Echo Wall Clock - see timers at a glance - requires compatible Echo device

I have a timer on my stove and another right next to it on my microwave and yet another of those magnetic digital ones that stick to the fridge. In addition to that I have numerous devices with timer functions built in like my smartphone and my tablet and a lot of my cooking gadgets like hotpot, air fryer, toasters, etc. so why in the world would I want another timer?Because every one of those timers requires me to do two things - manually set it and to physically look at it to see how much time is left. The process of setting some digital timers can be a multi step thing that is so complicated I need to read the instructions. And to physically check the remaining time requires that I walk over to it from the other side of the room, often numerous times.ADVANTAGESWhat I like most about this Echo Wall Clock is exactly that, it is a large easy to read familiar looking wall clock that I can see from anywhere in the room. But what I love about is it is 100% hands free, all I have to do is tell my Echo Dot to set a timer for what's cooking on the stove and the clock shows me a visual countdown by way of a bright LED light right on the clock face. But wait, as if that's not already a great improvement, I can also tell Alexa to set another timer for what's cooking in the oven, and another to remind me I have something in the hotpot and another to remind me to feed the pets. Multiple timers can all be running at the same time. When one is getting close to being ready the face of the clock counts down the seconds and then my Dot announces that the time is up for that timer while all of the lights around the perimeter of the clock flash bright white. And remember, that's all without me touching one single button.HOW IS THAT BETTERYes it's true that my Dot can do most of that already but it can't show me visually how much time is left. I installed my Echo Wall Clock in the kitchen in a location where I can see it in the living room while watching TV. All I have to do is glance up and I can see the countdown status off all of my active timers.WHAT DOESN'T IT DOThis clock is almost perfect as it is. It is modern looking, easy to see and easy to use. Setup is nothing more than telling Alexa to set it up for you. It runs on four AA batteries which they thoughtfully include and that many batteries should last a long time. The 10" diameter is neither too small nor too large. I can’t think of any way I would have made it differently.OTHER THINGSBe aware that this clock does not have a glass or plastic faceplate, the hands and dial are fully exposed. Resist the urge to move the hands manually, the clock sets itself automatically, which is fun to watch. Having an open face means being extra careful when dusting – I use a low power air squeeze bottle to gently blow the dust away from time to time.Here's something important that you need to know - you must have patience when letting the clock set itself up. It seems some users assumed theirs was broken because the clock hands moved to the 12 noon position and froze there. No, that's normal. As the clock syncs over the Bluetooth connection with your Alexa device the hands will make a full sweep around the dial to seek the noon position where they will align with each other to assure accuracy. Then after reporting back to your device that they know where noon is located your device will tell the hands to move again, this time to the correct time position. This process can take a very long time and it doesn't tell you what its doing, and by this time some users probably have their clock back in the box for return, thinking that it's broken.YES OR NOIf you already have any Alexa compatible device this clock is a must have. It is very budget friendly and more useful than you can imagine.

I bought a wall clock years ago, it is now only somewhat working. I still have it on my wall. The hour hand doesn’t exactly point right but it is still “working” and I have found its timer feature a great aid in cooking. Sadly it seams like they are no longer available as it has been a long time since they were listed for sale. I would otherwise replace it.Overall, its functionality was great especially the timer visualization. The design was basic, construction plastic and it isn’t still working as it once did. Replacing batteries can be a pain but they last long enough. A built in rechargeable battery would have been nice. More choice in design would also have been nice, even just different colors would have been nice. Features on it like displaying the weather for the day or a list of appointments for the day displayed on its face would be nice. It would certainly make it appear smarter.Despite its to be desired shortcomings, I have found it an indispensable product albiet not built to last. Eventually I will have to take the hour hand always off a bit clock off the wall. I will have to learn to live without it. Yea I did try manually readjusting the hands, no it didn’t fix it.It would be great if they made them again. It would be greater if they added more features, built it with a sturdier construction and more style choices to personalize the design.

We needed to replace our wall clock, and I had always wanted an at-a-glance way to know how much time was left on our timers (our children have to read for a certain amount of time each day, and they would interrupt their reading to ask Alexa how much time was left on the timer a dozen times each reading session), so I was delighted to see this clock available on Amazon. I read through the negative reviews and decided to still give it a shot, and I'm really glad I did. It's very simple and there's nothing very fancy about it other than its ability to show the time left on a timer, and that is exactly what I was hoping for. There's not much to say about its merits other than to address some of the common negative reviews:1. Don't touch the face. Several people said this is vital not to touch the face because if you bump the hands, it will lead to disastrous results, and several bemoaned the fact that it has no glass or plastic crystal to protect the face. In my experience, as it hangs on the wall, it is not difficult at all not to touch the face. This isn't something I regularly do with other clocks either. I tend to leave it on its own once it's on the wall, and if I have to take it down for any reason, I grab it by the bevel, not the face. Some speculated that there is no crystal because of a cost-savings, but I can't imagine that was the decision; rather, I'm assuming that because there are LEDs in the face, they would reflect on the crystal and make it harder to read, so they decided to remove it. If that was the case, then I think they made the right decision. If you do touch the face and bump the hands, there are instructions for how to fix this, though I can't comment on how effective those instructions are, because, again, I just avoid touching the face.2. Connectivity issues. I have indeed experienced this once, and they took a bit of effort to fix, but it was fixable. I hope this doesn't happen very frequently, but I've had it for about 3 months with only one issue, so at this point, the good outweighs the mild frustration every few months.3. Battery drain. Again, had it 3 months with the same batteries, so this has not been my experience. A typical low-tech wall clock might last a year on the same batteries, but for a smart device, even if i had to replace the batteries every 3 months, that would not be a frustration for me. I hope the batteries last longer, but I will not be terribly disappointed if they don't. Gauge your own frustration level on that.4. Feels cheap/flimsy. I very much disagree with the reviews that said this feels cheap or flimsy. Based on the reviews, I was expecting something akin to those plastic firefighter hats that fire stations give out to kids. I would say it's more akin to a plastic Tupperware container. If you really push on it, you can probably get it to move, but it feels pretty solid to me, and again, it's on a wall, so it doesn't get a lot of handling either way.I do have two criticisms that I didn't see mentioned in others' reviews that are worth mentioning:1. The face is set really deep in the bevel, so some of the LEDs are not possible to read from certain angles. We ended up having to move the clock from where we originally wanted it to resolve this issue.2. This is more about the infrastructure of the echo devices themselves, but you can only connect the clock to one echo device, so if you set timers in the living room and the kitchen (as we do) and you want the visual timer countdown, you need to purchase two clocks. I can see the clock from the kitchen and from the living room, so it would be ideal for the clock to support both timers. That is definitely not a reason not to get the clock.Overall, I'm very happy with it and, for $30 (which is honestly about $10 or $15 more than the cheapest alternative non-smart wall clock), it was well worth it, even with its few issues.