ThermoPro TM-01 Review: It's a $14 timer - It counts so you don't have to
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- čas přidán 28. 01. 2023
- Hi All,
In this video, let's have a look at something a bit different...a kitchen timer!
Background story is I realized that I do not have a decent timer to use for filming when for instance checking the battery run-time of flashlights etc.
Most of all I wanted a timer that would not be capped at 99 minutes and 59 seconds, be able to count up and not only down, have a clearly readable, large display and be easy to operate.
Bonus features would be showing the actual time of the day, backlight and versatility (magnet, hook, loop etc) to be able to place it somewhere easily no matter the environment of use.
The ThermoPro TM-01 seemed to match the best specification-wise, so I got it and in this video we can all have a closer look at it. Watch the entire video to find out all the different aspects such as:
1. Is the display crisp and clear, and from which angles?
2. How does if fare with rechargeable cells (NiMh) at lower operating voltage?
3. What is the power draw?
4. Is the backlight any good?
5. What's the quality like, is it solid, sturdy and well-designed?
6. What are the pros and cons?
And there's even more in-between all of that!
Thank you for watching and I hope to see you all in the next video! - Věda a technologie
Thanks for the review. I was thinking of buying a clock for the kitchen. I thought this would be better. We are satisfied for now.
Hi there,
Thank you for you kind comment and for stopping by for a watch of my review!
I am very happy to hear it could help you in you decision for buying a timer 🙂👍
Thanks for the video, I couldn't get my clock to set. This helped. The downside is having to buy batteries but. oh well. I have had a bunch of spring type timers that never work right. This one works. I will see how long these batteries work from today. Hopefully long enough for me not to care.
Hi there,
Thank you for stopping by and I'm happy my video could be of help!
Spring type timers in all their glory, but they are not very accurate at all times 😊
I've had this timer right about a year now, and the display still looks good with the included batteries, so it should take a year at least or maybe even two between battery changes. However, that probably depends a lot on how much the backlight is used. The chemistry of the included cells had them at over 1.6v when new, and that really is good for increasing the contrast and clarity of the display, so getting batteries of the same type once a year or two should give the best experience I think.
Hello.
If you place it on clock mode and turn the back light on is there an option for the light to stay on continuously or will it shut off automatically? If the light does turn off especially at night can you still see the display?
Thx Excellent review!
Hi there,
Thank you stopping by and for the kind comment!
I haven't found a way to make the backlight stay on, but I suspect that the battery time would be very short if the light was to be left on.
With fresh batteries, the display is still fairly visible if there is some sort of ambient light in the room (such as in the bathroom but leaving the door open to an area which has daylight). But in a completely dark room (such as a bathroom with the door closed), the display is not readable without turning the backlight on.
Hello! If I leave it in clock mode, for example, with 2 brand new triple AAA batteries, how much approx. could the battery last? Did you do a test or does the manual say something about? I would like to know how long it would take untill I go buy new batteries, an approximate time. Thank you!!
Hi there, thank you for your comment!
I did take a look at that, and made a quick calculation with different battery types. You can watch from 28:53. The time before you want to install new batteries will also depend on when you think the display goes too dim.
You're welcome, have a nice day!
hi~ is this timer keep silent alarm?? is important to me ! keep me posted!!
Hi there,
Thank you for watching the video and for your comment!
The timer does indeed have a silent alarm feature. Simply set it into "mute mode" by pressing the volume button on the back until the volume is off (indicated by a muthed loudspeaker symbol on the display), and set the alarm countdown. When the alarm goes off, there will be no sound, but the figures on the display will be flashing to indicate time is up.
Hope this helps, have a nice day!
Kind regards,
/DrMBalmer
What an exceptional and comprehensive review! The level of detail and thoroughness displayed in this review is truly commendable. I just bought one. Thank you.
🙂
Hi there!
Thank you very much for the nice comment, and I am very happy to hear that you enjoyed the video and were able to make a purchase decision! 😀
I hope you shall like the timer as well!
