Best low price digital Scholastic chess clock

I'm looking to purchase 10 clocks for Our elementary school chess club. I'm looking at digital clocks in the $30 – $50 range. I have been looking at the DGE and Saitek clocks.  Any preference between those two, or some other brand that works well.

What kind of time controls do you want to use?

If you are just using G/n with no delay or increment, all of the digital clocks available at the major chess stores (wholesalechess.com, houseofchess.com, houseofstaunton.com and USCFSales.com, and such) will work.

If you want delay or increment, avoid the DGT Easy Game Timer. It supports neither delay nor increment. The DGT Easy Plus Game Timer is OK in this regard. It is just like the non-Plus, except it adds increment and delay support. However, see below for another limitation of both these clocks.

If you want increment, avoid the Saitek Competition Game Clock (the blue Saitek that is very common in scholastic chess). The Saitek Competition Game Clock Pro is fine (the Saitek that is not blue).

If you want a time control with more than one period (e.g, 30 moves in 60 minutes, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game), avoid the DGT Easy Game Timer, the DGT Easy Plus Game Timer, and the DGT 960. They only support a single time period, G/n (with optional delay or increment) time period. (They also have an upcount mode and a fixed time per mode mode).

The Excalibur Game Time II clock, which is the offical clock of the USCF, and supports all the time controls common in US chess, is available for $33.95 per clock if you are buying 10: http://www.chesshouse.com/Game_Timer_Chess_Clock_II_Excalibur_p/e322.htm

Note: the clocks that only support a single time period CAN be used for multiple time periods, but you have to essentially pretend they are analog clocks and adjust them between periods. For instance, if you were playing 30/60, SD/30, you'd set the clock for 60 minutes. When the players complete move 30, you'd have to stop the clock, and add 30 minutes to each side, then resume the clock.

Thanks.  Is the Excalibur easy enough to set for kids?  With the push buttons being so low rather than on the top of the clock, does it get jostled during bullet games?  Does the face raised over the buttons get in the way of using the button in rapid games?  Also, are all clocks you mentioned about the same in terms of durability

I've not used the Excalibur. Someone on Reddit /r/chess who uses one with kids said it stands up to them well.

Here is the manual so you can decide whether it is easy or hard to set: http://www.scribd.com/doc/216400091/Excalibur-Clock-Manual

Here is the Saitek manual for comparison: http://www.scribd.com/doc/216400789/Gameclock-Manual-CZ02-English

Remember, that model does not do increment. The Pro model does. I don't have a copy of the Pro manual, but it should be similar.

The Saitek (non-Pro) is widely used in scholastic chess, so it seems like it must handle abuse well.

Another very common clock is the DGT North American. You can get this for $42 (with free two day shipping if you have Amazon Prime): http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00312D2OU/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

DGT North American manual: http://www.dgtprojects.com/site/index.php/dgtsupport/manuals/doc_download/179-dgt-north-american-manual-3-languages

The North American is pretty easy to set. Turn it on, hit the + and - to get to the preset number you want, and then there are a couple more presses to select the mode and start the game. After the game, turn it off and on, and it will default to the same settings as last time, so it is easy to start a new game if you playing a streak of blitz games.

The manual, for some reason, puts the list that gives the times of the preset modes on page 35, after the French and Spanish instructions.

Saitek Blue!  For elementary.

For Jr. High and High School ... Saitek Silver.

I'vesponsored scholastic chess clubs since 1999, so trust me on this. 

The new ZMF-II's do seem like a viable option, however those are the only ones that I don't have first hand knowledge of.  

The Excalibur is full featured, inexpensive and more durrable than some would have you believe, but it is to complicated for kids (or adults) that don't want to read the manual. Our club has one of these, I have to set it as the kids won't learn to do it.

Our club bought 4 DGT NA's they're ok, much quieter than the Saiteks and Excaliber. But they too, are hard to comprehend with out reading the manual. Also you start them by pushing the play button in the center rather than the player lever. Kids in our club dont like that, often they will forget and play several moves pushing the lever before they realize that the clock hasn't even been started ýet.  Also they doesn't seem as rugged as the Saiteks.

Chronos is too complicated and too expensive for scholastic chess. New ones are too scarce as of late.

I personaly own too Duel Timers, they're easy to operate but too expensive for scholastic chess. Kids also think they look too ""Old School"(old fashion).

Don't bother with Analog, We used to use those years ago, no bateries was nice but the kids would over wind them and that incessent ticking sound drives everyone nuts. 

I feel so strongly aboutSaiteks that I gave Saiteks to my own kids  a silver to my 5th grade daughter and the blue to my 1st grade son.  However my daughter now wants a ZMF-II instead.

With the Saitek blue, just  program the time control you want them to play and tell 'em to  push the favorite button.  We use G15 d5