Salter396 SVXR Magnetic Kitchen Timer - Digital Electronic Cooking Clock, Countdown & Stopwatch (99 Min 59 Sec), Large Display, Beep Alarm, Back Stand For Cooking, Start/Stop Button, 2 Year Guarantee

Good medium- small size and it is magnetic making it easier to attach to your kitchen fridge to assist you when cooking. Set up is simple and straight forward and is easy to use even to those who have never used a timer before. Alarm ring is loud enough for you to hear even when you are not in the kitchen, making it ideal to have for people who are hard of hearing. Battery life last for a long time and buttons and digital numbers are large and clear enough for use to see and read and appearance is great as well.

Brilliant! Better than expected. No gimmicky, complicated clock, duel settings, modes etc. Just a well made timer. The buttons work perfectly, unlike all the cheaper ones I've ever had, where if you press 'start', they often sort of double press onto 'stop'. The switch on the side sets the volume to 3 levels, which is REALLY useful! The lowest setting is bit more quiet than my old timer. I have just compared them. The pattern of the alarm is 3 beeps, then the 4th beat is missing - repeated. The set of 4 beats lasts 1 second, which is a third slower than my old, cheap, tacky white one, which had the same beep pattern. The pitch of this is a bit higher and is not annoying. Its magnets stick very tightly to a fridge or radiator. It is about an inch thick, and feels strong, heavy and nice. Didn't know that 'Salter' is a 260 year old British company, although this is made in China.

It does the basics well - there's a stopwatch (up to 19hrs 59m), and there's a countdown timer. Not much other than that. There are a few questionable design choices though.1. It's incredibly loud, even on the lowest setting. It's virtually at the level of a fire alarm. The louder options must be deafening.2. I do wonder why it needs to be so thick.3. Be very wary if you're a bit forgetful and you use the stopwatch function - there have been times when I unknowingly left the stopwatch running, I go out to work or shopping the following day, and when I come home, I can hear the damn thing beeping away from outside the door (sorry to my neighbours!). Once it reaches that 19hr59m stopwatch limit, evidently it does DOES NOT stop beeping till you turn it off, which I really think is unnecessary.So as long as you're mindful, I suppose it does its job.

On its loudest setting, this is LOUD. However, you can easily change the volume, and on medium it’s loud enough to hear in another room without being at risk of waking the dead.The controls are simple, and the buttons are large. The display is also large. It takes common AA batteries, not coin cells.Downsides: not cheap, quite a big box, one of the buttons is a bit wobbly (but still works perfectly).I’d recommend this for everyone, but I *strongly* recommend it for elderly people, those with poor hearing, or those with poor eyesight.

I know this item wasn't particulary expensive, but I chose it as it is a well-known brand over other generic chinese 'no name' brands. I think this was a mistake, it is clearly very cheaply made, the magnets on the back, two became loose and completely detached within the first day of use. The display is always on which I suspect will affect battery life, unsure why this doesn't have at least a on-off button or a timer switch to turn off after a x-amount of inactivity — poorly designed. On the positive, the display is clear and the alarm is very loud, although again a shame the alarm volume can't be adjusted.

Update 8th August: We noticed quite quickly that the alarms are a bit temperamental and they don't always go off. Also the button to turn on gets jammed, so you can think you have switched it on to then release it didn't work. We have altogether bought 3 of these, as use them for different purpose, but without the longevity we hoped for, we have had to adjust our rating to reflect the issues we are seeing in them now.Purchased two and wife isn't disappointed. They are exceptionally easy to use and very well made. Be aware, the alarm is very loud. Made us jump first time it went off, so turned down to lowest setting, which is still loud. Sounds a little like a fire alarm. Makes you get up quick to turn it off and it can be heard easily left on the fridge, when your in another room, with door closed. Recommend if you want a simple designed alarm which is easy to use and week built and sturdy.

Great and good value for the money.

Very handy, my mum uses it a lot for allsortst of things, as she is not much into technology like smartphones, this is a good alternative fosettingng alarms