Vermatik AMOS Plug Switch 12/24 Hour 7 Day Socket Programmable Mains LCD Display UK 3 Pin Wall Plug In Electronic AM/PM 12hr / 24hr Time Clock Energy Saver Power Controller Home Security (4 Pack)

I love these! Having lights on timers that come on and off without having to worry about them is fantastic in my household. It’s also piece of mind when we go away as it looks as though someone is home. I prefer these electrically programmable ones than the ones with the round ticking control where you have to push the little tabs in because they don’t make a noise! Also you can set them to random although once set I just leave mine on regular times. Programming them is fairly straightforward, and like I said once done can be left. I also like that you can override them and set them to on or off which I did over Christmas as we had guests and stayed up longer in the evenings so didn’t fancy my lamps going off plunging us all in to darkness over our eggnog!!

These timers have a lot going for them. They allow you to set a large number of "on" and "off" periods over a week, giving a lot of control. This timer manages to avoid one of the main problems that electronic timers can suffer from, which is loss of time and programming in the event of a power cut - these have built-in battery back-up to keep the clock running and the times you've set so that it continues as usual once the power comes back on. For a lot of applications, they will be an ideal solution combining great flexibility with dependability.There are a few downsides for me, which is why I've knocked one star off my rating:1. The display and buttons are very small with some very small symbols and writing that are hard to read in poor light and sometimes an unfavourable location. The display is unlit so - depending where the timeswitch is - you may need a torch to read it. Given the battery back-up though, I find it's sometimes easier to just unplug it and hold in somewhere in good light to check or change the settings, then plug it back in.2. There is no obvious way to achieve a temporary override - i.e. if it's off, manually switch it to on but so that it reverts to the normal program at the next "off" event. There isn't an override button and there's nothing in the instructions to say how to do this. In fact, I asked the seller about this and they told me there was no way to do this. However, by trial and error, I have found that you can do it, as follows. Say it's currently set to "auto", at a time when it's off and you want to temporarily override it to "on". You press the "On/Off/Auto" button once to switch to "on". If you left it there the switch would remain on indefinitely. However, if you press the button again it returns you to "auto", but with the switch still "on". It stays on through the next programmed "on" period and then goes off at the end of that - i.e. it reverts to program without you having to do anything.So, tiny unlit and hard to read controls and display, and inadequate documentation detract from an otherwise good product. Hence my four stars.

Very quick delivery.... The timers would be better if they had a backlight it would make it easier to see what you are programming on the timer.Update ..... After 4 months one of the timers has stopped working, I see another person has left a review that one of their timers also stopped working. I don't know what the warranty is on these timers...

The timers are good value but took us ages to set up as they are quite complicated. Once working, they are fine.

Purchased two of these timers and they were promptly received and well packaged. The timers appear to be of excellent quality and are easy to programme and use. There are lots of programming options so they should meet most needs. They are far superior to the old style timers which you programme by moving small stops to set the on/off times.

Had these a little while now, but only use them when we go on holiday for extra security.I set them up the night before, just to make sure they were working OK, good job I did as one didn't turn on at the set time.I don't think it was down to me setting it wrongly as it worked the first time we went away (I assume it was still working working when we returned from holiday the first time, I don't know) and the other one set up fine and its not been dropped or mistreated in anyway.So given that one was only used for one week, the last time we went away on holiday, and we were relying on it to give us extra security whilst we were on holiday.It gets a one stat rating.Simon.

This does just what I want it to do, I can program any day of the week, different time each day, skipping a day if I want to. I think it is great, and the back up battery keeps it running for up to four days if the power goes off, saving your entered programs.

Some other reviews say that this is hard to use, but it really isn't.There is one thing that you have to get your head around. The ten "on" timers are paired with ten "off" timers but each pair only shares the day or block of days. All 20 timers work independently. If the plug is ON, and you press the ON/AUTO/OFF button, the timer remains on, but will switch off when it encounters any of the ten off settings. And then it will remain OFF until it encounters an ON setting and so on. If the plug is OFF, and you press the ON/AUTO/OFF button, the timer remains off, but will switch on when it encounters any of the ten ON settings. And then it will remain ON until it encounters any OFF setting and so on. It might be worth writing down all your timer settings.If you are setting up the time of day in Summer, set it up an hour slow, then use the Summer Time function (CLOCK and ON/AUTO/OFF together) to advance it the other hour. This will make it easier come Winter Time.I had something similar to this for years and years! It finally became unreliable, and crashed and had to be reset, twice. It seemed OK after that, but no point in chancing it. That's why I bought this one. The old one had separate on-screen indicators for ON/OFF, and AUTO/MANUAL, which is probably easier to understand.