iLuv i177 Alarm Clock Speaker System for iPod (Black)
by iLuv
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List Price: Category: Network Media Player 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 iLuv i177 Alarm Clock Speaker System for iPod (Black)
Customer Review: Surprisingly Good
Summary: 4 Stars
My brother got this for my for my birthday. I was a bit skeptical at first; I have no use for an alarm clock and since I always used headphones, speakers seemed to be a luxury I wouldn't used. I was pleasantly surprised by this system though.
The sound quality is much better than I expected for the size; maybe it's just that all my speakers of this size are ancient and I didn't realize they could sound so good, but the quality is still very good. While an AV cable could easily substitute for this whole unit, I like that the iPod sits securely in the dock and charges while it plays the video on my TV. I was also surprised with how good the video quality was being shown on the TV. I expected essentially a blocky blown-up image, but the clarity was no different than watching on my iPod.
While I am a bit annoyed at the work required for volume, at least I can use the remote. Since I don't need it as an alarm clock, I have it across the room on top of the TV for video and audio playback. I just wish the controls for video were more like my DVR or DVD player. I keep forgetting that I can't just push the back button and go a few steps, rather it jumps to the previous video.
I agree with others that the bright blue glow (even dimmed) is annoying and lights up the room too much, but I've gotten used to it. I don't have problems seeing the time displayed unless I'm not wearing my glasses (and then I can't see anything anyway!).
I never did figure out what was up with those rubber bumpers. The little card insisted I would need them for my 80GB iPod video, but it fits quite securely in the 40/60GB adapter that came with it. Though with my new plastic case over the iPod, none of the dock adapters really fit, but I've had no problems with docking it sans adapter. As long as it doesn't get knocked over (I can see the dock pins snapping). Too bad they didn't include something for iPods with cases in the kit.
Overall this is a good system. The sound quality is good, the video is good, the controls are slightly annoying for video playback, but just right for audio playback. I haven't used the alarm clock so I can't say anything about that. The price on Amazon seems reasonable for what it is, so overall, it's got four stars and I'm very happy with mine.
Customer Review: Great Product!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
First off, this product is absolutely great. There are just a few minor defects but nothing major and I have lived through these and actually think there helpful.
Cons:
The light is bright. But I have come to think of it as my night light. It is helpful when I wake up in the middle of the night and it helps me not bump into things. Also it is not like the light is so bright when you go to sleep you can see the light with your eyes closed. It's totally not an issue.
The wheels are a fun idea but if you unplug your alarm clock for any reason it's kind of a pain in the ass to wheel it all the way back to the time and alarm. It's not very practical but again just a minor thing. And really after you plug it in, why would you unplug it. It does have an emergency backup if you don't want to go through the trouble if say a power outage happens, you can put batteries in it that way it can store and save the time until the power goes back on. Problem Solved.
Pros:
Sound is awesome. It sounds like a surround sound system. When I listen to my music I feel like I have a concert in my house, it is amazing.
Dual Alarm Clock feature so you can enable two different times for the alarm clock to go off. Helpful for those with partners.
Alarm clock can go off to your Ipod, radio, or a basic alarm. I choose my ipod which if you turn it to what you want to listen to the night before, that's what you'll hear in the morning. Easy, peasy.
Remote Control is very handy for when the alarm clock goes off. I don't need to roll over to the side where the alarm is I can just get the remote off the nightstand and shut it off.
The volume people say is loud at 10 but I do not find that to be true. An alarm is meant to be loud and wake you up. I put it to about 20 and I'm good.
Ipod dock didn't fit my nano but if you kept the white thing when you bought your ipod you can put that on top and it fits perfectly so now I can listen to all my fav songs on my ipod.
So all in all I would recommend this product to my friends, enemies, and anyone in between that would listen :) I love my new alarm clock and I can't see how I've lived without it.
Customer Review: Pretty much perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
Here's what I needed from an alarm clock, and how the iLuv i177 responded:
1) Plays/charges the iPod AND shuffles the tracks every morning. I don't want to wake up to the same song, or set of songs everyday, and I know that many cheaper alarm clocks have that problem.
* i177 says: We can do that!
2) Dual alarm, (In my case, one for weekdays, the other for weekends.)
* i177 says: CHECK!
3) Doesn't have a huge glaring LCD keeping me up at night. I've fought this with every alarm clock I've bought, and it got to the point where I'd just keep a card in front of the screen, which really wasn't useful. And it was orange LCD. Gross.
