Sangean RCR-22 AM/FM Atomic Clock Radio
by Sangean America, Inc.
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List Price: Our Price: Calculated in a shopping cart Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sangean RCR-22 AM/FM Atomic Clock Radio
Customer Review: Good click radio
Summary: 5 Stars
This clock radio lived up to my expectations when I received it. It has most of the features I want. The FM receiver works well and the sound is good for a small unit with a small speaker. The "atomic" clock setting feature works better than the other two "atomic set" clocks I have in the house - so far it has never missed setting itself overnight where my other clocks that set from the National Time Station will miss a day occasionally. I suspect that it's the external antenna for the station that this unit comes supplied with. I have one complaint about this external antenna - it is hard-wired to the clock and a connector would be a big help in a lot of ways.
The instruction manual could use a lot of work - it's pretty basic and is mostly a review of the clock's features.
I had one technical question - not a problem but a question about how something works that was not covered in the manual. It was answered promptly and well.
There are a couple of features that could be better - for example, when an alarm is active (waiting to go off) you don't have any display of the day and date. This could probably be fixed in the firmware. A signal strength display for the Time Station would be really useful for placing the external antenna, right now it's pretty much trial and error to get it in a good location. I think this would require a new display so it's not a simple firmware fix.
Devices like this make me nervous without a USB port so that the firmware can be updated if necessary. This unit doesn't have anything like that so you're pretty much stuck with what it has when you get it.
All-in-all it's a good clock radio with good features that work as advertised. It's biggest fault is that it's a little pricey for a clock radio.
Customer Review: Atomic clock no, super capacitor yes
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this radio for two reasons: the supercapacitor backup and the atomic clock sync.
I live in an area with above ground power cables and lots of trees. Consequently, we get a very large number of very brief power outages. I've tried every battery-backup alarm on the market and they all have one significant disadvantage: they don't offer any indication of the need to change the battery. My cell phone can do this. My laptop can do this. My MP3 player can do this. It's not rocket science. A little light that says "change me now" but no one has that feature. I also once had a Sony whose only purpose for a battery was to store the time that the power went out. The clock restarted from that time. I never did figure out that feature.
This clock has a large capacitor which stores enough charge to run the clock for an hour or so. That takes us through all the thirty second outages we have around here without ever needing to be replaced. Pro.
Con: I've had the thing for three years and have yet to get it to detect the atomic clock signal. I've put it and its antenna everywhere in the room. Just doesn't work. So it is at least iffy for that purpose.
As others have noted, the default brightness setting is "nuclear explosion." The adjustment (undocumented) is on the bottom of the clock. If you don't like sleeping on the face of the sun, you can dial it down.
My wife finds it impossible to set the alarm. I think that is partly a function of her and partly a function of an excessively busy display that makes it hard to tell what you just did.
On the whole, I like it. The power capacitor sold me on it. However, if I found another whose atomic clock signal reception actually worked, I would probably change.
Customer Review: Alarm Clock: The Next Generation
Summary: 5 Stars
I checked out a lot of alarm clocks and this one stood out above the rest. What was initially important to me was an alarm clock that had a 'digital tuner' so the frequency wouldn't drift resulting in no alarm sounding. Not only does this clock meet this need, but it also will default to the buzzer if the station fades or goes off the air!
I also wanted a clock that had both an up AND down button to adjust time. This clock also meets this criterion, however, the capacitor backup, the self correcting time feature and its dual alarm system minimizes the need for adjustments. It also has a button to reset the clock to DST and back. Why doesn't every clock have this?
Soon after I received the clock, I could tell that a lot of thought had gone into its design. In addition to the features listed, I found some nice surprises. It's meant to be operated in the dark and by a sleepy head. When you want to put it in snooze mode, you can hit ANY button on the top to activate it. When you want to turn it off, you can easily find the 'off' button in the dark using the side 'posts' as a guide. Each alarm button will light when that specific alarm will go off within 24 hrs (along with displaying the alarm time) assuring you that all is set. And that's nice, because with it's multi-day and dual alarm system, you rarely need to set it.
The five minute snooze time is a bit short for me. An ajustable snooze time would be nice addition. I would also prefer a digital volume control versus the knob to avoid accidental volume changes.
But overall, it looks great, it out performs the competition and has my recommendation. I've actually invited a few friends to my bedroom to show off....my new alarm clock!
Customer Review: Good Alarm but You Need to Read the Manual
Summary: 4 Stars
For the money, I am happy with this alarm clock. I'm not an audiophile so the sound quality seems fine to me. I do find that there is some buzzing on the lower end of the AM band but I had this also with old analog alarm clock so it may have something to do with where I live. My only other notes are:
1. You need to read the manual and to keep it near you until you've mastered how to use the alarm clock to do what you want. It is not automatically intuitive as to how to set the alarm or to use most of the other features.
2. The atomic clock signal antenna is a 5"-wide piece of plastic that can be mounted onto the back of the alarm clock. However, if you don't have adequate reception on your nightstand, the antenna is connected to the alarm clock with a 34"-long wire so you can try to find a better signal (e.g., by putting the antenna in a window).
3. The time display is a very bright bluish/white color but you can adjust the brightness to a lower level for sleeping. (By pressing a button, you can then toggle between the maximum brightness and your lower level.) For me, I don't like to have a lot of whitish light in the room when I'm sleeping so I set the brightness to very low. Unfortunately, this means that it is also hard to see the time if I wake up in the dark.
If you are the type who wakes up a lot in the middle of the night and needs to see what time it is every time, you may find yourself pushing the button for maximum brightness just to read the time. I can imagine that, for some people, this sudden bright light may make it hard to get back to sleep.
Customer Review: Best Radio / Alarm I've Owned. Really needs auto-dim
Summary: 5 Stars
Owned this alarm clock fror about 2yrs now. Really love the radio and atomic clock. Surprisingly great sound from an alarm clock, and very good radio reception. We live in a hilly area where radio station reception is a challenge. This radio pulls in stations very clearly. The FM antenna is a separate wire, and placing it in the right spot lets me get stations I'd never ever think of getting on an alarm clock. This shows that this a great radio with an alarm clock attached!
I've never ever had to even think about the clock showing the right time. It always has. Setup was pretty straight forward. Set it and forget it!
The one thing this clock really needs is an auto-dimming display. I've found this to be the most annoying thing about the whole radio. This is availabile on some other brands, so I can't wait for the next model to incorporate this. It's liviable because the display has a manual dim switch, and an dimness level adjust on the bottom, so you can set just how dim, dim is. That is very nice. If it would auto adjust(when the lights go out), I would call this alarm clock PERFECT!
The alarm set up is fairly complex to setup the first time, but the flexability is worth it. Just make sure you read the manual on how to do it. Each of the two alarm has independant control of alarm time, wake to HWS or radio, what radio station you want to wake to, and which days of the week you want the alarm to be active. Snooze works very nice.
Bottom Line...best alarm clock and bedside radio I've ever owned. Wouldn't heasitate to recommend to anyone.