Chronos GX Programming

Much has been said of the complexities and difficulties of setting time controls in Chronos clocks.

The clock currently known as the Chronos II does still have the same setting or programming format that people have complained about.  There are a lot of different codes prefixes like, CH, AN, AD, GO and so forth making the manual very necessary to set the clock, at least to begin with.  Many years ago I did realize that there are basically 4 presets that are the only ones needed for most play.  However, when using increment, it still is relatively difficult.

I bought a Chronos GX last Labor Day weekend from  Wholesale Chess when they had a big sale.  I sold or gave away about 4 or 5 others making this one my small footprint clock.  I set the time controls and use the clock for primarily G/30 with a delay.

Juat a number of days ago, I had a bit of a windfall and a good price on another Chronos GX from The House of Staunton.  So, I bought it to accompany my smaller, 2.0" boards and the 4 sets that match them size-wise.

That clock arrived yesterday and I went to set it up for G/45, d/5 for this coming Monday evening's game.

Well, I realized that the programming on this GX is a lot different than the Chronos II.  Here are a few salient points:

1. There are a lot less timing options, making is far less confusing.  There is a Blitz category with something like 4 presets. There is a TC category that includes a move counter.  There are a number of presets also in this with different time sections or controls.  And there is a TN category that stands for Tournament.  This setting does not have the move counter but still has the options of different time sections.

2. The Chronos II has different categories for each timing option, delay, increment, Bronstein (delay after the button is pushed instead of at the beginning), and no delay or increment.  With the different timing sections this makes for a lot of confusing preset options.

3. Now, the Chronos GX as the delay, increment, and Bronstein option available to be set, or not set, in each preset option.  This greatly reduces the need for all those timing options.  This is why the GX now has 14 timing options instead of the 74 (yes, that really is 74) timing options of the Chronos II.  Of course they eliminated a lot of the weird timing options like Shogi, as well.

4. So, setting the Chronos GX is now a lot more intuitive.  The F, TC and TN settings have different time sections based on the number.  F-1 is Blitz with a single time control.  TN-1 is a single time control for tournament games where you can go into hours of time for the main time.

5. The Chronos GX still has the same user saved presets available as the Chronos II does.  For me, I still only need the first 4, which are accessed by simply pressing the center button without pressing any other buttons.

6. My 4 presets for both the Chronos II and Chronos GX has the first one being single digit (minute) control with delay.  The second is a 2 digit control where we can have from 10 - 99 minutes in the main time.  The third is set with hours and minutes for times above 99 minutes.  All three of the first ones are set with delay.  The fourth slot is where I have the preset for increment.

7. With the Chronos II the number 4 preset is a completely different time option (P-5 or something) than the others.

8. With the GX having its improved setting options, I do have the number 4 slot with increment.  However, if I want to have my blitz time have increment, I can easily change the delay to increment completely wihout using the manual.

So, the Chronos GX is pretty darned close to the perfect Chess clock, in my opinion.

It's a small footprint clock, like the Z-Marts and DGT clocks.

The Chronos II and V-Tek clocks are longer and bigger giving easier access to the buttons while playing.  How much better is that larger size?  Well, that gets into personal opinion.

I know that if someone were to ask me which clock they should buy if they were only going to own one, I would send them to the Chronos GX.  The V-Tek 300  would be the second choice.  The Chronos II would be the third choice.  And the DGT 3000 would be the fourth choice.

The Chronos GX can be had for well under $100, closer to $90, at both Wholesale Chess and The House of Staunton when you hit the sales and discounts just right.  And this is less expensive than either the V-Tek or Chronos II, while being about the same price as the DGT-3000 and ZMart Pro.  And, in my opinion, the GX is a lot more clock than these last two for the same money range.  Of course if you want your clock to be FIDE compliant then the DGT-3000 is the one.