Greenbrook T40S-C, White

I put one of these in our entrance hall about 15 years ago, replaced it with an identical unit about 8 years ago, and the design of this is identical to the earlier ones. I think that speaks volumes for its design. It's a doddle to wire in, and crucially is very intuitive to use. We've had more complex switches in other parts of the house and you need to get the manual out just to programme it after a power cut. This is simple - manual or timed switch, then programme times alternately for switch on or off, and that's it. You need a bulb that will work with timer switches. On dark night, we always come home to a lit hall.

Item was easy to fit myself, and appears to be working fine. The numbers on the display are quite small, so I have to wear my glasses to configure the time and timer programs, but once set up it does the job it's supposed to do.

Been using this timer switch for some considerable time because it does what I require, a porch light coming on and then going off at set times. Particularly useful If I am not around. This is actually my third switch but I have yet to find a suitable alternative. The previous two have done the job well for several years (about 5 I would guess) only to fail and need replacement. My previous switches have not liked low energy bulbs and the old style bulbs seem to last about three or four months and this is the problem. It is a bulb failure that has caused the switch to stop working on both previous occasions. Whilst a fuse change in the switch frequently solves the problem there appears to come a time when the switch says "no more" and ceases to function. My latest failure resulted in the switch not switching off and I had to remove and replace the fuse to switch lights on and off. Have not tried this particular switch with low energy bulbs but would anticipate it will be much the same as previous versions.

I bought one of these to fit into a 2-way lighting circuit at home, and it arrived quickly (in 2 days).The wiring instructions were easy to understand, and I quickly identified that I had the type of 2-way system where the live comes to one switch, and the load wire (feed to the lightbulb) to the other. This switch must be fitted to the box with the live wire, but the wiring in the other switch needs to be modified as well.On powering up, initially it didn't work, which was a bit worrying, but after I'd allowed the internal battery to charge for a while, all was fine. Looking at the flat casing, I had wondered how you actually switch the light on & off- in fact, this is done by pushing on the front cover, which presses on the button beneath- push on, push off.There's a switch to select timed or manual operation. The timer is easy to set up, starting with the time, then 6 on/off programmes can be set. These can operate daily, M-F, or Sat-Sun, much like a central heating programmer. There is also a random feature, whereby the on/off times are shifted between 2 and 30 minutes.I thought the build quality could have been better- I noticed that when I pressed the PROG button, the Reset button also went in. This is just a minor detail, but could be easily improved. I thought the fuse carrier was a bit fiddly & rough. I've also noticed that there's now a short delay between switching the light on or off at the other switch, and the light coming on or off. I've knocked a star off because of these snags, but on the other hand, this timer is good value for money.Another problem I've noticed recently, is that the light occasionally comes on by itself, even when the timer is set to manual! There doesn't seem to be any pattern to this, and it's only happened twice since I installed it. Whilst not a catastrophic problem, it does make me wonder about the product's reliability, so I've downgraded my rating a bit since this happened.

One of these was installed in the house when we moved in 33 years ago. It needed replacement. probable the internal battery for memory. These was an exact replacement. Works exactly as old one and due to same product mounted exactly in same position. the design must have proven to be reliable so it has not been changed.

Had this just over 12 months before it failed. Used to control an outside light but now light remains on all the time - doesn't matter if you use manual control, the override switch, etc. the light will only go off if you pull the fuse Total rubbish! Build quality is not up to the job - contacts controlled by timer must have fused together so no control of outgoing circuit (light)Update February 2017 - Received a replacement for the above switch, January 2016. Has worked ok but today I replaced the two incandescent bulbs in the outside wall lights it is controlling with two 5 watt LED bulbs. With the timer off, the lights lit dimly. With the timer on the lights lit as normal. If I remove the fuse in the timer switch then the light goes out. Testing the light fittings I found a voltage - enough to light the bulbs dimly. The LED bulbs must be more sensitive than the incandescent bulbs as these do not light with the timer switch off, even thought his reduced voltage is present. It looks like this switch is going the same way as the one it replaced, the contacts being controlled by the timer are starting to fail. These units are not reliable, further more they are DANGEROUS because 'off' is not completely 'off'. Someone is going to have a nasty accident with this product. You have been warned!

I have had a previous version of this timer switch which worked for nearly 20 hrs without a problem, but this new version hasn't even lasted a year. The switchover from the previous version whereby the auto & manual operation has been swopped over is annoying, as is the flashing red light. I'm constantly replacing bulbs and fuses and an electrician has now confirmed that the switch is faulty! I wouldn't buy another of these switches, maybe a solar light outside my front door is the answer! I wouldn't recommend, save your money & try something else