Trying to find a reliable, easy to use, inexpensive, alarm clock for the wife. She wanted one that sets itself and had a battery back-up. I wanted one that would wake her up. Found this one at K-mart and spent 30 mins playing with it over by the televisions (needed a power source). This radio alarm clock is perfect for what I need. This being my first review, I"ll just point out the things that made me buy it.
1. Nice soft blue color, 2 setting...low you can just make out and high is clearly visible
2. Battery back up (even came with batteries) easy to find AA"s
3. Plug in in and it sets itself (all you have to do is set the time zone) has a switch for Daylight Savings Time.
4. Dual alarm (his and her) or in this case days and midnights...set it and forget it. You don't have to remember to set it everyday.
5. If the power goes out the alarm goes into kind of a sleep mode. It beeps to warn you of the power failure and according to the instructions, remembers the alarm settings and goes off without it being plugged in (not tested yet)
6. The alarm starts off kinda like any other alarm but then gets progressively louder (can't see anyone sleeping through this one)
7. Playing with the tuner, looks like one of those old fashion, spin the dial things, but it shows a digital read on the display (kinda cool but it's a cheap radio folks and sounds like one)
8. The snooze is adjustable from 1 to 30 mins.
9. Last but not least, the alarm set time is displayed on the lower right, so if your the nervous type, you can double check to make sure the alarm is where you want it to be. All for around 20 bucks...and that"s all I have to say about that..... RCA RC46 AM/FM Alarm Clock Radio with Large Blue LED Display (Black)
I had googled "alarm clocks best" or something similar and the earlier model of this one came up.
Since I had already gotten one at my Big Box store that I wasn't happy with, I decided to give it a try.
Pros: HUGE easily readily numbers for the time.
It goes off each morning at the set time without you having to remember to reset it
It has a second alarm you can set if, for example, you want to take a nap during the day
Cons: Setting it is not totally intuitive, and I had to sit there with the (not easy to follow) instructions in hand while setting it up the first time. And setting the second alarm seems even more complicated, to the degree that last time I needed that feature, I just used the alarm on my cell phone.
And when oh when will some body come up with a way to set the time without having to scroll through every number?!
The clock looks pretty good. The display is far too bright for a dark room, even with the automatic dimmer set. One of the blue lines that makes up the time display broke after about a month. After a year the flimsy plastic switch to turn on/off the alarms just snapped somewhere and no longer works.
OK design except for the brightness but the build quality is pathetic. Don't waste your money.
I needed a new alarm clock because my old one had a nice feature where the time would automatically adjust to Daylight Savings time. The only trouble is that I purchased it long before the Powers That Be made the decision to change the dates for Daylight Savings time (I had it for more than 8 years!). So, twice a year, I was going somewhere at the wrong time. I couldn't update the software on it to the new DST schedule, so I finally decided to get a new one.
I really wanted to love this alarm clock from RCA. I thought the blue display would be a nice change but mostly the idea of having the alarm time displayed was just what I needed. You have to flip the switch to DST instead of it being automatic like my old Emerson, but I decided it was a good trade off. I also like the adjustable time for the snooze so that you can set it to exactly what you want it to be.
Other reviewers have said that the blue display is very bright, and I do agree. But this didn't bother me much since I mostly have my eyes closed anyway and don't have to deal with it in the dark. The snooze button across the top of the unit is very large....which is great for a sleepy hand to hit it, but it makes it difficult to hold the unit in order to adjust the time for the alarms and such. But this is also something that you can get used to and work around.
The main reason that I am rating this item low is that the alarm button broke right at the 30-day mark. Now my "alarm 1" is stuck on the wake to music setting. I can't change it to the buzzer, but more importantly, I can't shut it off!! So, I have an alarm set every single day. The best I could do was change the time of the alarm. This was really annoying for the rare weekend when I had the opportunity to sleep in.
I'm past my 30-day warranty from the place I purchased it from, so I can't return it there....so now I am struggling with the manufacturer for a refund. Needless to say, I am going back to my Emerson brand. I definitely do not recommend this product. - Alarm Clock - Battery Backup - Alarm Clock Radio - Jumbo Display'
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