Clock Reviews

The best thing about this alarm clock is that it has the forward/rewind function for setting the time-so that you don't have to go all the way around again when you go past the time you want. This is great for me since I'm a student and my schedule varies from day to day.

The style is nice and the keys aren't too small. The snooze button is extra big. The sound isn't great, like most alarm clocks. Also, there is no cover for the backup battery. At first I was suprised but it's on the bottom so who cares anyway. If you want a simple functioning alarm clock that's easy to set at an affordable price, I recommend this one.

Good combo unit with clear reception and better than average sound. Easy to use....and hard to mistakenly blame on my oversleeping habits. I especially liked the dual intensity lights, although I almost always just use the dimmer of the 2. This is a good unit, and worth the reasonable price.

I just got this alarm clock/radio a little while ago and so far it's done everything that it says it will. The display is easy to read and has a variable backlight, although I would have liked to have been able to turn off the backlight completely, but that's only a minor thing. The clock and alarm set buttons are hidden under a cover so you can't accidentally screw things up, always a plus at 5am. The tuner works well and after reading the manual it's easy to get a grasp for the plethora of buttons on this item. The fact that you can tune into the NOAA weather radio service and get forecasts and alerts is nice. There are two big things I don't like about this alarm clock/radio. The first is the way that you set the tuning of the weather radio. The switch has 7 positions that it clicks into, however at least on mine, it won't tune in any stations unless you pry the switch in-between one of its sticking points. I think I've got it for now, but if I bump it at all it's another 3 minutes to try and set it again. This might be just something wrong with my particular unit though. The other problem I have with it is that the 3 alarms are all different. You get 1 radio alarm (tunes in the radio), 1 weather alarm (where it tunes in the NOAA weather station), and one 'natural' sound alarm. I use the natural word lightly because the sounds are not very good. But in all reality I didn't expect them to be decent. Notice that I never said that there is a beep alarm. The only way the alarm will beep at you is if the power is out and the batteries are low (it takes 5 AA batteries). Since Timex stated how the alarms work clearly enough I can't hold this against them. However I still would have like to seen a better alarm setup. Oh and FYI the snooze is permanently set to 9 minutes.

The Good:
-Easy to read variable intensity display
-Weather alerts and radio
-Battery backup for alarms
-Easy access snooze button

The Bad:
-Weather radio tuner VERY hard to set
-No beep alarm
-Each alarm has to be different type, (radio, weather, or 'natural' sound)

I received this radio and it's great for what it does. Only thing I will say is that there are A LOT of buttons and I couldn't even set the time without going through the manual. But the main purpose of this is the weather alert, letting you know if there is a tornado and such coming and that works perfectly with a very loud, long message so you're sure to hear it. I love that you can dim the face also if it's too bright. The alarm can also be set to go off M-F, or every day. But it did go off when I didn't want it to and I couldn't figure out how to stop it! It doesn't have an actual on/off alarm button. I am pleased with it though.

The Z166S is a cool product. It has lots of buttons and things to play with and has some pre-recorded groovie music to mellow out too. It even has a red LED, a night light and a AM/FM radio. The night light is touch activated and if you choose will turn itself off in 15 minutes. It has a silver tone plastic shell and a LCD screen to view the time, the screen has 3 brightness settings and is easy to read late at night.

I would have given the Z166S 5 stars but there is one minor problem. The antenna is just a wire hanging out it's backside and seems to deliver poor radio reception. It would have been better if Zenith included an actual antenna.

I think with a little retro-fitting a better antenna could be applied to make the Z166S a fine product. I plan taking my Z166S apart and installing a superior antenna.

This Has many different features, such as nature sounds, easy to see displays, and GREAT organization with buttons and features.

CD Player started to skip in first few weeks of its use. It finally broke after 6 monts of use. The design of the unit isn't so bad , with the exception of volume control which in my opinion should be in place of timer control, but the quality of the equipment is very bad.

I was using a crummy boom box to listen to the radio while I was in the kitchen and hated the way it took up counter space, plus the reception was finicky. I looked at other models of under cabinet radios and the only other one that was comparable was the newest GE model. The older white models were clunky in design. The newer GE did not have as rich of a sound and it had a "busier" design that I thought would be a grunge magnet in the kitchen. I was concerned about the FM antenna in the cord, but it turned out to be an non-issue. Mounting was a breeze and the reception I get is the same as with our big receivers, even without the cord stretched out (I have it loosely looped on top of the unit). AM reception is the best in the house!

