Author Topic: stopwatches?  (Read 24628 times)

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sammythesm

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #15 on: Jan 29, 2008, 01:43 am »
My old favorite stopwatch is actually a little windows program called "Multitrack Stopwatch"  I let you run up to 10 stopwatch instances inside the same app.  It was handy when we'd time the whole show, first act, second act, intermission, and that really long speech in Act 2 scene 2 that just kept getting LONGER and LONGER as the season drug on. 

My new favorite stopwatch I just discovered 2 days ago... It's built into the iPhone.  It's slick!

neon stars

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #16 on: Feb 02, 2008, 10:39 pm »
My old favorite stopwatch is actually a little windows program called "Multitrack Stopwatch"  I let you run up to 10 stopwatch instances inside the same app.  It was handy when we'd time the whole show, first act, second act, intermission, and that really long speech in Act 2 scene 2 that just kept getting LONGER and LONGER as the season drug on. 

My new favorite stopwatch I just discovered 2 days ago... It's built into the iPhone.  It's slick!

i think my ipod nano (new gen.) has it too. its pretty nifty!

bex

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #17 on: Sep 18, 2012, 01:58 pm »
Alright, folks- reviving the stopwatch thread.

Every stopwatch I've ever had has managed to set an alarm on itself while knocking around in my bag/kit. They beep at inopportune times, and the clock is really difficult to set.  Maybe I'm just buying the wrong type of stopwatch?

My last one finally died, and I'm in the market for a new one and am just stumped. The HUGE sporting goods store I went to had 3 different stopwatches (in the shoe department, on an endcap labeled "Insoles") and all of them had a million different functions and cost about $25.

Has anyone found a reliable stopwatch that is JUST a stopwatch? I'm looking online now and everything I find has either a bunch of functions I don't need (frankly I'd rather something without a date/time setting, without an alarm setting, that JUST keeps time) or has really awful reviews on Amazon.

I also despise using the stopwatch on my iphone, for various reasons. And I don't have a Walmart near me, so the no-brand awesome cheap one mentioned in the thread from 2008 is not an option, if it even still exists.

Any suggestions?
You will have to sing for your supper & your mortgage, your dental coverage & your children's shoes, over & over again while people in desk jobs roll their eyes the minute you start to complain. So it's a good thing you like to sing.

Lauren

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #18 on: Sep 18, 2012, 05:38 pm »
I second Bex. I can't seem to find a decent stopwatch anywhere that JUST times things, much less a decent silent one.

Thanks for reviving the thread, bex!
"The truth is rarely pure, and never simple" -Oscar Wilde

Maribeth

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #19 on: Sep 18, 2012, 05:43 pm »
I'm looking at mine now- it's a Sportline model 221. It has an alarm but I never use it and haven't had trouble with it going off accidentally. I've had it for a couple of years. It's listed at 18.50 on Amazon.

iamchristuffin

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #20 on: Sep 18, 2012, 06:25 pm »
I realise this may be of limited value to those of you in the States, but I use something like this:

http://www.science2education.co.uk/product/ZSC-98A

It's designed for school science use (as you probably guessed from the imaginatively-named website), but it is perfect for timing things.
I only use one on my desk/table, and it doesn't have a clock function within it, but it does what it says on the tin!

HTH,

C

loebtmc

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #21 on: Sep 18, 2012, 08:35 pm »
I just got a cheap on on Amazon that was under $10 - so far it seems to work. They also show up at Big Lots sometimes (and once even at 99cents/dollar store places). Trouble is, I have had the very best silent stopwatch for many, many years, but it needs repair and that costs more than just buying a new one. Sigh.

juliec

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #22 on: Sep 26, 2012, 11:26 pm »
I was recently in the market for a stopwatch and got a Sportline Tough Timer (480).  I did a pretty exhaustive search because I was looking for a very specific set of features (well, two specific features, really).  In addition to being silent, there's an EL light!  As a bonus, it also provides a click for auditory confirmation that it's started.  I wish it were a solid color, but now that's just being picky...  It's 18.52 on Amazon.

leastlikely

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #23 on: Oct 09, 2012, 04:30 am »
I use a free app on my Android phone called "StopWatch & Timer" made by sportstracklive.com. It has two functions - stopwatch and timer (who'd've thunk it?!). It's got nice big numbers and touchscreen controls... and this is a little detail, but you can make it be any color you want. I mean, I just use black background with white numbers for ease of vision in the dark, but it's nice knowing I could make it bright pink if I wanted, haha. I use the stopwatch for timing runs, pressing the lap button to break down the times for acts or whatever else you need times for... And during rehearsals, I use the timer to keep on top of the 80/10s (or 55/5s). The stopwatch functions are all silent, and the timer has alarm options but you can set it to have no volume, so all it does is vibrate twice. It's really non-intrusive. The app requires no internet or data, so it works while the phone is in airplane mode (or as I like to call it, performance mode). Oh, and you can pre-set multiple timers, so as soon as the 80 is done you just switch to the 10 minute one, and then back at the end of the break.

