The Casio CQ-1 Computerized Quartz is a five-ounce computer the size of an eyeglass case that does the following:

—It is a digital clock that reads out the day of the week, the day of the month, and the exact time.

—It is a regular pocket calculator, —It can calculate hours and minutes with a time base of 60.

—It can tell you what day of the week it was anytime between January 1, 1901 and December 31, 2099.

—It has a built-in alarm buzzer with four programmable alarms.

The Casio CQ-1 Computerized Quartz sells for $39.95 in New York City. The list is around $55.

Lisa gave me mine for Valentine's Day and since then it has been my favorite new future toy. I haven't had as much fun or found a more useful piece of electronics since my first video tape recorder. After extensive use both traveling and at home, here are some thoughts on using it:

—First off, get one. You'll love it. Shop around the discount stores for the best price. Try to get the model that comes in grey-brown plastic rather than the ugly white plastic model.

—The AC adaptor is a useful addition. With the unit plugged into the AC adaptor the time and date readout is on continuously. With the internal battery you have to press the "time" button to get a display.

—The time clock runs on a year duration hearing aid battery, but the display panel uses a battery that only lasts ten hours-If you're planning to use the stop watch, make sure you have a fresh double A replacement battery as you'll lose your count if the display battery goes in the middle of what you're timing.

—Be sure to de-program the alarms after you've used them. Otherwise you'll set the alarm for 8:30 one morning and the next morning when you plan to sleep till 11 it'll go off at 8:30.

—At first you may not be convinced that the low volume high pitched alarm will wake you up. Well, generally it does. If, however, you're really really beat, the alarm won't do the trick. I find that I can use it if I plan to get six or more hours sleep, but if I want to wake myself up after three or four hours, I need something more jarring. This happened after the first few weeks of using it as an alarm.

—I sometimes have trouble with the size of the buttons on the keyboard. I tend to move more slowly in entering information than I do with my other calculators. While the Casio keyboard has a sure touch, it is too cramped for rapid, sure computations.

—On the road, reprogramming the time with zone changes, I found that I occasionally enter AM rather than PM which won't screw up the readout for twelve hours, at which point the date display is incorrect.

—The days of the week display is pretty undecipherable. The diode that blinks on and off over where the days of the week are printed along the bottom of the display isn't an effective method. Hopefully an improved programming capacity in the chip will make this a part of the actual program display.

—The CQ-1 Quartz is easy to carry around during the day when I'm home. I use it in my office during the day.

—I like the fact there is no time display until I push the button, as I find a constant time display distracting. At night I carry it into the bedroom where I use it as an alarm or as a handy way of getting the time in a dark room in the middle of the night. It is a wonderful hotel room religious objet that makes me feel right at home when I put it out.

—The alarm is great during the day when I need to be reminded at some point what time it is. The fact that I program it into a calculator makes this different from setting an alarm clock. This is just a little black box on my desk that will tell me what time it is in several different manners.

Casio seems to have the best consumer computer programs of all the calculator and digital watch manufacturers. Not only is the Casio CQ-1 Quartz the best calculator product on the current market, but the company now has a liquid crystal display wrist watch for about $150 that reads out day, hour, minute, and seconds and then proceeds to tell you watch time it is Toyko, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, London, and Paris.