Sangean RCR-1 Advanced Atomic Clock Radio (Classic Black)
by Sangean
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List Price: 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-1 Advanced Atomic Clock Radio (Classic Black)
Customer Review: Best Atomic Clock Radio on the Market
Summary: 5 Stars
I read a number of reviews about this clock radio before I purchased it. Some praised it; others trashed it. In spite of some negative reviews, I bought it anyway. It turned out to be an excellent decision. Within 2 hours of plugging it in, it was running on exact time. Even the analog clock was correct. The manual said the analog hands might not move until midnight, but it didn't take that long. For a relatively small box, it certainly has a rich sound, even on the AM band. As others have written, the manual isn't the best, but operating the clock really isn't very difficult. The flexibility allowed by programming either of the two alarm settings on any day of the week is second to none. Some reviewers have missed the fact that the display has a brightness control on the bottom of the clock. Some reviewers have missed the fact that there is a separate volume control on the bottom of the clock for wake-up alarm volume independent of regular radio listening volume. Some reviewers complained about the lack of a backup battery. In fact, I have observed short power outages of 10 minutes with the clock losing no settings and only losing the 10 minutes. I have also observed an outage of 2 hours. When power returned, the clock still had all settings. Of course, in both cases, within a short period of time the atomic clock system had reset the time -- no real need for a backup battery. I truly believe I have the best atomic clock radio on the market.Customer Review: A painful, painful clock radio
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this clock because it looked attractive and would sync itself to the atomic clock in Boulder, CO. I thought, hey, this will be nice. Make my life easy.
Boy was I wrong. Nothing about this clock makes my life easy.
I'm a computer geek, pretty comfortable with electronics and, for the life of me, I couldn't ever remember how to use the numerous, overly complicated, poorly labelled controls on this thing. I want to set the alarm, not fly an airplane. What's with all the buttons? Any time I wanted to do anything more than turn on the radio, I had to pick up the cryptic manual and flip through it. This cute little clock has some of the most poorly designed controls I've ever seen.
To make matters worse, the radio rarely managed to sync itself to the atomic clock, so I usually had to set it manually. Finally, after 13 months, the clock broke, the dial spinning noisely and continuously like it was trying to get out and fly away. Normally, I'd be angry when something this expensive breaks, but I was only too pleased to get this beast out of my house.
Look, folks, a clock radio is supposed to be easy. It should tell the time, let me listen to the radio, and make noise at the appropriate times. It shouldn't require me to do work every time I want to use it.
If you want to make your life more difficult, buy this clock. Otherwise, run away, run away.
Customer Review: Great full featured bedside clock!!
Summary: 5 Stars
At long last I found the bedside clock I've always wanted.
Atomic part is a no-brainer, sets itself through the yearly time changes.
Multiple alarms with day select is awesome! I have alarm 1 set for my M-F schedule, alarm 2 set for my weekend and just leave them on...don't have to touch it unless you are going on vacation.
No slider switches! Shutting the alarm off is a light button push and no fumbling or getting 2 hands on the unit to move a slider like 90% of the bedside alarms out there.
The gradual wake-up is also nice. The screen changes from it's light blue to orange/yellow and slowly brightens as the tone gets louder. I feel better waking up now instead of the harsh blast I used to get.
People that are complaining about ease of use do have a gripe about the user manual. It's not that hard to do, but people like pictures and this is a plain text step by step...not the best user manual.
Some of the gripes I've read is simply not reading the manual. The dimmer has 2 setting, full on or manual set. Setting to manual you can shut the blue glow off if you want, or vary the intensity. When it's daytime and you want full bright..light touch of the button and it glows bright.
I'm so pleased with this unit, I'm buying 2 more for the extra bedroom and the bathroom so I can listen to tunes as I get ready in the AM.
Customer Review: Great Analog, FAIR LCD, Great Radio
Summary: 4 Stars
Trying to find a clock radio that has all the necessary requirements is a daunting if not impossible task. My top requirements were: Ear Phone Jack (so I can listen to the radio while my wife sleeps, great AM reception, 2 alarm settings; and under $100.00 (please, it's a Clock Radio for goodness sakes!)
This clock radio provides great reception and basic alarm functionality that most clock radios have.
The only drawback is the LCD display. For those of us in the reading glasses stage of life or used to the old style "lit" numbers, the LCD can be quite difficult to see and read, unless the back lite is turned up. Even then it is lacking badly. The Sony Dream machine has a much better LCD (my son has one) but the controls seem even more complicated than the Sangean; and it doesn't have an earphone jack. However, the Sangean's Analog clock provides the solution to the "what time is it?" question and is why I did NOT get the Sangean RCR-2!
It's nice that it has the Atomic Clock, but if you lose power, there's no battery backup!! Talk about an engineering oversight!
I live in a rural area in western Massachusetts and the Atomic Clock works great, no reception problems!
I have to agree the manual is really bad. But thanks to some of the reviews I've been able to figure it out. Plus it's not as difficult as one would think.
Customer Review: Good sound, horrible user interface
Summary: 3 Stars
I read the reviews on this machine before I bought it as a replacement for another Sangean clock radio that had the speakers go out, and even though there was one review that mentioned the complicated instructions, I thought surely I'd be able to figure it out. I'm pretty tech savvy and so's my husband, so how hard can it be?
Well, pretty hard, actually! The most complicated part is setting an alarm, which I need to do pretty frequently. Yes, it's got a handy feature that says on MWF I need to wake up at this time and on Sat/Sun I need to wake up at this other time. But actually turning the alarm on, wow. This is so poorly designed I can't believe it. I need the "instructions" to help me each time I need to change my alarm. I'm thinking of writing my own UNDERSTANDABLE instructions to keep on the bedside table since this is so counterintuitive as to be nearly unusable.
That being said, the sound quality is fantastic, the atomic clock worked fine for me, the tuner is very strong and gets weak stations great, and I like the analog clock though it is somewhat difficult to see at night, even with brightness controls adjusted. Time will tell how long this lasts. If it doesn't make it through this year, it may be my last Sangean product; we'll see.