I bought this product for use as a bedroom player. Other stereos seemed a bit too bulky to fit my minimalist tastes and I had a limited budget to work with. I must say that I am very pleased with the performance of this player. Even though I mounted it under a bookcase shelf, it still produces amazing sound [despite the fact that the speakers are underneath the player].

As with most Sony electronics, it plays CD-R & -RWs perfectly. The radio is also of very high quality -- the reception is excellent. For the first time in my life I can catch every radio station I listen to. In addition, the remote is small and has a magnetic back for ease of storage.

Installation is a breeze (just make sure you have a drill handy!) as Sony provides a stencil of sorts (holes puched where you'll need to drill) to facilitate mounting.

I highly recommend this product for anyone on a budget looking for an attractive player.

Bought the cambridge soundworks radio through amazon.com who get's it's through J&R Music World. After getting the radio, two days later the indicator light that tells you if the alarm is on stops working. Can't tell if the alarm is on by looking at the radio. This sucks. After paying 213.78 what do i do ? Send it back? Who knows, wait for 2 months to get it back. All for one tiny little light. I,ve decided to live with it . Sounds good, but don't know if the alarm is on by looking at the radio. I am not going through the trouble to send this back. I rate this radio a 2 star.

It simply isn't clear to me if the 730 is actually the old Model 88 with a new skin, or if they are completely unrelated. I don't have a Model 88 to which to listen, and am therefore unable to make a conclusion. However, considering Henry Kloss' emphasis on a natural musical sound, it seems likely to me that the 730 is NOT a Kloss design. Let me explain.

I own a Kloss-designed Model 1. It is a sweet and musical radio, quite an engineering marvel. It is an extremely satisfying radio to own and listen to. Then I heard that the Kloss out-did himself with the Model 88, mainly with extensions of the lower frequencies below 200 Hz. I had to get one, but was told that the Model 88 is now the 730, so the 730 is what I got.

After 2 months of daily listening, I have been sadly dissatisfied with the 730. While the tiny Kloss Model 1 was warm and musical (with a rich bass, mind you), the 730 is, simply put, uneven. Instead of a flat frequency response throughout its range, there is a significant hump somewhere below 200 Hz. (Too lazy to bring out the sound meter to check the exact frequency). When the music happens to have a compenent in that particular frequency, the apparent bass is artificially boosted and overwhelms the listener. Worse yet, it muddies up the frequencies around that hump when the hump is hit, and a lot of musical information is completely lost.

When listening to an orchestra, this effect is most pronounced when the timpani comes in. One particular kettle will set off the radio's artifical bass boost, and any following passages from the timpani is lost for the next 1-2 seconds until the rogue frequency damps away.

Perhaps this radio was designed for listening to electronic music, I don't know. It is too uneven for listening to classical music (or anything that needs to sound natural). The folks who glow about the 730's bass sound aren't looking for music in the bass, I fear. They are just looking for a lot of something that sounds like bass. Psychoacoustics at work again [big sigh].

My hunt for the real Model 88 continues, I guess ....

I bought a refurbished 730 from Cambridge on ebay for $140. At this price the thing is a real steal. Their shipping was prompt. I got several emails tracking their handling.

Pros:

The controls have been done beautifully and the range of functionality is immense ... it speaks 5 languages ... the remote is a tiny marvel ... the 730 is a real sound center, not just a radio. Remarkably hefty. I play my CD's through the rear aux input.

The sound is quite remarkable. In fact, it can be somewhat uncanny. The 730 replaced a long-used Proton radio whose tuner gave out but the 730 is "hifi" and -- in hindsight -- the Proton was just a very good table radio.

The FM tuner sensitivity is OK and I can do secure stereo on the station I most care about in a house where reception is usually somewhat problematic. Oddly, reception was worse with the Terk amplified antenna I use in my basement. I taped the 730's FM antenna wire along the length of the headboard.

Cons:

Yes, the bass response is hot and somewhat quirky ... some recordings just have too much bass for the 730. I keep the bass tone control flat and the treble slightly turned up.
The loudness contour must stay off.

The clock gained 3 minutes in its first 3 weeks, while I was away. But the cleaning lady says she might have touched it.
A mystery.

The display dims greatly when lights are out but still not enough that I can sleep just below it without covering the face. And the lights for the alarms make it even brighter.

The audio and FM input jacks in back were slightly flaky upon first use and required a bit of diddling to achieve secure connections; but they have been stable.

I bought this yesterday. I really bought this to be a mini boom box for my kitchen. Here's what I discovered that I didn't like about the product:

1 - The sound is not so good. I bought an RCA (w/vertical CD placement) at the same time. The RCAs sound was much better.

2 - The Sony requires manual tuning of the radio. No presets.

3 - Manual volume control.

