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BGonline.org Forums
Clock obligation
Posted By: Henrik Bukkjaer In Response To: Clock obligation (Timothy Chow)
Date: Thursday, 18 April 2013, at 11:09 a.m.
I'd recommend that you go with a clock, which is also suitable for speed chess (blitz chess).
Not all clocks are made in the same quality in regards to plungers, stability, etc.
Read speed chess clock reviews - if a clock is not considered useful for that, you shouldn't pick it for backgammon, since clocks are given a much more thorough work out in backgammon than in regular chess. Much more like a series of speed/blitz chess games.
Thus, clocks like DGT Easy's series (Kramniks choice) is no good. After a while, the plunger mechanism will not work for the abuse backgammon usage puts on the clock. We brought 4 of these clocks for my team some years ago (cheap offer), and 3 of them is now unusable. What happens is, that the plunger will sometimes flip back the switch when hit, so the clock looks like it is in one position, but the switch has been triggered back.
Shitty clock: http://www.wholesalechess.com/chess/dgt_easy_game_timer_plusThat also means, that clocks like Chronos and Garde Digital are very good clocks for BG use. Though some users find the Chronos a bit difficult to adjust - (but it has memories that can be used).
As you can tell, I'm a bit old schoold for my preferred clock choice ;-)
Chronos: http://www.ibknight.com/ourstore/DigitalChronos2.htm
Garde: http://ibknight.com/ourstore/Garde-Digital-Chess-Clock.htmI'd also be OK playing clocks like:
Saitek (think it's called competition pro): http://www.ibknight.com/ourstore/DigitalSaitekTimer3.htm
GameTimer/Excalibur: http://www.chessineducation.com/product-images/gamtmlg.jpg
Also the old Dueller clocks works fine, but I don't think you got your moneys worth for these relatively expensive clocks, with not too large displays and plungers that doesn't really stick out. Clock is fine though, wouldn't mind playing it.
As for DGT clocks in backgammon http://www.dgtprojects.com/site/index.php/products/clocks , my feelings are:
The top line clocks work fine, DGT 2010 and DGT XL.
"Easy" series is a disaster waiting to happen, and I don't like monitoring the clock when I play, to see if it works.
The handy fold-out clock (960-series) works fine, but they don't feel like proper clocks, so I'd prefer to play a "real" clock with plungers instead of the keyboard-like-click-buttons on the 960.
The same goes for all the Phone/Tablet clocks. A lot of them works fine, but I much prefer to have a genuine custom-made game clock instead of an app on a device which is not build for a little abuse. I always have a phone-app-clock with me, as a backup, or if I need a clock for some purpose. I don't mind playing them, I just prefer the real deal.
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Just remember, to get a clock that supports either delay or proper Bronstein. If you prefer to use delay, I recommend you get a clock that shows the delay in a separate display, so you are still able to see both players time left, when the delay is counting and/or the clock is paused.
The Saitek clock can do both delay and Bronstein, and works just fine when used as a Bronstein clock, but has this really annoying feature of only showing one players time left when the delay is counting down, and wen paused. Some don't mind - I think it's stupid. And such a setting is not allowed in chess, according to FIDE rules, by the way.
There are probably a lot of clocks out there I haven't mentioned. The above ones are the ones I've seen most.
Cheers,
HenrikPS:
I miss the old analog clock rules once in a while, and the brown "Tower" clock quietly ticking next to the board - but I know analog clock rules are in very bad standing here on bgonline.org ;-)
I kind of liked the added skill dimension for playing your advantage on the clock. At least as a distraction from "regular" backgammon once in a while - perfect for an occasional game of speed bg...
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