Clock-Radio Reviews

If you are buying this for an alarm clock, not being able to read the time may be a problem.

I saw a couple of bad reviews about this product and wanted to add my opinion. I use this to listen to low volume music to fall asleep to. The CD player makes a little noise but is acceptable (I don't know how it would compare to other models). The sound it produces for a clock radio is quite nice (what do you want from a clock radio that costs about 70 bucks?). It plays everything I've put in it. There are options galore that I think are really cool. Have you ever turned off your alarm, then decided you'd like to sleep a little longer but have to get up because you already shut the thing off? No problem, just hit the Nap button and get some extra time. Several people mention that it's hard to read if it's not the right angle. I have never noticed any difficulty reading it other than if it's bright in the room it is hard to read from a distance (my wife still has a red LED clock so I can catch the time from her's when I can't read the Sony). I would recommend this to anyone that wants a CD clock radio with some extra bells and whistles.

I'm very happy with this little clock. After my old Sony clock radio started breaking which looked like a shoebox, I decided to opt for a bit more stylish one. After a couple weeks of searching, I came across this one and it had the best features for the price, was a more compact version, and generally looked nicer. After opening the box and plugging it in, I found it is a very nice alarm clock.

Pros: nice big display, adjustable brightness, the alarm is nice - I like that it starts out slow and gets annoying (sure to wake me up), TV, weather, digital tuner, smaller than my old one, nice design, easy to use, I also like that it plays CD-RWs.

Cons: just like my old one it has that stupid "mouse tail" of a FM antenna which is really dumb because you can't really adjust it with out literally holding it, at some angles the display is a bit hard to read - its best it you are standing up looking DOWN at it, the alarm may be a bit to "cute" and not loud enough for some people, sound on the CD player could be better - its kind of thin, but what do you expect - its not a Bose (I recommend turning on the base boost - it evens out the sound), I also wish it was a little smaller. However, I'd definitely recommend it!

We are on our third GE/CD player and it will not work consistently. The CD often skips or does not play at all, or plays nicely for a couple of songs and then skips or stops. The radio and remote work nicely, it is the cd feature that we have found flawed.

My husband got me this for Christmas since I love listening to music. However, the volume on it started randomly changing all on its' own within a day of use. Fearing a short, we exchanged it for another one. The display on the new one stopped working by the end of the first day. The next day, the volume started messing up again! We returned it and will not be buying another one of this brand.

Remote was defective, didn't work from the start. Batteries got very hot. Replaced w/new ones, and they heated up immediately. Called GE Support and they said they couldn't do anything w/out serial #, even tho I had reciept, model #, etc. and volunteered to mail remote back to them. Serial # is on back of unit, and when mounted acc to GE instructions it is not visible w/out removing from cabinet (which in our case would be a major hassle). I explained this and they refused to provide any assistence, even after I appealed to several diff reps. Worst customer service I have ever encountered. I will NEVER purchase another GE product.

Phone receiver volume and clarity was poor. Display screen died after 1 year.

I purchased this item about 18 months ago and I'm not particularly satisfied with it. It's a great idea - a phone and clock radio all in one - a great space saver. Unfortunately, this is not the model to buy. The display screen is at a difficult angle to see unless you raise your head. The controls are not particularly intuitive to use. The worst aspect of the unit, however, is the volume control. It is very imprecise and the volume can't be set low enough without cutting out completely. Don't waste your money....

Excellent clarity on the phone and radio. Has volume control for phone. Volume control on radio/alarm is in a very bad location. Reach over and turn the clock where you can see it and you have inadvertanly turned the volume all the way down. That is a real problem come morning. While this is a first rate phone and radio, I have a problem with having to push so many buttons to set the alarm. To reset the alarm for the next day, you must turn off the alarm and then remember to turn it back on for the next day. Alarm A is radio; alarm B is buzzer.

