• 99-minute, 59-second countdown
• Loud, 30-second alarm is hard to miss
• Instantly recalls the last setting
• Stands on desk or sticks to metal surfaces
• Uses one AAA battery (included)

If you've ever burned a pot roast or boiled a three-minute egg until it turned to rubber, you need a better timing system. The loud, 30-second alarm on this timer ensures that you won't forget to turn off the stove or rotate the turkey. It's also portable, and sticks on any metal surface, so if you have to leave the kitchen area, wafting smoke won't be the first reminder that a meal is ready. Easy to use and program, the timer comes with one AAA battery. --Laura Cuthbert

I have had this timer for at least three years and use it very often for any number of occasions I need timed, not just for cooking or baking. I could not get through a week without it and this timer has had a real workout in the past three years. I just signed onto Amazon to purchase one for my daughter. Unfotunately, I see it is not available. Drat!

Cons: Poorly designed spring clip and weak magnet on back makes unit unstable. Only one function-countdown. Other models for about [money] will do everything but take out the garbage.

Pros: Loud alarm. Large display. Long battery life (2+ years) even though display is always on.

Durability: I once knocked the timer into a hot pot of cream of butternut squash soup! Fished it out with a ladle; took out the battery; unscrewed the case; rinsed it well in warm water; then turned the blow drier on it (hey, what've I got to lose?). Two hard working months later it's still as good as new.

I like that this operates with a AAA battery - I usually have some around for the TV remote. I do not like that it beeps LOUDLY for each time you push the buttons to set the time: e.g. set for 45 minutes, you hear 45 beeps.

It works fine and I like the magnet on the back to adhere it to metal. I put it on the range hood over my stove. The problem is that it wiggles around when you try to press the buttons and has fallen off several times. I think it would be better it the clip on the back of it was removable so that it could be placed flat on the metal surface.

As a countdown timer, it works OK but is extremely loud. Setting it for ten minutes requires ten very loud beeps. It has NO other functions, unlike most timers. But for what it is (and it isn't much) it works OK.