Clock-Radio Reviews

read the other reviews- why would a person try to sell you this product, what do they get out of it by listing every feature in colorful detail? It seems odd to me...

This is actually a review of Sony CFD-E75 CD/Radio/Cassette Boombox (Silver), exact thing except color. I "borrowed" this from my wife when I found I didn't have any cassette players (except in a car) and had to listen to a cassette. I was impressed by the sound quality for spoken word cassettes. Everything sounds normal like a human is talking! I've also listened to music cassettes and music CD's and am just amazed at how good this sounds. The "wheel" for selecting CD tracks is a great idea and is used for tuning the radio when in "radio" mode. That makes it easy to find your station.Speaking of which, this model has a "real" three section, rotating antenna, not a skinny little wire hanging out the back What won me over though was the FM AND AM reception on the radio section of this item. We live in an area where the big broadcast antenna are on a hill real close to our home so we've always had problems with radio reception. A good adjustable Bass with the Sony "Mega Bass" button does change the sound noticably. I like the styling and I keep the thing on the night stand next to my head so haven't needed the remote. I guess I'll let my wife keep that. HA HA

This was a good purchase. She swears she got ot for considerably less than the price shown. But even at the price shown, I think it's darn well worth it!
Highly Recommended!
John Row

I just received this cute little number in red for a gift! It looked too small to be functional but I was pleasantly surprised! The sound quality is fabulous and it reaches all areas of my condo. Not only do you get radio but cd, cassette, and a clock radio!!! Now for once in my life I can chose what I want to hear when I wake up or as I go to sleep.
I found this Sony so portable that I have taken it to several picnics and other outside events. It tucks nicely into my car. In my bedroom, it does not overpower anything else-perfect size!
Another plus is the availability of headsets in case I want to crank the tunes in the middle of the night and not disturb my elderly neighbors.
The price is great, features fabulous and colors spectacular so what are you waiting for?

I love the clock, but I expected better disney sounds. I like the harp to wake up to, but the giggling and such is not what I expected. Though the radio, clock, etc. is great high quality. I love the big snooze button.

Although the clock is cute, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. I was under the impression that the disney princess alarm sounds were actual songs. Instead, your 5 choices are a ringing bell with birds chirpping, someone giggling with a bell ringing, someone giggling with the ocean waves, someone saying la la la, and a magic wand sound. You also have the choice to wake up to the radio. Overall, the clock is OK, but it is not what I expected.

We got this for my daughter, she is a Disney Proncess Nut, dresses like one, and wants to have anything, and everything Princess. (We hope it is just a phase, she used to be into Dinosaurs. It could be alot worse, and you are only a kid once so what the heck.) But it wakes you up to differnt recognizable Princess tunes. It is very durable, and well made, and looks great.

I don't know what else to say, it wakes her up in the morning, and at least for now, she is in a much better mood than when the buzzer or mom/dad woke her up.

I highly ecomend this product for your little Princess.

Overall this clock radio functions very well. I also like it's ease of use and sleek exterior. However, I was looking for something that could run on batteries in case of a loss of power. The description said "24-hour battery back up". I mistakenly assumed that this meant I could use this product with batteries. WRONG. The only function the batteries perform is saving the time and alarm settings. The alarm and radio do not function, and the time does not display with battery use. While I will keep the product, I would NOT have bought it if I had known that it could not run on batteries.

Simple to use, very limited features and rugged. Good for someone looking for basic alarm clock with added radio features. The radio quality is good too. True to the Philips name. They can't MAKE THINGS BETTER than that at this price.

This is the best alarm clock/radio i have ever owned set it once and it's all good wake up to an alarm or the radio this one is a keeper and the price is perfect for the quality.

I bought this as a gift for my mom (she's visiting right now) & she's complained that the buttons are a little stiff & the cassette door doesn't open & shut too easily. She isn't too impressed...

This one is the best that I've ever heard at this price range it's even better than those over hundred dollars. It doesn't look pretty but excellent sound. I thought SONY just over priced on everything they make. I was wrong.

I like this boombox for its versatility, appearance, and ease of use. The sound quality is excellent. The features I use most often are the CD player with the sleep function. I compared other models and prices and am happy with my choice. For the price, I think it packs a lot of features and quality.