I needed a dual alarm feature, and this was the only clock-radio left in Target that said "Dual Alarm" on the box. Now that I have it, I see why this was the only model left.

What the box doesn't say is that one alarm setting is for the radio and the other is for the buzzer. Frankly the "user manual" doesn't explain this either. I didn't know that the buzzer and radio each had a separate alarm time setting until I read one of the other reviews here. The user manual could have been written much better.

The physical design is poor. How many buttons does it take to implement these features: Radio on/off, setting the clock, setting alarm 1, setting alarm 2, and snooze? This alarm clock uses two 4-position slide switches and seven separate buttons. User-friendly this ain't. The goal of a good manual is to eliminate the need for product support. The goal of good product design is to eliminate the need for manuals. This product fails on both counts.

It is just one tiny little button. One tiny little button behind the snooze bar. One tiny little button that you probably won't even realize is there, until it is too late.

I think I'm a smart guy, but it took me and my significant other a week to figure out why the ... my alarm would mysteriously shut itself off, seemingly on a whim.

Maybe it's my fault. I admit I didn't read the instruction manual. But it's a clock radio! Why should I? I'm in the IT industry. I don't need no stinkin' manual!

Or maybe the mention of the tiny little button is not in the owners manual. no difference. the tiny button might wreck you too.

The tiny button is right behind the "snooze" button. The BIG snooze button, the button you smack with your big swarthy, sleep deprived American hand when you're mumbling "forgodsakesjustshutupandletmesleep!"

The button is the "alarm cancel" button. And let me tell you, it is far, far, far too easy to hit, and it will shut your alarm off until the next day. And you will slumber peacefully until you wake with a start realizing that it's an hour later, and your Sony ICF-490 clock radio is sitting there silently.

The Sony engineers (and most clock radio "engineers") had/have the right idea to make you slide a switch or operate some other kind of gizmo that requires some waking coordination to shut off the alarm. Indeed, you have to slide a switch on this clock radio to shut the alarm off, a logical operation. But then, for some reason, they added the "alarm reset" button to the top of the radio. behind the snooze bar. the tiny button from hell.

If you've read this far and you aren't scared yet, the thing does keep time. And the numbers are nice and big and bright, which is good if you're like me and half-blind (as well as swarthy.) The radio reception pretty much is awful, but if you the station you want to tune in is broadcasting from underneath your bed, you should be ok.

But you should really avoid this alarm clock if you actually have to get up in the morning. I've trained myself to gingerly reach out and tap the snooze like a little girl but needless to say, I'm shopping for a replacement. And then, when I find it's replacement, this clock will pay the ultimate price.

I'll leave you with a little haiku:

Sony Alarm Clock
sleepy hand reaches for snooze
sun rises, late again.

I really can't understand how everyone else hates this thing, but let me give you my 2 cents. I think it's great! I received this as a gift from my sister for Christmas, and I am shocked to see that the price is under 40 bucks!

What I like:
- sleek, aesthetic black design
- nice, easy-to-read green display
- two settable alarms - one for the buzzer and one for the radio
- easy to set the clock or alarm time; intuitive, with both forward and back buttons with slow/fast speed (basically)
- decent reception on the radio

I guess my only quibble would be that the single speaker is not exactly Bose-quality, but I have a stereo system for that... I just want to listen to Howard Stern's annoying *** to wake up in the morning. Good thing the station I listen to isn't owned by ClearChannel... Oh, and I'm not sure, but maybe I have accidentally hit the Alarm Cancel button when trying for Snooze before, but I have been known to shut off other alarms in my sleep as well, so I can't crucify the alarm for that.

The bottom line is that compared to most others out there you can get at the store, it really is a nice alarm clock. No stupid looking cheap white plastic, no impossible-to-figure-out clock, option to set both the radio and buzzer alarms... it's all good stuff. If my house burned down and I was looking for another alarm clock, I would buy this one for sure! No competition.

