This is a remarkable timer and perfect for my hot water heating system's recirculation pump. The timer is unique in that it permits 3 levels of timing control. You can set a range-of-day (say, from 6:00AM to 9:00PM). Or, ON from 6AM, OFF at 9AM, then ON again at 5PM, OFF at 10PM... ect. The best feature is that you can control the duration of each "ON" or "OFF" interval. So, for my recirculation pump, which only needs to refresh the hot water line to keep it warm, I set the duration to: 1 minute ON, 8 minutes OFF. I had been using a mechanical timer, but those things only offer 15 minute intervals of either ON, or OFF. For my needs, that was a waste of electricity.There are other modes you can control, such as "Recycle", which is the number of times to run each 'interval' within each active hour, although they weren't useful to my needs.What really sets this timer apart from others is its ease of use. The buttons are logical and well named. So, setup is pretty straight forward. It also contains a battery so, were a power outage to occur you wouldn't lose the settings. I suppose the battery is good for several months without a charge because the timer arrived with the clock still running. In fact, I configured the timer right out of the box without ever plugging it in.I've used the mechanical timers for lamps and such, but, hands-down this timer is a better deal and just as easy to use (maybe even easier).