V-Tek 300 Chess Clock Review

Huh?

Well, you obviously do not want a genuine conversation regarding the topic of this thread, the clock that I have reviewed.

If you do not want to talk about this new clock, then kindly do not post in this thread.

I need to mention something I do not like about this new clock, after playing around with it today between patients.

The clock is kind of big.  The Chronos II sits lower and sleeker.  During a chess game, especially blitz, I like the "feel" of the Chronos better. 

There are larger clocks that have been made.  Some of the mechanical clocks were taller and had their buttons sit higher, so a player would need to reach higher to hit the button.  The old Saitek digital clock, the one with the little silver buttons on top, reminds me of this larger size.

This new clock also has a bigger footprint than the Chronos II, taking up more room on the table.

Now, I don't think they can do anything about this or even want to do anything.  And I imagine that a lot of others would not agree with me that this is a problem at all.

This just makes me want to keep my Chronos II and keep a smaller footprint clock as well for times when they would do better with their smaller sizes.

Of course the price is still a bugaboo.  But if it really is a problem in the market, then the producers will be forced to reduce the price if they want to keep it in business.

Thanks Ron/Eyechess. I always appreciate your candor in your many many posts. Was curious about these clocks when discussed by the forum. Glad to see the original fears allayed by good quality. Higher prices usually accompany startups. In this modern age, many neticizens are used to getting "discounts" for supporting preproduction fund raising. Interesting when the process goes mostly old school "on faith" and how the reactions are. The market will usually make the prices for both Chronos and Vtech. Check back this time next year and the '16 holiday sales to see what the market will bear. Maybe Chronos and DGT will step up their game next year depending on other reviews similar to yours. Then we all win?

Great looking clock hands down, very nice. The Chronos under $100 yes it is WSC with their 20% off through tomorrow I believe and free shipping $114.99 - 20% = $0 ship = 91.99 and the GX for $83.99 if my math was right.

Shelby may have a winner here if he follows through with his sending an older working clock into him and getting a $25 discount if there is free shipping. If it sells for 149.99 and he throws another 10 on top for shipping it is going way out of wack compared to like units. The new ZMF I am sure for the holidays will be selling in the range of $75 to $80.

In fact if I am right about the economy you will see deep discounts in all merchandise for the Holidays so keep your powder dry.  Also there might be very early discounts as one retailer will try to beat the others to getting the merchandise off the shelves. 

I think the new V-Tek might sell at a decent pace if it goes for $125 and he has distribution on it to other retailers. Just my thoughts on it. 

I know he said that he asked at chess tournaments about the price it the majority said it was no problem putting up up the $149.99 for a chess clock. I have to remind people when confronted face to face the person giving the opinion will often lie especially if they feel you might be their freind so not to offend you.  I just hope all those people that told Shelby they would buy it for $149.99 step up to the plate and buy it off of him to move the first production batch off the shelves so maybe he can work on producing the 2nd run for a little less cost.  I am thinking Shelby also is hoping that. It need to be released soon to get the Holiday season in. No late than October 1st in my opinion. 

I wanted to be excited about this clock, but I'm not. They took the Chronos, and made it uglier... I'll pass.

agree with frank.. plus they raise the price

I agree with everything you said, Mike.

And Frank, what can I say?  I started a complete thread on how these new clocks are boring.  Ugly is another word for it.

Maybe that square edge at the front of the clock is what makes it ugly.

Alright, I had the weekend to play with this new clock and to play Chess using this clock.  Here are some further observations and thoughts.

1. When playing Blitz, I did a double take a few times to remember that this was not a Chronos.  The look and feel of the clock in use is pretty much identical to that of the Chronos.

2. The programming is what we all have wanted in a digital Chess clock for a good time. 

   a. They have 3 playing modes.  The USCF one has the settings to reflect the USCF rules about the clock not freezing at the end, no flag alarm, and there is a move counter in use during multiple time control games.  Plus, the increment time is not added to the beginning time.  The FIDE mode has its rules enforced.  There is no freeze, flag alarm or move counter.  And the increment time is added to the main time in the beginning.  There is a Custom mode that simply allows the user to set these preferences anyway he chooses. 

   b. They have a lot of preset time controls, from bullet to slow and sudden death plus multiple time control settings.  It is easy to find the time setting you want without the manual.

    c. The saved setting area is cool.  There are 20 slots for Favorites, and the first 5 of those can be protected so those time controls are always in those slots.  The lower numbered ones are pushed down in the list as new ones are saved.  You can also delete any of these time controls from the favorites making it easier to cycle through the saved settings without having to go through a high number of them.

    d. There is also a Recent Games list where the last 20 time controls are there whether you saved them in the Favorites or not.  That's kind of nice.

   e. If you are playing in a tournament and you want to get to that last used time control fast, holding down the center button and pressing either side button brings up that time control, ready to begin without any further button presses.

   f. And when playing Blitz or other Skittle type games, resetting the clock back to the beginning is as simple as pressing the center button and giving the left button 3 quick presses.  In all time controls this makes the possibility of accidently resetting the clock pretty much nil.

