Binary Watch Review ------------------- Written by Unicoder Thursday, 23 February 2006 There are many ways to show that you are a real geek; you can put hacker stickers on your laptop and your car, you can wear a freaky "got root?" shirt, or you can join a local chess club. But there is one thing that beats all that stuff - a binary wrist watch. I bought mine from Thinkgeek about two months ago, and boy I don't regret it for a moment. ;-) In the following short hands-on review I will explain the watch in detail and give you an insight into my day to day experience with this watch. Unpacking the watch The Samui Moon binary watch is produced by Time Technology - a manufacturer that is specialised in the design of binary watches. It comes in a choice of either red or blue leds. While I thought the one with the "fiery" red leds looked really cool, I chose in the end the "cold" blue version, because I thought that the blue leds may be brighter and therefore better readable in sunlight. The watch came in a nice metal box that was packaged inside a black cardboard box. Inside this metal box there was the watch itself (protected by a sponge and a clear plastic sticker over the face) and an instruction leaflet explaining how to set the time and how to read the watch. [FIG1_BinWatch.jpg] Fig 1: The package Now let's have a closer look at the watch (Fig 2, Fig 3): The Samui Moon is a highly attractive watch, with a case made of stainless steal and a high quality genuine leather strap. The face of the watch - consisting of a dark green circuit board, transistors, resistors and leds is protected by scratch resistant mineral glass. Time Technology claims that the watch is waterproof up to 3 ATM (about 30 meters / 100 feet). Overall the design of the watch does appeal to both males and females, but I don't suggest females to wear this watch, because it's pretty huge and will feel uncomfortable when you have too tiny wrists (Fig 4). [FIG2_BinWatch.jpg] Fig 2: Face of the watch (at day) [FIG3_BinWatch.jpg] Fig 3: Face of the watch (at night) - it's 10:22 [FIG4_BinWatch.jpg] Fig 4: Size comparison with a 10 euro and 1$ banknote and my Seiko Titanium watch The watch has two buttons at the right side of the case. Pressing the top button activates the leds for 5 seconds (no, they don't glow the whole time - that would cost too much energy), while the other button puts the watch into time-setting mode. Now you may wonder how you can read the watch. All I can say is: Don't worry; it's not that hard if you know binary numbers. (Fig 5) [FIG5_BinWatch.jpg] Fig 5: How to read the time If you have a closer look at the watch you can see that there are two rows of leds (Fig 2, Fig 3, Fig 5). The top row consisting of four leds is responsible for showing the hour, while the bottom row is responsible for the minutes. To read the time you only have to add up the numbers corresponding to the glowing leds. To give you a little help Time Technology has printed the number value of each led in tiny white letters on the circuit board above each led. Let me give you a few examples: 1 means the led glows while 0 means that the led is dark. Top row: 0001 Bottom row: 000100 It's 1:04 Top row: 0110 Bottom row: 101000 It's 6:40 Top row: 1011 Bottom row: 000111 It's 11:07 Top row: 1100 Bottom row: 111011 It's 12:59 If you still don't know how you can read the watch I suggest reading the Wikipedia article about binary numbers. Please note that the Samui Moon only tells the time in 12 hour format, and that there is no AM/PM or date indication! Moreover: If you're not into mental arithmetic, this watch is not for you. ;-) The binary watch in everyday life ... Based on my day to day experiences with this watch I can say that this little gizmo is the perfect conversation starter. When people see you with this watch they come over to you, ask you what this is, and after you tell them that this thing on your wrist is actually a watch, they want you to explain how you can read the time. And yep, the girls love it. ;-) Now, after two month of use I can also say that the Samui Moon is very durable. It shows no signs of wear. It has not one scratch on the face (thanks to the mineral glass and the steal body), and the leather strap is also in perfect condition. All in all I think this watch is built for eternity. Sounds pretty good so far, right? But there are also a few cons I noticed in the last two month: When you're in a hurry it's pretty hard to read the watch. Imagine you're trying to catch a train and you're running really fast. With a normal watch this is no problem - a short glimpse is enough to read the time. But with the binary watch you have to slow down or stop to read the time, because you need at least a second to read the time (especially when a lot of leds are glowing). You also get in trouble on sunny days, because then you can't read the time without covering the face of the watch with one of your hands - the leds are just not bright enough to cope with the sunlight. Conclusions This watch is the perfect gizmo for real geeks who prefer form over function. Although it is definitely not built for everyday use (at least in my opinion), this watch is still perfect for special occasions where you want to show that you're a true geek. And that's what literally "counts." ;-) Summary Pros: * You get a unique watch that fits your personality * Perfect present for any geek * This watch is a nice conversation starter * Very durable * High quality genuine leather strap * Pretty cheap (costs $69.99 at Thinkgeek) Cons: * Hard to read accurately when you are in a hurry * Hard to read in bright sunlight * Lack of seconds and 24 hour mode (no AM/PM indicators) Links Thinkgeek - www.thinkgeek.com Time Technology - www.timetechnology.com The Binary Numeral System - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_numeral_system