Woods 59377 Digital 7-Day Lamp/Appliance Timer with 2 Outlets, Up to 8 On/Off Settings per day and Battery Back Up
by Woods
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Woods 59377 Digital 7-Day Lamp/Appliance Timer with 2 Outlets, Up to 8 On/Off Settings per day and Battery Back Up
Customer Review: Fully Featured, Easy to Use Appliance Timer
Summary: 4 Stars
I read the reviews in advance, knew I was dealing with sketchy hardware, and bought it anyway. My first was a dud, dead within 24 hours. I returned it for a replacement, but honestly I had already calculated the cost of multiple purchases into my value of the product's features. If I had had to shell out for another (or if I do later), I would have happily. Fortunately it failed quickly so Amazon replaced it gratis (kudos to Amazon for the quick shipping and convenient RMA process). My second has been functioning with a 1500w (safety enhanced) space heater, every morning for a couple hours each morning for a week. I need cold temps to fall asleep, and warm temps to wake up, and this helps me make that happen.
Why 4 stars even though 1 failed? When it works, it does exactly what I need, and few (if any) other products do. I need a high amp, 7 day programmable timer with plenty of flexibility and ease of use. This isn't just 7 day programming (so you can have different programs for each day of the week), it eases odd schedules with the opportunity to set for various other patterns (right now I make use of the MTW pattern to save a little time). I programmed it without needing instructions (meaning the interface is intuitive). Only the "manual" button is confusing. I'd rather pushing it manually turned the device on or off, depending on the state it was then it without affecting future programs. The Woods has several settings you have to cycle through some of which would prevent future programming from activating if you leave it on the wrong one, which for me means unplugging it so I can bring it to eye level and see what setting it's on. I don't use this button at all because of that, but I don't really need it either. I also wish the second outlet could be timed independently, but I can find uses for this as well.
If there were real competition, I'd dock Woods for the inconsistent build quality. But other than (maybe, didn't look too closely) a Brinks timer at wally world that I didn't find until after this one, nothing else even met my minimum standards. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. If you do buy it in spite of failures as I have, think of it as costing twice as much in case you need to replace it. If you aren't willing to risk that, beware.
UPDATE 12/15/10: I've been using it for 4 months daily and my second one still works like a charm. Only ongoing complaint is the unnecessary complexity of the "manual" button.
Customer Review: Heavy Duty Timer with Lots of Features
Summary: 4 Stars
This timer is feature packed heavy duty timer at a reasonable price.
The instructions are very vague--luckily I read the reviews and figured out how to get the timer into auto mode. The unit has to be plugged into the wall for a several minutes to charge battery before program.
There are more settings than I can use. 8 per day or 56 per week. The setting choices are Daily, M T W T F S S (everyday), M T W T F, S S, M W F, or T T S(at).
There are 2 grounded (or Nema 15R) outlets, one on each side (not 3 as some claim). The timer switch contacts are rated 15A or 1875 Watt tungsten/incandescent/lighting or Resistive/Appliance. This is the total load on both outlets--most other timers are rated much lower even with a grounded outlet.
As for using an extension cord, I am using this unit with an extension cord. It is not recommended because too many people buy the cheapest cord they can which can cause a fire. If you need to plug the unit into an extension cord, then this is the way to calculate the rating of the cord. This unit's contacts are rated at 15 Amp @ 125 Volts AC which equals 1875 Watts. Multiply 1875 Watts by 1.25 which equals 2344 Watts divided by 125 Volts is 18.75 Amps. So you will need a extra heavy duty grounded appliance cord rated for at least 18.75 Amps and 2344 Watts AC. These are usually expensive because they are at least 10 AWG or 8 AWG conductor cords depending on the length (longer the cord bigger the conductor wire has to be to have the same rating--it has to do with physics and resistance of the wire). Smaller the AWG number the bigger the conductor wire a 6 AWG is bigger than 8 AWG which is bigger than 10 AWG. Be careful some extension cords from China and other countries have had "wrong ratings" on the label or card. So if there is a expensive cord with the rating needed and a "light weight" cord with the "same rating" but much cheaper--buy the expensive one!! Its not worth burning down your house or apartment! Personally, if I needed an extension cord, it would be a maximum of 5 feet long and rated for at least 20 Amps. Use the above calculation and recommendation at your own risk. I know how to buy the correct extension cord. Ask lots of questions. If the guy at the store says, "No way dude, you just need a 15 Amp rated cord"...don't walk RUN AWAY!!
