Kids & touch-sensors. If the little brats only had clocks with touch-sensors, they'd soon learn NOT to bang on the clock with the pieces, obviously, which would be a good thing. And while I'm in rant mode, I hate those darned Seitek clocks: the buttons are SO noisy!
They should tell the kids to hold the captured piece in a fist with which to press the button. Makes more sense to me.
$200 for a Cronos GX @ amazon.com?? Ooof!! Got mine for free!
We got two clocks for the kids so far. I am very impressed. Almost as sturdy as the Chronos! I have not tried to program them yet--the default 5min. Blitz was fine for what I wanted to do. I do need to learn it though. I will admit the countdown when things are below 1 min. looked a bit annoying and distracting, but the advantage is that it does give you a warning you are running out of time, so I'm still on the fence as to whether it is bad or not...
The Zmart looks like a good clock. If I hadn't managed to snag one of the last Chronos clocks at the regular price a month ago, I would get a Zmart.
The Chronos guy is going to lose his market if he doesn't get his act together soon. From what I can gather he stopped producing clocks last year and has been holding people off with vague promises about restarting soon since.
I am surprised that the Zmart requires 4 C batteries. I thought LEDs were more energy-efficient than LCDs.
In comparison the Chronos runs on 3 AA's which supposedly last for 600 hours.
Perhaps the Zmart only needs two batteries but keeps a spare pair to run off when they first pair run down so no game is ever interrupted.
@ipcress12:
The Zmart website claims 1600 hours from the 4 batteries. It does give the clock a nice substantial feel.
My ZMF-II came today -- black body, green LEDs. My immediate impression is that it's a nice clock. 
It doesn't have the sleek metal elegance of the Chronos. I'm not crazy about the retro-tech LED display. The LEDs don't read well in direct sunlight, but are fine with a bit of shade and otherwise. It's about 10% larger than the Chronos GX.
I'd say the 4 C batteries are there to give it heft more than long life between changes. (Happily, you don't have to disassemble the clock with a phillips screw driver to change the batteries.) I'm sure they could have engineered the clock for 3 AAs but it would have felt more like a toy. My bet is that it will stand up to more abuse than a DGT clock.
The instructions are better and it's a simpler clock to set. It only offers three settings at a time, but how many do you really need? From what I can tell, you can set it to anything the Chronos will do. Plus it has a separate on-off switch, so no more of that thump-thump-thump-thump-thump to turn the thing off.
Bottom-line: the ZMF works, it's easy to operate, it's about half as expensive as a Chronos, and it's easily replaceable. Bingo.
I'd still prefer a Chronos if I had my druthers, but for now I don't. Zmart is going to sell a ton of these.
From a marketing standpoint the ZMF-II is very clever.
First, Zmart is stepping into direct competition as a good-enough alternative to the top-of-the-line Chronos at half the price. They may well scoop up much of the pent-up demand for Chronos clocks, while Chronos / SamTimer is having its near-death experience, whatever the reasons.
Second, it's a great kid's clock, somewhat more expensive than the blue Saitek but a good deal more rugged. The touch-sensitive buttons may not be as much fun to mash down as mechanical buttons but they have got to last longer. I can see school chess programs putting in large orders for the ZMF-II
So with one clock, Zmart is appealing to adults, children and schools. Impressive.
Yes, they are very easy to set. Wholesalechess.com made this video on how to set it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5dOgql4-eE
I have a green/black ZMF-II clock and I am very pleased with it. For me, the metal capacitance sensing studs are the way to go. With push button style clocks, I've seen too much abuse from opponents who would slam a captured piece onto the clock; they must now change their bad behavior.
The ZMF-II has both increment (add before) mode and delay mode (but not both at the same time). It does not have "add after" increment or Bronstein modes, but these aren't commonly required. The clock appears to be fully FIDE compatible except that it does not have a low battery indicator.
The Duel Timer clock also has an option with studs and may be a good alternative. However, I have not had personal experience with it.
A Chronos clock, even with studs, is out of the question; if you read about their repair policy (expensive, and a 4-18 week delay), you'll see why.
i brought this for 60 off amazon and i like it.. its is sturdy people review and complain that it is not made of metal.. well plastic is fine my chess pieces are made of plastic..i dont plan to drop this clock on the floor.. awsome buy..
The Duel Timer clock also has an option with studs and may be a good alternative. However, I have not had personal experience with it.
I love my Duel Timer Champions! I have 2 an older verion w/ round buttons in wallnut and newer square button one, in ebony stained ash wood. The newer one has four memory stores (super sets) the older, only one. They both have 29 factory presets including Go & Scrabble® overtime modes, and gong an hour glass, if your interested in those modes. They do both incriment an delay, but not Bronstien style.
I was a scholastic chess club sponsor for 13 years our small club used Both the blue and silver Saiteks, Excaliburs, an DGT NA's. My DTC's are far easier to use than any of those. And more atractive looking.
Only downsides to the DTC is that there is no indication of who is on move from the back side of the clock, and the price.
But good deals can be found on Ebay for DTC's. I got my older one for only 7 bucks, but it was used. And my newer one for less than $30 + S & H of course. The manufacturer sells them with the eBay name sg4bid.
The new sensor models look very nice.
I went to a chess tournament yesterday and found it interesting that at least a third of the clocks there were ZMF clocks, maybe more. They are certainly growing in popularity.
Did you by chance notice the prefered LED color? Like red,blue or green? Chess tournaments are a nice place to find out what the prefered equipment is. The ones I go to usually have vendors selling chess equipment & books.
Thanks laser.... That is indeed interesting news!!
I am kind of curious as to why that is. I thought the red ones looked kind of cool myself and was considering buying one. I wonder if they are harder to read than the others or something.
Thanks for the feedback.