I've been wishing someone would make a purpose-built pomodoro timer for years. Until now I've been using one of those cube timers you flip on their sides (which have a whole host of problems of their own) - so when I saw this I got it immediately. Unfortunately, it's shockingly poorly thought out as a product. They over-complicated something that should be so simple. - the way of setting the time is extremely finicky and time consuming: you spin the dial fast for minutes and more slowly for seconds. but what always happens is you spin it a little too fast or a little too slow and you overshoot and then have to slowly dial the time back. this blows my mind that they'd overcomplicate something like this because for the use-case of a pomodoro timer you generally just use the same time interval over and over again. setting the interval it should be a one-time thing and they tried to reinvent the wheel. Digital clocks like this with a single dial allow you to set minutes and seconds individually just fine. It shouldn't be hard, but they made it hard. - IT DOESN"T SWITCH TO THE SECOND TIMER once you finish the first one. WHAT?! WHY!? The mind boggles at this design decision. To be clear, here's a breakdown. You finish your 25 minute interval on the top timer (T1). The timer blinks and beeps. You click the main dial to stop it T1. Then it just sits there. You have to _next_ click (T2) on the side to drop down to the next timer on the bottom. This button is tiny and difficult to find. But once you finish your 5 minute interval on T2: _guess what_... you have to do the whole song and dance all over again to get it reset back to T1. This could have been so simple but they made it so complicated. For something that you interact with dozens of times per day, they made it four steps each time you transition timers when it could have been one. All they needed to do is make it so that when the 25 minute timer is up on T1, you hit the button once and it immediately switches to T2 and starts. Then when T2 is over you hit it to stop. You can then hit it again to reset whenever you want. You can always hit it in the middle of a timer to pause. That's it. Easy. - the main button is on the side, which is another super irritating feature. This may not, at first, seem like such a big deal but it means if you have a smooth desk surface you need to sortof grip the whole thing with your thumb and push the side dial button with your pinky. Or use two hands (?!?). If the dial were on the top this would have been so much easier. It's a small detail but it makes it irritating to work with. - I'm trying to find something nice to say: I'll say that the ability to set the contrast low is nice. - there's a stopwatch feature built in. WHY. can't this just be a pomodoro timer. the reason this is a bit problem is that it adds a huge problem for use as a pomodor timer. Let's say you finish a task 2 minutes early. T1 (the top timer) will read `2:00` and be counting down. So you hit the side button to stop the countdown. Then if you hit reset.... well think about it. What do you think would happen? Would it reset the timer back to `25:00` where it started? That would make sense as a pomodoro timer, wouldn't it. But no. It doesn't work that way. Instead it clears the countdown timer entirely, switches into stopwatch mode, and sets the stopwatch time to `00:00`. WHAT!!! WHY?? It makes no sense. Overall the build quality is nice and everything. This could have been such an incredible product, but it was clearly made by people that don't do the pomodoro technique and have no idea what it's like. It's basically a dual kitchen timer except it's much harder to use than a kitchen timer.
Hi, I agree with you & I've found a product called 'Gymboss interval timer' - you might want to check it out if you haven't come across it already. It works well for pomodoro & only about £20 Amazon. Vibrate only if required & fully customisable intervals, you only need to press 'start' at the beginning of the program too 👍
I've been wishing someone would make a purpose-built pomodoro timer for years. Until now I've been using one of those cube timers you flip on their sides (which have a whole host of problems of their own) - so when I saw this I got it immediately. Unfortunately, it's shockingly poorly thought out as a product. They over-complicated something that should be so simple.
- the way of setting the time is extremely finicky and time consuming: you spin the dial fast for minutes and more slowly for seconds. but what always happens is you spin it a little too fast or a little too slow and you overshoot and then have to slowly dial the time back. this blows my mind that they'd overcomplicate something like this because for the use-case of a pomodoro timer you generally just use the same time interval over and over again. setting the interval it should be a one-time thing and they tried to reinvent the wheel. Digital clocks like this with a single dial allow you to set minutes and seconds individually just fine. It shouldn't be hard, but they made it hard.
- IT DOESN"T SWITCH TO THE SECOND TIMER once you finish the first one. WHAT?! WHY!? The mind boggles at this design decision. To be clear, here's a breakdown. You finish your 25 minute interval on the top timer (T1). The timer blinks and beeps. You click the main dial to stop it T1. Then it just sits there. You have to _next_ click (T2) on the side to drop down to the next timer on the bottom. This button is tiny and difficult to find. But once you finish your 5 minute interval on T2: _guess what_... you have to do the whole song and dance all over again to get it reset back to T1. This could have been so simple but they made it so complicated. For something that you interact with dozens of times per day, they made it four steps each time you transition timers when it could have been one. All they needed to do is make it so that when the 25 minute timer is up on T1, you hit the button once and it immediately switches to T2 and starts. Then when T2 is over you hit it to stop. You can then hit it again to reset whenever you want. You can always hit it in the middle of a timer to pause. That's it. Easy.
- the main button is on the side, which is another super irritating feature. This may not, at first, seem like such a big deal but it means if you have a smooth desk surface you need to sortof grip the whole thing with your thumb and push the side dial button with your pinky. Or use two hands (?!?). If the dial were on the top this would have been so much easier. It's a small detail but it makes it irritating to work with.
- I'm trying to find something nice to say: I'll say that the ability to set the contrast low is nice.
- there's a stopwatch feature built in. WHY. can't this just be a pomodoro timer. the reason this is a bit problem is that it adds a huge problem for use as a pomodor timer. Let's say you finish a task 2 minutes early. T1 (the top timer) will read `2:00` and be counting down. So you hit the side button to stop the countdown. Then if you hit reset.... well think about it. What do you think would happen? Would it reset the timer back to `25:00` where it started? That would make sense as a pomodoro timer, wouldn't it. But no. It doesn't work that way. Instead it clears the countdown timer entirely, switches into stopwatch mode, and sets the stopwatch time to `00:00`. WHAT!!! WHY?? It makes no sense.
Overall the build quality is nice and everything. This could have been such an incredible product, but it was clearly made by people that don't do the pomodoro technique and have no idea what it's like. It's basically a dual kitchen timer except it's much harder to use than a kitchen timer.
They’ve recently sent out mockups of a new and improved update that will fix a lot of these issues. There was a survey as well for individual input.
Hi, I agree with you & I've found a product called 'Gymboss interval timer' - you might want to check it out if you haven't come across it already. It works well for pomodoro & only about £20 Amazon. Vibrate only if required & fully customisable intervals, you only need to press 'start' at the beginning of the program too 👍
@@toolondaboardswell need to wait then until the improved one drops.. hopefully soon 😅
Thank you! Getting one 🎉