one here use this ?

Saitek Competition Pro - The grown up version of the Scholastic model. Often used by my clubmates, durable, metal, and is a $15 premium on the above. I find it telling that many of the children in the club use this clock as opposed to the "scholastic" one....

Excalibur Gametimer - I only saw one of these today. Interesting. May not fit in my bag.

Chronos - the other club favourite. Kinda ugly to look at but beautiful to touch - feels very nice and sturdy. Pricey.

DGT Easy - Looks fun, and comes in a variety of colours, but have not seen it live.

DGT960 - Is foldable, but I have not seen it.

DGT XL - I have seen one, but the clubmate who has it does not like the power switch location, and put a piece of tape over it to stop poeple form accidentally turning it off ! Otherwise, looks fine....

DGT 2010 - I have not seen this clock.

So, I'd like to know what the OTB members of chess.com think of these clocks. I have not yet decided on which clock to buy, and I am looking for a good deal. What do you guys use ? And if you use a DGT, DGT960, or Scholastic Blue clock in particular, how does it hold up for you ?

chronos touch is my preferred.

I love my DGT XL (better than my usual opponent's Chronos, although I do see the appeal).  It's super-easy to program and supports just about any game-timing model you can think to throw at it.

The power switch is underneath the unit.  I have a hard time imagining how anyone would turn it off by accident, but maybe some folks are more accident-prone than I.  :)

I've had my Chronos for about 14 years and I swear by it. I'd recommend a Chronos or a DGT of your choice anytime and be sure you will be satisfied (if you're anywhere near a normal otb-er).

My highschool uses the Saitek Scholastics, and they seem to work very well.  The Chronos (Chronoses?) are nice but you can't press the button with a piece. You have to touch it with your finger, which can be a slight annoyance if you forget.

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Do they actually last a while ? Or do people have to keep replacing them ?

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Can I take it, then, that you have not seen anyone else with that issue ? Granted, the gentleman who explained this to me was older, but he also has the only DGT clock in the club... I was under the impression that this was a design flaw...

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 They seem to me to be durable enough, and I haven't noticed any wear on them. Plus, the price is low enough that it would be worth it even if you had to replace it once or twice.

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I read a bunch of reviews before buying (and was impressed that FIDE thinks highly of these clocks), and I've never heard of the accidental easy-off issue before.

In fact, now that I've looked at my clock, I'm calling BS on the whole criticism...

Here's the bottom of the clock.  The switch is ingressed into a small niche as you can see:

 

That niche is deep enough so that, without regard to the rubber pads that stabilize the clock, the switch is less than flush with the top of the niche itself:

See..  You can't see the top of the switch looking 'across' the bottom of the clock.

Also, I just tried rapidly rubbing my thumb back and forth across the niche in the same direction as the switch, but it never affected the position of the switch.  The only way that I can see to turn this clock on or off is to stick a finger into the niche and apply direct pressure to the switch itself.

Again, I can't imagine how this could happen by accident. 

Cheers

If you want to go cheap (not recomended) you can get an Excalibur clock for around 35-40 USD. I'm not planning on getting a DGT or Chronos until my rating gets higher.

I have a DGT 2000, nice clock seems to be pretty tough and i agree i don't see any way to turn it off by accident. I have used it in several OTB tourn. and have no complaints.

oh boys good old fashioned clock work chess clocks, with the flag that falls are well worth having. Difficult for 'Bronstein delay blitz' I admit!

Well i also own one of the Master Quartz clocks that i really love to use. I bought it probably 10 years ago the only reason i bought the other clock is because just about every tourn. is using the time delay these days. The Master Quartz just sits on the bookcase these days.

@ DeepGreene - thanks for the pics ! The model the other gentleman had is slightly different, but the pics show me the current model in great detail. Then again, he had already taped over the switch at that point, so I cannot compare the two buttons, lol. The DGT clocks seem to be very nice, and well designed....

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Aha, I did wonder if the model had maybe changed at some point.

My pleasure.

Here in the Netherlands, DGT clocks are ubiquitous so I can't really compare (and the organizers supply the clock, not the players). But I have heard there are two issues with the Saitek that cause it to fail the FIDE regulations:

- With a time control like 40 moves / 2 hours and 1 hour for the rest, if the time is up before the clock has registered 40 moves, then the clock stops and can't be restarted, even though this can be caused by forgetting to press the clock once. The clock shouldn't do the move counting, that's what score sheets are for.

- You can only see whose move it is from the front of the clock. This should be visible from all sides (and preferably from the whole room), for arbiters and players who aren't behind the board while the opponent is thinking.

For me, that would be two show stoppers. But if someone with a  Saitek can tell me that I'm wrong, I'll remove the criticism.

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If you're just starting out, I'd recommend the scholastic clock.  It is cheap ($30 I believe from wholesale chess)  has time delays and is pretty sturdy.

I for one do not understand the draw of the Chronos clocks, unless you are really into blitz chess.

Does anyone use those Excalibur Game Timer clocks?  I recall a lot of complaints about it once upon a time, but we had one at my old job (I had them all into chess) and I never had any issues.

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I have one and it works fine. The problem is when people slam their pieces into the plungers like animals, they wear out. If GMs don't slam clocks then who the @$%! are they to do it!? That's why I'm hesitant to buy an expensive DGT over a chronos where you are forced to play like normal people. Anyway... The battery compartment is fragile so if you're not paying attention you could break it. Most complaints come from abusive users so don't believe all of that stuff. Other than those things it's a good clock.

I have certainly enjoyed my Chronos Touch Switch Clock, but I almost feel one has to be an engineer to program it! (Still, I do regret the purchase.) If you purchase it, be sure and download examples of different program setings.

For consideration of any clock purchase, I suggest there is no substitute for visiting a chess club and "test driving" different models used by club members.

Hitting a clock's plungers/buttons while the clock is in your hand is one thing, but doing the same during a blitz or slow game in action is not quite the same.