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: Good, not Great
Summary: 4 Stars
I did quite a bit of research on the iLuv, iHome and other iPod players/alarm clocks in the below $100 range. A lot of them have the same limitations but I ended up with iLuv because it was the least expensive.
I have a 30GB video iPod and I needed to add these small rubber bumpers (included) to one of the 6 enclosed attachments. My iPod fits great.
For an alarm clock, the sound is good and the programing is pretty simple.
The downside? Several others have mentioned these, but I will just reiterate:
1)The volume and tuning buttons are difficult to spin. I'm using it as an alarm clock so I don't need to adjust the buttons very much. I end up using the included remote control because it's easier than the volume knob.
2)The blue glowing background light is too bright. Even the lowest setting adds a blue glow to your bedroom which may impede your ability to sleep. (FYI, same issue with iHome)
3)It's hard to read the time from across the room. I like to have the alarm clock on the other side of the room (it helps me get up). There was no way I could see the time in the middle of the night. Maybe if I increased the intensity of the backlight, but that leads to other problems. (FYI, same issue with iHome)
I ended up just keeping it at the night stand (so I could see it) but facing away from me (to shield me from its rays).
This would be an especially good product for someone at work where you wouldn't have the lighting issues.
Customer Review: Works great, except the FM Radio.
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this from Amazon for $56 on black friday 2008. My feedback on the product:
Works with IPOD - Good. Charges IPOD and plays it at the same time. Mine is 30GB Video IPOD.
Looks - Good. Mine was black color.
Sound Quality: Good
Ease of use: good
I didn't have any issues with the brightness intensity. It has 3 levels and I think they are good enough to meet your needs. You can turn the front panel off as well, if you want.
The major issue I had with this one was the FM / AM reception. In my house, where my music system, my Sansa MP3 Player FM Tuner and car radios pick up 22 stations, this picked up 3 or 4 and almost none was good enough. There was cross-talk and garbled reception on weaker stations with the antenna fully pulled out as per the instructions in the manual.
I connected the output of my Sandisk Fuze MP3 player FM Tuner to this unit using the supplied 3.5mm AUX Cable and all 22 stations worked perfect. This unit's FM receiver is simply junk.
Even though I liked this unit otherwise, I returned this product to Amazon in 1 day. Now waiting for my refund.
You can buy this product, if you don't care about FM. If FM is important to you, don't try it.
Other weird issue with the FM tuner is that it doesn't store the FM Channels. You need to manually tune to FM station every time. Well it doesn't matter since you can't hear to most of the stations anyway.
Customer Review: Looks good, sounds good, works well, but has flaws
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this item because after reading some reviews of iPod alarm clocks, this one seemed to come out on top in terms of functionality and user happiness. After using it for 24 hours, however, I have both praise and some issues with it.
The good:
-Seamless and simple iPod compatibility
-Time/alarm setting are pretty straight forward
-The alarm woke me up this morning (all that really matters, right?)
The bad:
-The display is poor: first, its pretty small - those of you who are basically blind without glasses, like me, may have trouble seeing the time from half-way across the bed. Also, the dark numerals on bluish background do not have the high contrast that a lot of other alarm clocks have, making them less easy to view. And compared to modern LCD screens, the display just looks really dated - those block numbers are the same that were on my alarm clock from 1986!
-The digital AM/FM tuner does not allow setting station presets. Your stuck spinning the digital dial, literally, or using what does amount to a pretty robust seek function with the remote. The latter is a decent substitute for presets, but requires a lot more work on behalf of the user. I know this item is primarily for the iPod, but come on, digital presets have been the norm for like 25 years already!
Overall, its a good product. If these latter two issues don't matter to you, its perfect.
Customer Review: Awesome & crisp sound, easy docking, a REMOTE control, full dim
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this little iPod jamming alarm clock... it has the strong, crisp sound of a good boombox, and good tones even at low volumes. The remote control function is great. I can set the thing on sleep and shuffle through my iPod selection when I can't fall asleep quickly.
The dimmer is nice, it dims all the way to black.
Starts playing automatically and instantly when the iPod is put onto the dock. It does a good job of putting in a good, strong charge too. When I wake up, the iPod is ready for another full day of use.
FM signal isn't so great and the AM antenna is totally cumbersome and unnecessary. But who listens to AM on an alarm clock made for iPod anyway?!?
My only negative comment for the unit is in how the display lights somehow get re-activated after fully dimmed when sleep mode is finished. Let me explain: I am a very light sleeper and thusly turn off fully the function and time-face light by using the dimmer button to dim it all the way off. But if I set the sleep button for 30 min., after the 30 min. of sleep the music turns off. BUT (for some reason) the lights turn back onto to full bright and stay on. It's woken me up before due to the sudden "pouring" in of light.
Other than that minor, picky personal preference of mine, it is the perfect unit! Just what I wanted and needed :-) And at a great price too.
Customer Review: Pretty cool
Summary: 4 Stars
I like this a lot for its features. I can wake up to the radio, or my ipod tunes. It works with my iPod nano & my old shuffle that looks like a USB memory stick. :)
There are 2 alarm settings so you can set one for radio & one for iPod, for different times and/or volumes.
The sound isn't super fantastic, but it fills the room.
The range between the volume levels is too large. From volume level one to level two is a big jump.
I also think that the display light is WAY too bright even on the lowest setting. When the alarm goes off and if it's dark out still, that wakes me before the music does! :)
I really like the "sleep" button & how easy it is to use. I can set it to play music for up to 2 hours and then shut off. The ONLY problem with this is when it shuts off, the display light comes on, even though I had it set to "off" while on "sleep". This usually will wake me up due to its brightness.
The remote buttons you really have to press hard & aim right at it to get to work. But it's nice to have when that display light comes on so you can dim it if the unit is out of reach.
Overall, it does its job very well. I took one star away for the insanely bright display light and the fact that it comes on when the sleep timer ends.