Digital Cube Timer, Pomodoro Digital Productivity Kitchen Timer, 5/10/30/60 Minutes Rotating 3 Volume Adjustable for Work, Studying, Cooking

I love that you can just flip it and set it down to start the timer. Tip face up to pause, tip face down to reset to zero. It's cute which is nice since it sits out at all times.

This isn't *exactly* a Pomodoro timer -- Pomodoro is based on 25 and 50 minute working increments so that when you take the 5/10 minute breaks, it fits cleanly within an hour. This timer use 30 and 60 minute increments, so it's a little off. You're probably thinking, "What's the big deal? It's just 5 (or 10) minutes. That just means I do a little more work." But it's not that clean cut. If, like me, you feel the need to use the Pomodoro technique in the first place, it most likely means you've already got poor time management or are very easily distracted. I've tested both the 25/50 kind of timers and this 30/60 variety. Knowing that I'm easily distracted and my mind wander when I work, seeing "30 minutes" on the clock is a huge mental block -- I find myself thinking, "Ugh, that's a lot of time left." But for some reason, when I see "25 minutes," I instead think, "Oh crap, that's not a lot of time. I'd better get this task done before this time block is over." Maybe it's just me. But the 25/50 work chunks, which is what the Pomodoro technique calls for, is more effective. This timer does not provide those options.The other thing, and you might not understand the inconvenience of this until you actually use it, is that on the 25/50 timer cube I first use, the 30 and 60 timers were on opposite sides of the cube, and the 5 and 10 minute timers were opposite each other. On this timer, though, the 30 and 60 minute timers are adjacent to each other instead of opposite one another. Maybe I just got too quickly used to the 25/50 timer configuration, but the location of the different timers on the sides of this cube frustrate me.

It's a pretty simple object -- I'm a fan of the flip-it-over approach and it automatically starts.The manual timer also helps, especially with everyday tasks like laundry so I don't forget about it.I wouldn't say the alarm is particularly loud. You can hear it, but your phone's alarm will be MUCH louder. Lastly, this seems like a Marshall's / TJ Maxx item that would be purchased for $5 or $6. For that price, seems appropriate. For the current price ($15.99), that's wildly expensive for what this is.

If you are looking to use the preset, gravity activated, times you will absolutely love it! I assumed that the manual time settings would work similarly. I needed to be able to set a 60 second timer. Setting it up is a little clunky, but not terrible. The problem I have is that if you want to restart the timer before it's run through the entire 60 seconds (or whatever your manual time is) it is not quick. Since I most frequently would be using times that are not one of the presets, this is not for me. However, if these times work for you then you will find it easy and convenient to use. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could. I wish there was a way to program the presets to different times.