Sunday, April 13, 2008

Timex Solar Shock Ironman 50 Lap

This watch is a Timex Solar Shock Ironman 50 Lap. Since the timex website does such a poor job of listing its features, I will cover them here:

  1. Three separate time/date zones are accessible. These are cycled through by pressing the start/split button right underneath the dial of the watch. Each time zone is settable individually and completely arbitrarily. The helps in accommodating time zones such India or certain regions in Australia. The date also displays correctly such that if it is 18PM in CA, and GMT is programmed, it will show the correct date as well.
  2. The main dial displays day, date, month as well as the time. Both AM (A) and PM (P) are indicated as well so there is no confusion.
  3. The watch features a countdown timer with repeat or stop feature. This makes it easy to get an alarm set at a regular interval since it will keep repeating the countdown.
  4. The watch features a 50 lap chronograph with recall feature. On the last lap, you have to hit start/split button after finishing the lap otherwise you do not get the final lap time.
  5. There are three individually settable alarms. The best feature of the alarms is the ability to set them weekdays only, weekends only, or everyday. This is very cool indeed.
  6. Timex says it is shock resistant to the same standard as the G-shocks (ISO standard). I did not verify this.
  7. It has Indiglo which IMHO is not as good as the EL backlight of my Casio Pathfinders. It does the job however. This watch does not have automatic light activation which is the equivalent of AutoEL (which timex calls FLIX).
  8. The bezel is made out of steel and appears to be very sturdy. The buttons are rubberized plastic. The paint on the START/SPLIT button is already starting to wear off.
  9. The rubber strap is not replaceable by the user. The watch has to go in to Timex to get the strap replaced. The cost is $10.00.
  10. Solar charge function seems to work well. I have never seen it drop past FULL since the first time I charged it.
  11. There is an annoying delay when one changes the mode of the watch. It takes the watch about a second before it accepts a command (such as START timing).
  12. Accuracy: The watch has lost 2 seconds in 22 days.
The verdict: At a price (from a nearby clothing store) of $70, this watch is a good buy. I have two picks with it: the strap should be user replaceable and the annoying delay between modes should be done away with.




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2 comments:

Unknown said...

the review is great, I agree the lack of the FLIX system is a let down considering the older Ironman shock has it. Only the Ironman shock yellow scheme has it (code:T5J651)for the same price.

If you tilt the watch to the very side near the buttons, you can see the almost all of the LCDs.

I wonder what that icon, looks like a line beneath the moon (night mode).

My uncle has the Ironman shock 50lap (non-solar). Whilst riding his bike he crashed, and the watch has scratches on the bezel still operates as good as new.

The resin strap of timex solars are softer when compared to the 50lap ironman shock versions.

Unknown said...

2months after ownership the same watch is now at the timex service center.

The reason: the watch's night light feature no longer functions. Be careful of timex watch (I bought a g-shock to replace the timex solar ironman)