REVIEW – I’m a bit of a productivity nerd and like trying a variety of apps, systems, and methodologies. But the one thing I always have problems with is focusing. If something can distract me, it will. So I was happy to accept an offer from New Thing Lab to test out a prototype of their ZONE Focus Timer, which hit Kickstarter this morning. Let’s see if it can keep me on task.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $56.00 and up
Where to buy: New Thing Lab and Kickstarter
What is it?
The ZONE Focus Timer is a simple timer that you can use for timed focus sessions for work, workouts, breaks, and more.
What’s included?
- ZONE Focus Timer
- USB-C charging cable
Optional Focus Bundle
- Bamboo stand
- 4x reusable mini white boards
- Erasable marker
Design and features
The ZONE Focus Timer is a small cube with a soft touch silicone skin that is available in light blue (seen here), black, and white. The front of the timer is a large 7×7 pixel white on black display.
On the back of the timer, you’ll find four buttons. The play button turns the timer on/off, the + button adds time to the timer, the musical note button allows you to adjust the volume level of the alarm chime or set it to vibrate, and the heart button lets you set your own default timers. There’s also a USB-C charging port.
How does the ZONE Focus Timer work?
Each surface around the cube has a different shaped divot in the soft exterior and is set to a default timer setting. There’s a round divot for 5 minutes, an oval divot for 10 minutes, a diamond shaped divot for 25 minutes, and a square divot for 60 minutes. Or, you can customize the timers by using the + button and saving the time for each side using the heart button. You can set a maximum time of 99 minutes. Note that there isn’t a minus button.
To use the timer, you press the play button to turn it on and then place or roll the cube to the side/timer you want to use. It will immediately begin a timed session. I love the little clunk noise it makes when you roll the timer.
The nice thing is that there are no flashing dots, seconds, etc. It just shows the time left in big bright letters without being distracting.
When the time is up, the timer has a pleasant chime that chimes 3 times, and then display will blink for 30 seconds before automatically turning off.
There’s also a pause feature where you can turn the timer face up (digits facing up) to pause the timer. Note that if you don’t resume the timer (roll it back), it will automatically turn off the timer after about 15 seconds.
There’s a Kickstarter option to also get the Focus bundle, which is a specially designed bamboo stand for the ZONE Timer that comes with four tiny glass dry erase boards and a marker that you can use for an analog task list.
See it in action
Final thoughts
I am really enjoying using the ZONE Focus Timer. Rolling it back and forth to change the timer gives it a fun fidget factor. I like that it is very easy to set and pause the timer and that the alert sound is gentle and not annoying. This is one of those gadgets that is simple but effective. If you also need help focusing, I think the ZONE Focus Timer might help you like it has for me.
What I like about ZONE Focus Timer
- Simple and fun to use
- 4 timers that you can customize
- 1 to 99 minute timer
- Rechargeable
What needs to be improved?
- Needs a button to subtract minutes when customizing a timer
Price: $56.00 and up
Where to buy: New Thing Lab and Kickstarter
Source: The sample for this review was provided by New Things Lab. New Things Lab did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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$50.00 (as of June 4, 2025 18:05 GMT -04:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