* i177 says: You want pitch black at night and pleasantly visible during the day? Done!
4) Big snooze button. My ex-alarm clock had a massive snooze button (that's what she said) and considering how many times I hit it each morning, I don't want to be forced to wake up to reach/find it.
* i177 says: We can hit that.
5) FM Radio?
* i177 says: Yep.
6) Easy to program?
* i177 says: A bit of tedious touch wheel action never hurt anybody. It's still easy, just different.
7) Fairly compact?
* i177 says: *cough* Come on. You want quality sound and all these crazy functions? We're not Apple, kid. What are you going to do with all that bedside table space anyway?
8) Good sound is pretty nice, but I live in an old, thin walled apartment and I don't want to wake up my neighbor with unexpected PearlJam on full blast...
* i177 says: The alarm volume is programmable so it's not too abrupt for you and it doesn't get blaring for them. Awesome, huh?
8) I was spoiled when I used my mac as an alarm clock because I had the easy remote at hand to change tracks if they were annoying...
* i177 says: You got it. :)
Basically, this thing covers just about everything I could possibly want, plus an absurd AM antenna when I care enough about talk radio to attach it. Except for the size, I'd say the iLuv i177 deserves 4.5-5 stars. Sure, it was $10 cheaper when I bought it and I had a $25 gift card, but it was definitely worth it.
Customer Review: Sharp looking with decent sound, but some weaknesses
Summary: 2 Stars
While this is a sharp looking product with decent sound, I have found some of the weaknesses worth noting for this review. Now that I have had this product for a little while, my review is a little more negative than it would have been right after I first purchased it.
Right out of the box, this is a sharp looking device. It also has the feel of a solid piece of electronics. The sound quality of this product I would consider to be pretty decent. Both my wife's iPod Nano and my son's iPod have played well on this docking station. The radio sounds decent, and antennas were included. An additional benefit of this device is some of it's variety of features. There is an aux connection for other sorts of MP3 players. I have used this feature with a Sansa. With no pre-amp included for connecting the Sansa, the audio output is at an extremely low volume level. I do not really hold this against iLuv, but this is more of a heads up for others who might use other MP3 players. The iPods do not have this problem.
I will not be the only person to comment on the glowing clock light. I do find the glowing clock light to be a weakness for this product. Admittedly, I weight this weakness pretty heavily as the clock aspect of this iLuv is/was an important feature for me. With the brightness of the clock light, I have to turn off the clock light at night. The brightness of the clock light is just intrusive in my bedroom. It was unfortunate to lose this clock feature in the night in my room. For others, this may not be a drawback.
Another weakness is that the clock is fast. I really did not catch on to this until it was too late for the 90 day warranty. The end result is that I have to readjust the clock once every couple of weeks.
If this review were just for the docking station and sound quality, I would rate this product higher. Since I purchased this product as much for the clock as the audio, my rating is lower. If I could give a half star in the rating, I would probably give this device closer to a 2 and 1/2 rating.
Customer Review: Good product, but does NOT work with USB iPods
Summary: 4 Stars
Originally this product description claimed that this dock would work with all iPod models... not true. The instruction manual that comes with the dock says that it will not charge USB models (the earlier ones, 1st through 3rd generations, I believe). Since I had a 3rd generation (the one with the four buttons above the touch wheel), I was disappointed but able to deal with it not charging. My main goal was to listen to the music and to have the music play for the alarm clock. Well, these features didn't work either. I was able to get through one song, and then it wouldn't go on to another. I tried several times, removing it and re-docking, trying different playlists and turning the shuffle on and off. It also wouldn't work with my 3G for the alarm clock... I could hear it start up, but it wouldn't play. Then I borrowed a friend's iPod video and everything worked just fine with that. I contemplated returning the iLuv, but couldn't really find another dock/clock that promised to work with the 3G. So in the end, I spoiled myself a bit and bought an iPod video. It works perfectly with the iLuv, and the sound quality is great.
A couple of other comments... As others have mentioned, the alarm volume is not adjustable. It does start off a little quieter and then gets louder, but this transition takes all of maybe two seconds, so it doesn't really help wake you any more gently. Also, I love the fact that you can turn the backlight completely off. However, when the backlight is on, the text of the "snooze/dimmer" and other buttons glow in orange, which you can't tell from the picture here (or on the box). I think it's ugly, but the pros outweigh the cons, and I just keep the backlight off most of the time.