has anyone used these extensively I got 1 as a gift but prefer old ones.are they any good,or just a gimmick

My bite alarm has given me no troubles.   It's a little bit harder to use, but offers a lot more options, especially with regard to the light settings.  With the olds ones, I was unable to bait it with tomatermelon chunks I grew with my scaley fishkids, but now I can!

I've got two, they are brilliant, adjusting settings is fiddly though but one set they/it is brill. they include a sticker with the light codes on (lights are used to show the function) which i highly recommend you stick on if you use it.

Ryan

(if you want any more info feel free to ask or pm me)