Review Details

Alarm Clock Radio with USB Charging - Main

Average Customer Rating:

Rating:
74 % of 100

Alarm Clock Radio with USB Charging

Product Rating:

Product Rating
Overall Performance
40%

Product Review (submitted on February 2, 2018):

This Radio has some nice features and several drawbacks. It seems to suffer the fate of so many electronic devices these days in that it offers a slew of technical features without much thought for how or if users will actually use them.

One surprise when I received it was to find it had a 3’ FM antenna wire in addition to the electrical cord. This isn’t shown in the pictures above and doesn’t improve the reception over internal antennas. I’ve owned several clock radios in my 60+ years and they all had internal antennas. It’s a disadvantage IMO and just more clutter on your nightstand.

It has 20 preset stations (10AM 10FM). In my opinion this is overkill. This isn't your living room stereo (as the sound quality makes clear). Whether sleeping or waking it’s more likely you’ll have one or two stations you like. Two to 4 presets would be sufficient. I'd prefer jazz or classical music to go to sleep by and a news station to wake up to. It would be nice if you could program the sleep timer with one station and the wake alarms to another but that’s not an option. The station you go to sleep to is the one you wake up with.

The sleep timer gives you 4 options for the length of time the radio runs before shutting off (90 60 30 or 15 minutes). You have to make this choice each time you use it. It doesn’t allow you to make a default choice and save it for repeated use. If the manufacturer reads these customer reviews maybe this will be an added feature in the future. The wake-up alarms when set to music run for 30 minutes and this is not adjustable. I would prefer if they ran for an hour which seems like the default in previous radios I’ve owned.

The biggest drawback is the display itself and that’s the reason for the low rating. This is mentioned in earlier reviews and though I'll wait until I give it a reasonable time to get used to it I may return the unit because of this. The calendar and alarm readouts are very practical and convenient but the legibility of the display is terrible. The problem is that the numbers are all in a light gray color against a light blue background. Of the 4 intensity options (Auto Hi Lo Off) the display is only easily readable in Hi mode. At night with no other light source you really have to squint and strain to read the time in auto or lo mode. If by chance you take your glasses off when you go to sleep it’s even more difficult. The numbers should be in high contrast to the background color preferably jet black. To anyone trying to read this clock on their nightstand it’s an obvious problem.

This last complaint is admittedly rather picky but remember the context of how this product is used. In the morning when your eyes are closed and you just want to go back to sleep you fumble for the snooze button or at night when you want to turn the radio on or off change the station or adjust the volume you reach over to find the right button to push only to find they all feel the same and you can't tell which is which. I would love it if someone would make a clock radio with different shaped buttons that you could differentiate by touch (round square triangular or pointed etc). Alas that technology eludes us and doesn’t seem to be in the mindset of engineers intent on perfecting an internet toilet that you can flush from anywhere in the world. Oh well it’s something to dream about.

This may not matter to some readers but another minor disappointment was learning that while I could access a web-page pdf of the owners manual I couldn’t download a copy to my iPad. This is important to me in case the manufacturer decides to delete or move it or my internet service is down at that time. It’s often easier to read a pdf and it has the added benefit of a search function.

On the plus side there are several features I think most users will appreciate. When setting the alarms (to either music or alarm) you can choose the volume the alarm uses (1 to 10). This gives both light and heavy sleepers more control over their wake-up experience.

Also as mentioned above the display shows the time both alarms are set for and whether they’re set to music or alarm. This is very handy. The model I bought (CR63) also displays the month and day which is useful as opposed to the CR64 which displays the temperature in your bedroom (whaaaat?).

Another nice feature is the automatic daylight savings time adjustment. I haven’t had the unit long enough to see it work yet but it’s a nice little labor saver (especially since everything from your toaster to your toothbrush now has a clock in it).

Although I don’t use it now I appreciate the inclusion of the USB charging function. For those addicted to their cell phones this should be a must have as both a de-cluttering device on your nightstand and one less outlet needed for a separate charger.

One last thing that’s neither here nor there. The photo-sensor on the bac - Verified Store

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