Can anyone give me feedback on the Ready Ref or other timers out there? What works best? Pros and cons? I do a lot of backjudge and whitehat and with the new mechanic for backjudges, I am thinking about getting a timer.

This was discussed at length in another forum...

http://www.nfhs.org/scriptcontent/va...c;f=9;t=000398

ljudge - Thanks. I forgot to go that site. I personally don't think the BJ should have to chop (more baby-sitting of coaches), but since it is now official, I will make sure it is accurate.

Yeah, it takes some latitude away from the BJ. Once he starts his basketball-like officiating mechanic he has no choice but to throw the flag at the end of that count. Now they gotta be "ticky-tack" on the rules and penalize at 25 seconds on the dime.

you will be surprised how much latitude you have there....your count can be slow....you can wait a little to start it what ever you feel the need to do. The coaches don't rely on it as much as the QB...the defense very seldom even knows you are counting...Any coach worth his salt that wants a ticky tack 25 second call can also watch a running clock, and see when the R blows the ready for play, so it really won't be a big deal. Like I have said before, we have used this mechanic in WY for as long as I can remember, and we have never had a coach complain that we didn't throw a delay of game flag on the opponent...I can't imagine not using it, it works well and causes no problems..