The new Saitek clock has lots of features. It's very slick. It even has illuminated buttons... lighted from the inside. I'm hearing that this clock is a nightmare to set. I also hear it's an improvement over the previous Saitek clocks 1 and 2. It's very techy and advanced, but not for chess players that need something they can understand. Advantages: It's smaller, has toggle buttons, and updated features. However! The default setting is 1 minute hourglass. Also the buttons have a sluggish feel. The Saitek Competition III clock comes close to being good - but it's another questionable chinese product. There are good clocks on the market already. We recommend not jumping for this latest clock. The Chronos chess clock is still the way to go. It's US made, solid, robust, functional, and it performs superbly.
If you own one of these new Saitek 3 Competitions, post your opinion!
I have owned pretty much all the popular digital chess clocks over the years and have played with them all. I presently own 3 Chronos clocks(that I bought here), a Saitek 3 Competition that I got from a friend who bought a few at a tournament and a DGT XL that goes with a DGT board I received from my brother-in-law. I know, I don't need 4 chess clocks. Don't tell my wife I admitted that here :)
The Chronos is indeed the best clock, in my opinion, but it is pricier than others, but not the DGT XL. The only problem is that it is difficult to set at first. I have come to a system where I use the first four presets for all of my chess timing, so it's easy now.
The new Saitek is nicer than the older model(s). It is easier to set than a Chronos at first blush and also has some user defined settings that I now use for everything, pretty much. I don't like that the Saitek and DGT clocks do not show the seconds until the time is under 20 minutes, where the Chronos shows the complete time ticking down.
The buttons on the new Saitek are OK and feel much like the ones on the Diamond Quartz clocks with the analog diaplays and a bit better than the buttons on the Excalibur Game Timer. While I wouldn't use the word sluggish to describe its action I would say I like the feel of both the standard Chornos and Touch Chronos buttons better. The LED lights in the buttons are cool. I use this clock when we go to Barnes & Noble to play skittles. It looks good there and we get more people stopping and asking about the clock than we ever saw with the Chronos or the Excalibur Game Timer clocks. That might be good or bad.
The new Saitek is alright as a cheaper clock but I still use my Chronos for the majority of use especially the longer tournament play and the blitz/skittle stuff. As I mentioned earlier, I only use the Saitek for Skittle play in the Barnes & Noble cafe. Let's face it the Chronos is still the best clock available.
If a person wants only one chess clock and wants it cheap, then I would say the Saitek would be OK. However, I certainly like the looks of the new DGT Easy series coming out.
Posted by: Ron Suarez | April 19, 2006 at 10:42 AM
I bought the Saitek Compeition 3 Chess Clock recently. It is my first electronic clock. I am very happy with it. I admit, I couldn't figure out how to set it without looking at the manual, but once I read the manual, I now think it is quite easy to set.
My only complaint is that when using time delay, when your 5 seconds (or whatever delay you choose) is counting down, you don't see your actual time, only the 5 seconds counting down. Once those 5 seconds are used up, then it goes back to showing your time. So for instance, if you have only 20 seconds left, plus the 5 second delay, and it's your turn, during the delay you can't look over and see how much time you have.
Posted by: Catherine Ryan | April 24, 2007 at 07:26 AM
Excellent site - do keep up the good work.
Posted by: Madeline | October 16, 2007 at 03:59 PM
I exchanged my Saitek Competition Pro Game Clock III for an Excalibur Game Timer II. IMHO, the Saitek was a dismal failure because it would not handle time forfeits properly. It would recognize a time forfeit only when a player was completely out of ALL time; i.e., the last time control had expired. Let me explain.
You can set up a game with these time controls: 40/2, 20/1, G/60. If you're reading this, I assume you know how this works. Let's say we're in the Primary TC (40/2), and player A fails to make his 40 moves within the two hours. He loses on time, right? Not with the Saitek! All that happens is player A's clock screen flashes (no audible alert, no flag indicator on screen, no text to indicate time forfeit, no red flashing LED on player A's button stem). If player A is dishonorable or judt doesn't see that he's exceeded the TC, the Saitek certainly isn't go to tell him. Say player B doesn't notice A's time forfeit, and then player A makes a move and hits his clock button, continuing with the game. Well la-tee-da the flashing stops, and we move on into the next time control, as if nothing ever happened!
The time forfeit notifications/behavior only occur when you are in the final time control and a player fails to meet THAT time control, whether it's Sudden Death or a X moves in Y minutes TC. In that case -- and ONLY that case -- does the losing player's button stem flash red, the (optional) audible alert sound, and his screen freeze with the fallen flag symbol on the screen.
For me this was completely unacceptable. I'm a Programmer/Analyst, and I've worked as a QA Tester, and I've read the manual thoroughly TWICE. I think I knew what I was doing. Perhaps I got a unit with defective programming, I don't know. I just know I thoroughly tested the time forfeits in a variety of ways, and the Saitek completely failed miserably. When I received my Excalibur, I ran it through the same thorough tests, and it passed everthing with flying colors!
Stay away from the Saitek. Go with the Excalibur. It's much easier to set, and has a lot more options which give you a greater degree of control over your clock's behavior (and ultimately your game experience). Oh yeah, also unlike an analog clock, leveling the 'plungers' (buttons) does NOT pause both players' clocks on the Saitek. To pause both clocks you have to hit the PAUSE button. Seems straightforward, right? Here's the explanation sraight from the Saitek's manual:
"To release from PAUSE state, either press PAUSE again, or press one of the Time Control buttons. If the active clock Time Control button is pressed to release from PAUSE, the move ends. If the non-active clock Time Control Button is pressed, then the clock resumes as if PAUSE was pressed."
It was also a pain in the neck trying to figure out how the buttons worked in relation to which player had White and which had Black, and on which side of the board the clock was placed. The Excalibur was so much easier! I've used an analog Master Quartz, and using the Excalibur was just as simple and intuitive as using the Master Quartz, only with all the advantages of a digital clock.
I'm very happy with my Excalibur. It's a lot easier to use than the Saitek, and definitely MUCH easier to configure and change options than the Chronos. My only complaint, and it's a SMALL one is that I wish the 'plungers' (aka TC buttons) were a little bit quieter. But hey they're not any noisier than the old analog (especially BHB) clocks, and we all got used to those, right? Oh yes, and you can get almost THREE Exaliburs for the price of ONE Chronos.
Posted by: David Trestor | November 16, 2007 at 11:46 AM
David, I understand that Saitek purposely designed it without extra alarms when time has run out. It's up to the other player to "claim" the win. If you think of analog clocks with the 12 hour face, the only indication of expired time is the fallen flag. There are no lights, alarms, buzzers... You have to notice this event, and claim the win. Likewise, the Saitek clock gives a real indication of the event, but draws no "extra" attention just as the analog clocks do not. It's part of the game, and the player that has run out of time does not have to claim his own loss. I've had several competition games where both me and my opponent were very low on time, I then ran out of time, and my opponent did shortly thereafter. These games are declared a draw. It's part of chess timing strategy.
Posted by: Raphael | November 16, 2007 at 02:50 PM