Even in the days of smartphones and smartwatches this timer has a place and that place is EVERYWHERE!

We've had probably 10 of these timers and we use them all around the house and at work! We keep 2 in the kitchen, one by the BBQ, one in the garage, and my wife has one in her elementary school classroom! We've used them as homework timers and as Pomadoro timers.

The handy neck lanyard allows you to move onto other tasks while that roast or cake is in the oven. Since the timer is with you you'll never be to far away to hear the reminder!

I will say this....the magnets could be better as we've had a few fall off the oven door and the plastic lens covering the readout has come off. The batter cover can also come off if you drop it, so be careful with that. But, even "broken" these timers still work like a charm!

That said we LOVE these timers!!!

These things are SUPER EASY to use, the chirp is loud enough, but not overly annoying. Plus, if you are the kind of person who ignores the beep for a while and then can't remember how long, you can use the count down / count up setting. That's a winning feature!!

If you're looking for an easy to use, portable, workhorse of a timer the Polder 898-9x is the BEST THERE IS!

Here's a tip for you regarding the need for a cover; until the manufacturer creates a cover so as not to press buttons while in your pocket, etc., you may find you have better luck if you set your timer, (or count up) and after that, press the "clock" button so that the time is displayed. Sure you'll likely press buttons accidently, but chances are it won't mess up your timer/counter, as you would have to "accidently" press the timer or counter button first, and then another.... It's not 100% foolproof, but it works for me. My husband loves this, since he's always busy and has a short attention span while grilling, always running in and out of the house, answers the phone, prepares stuff in the kitchen while food is grilling, you get the idea. This little timer keeps him a bit more focused on his grilling, and charred food has decreased dramatically :o) I also use it during the winter season when loading the woodstove, helping me not to forget to close the damper somewhat and engage the combuster, otherwise, the entire charge of wood is likely to burn wastefully away. We have a metal door (to the outside world) and sticking the timer to this door rather than in the kitchen becomes very convenient.....Great for short or long vacations; if you don't have a travel alarm, and don't need to sleep for longer than 9hours and 99 minutes, works fine, Maybe not so good for those of you who rely on a snooze button. Also great to set to remember opening times of museums, amusement parks, when the next bus/boat/train is going to leave, no need to remember to keep looking at your watch....the timer will let you know, just remember to push the clock button afer you've set your timer or counter. One drawback to this little trick; you need to actually press the timer button, then the stop/start button for the timer to stop beeping. The timer itself is good quality, easy to figure out and use, and the battery lasts for a couple of years so far......

Surpisingly garbage product. Display difficult to read. Battery cover must fit very tightly or no power and the offset screw doesn't do the job. Impossible to hear if it hangs around your neck with the rear speaker against your body. 50-50 chance that it will. Tiny buttons don't act positively. Go for a slightly larger square format which will give you a louder speaker, alarm light @ least an option to hang it speaker facing out. Even one star is a gift. I should have returned it right off.

I was looking for a 'wearable' timer solution when I came across the Polder 898-90 Clock, Timer and Stopwatch. Wow, what a great idea!

The three key features of this unit are Clock, Timer (count down) and Stopwatch (count up). All three are accessed by their individual "rice-sized" buttons on the lower right-hand edge, and set via the shared numerical keypad (small red buttons) on the front of the unit to the right of the digital clock face. Additional buttons are the larger gray "Clear" button, and the yellow "Start/Stop." It couldn't be any easier!

The unit itself measure about 4" x 1" x 3/8". It's small enough to put in your shirt pocket, or hang around your neck, but still large enough to read and set with relative ease. There are a couple of features I really like, one being the timer's ability to "count up" when it goes off, so you always know just how long over the set time you are for those cookies in the oven! The timer also 'remembers' your last setting, so if you use it daily for a regular task (such as timing tea steeping in a cup) you'll only have to set it once and then use the "Start/Stop" button to repeat without resetting.

The Stopwatch feature works as you would expect: select it and then press the "Start/Stop" button to count up (works in "seconds, minutes, hours" only). The clock is a 12-hour clock with AM and PM. There is no 24-hour option.

The 'buzzer' is a pleasant 4-bip sound, rather than a single grating blare. It's easy to hear, especially if the unit is around your neck, without being obnoxious. On the back of the unit is magnet, useful for storing it on your fridge.