3. Interesting enough is the fact that the looks of this clock is identical to the Chronos.  The display, even though larger, has the same, identical background look (greenish) to the Chronos.  As I said earlier, the body is exactly the same, aluminum, and the buttons are identical and exactly the same.  I can't express enough how this is nothing more than a beefed up or glorified Chronos.  This leads me to the next point.

4.  This clock is nothing more than an upgraded Chronos.  And a lot of things that are good in the Chronos remains good in the Chronos as well as this clock.  But, I certainly do not want to sell all my Chronos clocks off to buy more of these new ones.  I know that I was originally looking to do just that and buy at least 2 of these new clocks.  Well one is enough for me.

5. This new clock is big.  It is taller than the Chronos II and has a bigger footprint.  I just bought a Chronos GX (see #7 below) as a small footprint clock replacing all my DGT clocks, including a DGT 3000, and 2 Excaliburs. Yeah, I sold those to pay for the DGT GX, and then some. 

6.  Don't get me wrong, I like this clock a lot for slow, standard tournament play.  And this clock is a good one for the person who wants to own only one clock for all types of OTB play. 

7.  One thing I lrealized from reviewing this clock and comparing it to the Chronos and others is that the Chronos is really a good clock.  Both the Chronos and this V-Tek 300 are better in function and utilitarian style to all the others including DGT 3000 and the ZMF Pro.  Both are still ugly, in my opinion, but they certainly do the job.

8. Yes, this guy is the most expensive coming out of the gate as it is.  I hope sale prices will happen for it.  Comparing this clock at $149 to the Chronos at $115 is a tight one though.  At that price I would say buy the V-Tek 300.  However when the Chronos is on sale for or under $100, it is currently the best buy for a chess clock.  I am putting my money where my mouth is on this opinion as I just bought a Chronos GX in this past weekend's Wholesale Chess 20% off sale, such a deal.

9.  This new clock is only replacing my Chronos II clock that I use for regular, standard tournament Chess.  I am keeping the Chronos II that I use for Blitz and Skittles.  I am also keeping the Chronos II with the touch sensors for the times I am in the mood to use a touch sensor clock.  I don't need one of these new ones with touch sensors at all.  This new clock certainly cannot replace, for me, my smaller footprint clocks.

10. And finally, if I were to somehow lose possession of all my Chess clocks, I would buy a V-Tek 300 for standard tournament play, a Chronos GX as my small footprint clock, and a DGT Easy Plus for Blitz and Skittle play.

Hello everybody, i am a chess player and chess aficionado from Argentina, and here the only clocks that arrive are the DGT's and some Chinese stuff; would be very nice to have the VTEK in Argentina. The $150 usd cost is nothing compared to the prices here, the average price is between $100 and $160 for the DGT´s. I think they would sell fine around here about that price, i know it from first hand as im friend of argentina's best game shop seller in capital city and they are currently handling those prices.

I am not sure if i am too far away to participate in the beta test, but i am certainly sure that if i were living in USA i would love to participate in the beta program. The idea is an interesting evolution in applied technology, and considering the 20 years of the Chronos with the same program, this effort is worth $150 or more.

Kindest regards,

Frank

let the capitalist system decide which clock is better. I think that the clocks must be cheaper and not more expensive.Bhb made no improvements in their digital clocks and i haven´t seen any and the ussr clocks are in the same situation because the products were of a bad quality. If this is a better clock and the Quality/price is good for everybody we will see the in every chess tournament.

I just received this clock as a christmas gift. Is there any way to set a time handicap? I usually play with friends and would like to set a game with 10 minutes and 8 minutes. There doesn't seem to be an option for this and I have to manually set at the beginning of each match.

Also is it possible to have two different user settings with different increments? I have tried to set a 10 minute game with fischer increment and another user setting with 15 minute game with bronstein. It seems like I have all my user settings with either fischer increment or all my user settings with bronstein, but never both.

You can do this under the TD settings.

Contact Shelby at American Chess Equipment, www.amchesseq.com

Eyechess,

Thanks for replying. I understand you can adjust the time under TD settings before the start of a game. What I am trying to figure out is how to save a game starting with 10 minutes and 8 minutes as a favorite.

Very nice review, Eyechess.

One thing that I dislike about the Chronos clocks is that it's very easy to accidentally reset the time. V-Tek does not have this problem.

