Product Description

Classic 10-Key Style Timer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8692 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Taylor
• Model: 5820
• Dimensions: 4.75" h x .50" w x 2.25" l,

Features

• Times up to 99 minutes and 59 seconds
• Convenient 1-handed 10-key-style design
• Large 1.2-inch LCD readout; big, easy-input buttons
• Magnet/stand positioning; pause function
• Long-life battery included; 1-year limited warranty

Amazon.com Review
About the size of and similar to the style of a pocket calculator, this kitchen timer is easy for cooks with arthritic or shaky hands to set. Like a calculator, the timer has 10 keys--one for each numeral--that are large enough to easily program in timer settings with one hand. The timer counts up to 99 minutes and 59 seconds so it is equally as useful for timing quick cooking tasks, such as hard-boiling eggs, as it is for timing longer, slow-cooking meals, such as braised meats. The digital display is 1.2 inches high so readouts are large and easy to see. A clear/stop button pauses the countdown midway through and also stops the alarm from beeping once the set time has elapsed. The timer also has a start button to begin countdowns and resume them after pausing. This 10-key timer is magnetized to stick to a refrigerator or stove and also has a stand for mounting on a countertop. It measures 4-1/2 by 2 inches and runs on a single long-life battery (included). Taylor ensures complete accuracy in its readings through a one-year limited warranty. --Cristina Vaamonde

Customer Reviews

Replacement batteries are too expensive
I bought this timer and the Sunbeam 91640 timer in January, 2008. Out of the box, they're both decent little machines. Unfortunately, when the Taylor needed new batteries, it required two button cell G13-A batteries. At my local drug store, they were ~$4 each, which is the price of a new Taylor timer. The Sunbeam, however, uses one AAA battery which is far less expensive and extremely easy to find.

Otherwise, I like the Taylor's big buttons much better than the Sunbeam's. But the Sunbeam's LCD has better contrast and is a much better size than the Taylor's (i.e., the Sunbeam's display is much easier to read the the Taylor's).

As for people having problems trying to enter numbers while any one of these timers is on a refrigerator: PUHLEEZE! Don't be inane! These timers are designed to be held in one hand while punching in the numbers with a finger of the OTHER hand. The magnet is there ONLY to keep the timer conveniently located--such as on a refrigerator. There's no "design flaw."

Here's an easy way to use one of these timers--if you have two working hands and at least one working finger on at least one of those hands, it's really not that hard to do: 1) Remove the timer from the refrigerator; 2) Place the timer in one hand and use a finger from the OTHER hand to depress the appropriate number buttons and then the Start button; 3) Either put the timer back on the refigerator or bring it with you if you wouldn't otherwise be able to hear it when it beeps; 4) When it beeps, pick it up with one hand while depressing the Stop button with a finger from the OTHER hand; 5) If you don't need to use the timer again right away, put it in a conspicuous place where you'll be able to find it again the next time you need it. Say, since these timers have magnets on the back, you could stick them on a refigerator! Wouldn't that be convenient?!!

Appealing design that ultimately disappoints.
As a long-time user of this product, I would rank this timer as sub-par. The layout is intuitive and the larger size is sensible, but there are disappointing shortcomings.

The pluses:
- Readout and keys are easily readable.
- 10 digit timers are quicker to set than those with merely hour/minute buttons.

The minuses:
- Battery life is poor.
- You must use a screwdriver with an extremely small head to remove battery cover.
- Magnets are too small for stability. If you try to operate the timer on a refrigerator, the timer will fall off.
- You must repeatedly press buttons to get them to work. Even if you hold timer with 1 hand and press each button in the center, you will still have problems.

This timer has an appealing form factor, but its flaws are annoying.

It does just what i need
I used to use the timer on my microwave as a kitchen timer. When the timer would go off, if i didn't hear it, eventually i would know it had gone off because the timer would beep every 60 seconds as a reminder. After that microwave died, my new microwave didn't keep beeping. I bought different kitchen timers, but none of them were able to alert me when i was out of the room or if there was noise keeping me from hearing them go off, and this caused problems when i would forget to turn the stove off and things like that. I really need a timer to help me.

This one works for me because although it doesn't repeatedly beep after it goes off, it's quite loud, annoyingly loud and high pitched. It beeps shrilly for a whole minute so usually it prevents me from neglecting something and getting in trouble.

I also like that it has magnets on it so i can put it right where i want it. I have it on the side of the refrigerator and it doesn't take up counter space. The LED numbers are large and pretty easy to read. The key pad is straight forward.

There's a few things i don't like.
One is the shrillness of the alarm. When it goes off while i'm near it, it hurts my ears. But I'm glad it demands attention so forcefully. It's just very annoying, i feel like someone is screaming a me. I like how my old microwave gently but persistently beeped over and over, one time per minute, forever until you noticed it.

I don't like the way it's unstable. It hangs on the side of the fridge by its two magnets on its back. For one thing, the magnets are not strong enough so sometimes it slides down the side of the refrigerator, but not usually. It needs stronger magnets. And maybe related to that problem, most annoying is that when i punch the keypad to enter a number of minutes and then press the start button, it's very wobbly. Pressing on it causes it to tilt and one of its magnets loses contact with the surface it's attached to, and gravity causes it to slide down and it tends to fall off. But i got used to this so that i don't let it fall, i try to be careful as i'm typing the numbers, trying to keep it stable, but it's definitely an inconvenience and an annoyance.

One last thing is that the LED is just gray and black and there isn't a lot of contrast, and it's hard for me to read the numbers easily. I need to really look closely at it. Even though the numbers are large, i have to wear reading glasses to read it and make sure i've put the right time and make sure it's running.

Having said all that, i really like how it's straightforward and logic, you press the numbers of the time you want, and then you press start. To stop the timer or turn off the alarm, you press stop. it only has those two buttons plus the number keys. I like how it's loud and demands attention. I like how the numbers are large but the timer is small and doesn't take much room. I like how it has magnets so i can attach it to the refrigerator right next to where i'm cooking.

I like it so much that i got a second one, both in case the first one wears out, and also to keep it in another room so that if the timer goes off in the kitchen but i'm in the middle of something and can't go immediatedly so that the minute long alarm may stop before i'm ready to go attend to whatever it is, and might forget by then, (i know, it's sad), i can set the timer that i have in the other room with me as a back up, like a snooze alarm. I very rarely use the back up though. The original one really gets the job done.

If i could redesign it, i would just put bigger stronger magnets on it, and in such a positioning that the thing is stable and if you press on it, it doesn't wobble and lose contact with the surface it's sticking to. I would give more contrast to the LED to make it easier to see. That's all. I wouldn't change anything else.

I like the price, it's inexpensive, and i'm glad it's on Amazon Prime, that's always appreciated.