Last week during a performance my book started to slip off my music stand, because I'm an idiot. So I reached out to grab it, and knocked my phone off the counter, and it fell on the floor and the battery fell out. Okay, not the end of the universe, because I already have my up time noted so I'll just figure out what was lost, and it won't be perfect to the second but oh well. Not really the end of the universe if I guess and am off by 30 seconds, right? So I wait til I have a breather between cues, and I grab my phone and start to put it back together. It turns on, but the stopwatch app isn't found, because it lives on my SD card which had also gotten knocked loose during the fall. So I jiggled the SD card and tried again, and pulled up the stopwatch and it was still running accurately. As I was loading it up I wrote myself a note to add exactly ten minutes to the top of the time because that's what was lost... and then I opened the stopwatch and it read 10:22 and still counting.

I have no idea how this happened, and I'm sure if I tried to recreate it, it wouldn't happen again. I mean, the app is stored on an SD card and the SD card was removed! So this is probably some once in a lifetime anomaly, but... it was pretty dang cool.

Mac Calder

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #24 on: Oct 09, 2012, 07:09 am »
I would say that it uses the phones clock and then calculates the difference between now and the saved time (more accurate than writing your own counter) - so when you start the timer, it takes the clocks time and saves it to memory - every time you open the app it probably checks to see if there was a running timer and what time it was started and just continues running.

leastlikely

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #25 on: Oct 10, 2012, 02:34 pm »
I would say that it uses the phones clock and then calculates the difference between now and the saved time (more accurate than writing your own counter) - so when you start the timer, it takes the clocks time and saves it to memory - every time you open the app it probably checks to see if there was a running timer and what time it was started and just continues running.

Yeah, I'm sure this is correct, I just... technology is cool, man. :)

On_Headset

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #26 on: Oct 17, 2012, 06:51 pm »
I've actually taken to using a digital chess clock. (Not that exact model, but it's illustrative.) It's bulkier than a stopwatch (you can't hang it around your neck or stuff it into you pocket: it has to sit on your desk), but it's absolutely idiot-proof and utterly devoid of bells and whistles.

I use the clock on the left to record the "meat" and the one on the right to record the "gristle". (Actual rehearsal vs. notes and interruptions; run of the show vs. intermissions; etc.) Only one of the clocks will run at a time. To switch between them, you smash the button on the top of the clock. And both of the clocks are constant until you reset them: if you stop a clock at 00:05:00 and then start it again, it starts from 00:05:01, rather than going back to zero.

I always had trouble keeping my stopwatches straight (So I want to press the pause button but not for too long and I don't want to press the reset button and...) and I've also found that the chess clock is very easy to hand over to an assistant if I need to leave the room or hand the task off to someone else. ("When they're interrupted, press the button on the top to switch from one clock to the other. Press that same button to start it again. Do not press any other buttons." as opposed to "This button is to pause, this button is to reset, this button is to tare, this button is the lap timer, this button gets lonely sometimes and enjoys a little company...")

jcarey

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #27 on: Oct 18, 2012, 02:51 pm »
...but it's absolutely idiot-proof ...

May I draw your attention to my signature?
"A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."

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BayAreaSM

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #28 on: Feb 19, 2013, 01:46 am »
I know this is an old thread, but I would like to mention something my wonderful husband just did for me. He removed the "beep" from my favorite stopwatch.

I've had a Sportline 240 Econosport stopwatch for at least 8 years. The screen has finally started to dim, so I asked my husband to replace the battery. Granted, it's an $11 stopwatch, but it's the best I've had, so it's worth it to me to replace the battery. While he had it open, I asked if there was anything he could do to stop it from beeping.

He noticed that 2 small springs touch the large silver plate that is attached to the back of the stopwatch. When you press a button, it presses the spring into the plate and you get the beep. He added a piece of scotch tape as a buffer between the springs and the metal plate and PRESTO! No more beeping!

So if you've found the stopwatch of your dreams, you can always make it a silent one with a tiny screwdriver and some tape.

KMC

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Re: stopwatches?
« Reply #29 on: Feb 19, 2013, 08:14 am »
I know this is an old thread, but I would like to mention something my wonderful husband just did for me. He removed the "beep" from my favorite stopwatch.

I've had a Sportline 240 Econosport stopwatch for at least 8 years. The screen has finally started to dim, so I asked my husband to replace the battery. Granted, it's an $11 stopwatch, but it's the best I've had, so it's worth it to me to replace the battery. While he had it open, I asked if there was anything he could do to stop it from beeping.

He noticed that 2 small springs touch the large silver plate that is attached to the back of the stopwatch. When you press a button, it presses the spring into the plate and you get the beep. He added a piece of scotch tape as a buffer between the springs and the metal plate and PRESTO! No more beeping!

So if you've found the stopwatch of your dreams, you can always make it a silent one with a tiny screwdriver and some tape.

That's quite an excellent little hack, and even more excellent for backstage and in rehearsal!
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