I was looking to replace a 20 year old GE 4880 clock radio - it had a numeric keypad for entering times and radio frequencies. Very easy to set up a different time. The SOny looked to be a good replacement. So far, it's doing a good job but there are a few shortcomings.

Pro:
Two alarms
Easy to set times
Easy to tell which alarms are active
Each alarm can use a different radio station
Auto time set works well

Con:
So-so fidelity - needs a better speaker
Display hard to see unless at right angle
Too easy to accidently move volume control

First off, the clock itself seems to be great and has all the bells and whistles we wanted. However, the time zone settings on ours were the exact opposite of those shown in the manual (the A setting was actually D for those who may need this info). Figuring this out saved me from returning it - who needs a clock that auto sets to the wrong time and this feature was the reason we paid more for this model. If it explodes any time in the near future, I'll be sure to get back to you.

Pros:
Nice looking housing and display.
Atomic clock syncs up nicely for me.
Fairly intuitive buttons.
Dual alarm display, very easy to see which alarms are active.
"Snoozinator" a very handy feature.
Total snooze time not limited to an hour: if you keep whacking the snooze bar, it'll keep in snooze mode. (This is in contrast to several other clocks I've tried recently which just leave snooze mode, with no warning. You end up late and angry.) The manual implies otherwise, but the "1 hr maximum snooze" refers to maximum time between alarms using Snoozinator .

Cons:
No day-of-the-week or weekday settings. Not a big deal for me.
No battery backup. Better yet, I wish they'd use non-volatile memory, or at least a good size capacitor, in these things so it would just hold settings.
Radio quality just ok, but that's not a big concern of mine.
Not the greatest wake tones, and no "humane" waking option, doesn't bother me.
Display hard to read in the dark at the two dimmest settings.

I housesit for a lady who has this alarm clock. The creek sounds okay, but I never set it to "Birds of Paradise". It sounds like a war on Animal Farm. Otherwise, it works great and is very easy to use.

The size of the time readout is wonderful, especially to those of us who wear glasses. The nature sounds of the brook and the bird are very nice. My husband finds regular alarms too jarring; this is a pleasant alternative. The ocean sounds too much like static for my taste. I also enjoy the fact the am and pm are not part of this clock. Too many times in the past I set my clock for what I believed to be 5:30 am to find out I set it for 5:30 pm by mistake.

The size of the time readout was great,and if you wear glasses the readout will be wonderful.The nature sounds of the bird and the ocean sounds make you feel like you are at the ocean as the water is rushing in, and the brook makes you feel like the water is drippping on your body.The regular alarm will make you jump out of bed.And on this clock you can set the alarm for 9:ooam and you do not have to worry about it going off at 9:00pm.
It's a great clock to have.

Pros:
1. The sound quality is this radio's #1 best feature. Be prepared: once you get used to it, you'll never be able to tolerate an average clock-radio.
2. The time display is a blue background and white numbers, which I find to be bright enough to read but not glaring. As an added bonus it's almost like a nightlight.
3. Love the weekend skip! Second alarm allows me to keep the first alarm reserved for my "standard" wakeup and use second one for naps or schedule change.

Cons:
1. Pray tell, dear Aiwa engineers, what *were* you thinking by omitting volume control from the remote?!!
2. AM/PM indicator is too tiny to read from a distance so that setting an alarm via remote is tricky.

It would have been nice if the radio also included the feature of having the alarm increasing volume.

This radio is great! The remote control comes in very handy.
I have two complaints about this radio:
#1: the alarms may not be loud enough for a heavy sleeper.
#2: it is not possible to turn the volume using the remote.
The music comes through loud and clear.
I would recommend this radio to anyone.

My daughter got this for her 6th birthday. It was simple enough that she could quickly learn how to use it. She loved being able to choose the sound that she wanted to wake up to. The only thing I didn't like is that it's a little involved to set the clock and alarm. There is no way I could do it without the instructions even after doing it a couple of times. I am going to get the Buzz Lightyear version for my son.

This is so cool! it has the best wake up alarm ever! I love this clock. The only reason I could not give it 5 stars is because even with the manual the controls are hard to figure out, but with practice it is an awesome clock.