I wish I had read the feature list a little more carefully. I already own a pair (one for my wife one for me) of the larger timex clock radios with the analog and digital clock. (T318ST) I am fairly pleased with them. I liked the idea of having on-demand weather, so I ordered one of these. I was shocked at the small size when I opened the box, but because I was interested in the on-demand weather feature I spent 10 minutes trying to figure it out. I couldn't get it to work. While trying to get the on-demand weather to work, I thought I might try to get the radio to tune in. Hey wait a minute, no radio?!? Oops, guess I will look a little harder before ordering next time.

Nice clock, easy to use. But after a while, the sounds just kind of get on your nerves.

Only reason I am giving it 4 stars and not 5 is that the weather alert doesn't work in my location. Other than that, this clock has met my every expectation. I love the days of week feature. On other clocks this has been numbers, on this it is the actual days - so I am never confused as to which day '1' is. I wake to the brooks nature sound and it is just fine for me. When I have had CD/Radio alarm clocks in the past - I can count on one finger the number of times I actually listened to the radio or CD on it. So why pay extra for the feature? I truly believe that this product has gotten such poor reviews because the people that write are normally unhappy people. This clock is cheap AND wonderful! Enjoy...

I bought two of these players for my kids. Within 3 months the alarm quit working on one unit and within 6 months the CD players quit working on both units. If you plan on using the CD player frequently, buy somethig other than this Memorex

We bought this for my daughter last Christmas. After a few months the CD stopped working. We bought this type of clock radio specifically for the CD feature. With a 90 day warrantee this is now mostly worthless. I wish I had seen these reviews before I had bought it. Look elsewhere for a CD clock radio.

I bought this clock radio for my office and have been mostly pleased with its performance. As another reviewer stated, CDs that play fine otherwise have a tendency to skip from time to time, which can be annoying, but overall this product is worth the money, especially if you aren't going to use it every day.

the alarms just do not work on any regular basis, very unreliable and waste of money

But, like several other reviewers have reported, alarm 1 never worked. The 1-second burst of radio was enough to wake a light sleeper like me, but I wasn't about to count on that every day. The huge numbers were nice, but actually not as easy to see from across the room without my contacts as I had hoped. Red or green numbers just seem to be easier to see if the clock is not on the bedside. The overall size and design of this clock radio is good, and I love the independent dual alarms--not always easy to find--but the switches to set them seemed really flimsy and apt to break. If the quality of this clock was better, it would be a great deal.

This alarm clock is fine for most features and I bought it because the blue light was more pleasing than the usual red but the light is sooooo bright (even on it's lowest setting) that I have to put a black hankie over it so I can sleep at night. If you need a night light with your alarm clock this is the one - but if you're just looking for an alarm clock think twice.

This is, without a doubt, the least user-friendly device I've ever encountered in my lifetime. The list of design flaws and outright offenses here could span several volumes, as the geniuses at memorex really must have sat around saying, "let's make an alarm clock that is so against all codes of user-friendliness, so disgustingly careless and poorly made, that it stands the test of time against all other shoddy alarm clocks - strike that - against all shoddy products in general." Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to stand here and tell you that they've succeeded. Let it be known that this alarm clock is going down in history.

Today I am going to buy a new clock. Upon purchase of said new clock, I am going to wrap the old clock around some heavy rocks and throw it off the ben franklin bridge (no I'm not really going to do that - but I have every right to).

Listen. If you value your human rights, do not buy or use or come anywhere near this clock. I guarantee your life will be better for it.

I've had this CD player/Clock Radio for maybe three years now. I bought it at Target. And, well, it still works. It plays my CDs fine, the biggest flaw seems to be that although I have reset the clock time and time again, it always ends up back about 10 minutes too fast. It can also be hard to find the radio station you're looking for, because the tuning is a knob and not digital. Overall, not a bad deal for your $$, but you could find something better.