The hole is the lower right corner if for the included lanyard, which is basically just a piece of string that you thread and knot. A nicer lanyard can be purchased separately if required. I threaded a metal key ring into mine and purchased a detachable, clip on, lanyard so that I could remove it as needed.

The Polder 898-90 takes a small coin battery, which is included.

Whether I'm in the kitchen, laundry room, garage, or even outside, I'll never again burn another cookie, let a cup of tea go cold, or miss taking medication with the Polder 898-90 Clock, Timer and Stopwatch around my neck. I love it!

I don't recall doing too many of these reviews but I decided to do this review because I may actually help someone decide to use this little beauty. The unit turned out to be nearly perfect for several reason but for one little hiccup and I solved the problem.

I am on a special diet that requires having a little something to eat every three hours to keep my energy up at an even keel. Unfortunately, I would get myself busy and forget when I was supposed to eat next and this little timer worked great. I set the timer for 3 hours and after the alarm went off I would stop it (the alarm is plenty loud enough) and eat and then restart the timer as it resets itself automatically back to the 3rd hour for me to time myself again after the last bite of food. Amazingly easy, just push the start button and I was on my way for the next 3 hours.

At the same time, my timer is counting down the 3 hours, I can count up the amount of time I spend exercising. This tells me how much I have improved the length of time it takes me to walk a certain distance. Again just push the start button after pushing the count up button and viola my time is being counted up.

And lastly, the clock itself helps me stay on track for the amount of time I need to budget for the next project.

All in all a perfect concept for me but for one little hiccup, I wear the unit around my neck and as I am active, the buttons would occasionally get pushed by my clothes and I would lose my count depending on which display was being used. I liked using all three at the same time.

To solve this problem, I used the clear plastic packaging the unit came in and carefully cut around the formed plastic so I had a box like clear plastic cover to place over the unit itself. It's a perfect fit of course to protect the buttons from getting pushed accidently and yet it is flexible enough for me to use when I needed to push the start stop or clear button. I hold the cover on with a nice tight rubber band next to the tiny lip and the clear button. The edges on the back of unit are flush with the plastic so the magnet is still available to be used.

If I need to reset the 3hr timer for some reason the plastic cover can be taken off and put back on.

Using the plastic cover over the unit from the packaging makes this little 3 piece timer a perfect concept for me to hang around my neck.

If the company had made the plastic cover for the unit themselves, I would have given them a 5 star easily. But, since I had to make it myself (no big deal) I gave them a 4 star and hope they read this and make a plastic cover to protect the buttons by simply doing same thing I did in their manufacturing of the unit.

Finally, a small, portable, intelligent timer for someone like me who runs all over the house while the cookies are in the oven, and who can't even hear a normal oven timer in the next room. The push-button controls are intuitive, the beeper attention-grabbing but not obnoxious, and the overall convenience of the item just wonderful. Re-setting the timer for a few extra minutes of cooking is quick and simple. The LCD digits are large for easy reading. The combination of clock with timer with stop-watch is easy to negotiate.

One VERY useful feature, at least for this cook: the beeper goes on forever (well, exactly one minute) until one physically stops it. No more hearing the oven timer alarm and then promptly forgetting it.

One LITTLE nuisance: the magnet is necessarily on one end (the right end, away from the display), so that very quickly the device is hanging by its end rather than horizontally. This results in the display and touch-button array turned perpendicular and a bit harder to read or manipulate. A slightly stronger and/or even more elongated magnet would probably solve that. Is the manufacturer listening?

I bought this for my mother for Christmas, but since I cook far more than she does....

(Ten years later, early in 2011, and Mother is long dead; both timers still hang from my refrigerator and are used at least daily. I've put a new battery in each, but otherwise I've had no problems whatsoever. I add this because I was delighted to find the timer still for sale in a cooking supply catalogue. This is without doubt one of the best tools in my kitchen! Honorable mention to the 40+ year old Oster blender.) --bc

I had an issue with this timer from the very first where you are told to set the clock. I never could get it to register PM. I would set PM, but when finished it went right back to AM. OK not a deal breaker, I don't use the clock on it anyhow. I purchased it for the timer. The timer works, and the alarm is loud enough provided you don't place it under a hoodie or sweater which muffles the sound. My real issue with this is that the buttons are very small. I have small hands, and I can't imagine anyone with large hands would like this. Along with this the buttons are also very sensitive. If I even brush one while setting the timer it registers an unwanted number. This also causes a problem if you touch a button when it is counting down. Luckily there is a fix as it has a lock on it. So I keep it locked. Then unlock it to set and start, then lock it so that I won't accidentally change something as it is counting down. When the timer goes off I have to unlock it in order to turn off the beeper. This is somewhat of an annoyance, but is doable.

