Pearl Salubrion Enso Clock Meditation Zen Timer

I invested in the Enso Pearl based mainly on user reviews of excellent sound and have been 100% satisfied all the way. This is a versatile and beautiful-sounding device. My top criterion was the alert tone, and the Pearl features variety of true to life tones -- a medium gong sound, two lighter versions of a small bell or chime each with a slightly different piercing resonance, the sound of a small drum, and lastly a traditional beep. Changing the tone to be used is easy and the choice of tones means I can set it for whatever I need that day - gentle chime or deeper ding. The sounds are completely realistic and very satisfying.Three timer modes mean I can pre-program my three favorite commonly used interval choices and access them at will. The setup takes a little bit of learning but I found it as intuitive as most products. The interval timers are great and really allow for some interesting flexibility.One criticism would be that the T1, T2, T3 buttons which you use to select the interval you're going to activate are the MOST used buttons on the device, and were made the SMALLEST - these should be large as they're the ones you're reaching for all the time. I use mine laying down, so don't use the stand, but would agree with other reviewers that it could be more robust. As to sensitivity to water, it seems it would have about the same as my cell phone and other complex electronic devices, i.e. - it's delicate. Don't get it splashed or wet, or banged around too much, period.Re: the price, I think it's comparable to similar timer-gong products. I paid more than this for a Zen Alarm Clock which only does one thing, while the Enso Pearl I use throughout the day for many tasks. For the complexity available in the three timer choices and the quality and variety of the tones, I find the product worth it. It also comes with a small, very nicely made cushioned neoprene case that zips around the item. When I'm not using the timer function, the Enso's large display tells me the time, which is also nice.I needed a task timer to use throughout the day in the office and needed something quiet and melodious, both for my own sanity and the sanity of my colleagues (nothing that shrilled, beeped, buzzed, etc.). It also had to take care of itself should the time interval go off while I was called away from my desk (no continuous beep going on forever), which it does (dings twice at the end of the final interval, then silent). It had to sound fantastic, which it does. The various timer options were an unexpected bonus, I didn't expect to enjoy them as much as I did and they really opened up some new possibilities for timing and focus (ex. a 1-minute meditative period at the end of the main interval of action). Versatile, beautiful, meditative - I'm very satisfied.

Here's the good news: The sound quality is quite good for its size. Almost everything else is bad news. The price is almost insultingly high. When you see the poor build quality and the fact that they use adjectives like "champagne" to describe the cheap plastic finish you catch on that this is purposefully over-priced to target a well-heeled yuppie/yoga market. I actually called them to ask what justified the price and was told about the audio quality and the extreme difficulty of getting something that did everything it could do into such a small package. That would be a great answer if this was 1960, but we live in the era of miniaturized electronics. My cell phone is half the size of this clock, can produce as good or better a gong sound and has like 20,000 more functions then this silly timer. It immediately becomes obvious how this could have been made better if they had spent a few more dollars on it. As others have pointed out it, it is almost designed to tip over. Why not a bit of silicon on the bottom to make it more stable? Yeah it back lights if you press a button, but then you can't see any of the other buttons---why no have them backlight when the face backlights? Mine also arrived defective. In the T1 timing zone when set for hours and minutes it would only record minutes and seconds---probably many other copies will also have this defect. It does come with a nice travel case and if it were $24.99 it might be worth it. If you want to wake up to a gong or have a gong timer you will probably be better off with the Now and Zen timepiece. I have no connection to that company and their product has some flaws as well. It looks and sounds much, much better, is very aesthetically well designed but it is manufactured haphazardly with the wood parts often not fitting together right. The bamboo clock on their own site has this defect and there are other signs of sloppy assembly. The hammer striker failed after two years, but they did offer a decent trade back option and their attitude was good. Also, with radio controlled "atomic" clocks now available for as little as $10., anyone who is selling a quartz-based clock for more that $50 that does not offer that is probably skimping in other ways at your expense. The circular design does not say Zen to me but Zero, and I would suggest meditating until your desire for this gizmo goes away.

Pros:- 3 customizable timers (all can be interval timers and/or sequence timers)- 5 different rings (a low bell, 2 higher pitched bells, wooden bell?, and a regular alarm clock beep)- nice clear interface with the moving circle countdown which is visually pleasing- has an alarm clock feature included (although I have never used it)Cons:- Overpriced!- you can only use one bell at a time - for this price they should have been able to at least allow each separate timer to use a different bell- back light stays on for maybe 5 seconds and is not configurableI use this mostly for my yoga practice using mainly the interval timer function and it meets most of my needs. For the price of this toy I expected to get much more from this product. The lack of creativity and flexibility from Solubrion leaves me a bit disappointed as I would have expected to at least be able to use different bells per timer, somewhat control the back-light, and some more adjustability with the stand/foot. Overall this product is overpriced and you could probably find an app for your phone that has all the same features for 1% of the price (or free).Update: after a few months one of the buttons stopped working. I have tried emailing and calling salubrion for customer support for weeks and have never received any response. A 100$ timer should not stop functioning after a few months.