Chronos Chess Clocks are Back!!!

Agreed for Chronos touch sensor is the way to go if you want durability, I've seen the push buttons broken. You get used to the touch sensors, the double tapping is a reflex some people have who are used to the buttons, I was also raised on the old garde clocks.

I double tap those touch sensors all the time.  Sometimes I hit the clock with my piece out of habit and it doesn't register as well.

Yes it was weird watching the movie and seeing so many double tapping the sensor, I was asking myself, why?  I am guessing do they work like sensor touch buttoms back in the late 70's &  80's through moisture on the skin?  If your skin is exceptionally dry or has a calus would it work? 

The DGT N/A an OK clock. As you will discover if you use it constantly, the white paddle switch (?) will become VERY loose. I simply did not like that floppyness.

As to Touch Sensors... some love them, some hate them. Count me amoung the latter. If you like a touch sensor, a better buy would have bnen the ZMF II which is a cheap knock off of the Chronos GX Touch Sensor, but cost half as mouch.  These clock have had excellent reviews. Should you need to buy another clock (50/50 chance you will) then do consider getting this clock. 

One thing I would suggest since you are an Old Timer would be to play with someone who owns either a Chronos Touch Sensor, or a ZMF II (which is a touch sensor by default), and see if you like the experience.  If not you might want to consider a different clock such as Excalibur Game Time II which is the "Official clock of the USCF", or any one of the other clocks out there, and most of them are in the same price range as the DGT N/A.  OTOH to crib an old quote from Timex, if you want a clock that can take a lickin' and go on tickin', the Chronos II (or GX if it ever comes back) Push Button is the way to go.

Congrats on your purchase.

Never come across a DGT NA with a "floppy paddle," personally.  Mine still feels like new and I use mine in every tournament and at the chess club I run at a school, and every other one I see at a tournament works the same way.  Maybe there was a slightly inferior run of them somewhere or something, but that doesn't seem to be an actual problem I've ever seen.

I shouldn't say the DGT N/A has everything I wanted as I would like to have seconds show all the time and not just under 20 minutes. Having the delay seconds visable I don't think now that is a big deal as the DGT N/A flashes the delay while in the delay, it is easily visable and who is going to be looking at a countdown of a 5 second delay anyways. 

I have a DGT 2010 and do not have the loose paddle problem either. I've seen Chronos with the push buttons broken but never a loose DGT. I also have a touch sensor chronos.

The NA only flashes an indicator telling you you are in delay time, but not how much you have left, I think it's a big deal especially if you are in severe time pressure. The thing is, since you don't know how much you really have left you are in a way penalized for moving quick as you don't use up your full delay time. Bronstein is better becuase you always see how much you have. Some clocks have the regular delay like the NA but have a separate timer for the delay which is just as good by me as Bronstein, still favor bronstein a bit since you dont have to keep an eye at a separate timer.

Most delays are 5 seconds, not talking increments here but delays. I would think it's not a big deal even in time pressure as you kind of know how much 5 deconds is give ot take 1 second.  We are cutting fine hairs here.  Who is going to watch the claock count down 5 seconds anyways? If you have that bad of time pressure you will be focsed on the board for a fast move and not watching yur 5 seconds count down. 

In time trouble 5 seconds is a lot. Also I may decide my move quickly but want to use as close as possible my max delay to think about the position. Also just becuase 5 is the most common doesn't mean you can't use anything higher. You may be right, but i'd rather have the time visible and not use it then to not have it...

And probably the reason why the DGT does not show it is becuase it's just a software limited version of the 2010 and the 2010 uses Bronstein only. But other digital clocks have a delay count down. The GameTime which is the "official" timer of the uscf has the delay counter. So again, i'd just rather have it and choose to ignore it, and one of the main reasons of prefering the digital clocks is for precision.

I know this is not the thread but does the Garde digital clocks show the countdown for the delay?

I checked the numbers they had in stock a few days ago. WHITE in both Push Button and Touch Sensor they had in abyndance. BLACK was the color they had the least of in both models, and BLUE fell somewhere in between. I'l try to find the numbers later tonight. My guess: They got their 3rd order in before the 2nd order sold out. I suspect 2nd line distributors such as Chess House and The Chess Store will be getting in clocks soon. I also suspect there a a lot of people waiting to see if if they are going to re-introduce the the Chronos GX. The last time they had them in a few months ago they sold out in hours.  I'll reort back soon.