Great review. I just ordered one because I have the same problem. When I'm timing run times I'm looking at my computer which is really quite silly. The weird thing though is when I ordered it on Amazon's Canadian site. One was $19.99 or you get 2 for $58.99. Like aren't you supposed to save money by getting two, or at least have it at $40 which is double the price? Strange. Also those new COB lights came in and I'll do a review when the clock comes in. They are indeed brighter, they still have a step down but it is much, much less aggressive than the step down of the other COB lights we have. I'd say on Turbo it's probably around the medium brightness of the old COB lights we have which is much more usable and on the Turbo before stepdown they are much much brighter like 700 or 800 lumens I'm guessing. The advertisment says 1000 lumens but I was skeptical so I looked around for another seller and got a more realistic number, it's 500 lumens with the white and 350 for the yellow so combined both on it would be a max of 850 at turn on with Turbo. The only "bad" thing is you can't charge and run at the same time but due to the much higher brightness it makes sense, when on these COB lights are quite a bit warmer than the old so they are pumping out more power for sure. Even just using the high white setting the step down is noticeably higher than the Turbo mode step down of 107 lumens on the old COB light. I'll post when the clock comes in. Still testing them. Since they are only $4 more than the old ones it might be an idea if it goes well to pick a couple up to have as work lights and you can use the older model for the home.
Edit: I have 4 nice EBL 1100mAh batteries and my Opus BT-C3100 has a discharge function. When I get the clock I'll run the batteries down until the display stops working which will give you an idea of what is the minimum voltage before the 0.9 volt empty cutoff. I did a quick test with my EBL's that I haven't charged in months and the lowest battery have 1.17 volts and the highest was 1.26 volts but I don't even remember when I've even charged them, maybe summer? or fall? I don't use that many AAA batteries. Also maybe for a fun test is I have AAA LIFePo4 batteries which came with a 2 pack of dummy connector batteries so you can keep around 3.2 volts of a couple of AAA's in series. I'll try that as well and see if it can handle a fully charged LiFePo4 AAA at 3.7 volts.
Thank you, and great that you found it interesting enough to buy it too! :)
It is a pretty decent device. Too bad it doens't seem to have a boost converter to keep the supplied voltage at 1.6V or so even when using NiMh cells. But on the other hand, the power draw is so low that the boost converter would probably deplete the cells a whole lot faster, so I guess it is reasonable that it doesn't have one :)
Very strange pricing on Canadian Amazon...one would expect some sort of price decrease per unit when buying more.
Oh how great that you got the new flashlights, it really sounds like they are a lot more usable than the first ones we got. I have ordered a couple of new ones now, so it will be great to see the difference! The price difference should be worth it. I actually saw on AliExpress the old lights but specifically specified to 45g product weight instead of the 34 or 35 grams we had. I wonder if that's only cell size weight or different control chip design...
Oh, yes that's a very good idea with the LiFePO4 batteries, using a dummy battery. Would be interesting to see if it handles 3.7V. And also the NiMh discharged battery test would be nice to see the results of. I guess that it makes sense to buy cheap non-alkaline batteries that have a bit higher voltage and not to high capacity, for this device since you get a very clear display while it still should last for quite some time. Once the figures on the display start to get dimmer, those batteries could go into a remote control while new ones are installed in the timer.
@@DrMBalmer Yeah the COB's are great and I've been doing some preliminary tests with them they both have a battery meter and a voltage cutoff. From voltage cutoff on Turbo I get about 386mAh in there to charge them up so I'm assuming they are pretty close to the 500mAh rated battery. I kept one of the old COB's that I got 606mAh into the battery so I'm wondering if I should get out the soldering gun and maybe do a battery transplant. Or I guess I could just measure the battery dimensions and just order as large a battery I could fit into them. I've seen them opened up and it's just two little leads for the battery so I don't think it would be a big problem. I didn't do an entirely scientific test but on Turbo with both the white COB's on high and the Yellow COB's on high I get about 45 mins of runtime at I'm guessing around 300 Lumens after step down. I don't have a lux meter just a crappy app on my phone but if I know that the Turbo step down on the old one is 107 lumen I could measure the difference whatever the crummy metric is on the light meter and calculate the difference from 107 lumens that has been tested and we know of from the old COB lights Turbo and turn it into a percentage and extrapolate from there. The lights are definitely a lot warmer when running than the old ones so they must be pumping out more lumens.