For me, I really don't need much in a clock radio. All I need from it is that it will wake me up on time and last a long time. I have owned a similar model of this GE model, but when I moved to college, I bought this model and its about the same as the other one I had. It has that really irritating alarm sound, but it works fine. But the radio tuning is kind of poor, just like my other one. If you are going to buy a clock with radio capability, this product is not for you. Try some other clock/radio.

Affordable,and easy-to-use. Has a convenient snooze alarm and sleep timer.Power-failure backup. I liked the easy to read time display.

It does what it says. The instruction booklet comes right out and says the weather radio stations are weak and may not come in. That was the case, but I managed to route the antenna in a way that it picks up the weather channel fairly clear, although there is a lot of background static which changes in intensity depending on whether or not someone is moving around in the room. My girlfriend really appreciates the separate Hour/Minute buttons. She stuck with her old clock radio for well over a decade because most of them have forward and reverse buttons to set the time which she absolutely hates. The ALARM RESET button is a nice feature, every other clock radio requires flipping a switch to OFF and back to ALARM again. I've worn out several clock radios this way, so a button is a welcome change. It's recessed in order to prevent pushing it accidentally when you're half-asleep. It also has a fairly nice, modern appearance and matches most other electronics (i.e. my VTech 2.4GHz phone) as well as the black furniture.

My primary gripe with this clock radio is the quality. It's built cheap. Made in China so no big surprise. Mine was brand new (everything sealed with factory tape) but still had a couple small scratches in the silver paint. Pushing the weather radio button ON and OFF results in a loud audible pop sound. I had a hard time getting a 9V backup battery in it, because the metal "tangs" that snap onto the positive battery terminal were misshapen and bent. I had to get a small screwdriver and bend them into place. I leave the display on the HIGH setting because the brightness doesn't bother me and all the segments light up evenly which looks better. On the LOW setting, several segments of the display are noticeably dimmer than the others while overall the whole display seems to flicker.

Overall, for the price it's pretty good. We had been wanting a weather radio and a more modern looking clock radio to replace the old woodgrain one, so this clock radio does the job of both in one neat package.

I have mixed feelings about this alarm clock. It has some great features, but also some flaws. I gave it 3 stars mostly due to the poor quality of the antenna (a wire that you have to move around just right to hear the weather radio). A sturdy metal antenna would have worked much better. My antenna arrived damaged. The warrenty is limited -- I sent it to the manufacturer and they charge you $5 to get it sent back to you, plus you have to pay to ship it out. So, it cost me about 1/2 the original price just to get it working properly. Very disappointing, and due to poor quality of the antenna.

Other than that, the only significant flaw (that bothers me, that is) I see is how small the Sleep button is. It's difficult to find in the dark, and it's made flatter than the rest of the buttons (it's on the top left of the front of the clock). This makes it hard to press the button, too.

The alarm does have some very nice qualities. Being able to listen to the weather when the news on TV isn't on and it's stormy (so can't turn on the computer) is very handy! Make sure you have a NOAA weather station in your area before you buy, because the signals are weak and you may not be able to pick it up at all.

The slow-to-wake buzzer is really nice. It helps you wake easily, rather than jumping out of your skin. It starts to almost nothing to a fairly loud buzzer. You won't sleep through this buzzer.

Also handy is the Reset button. This resets your alarm for the next day. You don't have to remember to turn the alarm on everyday, because it just resets it to the same time for the next day.

If you're buying this for the Hi/Lo dimmer, I wouldn't recommend this clock radio. It works, but it isn't very dim. I leave it on dim all the time because the Hi setting is so bright.

I like the :
1) Easy to read display
2) Alarm Reset - single button turns off alarm and resets it for next day and it is easy to find
3) Easy to use
4) Displays PM & Alarm On
5) Single Buttom to listed to NOAA Weather
6) Looks good, but if your are up very close has a bit of a painted on finish appearence - the finish could be better.
7) Single Alarm - most radio alarm clocks have two alarms, but as I never used that feature and it caused confusion on what I was setting more than once, I very much like that there is only one alarm.
8) Picks up AM, FM, and Weather great - I am in a city.
9) Great Price - I prefer this radio to my almost new ...radio that it is replacing !