If V-Tek had a smaller version (with the same size as Chronos GX), I would give a try, even though I think it's overpriced.

I will keep my DGT for a while.

Here is an update from my experiences with the V-Tek 300.

 

I got my first clock back in the Fall.  It was a Beta version that I still had to pay full price.

It took a few months to realize that there was a drain on the batteries.  After about 5 weeks the power was completely gone and I had to replace the batteries.  I returned the clock to be fixed.  They found the problem in the main circuit board, so they gave me a new lower part of the clock.  This repaired clock came back with a serious problem in the cover screws.  They would never completely tighten.  I returned this clock to them a bit miffed, and I let them know I was not happy.  They promised and then sent me a clock with their newest finish, a wood grain effect to the aluminum.  The wood grain effect looks really nice.  The clock looks as if it is made of wood.   And the clock also now works fine.

I did buy a second one of these from Shelby and that one is in the standard black with lettering.  Of course I bought some red buttons from SamTimer and replaced the black ones that came on the clock.  This clock also works fine.

After owning and playing with these clocks for about 8 months, I still agree that they are priced too high.

The Chronos clocks can be purchased for just under $100 for the Chronos II and at or just below $90 for the Chronos GX, when there is a sale.  And I always go for the sale or discount when possible.  And as I own both models I say the Chronos II is worth the $10 more than the GX because of the display.  Understand I still like and use the Chronos GX but for longer and more serious games the Chronos II gives a better experience.

At $149 the V-Tek is just not worth that much more than the Chronos models.  I don't like it for the faster time controls.  I find the clock to be a bit too large and cumbersome for either blitz or games up to and including G/60 with either a delay or increment.  Yes, it is good for the slow time control games and that is what I use it for.  And I will say the v-Tek is nicer than the Chronos II but not $40 - $50 nicer.  I would say the clock is worth about $10 - $20 more than the Chronos II putting the retail list price of the V-Tek at $125 - $135. 

I don't see this clock available that much.  Yes, it's available at The Chess House and from Shelby at American Chess Equipment.  But it is not available at Wholesale Chess, The Chess Store and The House of Staunton.  So they cannot be selling that many of these clocks.  And if they aren't selling that many and they are not available at that many retailers, then sales and discounts are not likely to happen.

So, as it now works for me I use my V-Tek 300 clocks for slower time controls.  I use the black one for boards and sets that are not that rich in finish.  I just received the wood grain version about 2 weeks ago and I have used it for slow time controls where I am using nicer wood equipment, both pieces and board.

I use my Chronos II clocks for blitz and skittles and for some of the slower time control games where I want to clock to have a lower profile, like when using my Dubrovnik II set and BCE wood magnetic board.

I use my Chronos GX clock for the faster time control events at our club and I keep one with my Ultimate Rosewood set and a vinyl roll up board for the nicer skittles and analysis.

If I didn't already own the V-Tek 300 and know what I know about how it works for me, I might buy one, maybe.  The Chronos II will still do the job, albeit a tad less nicer but still do it nonetheless.

I bought this clock. I love this clock. It's easy to use! VERY EASY TO PROGRAM!!!!! It's durable and Eyechess's review, is spot on. This is a good clock. I hope it becomes the new standard by which clocks are measured, if not the defacto standard in clubs!

Eyechess,

I want to purchase a clock that is durable in speed chess play. I am stucked between Chronos II or V-Tek 300. I partially want V-Tek 300 but you said that V-Tek 300 is not good for blitz or speed chess. I want to know your explanations. I will wait for your reply. Thank you.

With the build of the clock and the last east programming the V-Tek has the all the best features of any clock.  I just used one in a G/5, no delay event about a week ago.

The only thing I like about the Chronos II better is that it is sleeker and lower sized in its body while the V-Tek is bulkier and stands taller.

The body material, buttons and display quality are the same between the two.

The V-Tek is a lot easier to set, and has a second line in the display when setting the clock.  Of less importance to me is the LED indicators show different colors for different settings with the V-Tek but it still is a nicety.

The V-Tek is really an improved version of the Chronos.  And if you wanted just one clock to use for all things the V-Tek would do the most the best.

The Chronos II is still a great clock.  It is my personal favorite because it has the high quality look and feel and is sleek in design.

So with either clock you get high quality, higher than all others.

If you want one to do all things best get the V-Tek.  It also has the newest technology.

If you want the high quality and the sleeker design and you do not care so much about those nicer features I mentioned get the Chronos II.

Eyechess,

Thank you so much for your generous reply. I got so much information with what you say. By the way, why did you say that you don't like V-Tek 300 for faster time controls? Why? And which clock to use in 3min or 5min chess game? I want to know. Again, thank you so much!