What's the GX model?  Also what do you mean by 2nd line distributors, is WSC the middle guy for Chronos Chess Clocks?

The Chronos models now for sale are called the Chronos II (It is the 2nd generation of their original clock). The Chronos GX is a shorter version of the Chronos II, and very popular for blitz etc. If you want to know more or less what the Chronos GX lookes like go see the ZMFII. The ZMFII is almost a ripoff of the Chronos GX, but it no Chronos GX by a long shot: The Chronos GX has a metal case (the ZMFII has a plastic case); the GX has an LCD  display (the ZMFII has and LED display); the GX has NO ON/OFF switch (set in software) (the ZMFII DOES have an On/Off switch; the GX has 12 user defined modes, (the ZMFII: not sure but it is not 12, and maybe half the funtionality of the GX); the GX costs ~$100 - 130 (the ZMFII ~ $50 - 60; The GX comes in both Push Button and Touch Sensor Models (the ZMFII comes ONLY in a Touch Sensor Model). Most people don't need all the functionality of the GX, but at 1/2 the cost of a GX, as long as you don't mind Touch Sensors, the ZMFII is an excellent buy. If you want a Push Button, well you're out of luck, as the ONLY Push Button model out there is the Chronos GX. The Chronos GX was THE preferred choice of the Scholastic Crowd and still is -- should DCI start releasing the GX model again just watch how fast they disappear -- but when the Chronos drought hit, the ZMFII became a nice secondary choice and an acceptable alternative given that the ZMFII looks almost exactly the same as the Chronos GX, costs about half as much, and has a rather COOL COLORED LED dsplay rather than LCD, and while not built like a tank such as the Chronos GX, tyhey tend to stand up to a lot of heavy real world abuse.  At the current time ZMF is the ONLY company that uses an LED display rather than a LCD display, which seems to the weak link for every chess clock on the market out there today. For most digital chess clocks if the LCD display goes, well you drop it into the Ol' recycle bin and buy a new one, Clocks such as the Chronos, BHB Digital, and the Garide (?) cost a lot of money, are extremely well built, and will last a life time ... UNLESS the LCD display goes and the most lightly culpret will be the LCD display, and a major distroyer of LCD displays are usually HEAT and LIGHT. This is WHY I believe that 2nd and 3rd Generation digital clocks are more likely than not to switch to LED technology... but that is just a guess. 

  To your second question: Wholesale sale Chess *seems* to be the PRIMARY distributor for Chronos Clocks ie they tend to get resupplied FIRST, companies such as The Chess Store, and Chess House seem to be second line distributors ie after Wholesale Chess is supplied these two companies seem to be next to be resupplied. Smaller companies tend to be tiriary line distributors ie after the primary and secondary distributors are supplied, the smaller distributors are supplied.  That is the reason that if there is a shortage of Chronos Clocks, it is best to keep checking Wholesale Chess as they *seem* to the first to always get clocks in. You could buy directly from ChronosDealer.com, but you end up paying a lot more. The BEST prices are usually from WC and TCS because they buy in bulk and can sell at a discounted rate.

Hope this help and answers your questions

Thank you, yes it did.  Very thurough answer. I totally agree that LED will be the next generation display. I hope once they switch to the LED display they also have replacement LED lights which should be simple to replace. 

Thanks again.

It would be unlikely you will have to replace a LED as they are extremely long lived. That said I don't really see a compelling reason to believe clock makers will switch to ZMF like LED displays. The display of the ZMF is a step back IMO.

They way ZMF maybe went about it with the colors etc. maybe a step backwards. But during the last decade LED lighting has made great strides. Remember LED has been around since the 60's, there were just hardly any applications for deacdes.  Tech has a funny way of bein stagnant then all of a sudden accelerate like it did in the 60's to put us on the moon. 

But LCD had been resilient since it has been around. I do remember selling smae battery powered LCD B&W TV's in the 70's. The only draw back was the screen froze when used in very cold temperatures which some did at a football game.  But LCD will probably still be around decades from now.

Same was said with the ink jet printer.  Many people who even ran companies and had Doc degrees in science said the ink jet would be short lived as the ink was expensive and laser would take it over. Well that has been 35 years since I read that argument and ink jet is alive and well. 

So maybe I am wrong since I really have to separate the glass from the lighting.  I might have jumped the gun equating the LCD display with the backlighting which I am sure is well advanced from when it first came out as TV's are.  TV's are LCD displays but LED is what lights it up nowadays in the back.