Think about it how to use the timer. You start it and stop it. When running a countdown, enter the countdown time first. When you count, you don't actually enter anything. The least likely thing you do is switch between counting up (stopwatch) and counting down (timer) - you probably use the timer in one of those two modes most of the time. See in the photo the one you are most likely to accidentally fall into toggles the timing mode. And of course, if you actually time the process, it will most likely interrupt you. You can then fiddle with all the buttons and try to get back to where you were, knowing your syncing process is going down the toilet. Let me know if you don't think this is a silly design. Otherwise it is a good and reliable timer. .