Wend Digital Tide Clock North America - Pacific/Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico : USA, Canada - 5,500+ Sites Across The Continent. Plus Digital Aquarium.

Sent as a gift. Unit would not accept time input. Amazon tech support agreed that directions were followed. They said company tech support only available by email. Very disappointed as the recipient was delighted with gift until...no dice.

Why buy a digital tide clock when I already own a classic, shiny brass mechanical one? Mechanical tide clocks are based strictly on a lunar day of 24 hours and 50 minutes. On the Atlantic Coast, there are typically two high tides and two low tides daily, with 12 hours and 25 minutes between each high or each low (semi-diurnal tide). The problem is that, at my location, low tides seldom occur exactly between high tides. Set the clock at high tide and it will accurately predict subsequent high tides but the low tide times may be off; set it at low tide and the reverse may be true. Put another way, high and low tides, although having the same basic 12 hour and 25-minute period, can be significantly out of phase. Furthermore, the degree of this phase-shift varies throughout the month. These deviations do average out over time, but there are cases where better daily accuracy would be appreciated. On the Pacific Coast, the situation is further complicated by the fact that the two daily highs (or lows) can differ significantly in height (mixed tide). On the Gulf Coast, there is typically only one daily high and one daily low (diurnal tide), rendering a twice-daily mechanical clock useless. Regardless of daily timing issues, a mechanical clock simply does not provide numeric height information: how high or how low? These are the reasons why we use location-specific tide tables, hard-copy or on-line. The digital tide clock by WeND contains the very same accurately-modeled time and height data sets used to produce conventional tide tables. It can display this information for all significant North American tide stations, decades into the future. For people who don’t like tables, there are three easy-to-visualize choices for graphical presentation, one of which features tropical fish swimming in a rising or falling tide. Too cute? Actually, the “digital aquarium” feature is good for estimating the present tide at a quick glance, far better than that big rotating hand of a mechanical tide clock. Too high-tech? It took me all of about 5 minutes to unpack the clock and get it fully set up, without reading the directions. Everything worked great, first try, exactly as advertised.

This is a very awkward design. The box is deep enough to sit on a counter or a table but the power connector sticks almost two inches out of the middle of the bottom making it unsightly (if it is hung on the wall) and a barrier to the free standing option. If the connector were to be moved to the back of the box and recessed, then the display options would be great.

While the unit functions as advertised, the execution is poor. The size of the fonts showing the time of the next tide and the hours until that tide are so small, you need to be inches away from the unit practically with reading glasses. It is certainly not useable mounted on a wall to view across the room.

Finally, someone has produced a digital tide display which does not require an internet connection or a cell phone connection or a cellular data plan! This handy little device stores tide data for every published tide site in the US, Canada and other locations in North America - tide data from 5,500 sites! - tide data for the next 20 years! Of course it does require electricity - plug it into your outlet at home or work, plug it into your computer or laptop or use a portable charger. I went to the manufacturers website and found where to buy a lipstick-sized portable charger for only $10 through Amazon! It will hold a charge for 18 hours (longer if i unplug it). This really makes it a portable unit for fishermen, sail boaters, power boaters or anybody who has to know what the tide is doing or will be doing. I can just throw mine in my tackle box and not have to deal with internet and cell phone connections. At home i hang it on the wall next to my bed - it makes a nice nightlight and if i wake up early i can check the tide to see if it's right to go fishing. I can also see where this standalone device would be required safety equiptment for those who earn their living at sea - commercial fishermen, ship captains, oil industry, offshore contractors and emergency response crews - would be invaluable if the internet/cell phone systems were unavailable or knocked out by natural disaster. If you have a loved one who spends a lot of time on the water i would recommend it as a great gift. I know it gives my wife a little peace of mind when i take it with me. It seems well made and very simple to use - and it's made in the USA - i really like that!

Best tide clock I've seen. I live on AL Gulf Coast where other tide clocks won't work. I like to fish--with this one I don't have to look up tide every time. 4 screens to choose from including one with sunrise/sunset. When we put in our zip code, we can select from a bunch of sites nearby and choose right where we'd like to fish. User friendly, conveniently hangs on wall, well built in USA. Clearly, this company put a lot of thought into making a quality product. They succeeded in making one.

very small display

We took one of the tide-clocks on our cruise across the Gulf and up the Eastern seaboard to Maryland. We tried it out at various locations and it worked great. We could just enter a lat/long or a zip code and within a couple of key strokes instantly have tidal information. No looking up tide books/charts, PC’s or cell phones. It is fast and easy with neat graphics. We recommend the tide-clock for everybody - even for us highly non-computer literate old folks!