On Time 49000 Tomahawk VL Timer - Digital Countdown Timer with Large Display for Kitchen, Gym, Classroom & Office Use

UPDATE: CHANGE THAT TO ONE STAR. The unit just suddenly QUIT working this summer (2018). No apparent cause. WARNING TO THE READER: The rest of this update may be boring, certainly unnecessary, and details my DIY project to keep the birds happy and me from having to refill the feeder frequently (especially during inclement weather). After two catastrophic failures with two different brands, I built a gravity feeder using a 5-gal plastic water bottle (think reuseable water cooler bottle) suspended over a vintage metal chicken feeder/dispenser (you know, the circular base with multiple round holes and which ordinarily screw mounts to a mason jar). I cut a large hole in the base of the 5-gal bottle for easy refill, ran a metal rod through holes drilled in the lower half of the bottle to attach suspension chains , found an old metal pot that fits snugly over the bottle to cover the refill hole, and clamped a length of clear plastic floor runner as a skirt to fend off rain/snow and still allow access by the birds (quail are our largest). I suspended it from the same two metal garden stakes I had used to suspend the electronic feeders. I also attached a bunge cord around the stakes and bottle just to keep the wind from moving the setup around too much and possibly displacing the mouth of the bottle from the inside of the screw-flange of the chicken feeder. Just bought and set up, so these comments are based on first impressions. A few initial hiccups but all the features are now functioning. The minor hiccups, just for your info if you are a newbie to this product, included the following: 1) Attachment holes may not line up with those drilled in the bucket for other brands. I replaced a digital Moultrie brand and this was the case. Moultrie and other brands have "legs" with a wide spread but this ONTIME has screw holes on the flange of the funnel. Some kind of plugs may be necessary for the existing mounting holes. 2) Standard buckets are fairly thin gauge metal and ONTIME supplied regular sheet metal screws that may not cinch up tight or may not stay tight after a period of use, vibrations, and buffeting by the weather. Or, if the thin metal gives a little too easily and you punch a larger hole than you planned on, then the sheet metal screws will be useless. I installed four threaded rivets and used bolts and lock washers instead of the supplied screws. A little overkill; a pair of washers with the nuts and bolts should do just fine. 3) Both the battery compartment lid and the face plate require a little more COORDINATED gentle prying and pushing to open than hinted at in the instructions. The face plate, for example is held in by a small, fixed pin that is embedded in the bottom of the plate. But the plastic plate is flexible enough to bow and allow the plate & pin to slide down over the frame threshold. 4) Instructions are a bit cryptic but generally serviceable. No mention of the TEST button, however; no mention of when or how long to press it. It does not work BEFORE programming the unit. If the test button does not respond (single, solid, short press) after you have finished programming, do not panic. Give it a few minutes (maybe 10-15). Mine failed to do a test run at first but decided, after a few anxious minutes of my checking the instructions again and tending to other site/setup issues, to perform a test spin. 5) My timer gave me a couple of frustrating moments. The clock lost about 4 minutes during a 15 minute set up period. And the TEST run lasted about 4 seconds although I had programmed the unit for only one (1) second. I decided to wait overnight and see how it performed under load thru a complete timed cycle on its own. Luckily, but strangely, the clock did not appear to lose any more time; the spin cycle lasted only a couple seconds. Fortunately, the amount of feed dropped was slightly less than the amount the old Moultrie feeder dispensed in one second, even with the extra second or so of spin by the ONTIME. Why? No clue, but pleased with the results. I feed wild birds and the amount dispensed intermittently is key to not overfeeding (waste, spoilage, mold, etc) them. If they happen to eat more, the flexible programming feed & run options of the ONTIME should allow an acceptable matchup. 6) The ONTIME limited warranty is 5 years. My prior Moultrie unit died after about 3 years. I will try to UPDATE this review if this unit outlasts the warranty or If I have any negative experiences. Otherwise, the unit will have met its performance expectations. Good luck and happy feeding!Like that Amazon got it to my house in a timely fashion. It works the way it should so the feed can programmed to go off at certain times of the day.This was a replacement for my old spin cast feeder. This one you have to set up the feed times. I had to buy a Cage to go around the bottom of my feeder to keep the squirrels from spinning the feed tray. This is a excellent feeder timer.I have used this type of timer for years and have had good success with them, sometimes the buttons don't react well but all and all works wellGreat game feeder. Well packed and easy to set up. I bought a second one after setting up the first as a hanging feeder.Seems good so farI purchased this in March and installed it immediately, set the timer to run twice a day at 10 seconds each time, it’s working great so far, only issue is the clock doesn’t keep accurate time, it runs 6 minutes fast right now but I’m not concerned about it. I would definitely buy another one!Easy setup and bolted right up to the feeder