I’ve always had it in my mind that putting up Christmas lights is a big production. As a kid growing up in suburban New York, I would watch my dad string length upon length of icicle lights all along the gutter of our two-story house. It took an entire weekend.

Maybe my decorating ambitions are more modest because of that, or maybe it’s because my current house is (blessedly) smaller than the one I grew up in, but I have a simpler setup. I hang lights around the front window and front door and along the banister on the front steps, then drape a string on a short evergreen in our front garden. We have a small snowman inflatable in the yard for good measure. What makes the whole decorating process even easier is this digital timer from MyTouchSmart. My wife bought it at Home Depot last year, and it’s quickly become my favorite appliance during the holidays.

My Christmas Light Sidekick

MyTouchSmart 26898-P1 Indoor/Outdoor Weather-Resistant Digital Plug-In Timer

Pros

• The buttons tell me at a glance which settings I’m using
• Setting the on and off times is easy
• The included screw hole facilitates mounting (though I let the timer hang and haven’t had issues)

Cons

• There’s no listed IP rating, which makes me leery of how well it will stand up to rain
• Screen doesn’t light up

Will Egensteiner

I most appreciate how simple and intuitive it is to use MyTouchSmart. There are preset settings but using the custom timer is so easy I don’t even bother with them. I set the main time via the arrow buttons, then use the My On Time and My Off Time buttons to schedule the lights to turn on at 5 p.m. and off at 10 p.m. Indicator lights next to each button assure me which setting is activated.

My main gripe with those blocky outlet timers (other than their constant ticking) is that futzing with the dials and minuscule buttons was never worth the hassle for me. I wouldn’t even bother myself with them to program our indoor lights when we went on vacation. If we got robbed, we got robbed. At least I’d have my sanity.

To be clear, the MyTouchSmart is not without its drawbacks. The screen doesn’t light up when you press the buttons, which has made seeing the time tough when I’ve been decorating after dusk. And there is no WiFi or other type of connectivity, should I desire to change the settings on the fly.

This Kasa plug is the better option if you do want to run your lights through an app. And we’ve reviewed other smart plugs for indoor use that address my aversion to those old-school outlet timers.

I’d also be wary of the weather-resistance. MyTouchSmart doesn’t list an IP rating for the timer, so you’ll have to trust that it will survive if exposed to heavy rain.

But the MyTouchSmart is ideal for my setup. The outlet I have it plugged into is on a covered porch, so I’m not too worried about it failing in weather since it’s sheltered. And all I want and need to do is plug in my lights and lawn decoration, tap a few buttons, and forget about fiddling with anything until it’s time to bring the decorations down.

Buy the MyTouchSmart Indoor/Outdoor Digital Plug-In Timer

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Will Egensteiner has been reviewing products for 10 years, testing and writing about everything from climbing gear to video game consoles to cars. He began his career as an intern at Popular Mechanics, then worked as an editor at Outside, spearheading the magazine’s gear coverage and biannual Buyer’s Guide. Now that he’s back, he leads product reviews for PopMech, as well as Runner’s World, Best Products, and Biography. His favorite stuff to review is still outdoors equipment, and he can tell you from memory what ePTFE stands for.