Gymboss miniMAX Interval Timer and Stopwatch - Black/Yellow SOFTCOAT

This little timer is so much more convenient than using a watch, stopwatch or cell phone timer. It has a variety of timer functions and the individual functions are multi-programmable. I have mine set for a warmup period and a workout period for workout days and a ten cycle timer for walking and running. The walking running is set for 45 seconds running and 1 minute walking for ten cycles. You can set it up for as many cycles as you like, up to I believe 99. It weighs next to nothing and comes with a clip that I just attach to the waistband of my shorts when I am running/walking. Great and inexpensive tool for timed workouts.

Very small, lightweight and comfortable to wear. Very flexible in terms of programming various intervals. Also has a stop watch. I read a lot of reviews that mentioned the instructions. I watched a four minute video on the Gymboss website that went through a few basic functions. I could have walked away from the video after two minutes and had everything I needed. Once you see the operation through one or two functions, the buttons/screen/setup become very intuitive. Couldn't be easier. I also liked the fact that you can have several different combinations of alarms and alarm duration. Comparing to many other interval timers, if you don't mind dropping $30 bucks, I suggest you look no further. One quick addition. There seemed to be a question of whether or not the unit would store your programmed settings when replacing the battery. According to Gymboss customer service, the unit will save stored settings : )

I love this interval timer, but it was an absolute chore to figure out how to change a saved program once I had entered it and then later changed my mind and wanted to update it and save again. I asked the question here on Amazon and no one responded, so I'm assuming nobody else has needed to do this (or has figured it out). The instructions indicate you should just go into your saved program, change it to however you want it, and then save it. But it's not that simple, and I exchanged at least a dozen emails or more with the company before realizing how I needed to change it. They were responsive about answering my question in a timely way, but their responses didn't clear up the confusion. So after a bunch of emailing, I had pretty much given up on being able to change an existing saved program. And there is only room on the device for about 20 different saved programs, so you wouldn't want to have to keep creating new ones as you changed your mind about a workout. So here are the details of what I needed to do and how I did it: Let's say you have saved a workout in the Multi category and it has 7 different intervals. Then you change your mind and want to eliminate interval 4 so you'll only have 6 intervals. You can't go into the saved workout and delete interval 4. There is no delete option on this device. Also, the device won't let you set interval 4 to last zero seconds. I tried that and the minimum number of seconds it will allow is 2 seconds. So I thought the best I could do is have a bogus interval 4 that lasted 2 seconds which I would have to ignore. The critical piece of missing information that nobody mentions is that you have to go into the saved workout and RE-ENTER EACH INTERVAL FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END. If you re-enter each interval, you can make intervals 1, 2, and 3 the way you want them, then you make interval 4 look like the old interval 5 looked, and you make interval 5 look like the old 6 looked, and the final interval CAN be brought down to zero seconds. And then you can save it that way and you have essentially deleted interval 4. When you re-save a workout, it overlays the previous version of that workout, so you won't be wasting one of your 20 on a useless workout. I guess I could have rated this unit less than 5 stars because of the terrible instructions and the less-than-helpful email responses, but the unit itself is really great. So I decided to rate it based on that instead. And as others have said here, be sure to print the official instructions you can get from the gymboss website rather than trying to use the terrible instructions that will ship with the unit. Armed with the official instructions and the information I listed above, you should be able to figure out how to enter and update some great workout interval programs.

Very happy with the MiniMax. I've used it in a couple of half marathons already and have been very pleased with performance. Longer battery life and a display that lights up keep this from a 5 star product. It seems that the technology for lighting the display is pretty basic on many products, wish they could upgrade this feature here. Instructions are a little dicey at first, but quickly become intuitive especially with YouTube videos that offer good visual instructions. The beep is much louder and easier to hear than anything I've used before (Timex Ironman watch with interval mode, e.g.). I did have a problem with the number display recently, but found customer service to be excellent. I don't spend big bucks on Garmins, etc. so I can't compare to those. The Timex did light up and up to 9 different intervals could be created and repeated versus 2 for GymBoss miniMax (unless I missed something). The intervals will repeat enough times to complete a half marathon (I'm not setting any speed records). Highly recommend this product. Update 3/16/16 It turns out you can program multiple intervals and some pretty complicated intervals if needed. Again, initially this is not easy to do, however with the tutorials on the Gymboss website and youtube it becomes easier to understand the process. Just finished a half marathon with 8 different intervals. I also purchased the "skin" to help make it water resistant. The skin can make it difficult to see the screen. Now all it needs in "Indigo" lighting. Come on Gymboss, let there be light!

This is a fantastic timer that has all the options you could possibly need. I bought it to do Tabata-style intervals (20/10x8). It has 3 interval modes (1, 2, 3+). I used the 2-interval mode to program a 20/10x8 Tabata cycle in a few button presses. I also use it in 1-interval mode as a rest timer during weight workouts. After my set, I start the timer for a 30-second rest interval. If you have a tendency to dawdle and socialize at the gym, this timer will help you stay on track and get your workout in a shorter amount of time. The construction is solid, the belt clip is strong enough to hold on during a workout and it has a rubber coating. It has options for soft beep, loud beep, and vibrate signal. You can combine any or all of these if you like. About the only thing they could add to improve this timer might be a larger LCD or a backlight for readability, however, only if they could keep the current size/weight.

I bought this timer for Jeff Galloway interval training on a six-month schedule. It works great! The how-to video made it easy to program and the vibrations are easy to feel even while working out. HOWEVER the timer isn't waterproof. I will need to buy two to make it through the six months of training, because half the LEDs are shorted out from sweat, and I do not sweat heavily. The price makes it worth it though. So feel free to purchase, just be aware that you may end up buying more than one.

I've owned and used Gymboss timers since they started making them. This is easily their best one. I use it literally daily. With all the different features and modes, this will make your workouts much more efficient if used effectively. Pros: battery life (uses readily available battery type), user friendly controls, size, weight (you'll forget it's on your waistband) -the functions offer an innumerable number of workout options that require a timing sequence Cons: does NOT turn off on its own, stays on indefinitely until you cycle through the menu and select OFF (it wouldn't have been that hard to program the IC to turn off on it's own..) Dear Gymboss, Make a fully waterproof one for use in pools/swimming. This is the only place I cannot take my Gymboss, but also the place I want to take it the MOST.

I ended up using this for 4-7-8 breathing exercises. The multi function is perfect for this. The tones and vibrations are super loud and very tunable for your needs. I'm very happy with the timer.