Well, everything works on this item. I have not had any problems with the CD player or the time or the radio. The radio and CD quality are what you would expect. My complaint is with the buttons...you need to memorize the manual or keep it by the clock. It may be just because I only need an alarm once in a great while and by that time I have forgotten how the buttons work, but figuring them out by messing with the clock is difficult. The shape of this clock is odd also. And, if light bugs you at night, you'll need to keep this one on the floor or covered with a towel, gads. So, I deduct 2 stars. And I wonder if the [money] I spent on it was worth it.

This thing is another stupid bedside clock. The unit is so outdated. The sounds are like a cheap unrealistic sound machine with no purpose at all. the radio has a terrible tuner. It's nice looking, but poor quality. It worked for a week and it broke. This is not a good product, spend your money on a better portable radio. this one is not worth anything at all, so avoid this horrible clock.

I purchased this item new at a local electronics store. It functions good as an alarm clock. The CD player is another story. Within the first 6 months the CD player developed problems. Any CD inserted would spin briefly and stop. The display would show "NO" for no CD inserted. A CD leanse cleaning gave me a few more months of service. Several times an hour a click is heard in the speakers. This click is soft but can be a little distracting when placed close to the bed. The useful life of this unit appears to be around 1 - 1.5 years. The warranty is poor at only 90 days. This is one Timex product that Can't take a licking and Won't keep on ticking.

I like the sound quality and the choices of realistic nature sounds, radio or CD to listen to. I like that the display can be dimmed easily if it's too bright. For dependable Timex alarm clock quality, it can't be beat.
BUT....
1. If you listen to a CD to sleep, you cannot set buzzer for alarm & the CD will play at alarm time. The only way to set buzzer is to not have a CD inserted, and CD/alarm is selected.
2. Although the snooze button is big & at the front & center, it's also next to the Alarm Reset button. If you're like me & can go through an hour of snoozes before getting up, you'lll learn this the hard way. I pried the button off with a screwdriver in frustration.
3. Although there are plenty of buttons on the front to go with the bells & whistles, the placement isn't entirely intuitive, ie: since they don't light up, it's hard to guess which one is which.

But I'm high-maintenance when it comes to mornings, so account for that when weighing my opinion!

THE CD PLAYER SKIPS CONSTANTLY. I cleaned it over and over again, i cleaned my cds over and over. even when i put a brand new, unscratched CD in the piece of crap, IT STILL SKIPPED. i truely want my money back. I am so dissappointed. and on top of that, sometimes, when i have it on the cd player alarm mode, it doesnt go off and makes me late for class or work. i only like the fact that if it worked it would be perfect for my dorm because it is compact and it has multiple wake up times so me and my room mate can use it separately.

Here is my experience with this piece of junk: I bought it and it worked fine for a week. After that, it started to stick after playing two songs on any given CD, playing the same note over and over. I cleaned it, cleaned the CDs, played different CDs, tried anything to make it stop stalling. Finally,after 3 weeks of this, I snapped. I took it outside, threw it to the ground, and spent the next 20 minutes alternately jumping on it and smashing it with a hammer. You could GIVE me the $39.95 and I still wouldn't take it.

Okay I wll try and write everything I can think of that may help...:-)

I wanted soemthing simple for my litte studio- this had everything I wanted. Radio plus CD, Sleep function (you can only set it to 90, 60 or 30 that I know of) Dual alarm, headphone jack...

Manual tuner, but I get pretty good reception considering I'm in a valley. The CD quality is fine, but it would not play a CD I had burned myself. This may be important to some of you folks.

I love a sleep function, the only thing is if you fall asleep to CD, you wake up to one, no big deal for me, but who knows.

The actual player is lighter than in this picture (lighter gray, lighter blue) more attractive in person. And the clock display is neon green (not red like above)

I love how small it is, the top loading is pretty cool. It fits right on my nightstand. Overall a good value for the money, as I did a lot of reaserch.