Customer Review: Works Fantastic, LCD Should Be Larger
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great timer with many excellent features. For one it has 8 programmable operations and can be used as a security timer for lighting, but the deal breaker was that it has a rechargeable battery backup in case of power outage. Where I live this is valuable as we tend to loose power fairly often. I was impressed with all the functions this timer offers for the price and recommend it as one of the better products on the market of it's type and cost.
One hitch in setting it up was size of the readout, but reading glasses helped and so was not a major issue ultimately. Worst problem was with setting the manual/automatic feature, but fortunately Aaron702's review saved the day where he states, and I quote "One thing to note about the Manual button: It cycles through 4 modes (manual on and off and automatic on and off), A single press won't necessarily toggle it to override its current setting if you are trying to get something turned on of off. The modes make sense and are shown on the display, but it wasn't what we initially expected from a manual override button." I completely agree with this statement as this feature is not exactly intuitive and nearly caused me to return the product as defective when it wasn't.
The instruction manual is not the greatest, it is a sheet of paper with writing on two sides. When setting time I thought it might have been wiser to mention setting daylight savings there rather than later on where I least expected to find that information so I would not have needed to go back and set it afterward. Also they call this setting 'summer winter' which seemed odd as well. It does not hurt to read the entire instructions through at least once before trying to set the device for this reason.
Customer Review: Very high quality timer
Summary: 4 Stars
Considering the cost of this timer, I was quite surprised by its quality. It is very heavy and solid feeling. I would have given it 5 stars if it had the ability to set the countdown time in seconds also. I realize most people would not care about this at all, so you may consider it a 5 star product. But for me, the sole reason I bought it was for the countdown feature, to control my electric teakettle, which sometimes does not shut off automatically. I recently had to purchase a new teakettle because the original one did not shut off, boiled itself dry, and was ruined. So I decided to connect it to a timer so I wouldn't have to worry about it if I got distracted and forgot about the teakettle. As it turns out, the kettle needs to be on for 3 minutes 15 seconds to boil the water. I just set it to 4 minutes. If I forget about it, the most it will boil is 45 seconds which won't hurt anything.
Other than that small complaint, it's great! I ESPECIALLY like the fact it has a built in RECHARGEABLE battery. I have another, older, much more expensive timer that I purchased several years ago that I have my espresso machine connected to. It has a battery back-up, but the battery eventually goes dead and then if there is a power outage, it looses the program and I get no coffee that morning. I have always wished that someone would build a timer with rechargeable battery back-up, and here it is!
I've only had it for a month or so. The negative reviews seem to be based on a lack of durability. I can't comment on that other than to repeat it certainly *feels* like a quality piece of equipment. I recommend it highly.
Customer Review: Love the countdown timer
Summary: 4 Stars
I originally bought this to use with an electric heater, and something simpler to use with my rice cooker. That something simpler did not work out because it has no off switch and the timer options are fewer (either half an hour, 3 hr. or 6 hr.). The rice cooker has no on-off switch, so it is a hassle to plug it in and then pull the plug out every time I use it. Worse, I sometimes forget to unplug it and it winds up keeping what little there is in it warm until the next time I use it. The countdown timer allows me to keep the cord plugged in all the time, and it won't get in my way because the outlet is at the side. It also allows me to set the amount of time I want the cooker to stay on, usually about an hour. I just need to push the clock and prog. buttons (the middle two buttons) simultaneously to go into countdown timer mode, then push the hour button (top center button) once to set it to run for an hour, and push the manual button at the bottom to start the timer. I don't need to do anything else until the next time I cook. Wonderful!
I give it less than 5 stars because it does not have an off button, but I can still turn the timer off or pause it by pushing the prog. and clock buttons simultaneously.