This digital timer is the hands-down best among the many light timers on the market. Incredibly easy to program. Plugs into the lower socket of your wall outlet, leaving the upper socket free for something else. Best of all is the unadvertised feature: an internal battery to keep it on time during power outages. Don't know what makes it "CFL ready", but it's reassuring to know that is. Has a manual override by which you can turn it on when it's off, turn it off when it's on, and return it to your programmed settings. Has 24h option. Can be programmed for multiple off/on cycles per day. GE 15150 7-Day Plug-In Digital Timer
I found this at a great sale price ($6) at Home Depot - exactly what I was looking for. It has an outstanding set of timer features - very flexible in programming multiple on/off cycles that vary by day of week, weekdays together, weekend days together, or separate. There is also a button to overide the programmed settings and return to them - a very nice feature. Unfortunately after setting up a complex program of times I discovered that it would not turn on the device during the programmed times. After resetting it, I restudied the directions and set up a very simple program and the device still failed to turn on. It only worked in the non-programmed "On" mode! I took it back to exchange it but they were sold out. This would be an excellent product if it worked. I've found GE to be a very reliable company so I'll buy another one at some point.
This the second GE timer I've tried. Neither work. The first was a non digital simple timer that simply wouldn't turn on or off my appliance when it was set to. I returned it and bought this digital version thinking this is a no brainer but I was wrong there too. I set it exactly as the instructions were written and each time the time hits the mark that its supposed to turn on or off, the clock resets to 12:00 and all my programs are lost. I'm returning this one and never buying another GE.
PROS:
Small, compact, does not take up too much space at the outlet.
Has a built in clock and battery, so no need to reset if you have a power outage. A nice advantage over the mechanical timers.
CONS:
Tiny display is hard to read.
It's designed to go on the bottom of a two-outlet receptacle. This is a problem because a cord plugged into the top outlet will drape over the timer, making it nearly impossible to see the display. This is quite a nuisance if you want to manually turn it on/off
Setting the on/off times is manageable, but I wish it was easier.
I purchased two of these units, from the description looked like it would fit my needs. After spending an excessive amount of time on settings for time and programing I tried them and neither would work. Power remains on not matter which setting was used (on, auto, off). There is no contact information contained in the instructions so my only option is to return. The concept was great if it would work as advertised. The GE web site does not list this item nor will a search bring it up. - Light Timer - Programmable Timer - Lamp Timer'
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