As far as the AAA niMh batteries go, I charged them up and they all only took just over 200mAh to charge to full. So my guess is they were all sitting around the 850mAh of current left in each of them after maybe 6 months of dormancy. I love these EBL's as they store a lot of current. My lowest value was 1078mA and my highest was 1148mA so their 1100mA rating is very consistent. I started to charge them at a low 200mA and literally after 3 mins they were all above 1.3v. So in theory you could use niMh batteries still but maybe give them a voltage boost every few months or so. It's not like you would be drawing much or using it heavily every day or anything. They terminate around 1.47 volts then settle down closer to the 1.4v after about 20mins. I think niMh batteries are only really suited to devices like flashlights or cameras that require lots of stable current and can run at slightly lower voltages. In one of my EDC flashlights I can run it on high at 50mins vs 30mins with a normal AAA alkaline battery with only slightly less output. So any high discharge devices is where they really shine.
@@DrMBalmer Ok I've done some tests with the Turbo on the old one which I know at turn on is 475 lumens and the new one. And I got this:
Tests taken at 20cm roughly as if it's too close the light meter only goes to 32768 before tapping out. I guess it's a 32-bit light meter 🙂
On the crappy light meter which is in lux. On the old one I get 1800 lux then it starts slowly going down as the voltage sag and COB's heat up. The new one I get 6200 lux. Which is a difference of %71. This translates from the turn on at 475 on the old one into 812 lumens at initial turn on with the new one.
On Turbo step down I get 460 lux from the old one at the 107 lumen level. And on the new one I get 920. Which is exactly %50 brighter so 214 lumens. I forgot to top up both batteries for max brightness but you can safely say it's double what the step down is on the old light.
new test I had to move things around a bit so it's the difference in lux % we're looking for. It's not perfect what I'm doing.
On just the "high" brightness step down on the new one. I got 730 lux after step down from Turbo on the old one(107 lumens) and 1060 lux on just the high step down on the new. Which translates into 144.7 lumens. So even without using the Turbo on the new one the step down lumens are still brighter. At turn on the "high"(just one click) was 6400 lux and 6800 lux(812 luemns est) which is still a bright 633 lumens just on the brightness non Turbo white setting.
On the "low" brightness setting on the new one I got 2400 lux on the medium setting on the old I got 1600 lux(277 lumens). Which translates into 368.71 lumens. So even the low white is crazy bright. It then steps down to 930 lux which is around 130 lumens.
Now on to Yellow since we have some sort of numbers to work with and it's really the "lower settings" on this unit.
Yellow high at turn on: 4050 lux (470 lumens) steps down to 750 lux so that's the same as the low step down(107 lumens) from the old COB's Turbo.
Yellow low at turn on: 1500 lux(250ish lumens) down to around 500 lux so that would be around 70 lumens or so.
Ok so let's collate. There are a lot of factors so all these are just best guess' the angle of the meter, the distance, etc. That's why I compared on each test, we're looking or percentages not exact lux or no lux. These are best estimates of what I think the light is trying to do as I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a light sphere like flashaholic:
Turbo(Both Yellow and white on high): ~800 lumens----Step down 200 lumens
White high: ~600 lumens----------Step down 150 lumens
White low: ~350 lumens-----------Step down 125 lumens
Yellow high ~500 lumens---------Step down 100 lumens
You've done some great testing, thanks for the report! :)
The new lights definitely look more promising than the old ones, despite also stepping down, it seems they stay a lot brighter, which is good, and with more than 200mAh cells as well. If they are all steady at 500-600mAh then that would be great!
Will be interesting to try them out, I was measuring lux at a distance of 120cm (two kitchen floor tiles away :) ) and got saw 70 lux or so at the start of Turbo and then stepdown to 9-20 lux on the better one, so if I see 35-40 lux in the same test with the new one on white light, it would probably be good enough, depending on how aggressive the PWM control is as well. Did you notice any PWM strobing on camera or with your eyes with the new lights?
@@DrMBalmer When they are stepping down there is a perceptable "click, click click" down in light level but once it stabilizes I can't see any sort of modulation. The Yellow portion of it is a lot easier on the eyes as it's more of a natural light bulb sort of light not harsh like the white COB's. When I do the light tests I'll be a little more scientific about it as I was constantly having to pick up the phone to turn it back on so those little changes in angle may effect the test. I'll put it on it's left side this time in a clamp so I can push the on button without disturbing it too much. It's definitely a brighter light even on the lower settings. I'm getting about 1hr 25m on Yellow high to the point where you would want to charge it with the last of the 4 lights blinking signaling low voltage. It still puts out some usable light but you would probably want to charge it at that point.