Two thumbs up because I can start the count up button and at any point, tell how much time is left til the end of a movie; if you're running a home DVD movie and have to pause it to answer the phone, get another beer, or run to the john, just press the stop/start button and the count up will pause until you return to restart the DVD and resume counting the time remainingby repressing the start/stop button. Another use I have is to determine how much time is left before I can take food after taking medications that advises to take one hour, for example, before eating.

I purchased the black model and give its durability 5*, ease of use 5*, versatility 5*, attractive design 5*, value 6*, and printed instructions a 3* for making assumptions and being too brief about instructions for setting the clock. I would suggest that Polder rewrite item #3 of their instructions: "to set the time, enter a total of six digits in the following sequence: two for the hour, two for the minutes, and two for the seconds. For hours 1-9, enter a leading 0.

I served with an artillery unit in Vietnam and am over 75 years old, so my hearing is not very acute and the continual beeping after the time I set has elapsed (rather than 3 or 4 beeps then silence) is a plus for me, but I understand that it may be annoying to those with better hearing. Unfortunately, incorporating additional features, e.g., adjustable volume would probably require another button and perhaps software change and thus upping the cost. I rather like it as built because if I inadvertently turned the volume off and the time for an event passed, e.g., baked cookies, I would have only myself to blame when the kitchen became filled with smoke setting off the fire alarm and having me spend the rest of the afternoon scraping and cleaning the burnt cookies and baking sheet.

By the way, the product specs listed are in error; the unit is about 4-1/2" long, 1" wide, and 5/8" thick.

For the coming holidays, it would make a great stocking stuffer.

Estoy perdiendo la confianza en una marca que daba por muy buena y fiable. El primero de estos relojes me lo regalo un hijo hace más de ocho años y lo tengo aún funcionando solo lo quise cambiar porque se le rompió la tapa transparente de plástico del reloj y porque la carcasa se ha puesto muy, muy amarilla como le pasa a veces a los productos blancos de plástico. Lo compré con confianza pero como digo, que decepción! No funciona en absoluto. Solo registra el reloj a partir de las doce horas y no funciona ni un solo botón de mando haciéndolo inservible. Lo he devuelto y aunque sin mucha confianza he pedido un re-emplazo. A ver si esta vez hay más suerte! Quiero comentar que en realidad este es el segundo de estos relojes que compro para re-emplazar el original. El primero fue el 8 de junio del 2017 y también está en un cajón roto! Ni con una pila nuevo logro que eche a andar! Otra cosa que noto a diferencia del amarillento, pero funcionando original, es que tanto los botones de mando como los de números están más hundidos que el de hace casi una década que dificulta su funcionamiento. En estos momentos no puedo recomendar este articulo. Si el re-emplazo funciona igual puedo cambiar de opinion.

Leider ist zwischen Lieferung und Inbetriebnahme fast ein Jahr vergangen. Die beiden geliererten Uhren gehen nur im Uhrzeitmodus, lassen sich nicht für andere Anwendungen wie z:B. Timer einstellen. Gibt es eine bessere Lösung, als die beiden gelieferten Timer zu entsorgen?

This is a great little timer with many other functions, alarm, etc. It an hang round your neck so I can move around my home without risking to forget things on my stove. I keep giving it as a gift as all my friends love it, it had disappeared from the market for a while and I am glad it is back. I have had one for years, love it!

Nous aimons cette minuterie. Il possède toutes les fonctionnalités que vous pourriez souhaiter: horloge, minuterie, comptage, rappel de votre dernière durée, etc. Il est petit, léger, peut être monté sur le frigo avec son aimant et peut être porté autour du cou pendant que vous le faites. autres choses. Ce nouveau modèle ajoute une fonction fantastique à un bouton de verrouillage, ce qui vous permet de le glisser dans votre poche sans craindre que les boutons ne soient accidentellement enfoncés et que vous éteigniez l'appareil. Excellent produit, bon rapport qualité / prix, à recommander vivement!

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