4 - The buttons for CD use are confusing. The play and stop buttons blend in with the other buttons.

I did like:

1 - The FM antenna. Better reception than the RCA. I live in a valley, so reception is difficult.

2- The rest of the features seem on par with others in this price range.

I recently purchased this item for my husband. We love everything about it! The tuning is excellent. Our favorite stations come in crystal clear and the speakers are flawless! It's well worth the price. I will be purchasing another for my son.

I just bought this clock/radio at a discount store. I have been looking for a clock/radio which is also a CD player, but haven't had luck in finding any that I like. I did buy an RCA item and it was terrible- it stopped playing the CD in the middle of songs and wouldn't start playing again. I exchanged it for another, and the same thing happened. So I looked at this particular model, but really didn't like the shape and didn't like the green numbers. The RCA I bought had green numbers and it was near impossible to read in the middle of the night. When I saw this model for $20, I thought it was worth a try. I am glad I gave it a chance. This clock/radio is GREAT. I love it already and have only had it for a day. The CD sounds great for a small unit like this. The analog tuning is better than digital for fine tuning in my opinion. The radio sounds great too. The green numbers are rather large and easy to read. I have tried it alot in the past day and it has been nothing but a "dream machine." Totally recommended.

I bought this yesterday. I really bought this to be a mini boom box for my kitchen. Here's what I discovered that I didn't like about the product:

1 - The sound is not so good. I bought an RCA (w/vertical CD placement) at the same time. The RCAs sound was much better.

2 - The Sony requires manual tuning of the radio. No presets.

3 - Manual volume control.

4 - The buttons for CD use are confusing. The play and stop buttons blend in with the other buttons.

I did like:

1 - The FM antenna. Better reception than the RCA. I live in a valley, so reception is difficult.

2- The rest of the features seem on par with others in this price range.

I recently purchased this item for my husband. We love everything about it! The tuning is excellent. Our favorite stations come in crystal clear and the speakers are flawless! It's well worth the price. I will be purchasing another for my son.

I just bought this clock/radio at a discount store. I have been looking for a clock/radio which is also a CD player, but haven't had luck in finding any that I like. I did buy an RCA item and it was terrible- it stopped playing the CD in the middle of songs and wouldn't start playing again. I exchanged it for another, and the same thing happened. So I looked at this particular model, but really didn't like the shape and didn't like the green numbers. The RCA I bought had green numbers and it was near impossible to read in the middle of the night. When I saw this model for $20, I thought it was worth a try. I am glad I gave it a chance. This clock/radio is GREAT. I love it already and have only had it for a day. The CD sounds great for a small unit like this. The analog tuning is better than digital for fine tuning in my opinion. The radio sounds great too. The green numbers are rather large and easy to read. I have tried it alot in the past day and it has been nothing but a "dream machine." Totally recommended.

I bought this yesterday. I really bought this to be a mini boom box for my kitchen. Here's what I discovered that I didn't like about the product:

1 - The sound is not so good. I bought an RCA (w/vertical CD placement) at the same time. The RCAs sound was much better.

2 - The Sony requires manual tuning of the radio. No presets.

3 - Manual volume control.

4 - The buttons for CD use are confusing. The play and stop buttons blend in with the other buttons.

I did like:

1 - The FM antenna. Better reception than the RCA. I live in a valley, so reception is difficult.

2- The rest of the features seem on par with others in this price range.

I recently purchased this item for my husband. We love everything about it! The tuning is excellent. Our favorite stations come in crystal clear and the speakers are flawless! It's well worth the price. I will be purchasing another for my son.

I just bought this clock/radio at a discount store. I have been looking for a clock/radio which is also a CD player, but haven't had luck in finding any that I like. I did buy an RCA item and it was terrible- it stopped playing the CD in the middle of songs and wouldn't start playing again. I exchanged it for another, and the same thing happened. So I looked at this particular model, but really didn't like the shape and didn't like the green numbers. The RCA I bought had green numbers and it was near impossible to read in the middle of the night. When I saw this model for $20, I thought it was worth a try. I am glad I gave it a chance. This clock/radio is GREAT. I love it already and have only had it for a day. The CD sounds great for a small unit like this. The analog tuning is better than digital for fine tuning in my opinion. The radio sounds great too. The green numbers are rather large and easy to read. I have tried it alot in the past day and it has been nothing but a "dream machine." Totally recommended.

Although there are some cool features on this clock, it doesn't do all that it should. I'll simply list the pros and cons and you can decide for yourself.

Pros:
- you can instantly know the weather outside and the temperature inside.
- the forcast prediction and graphics are remarkably accurate.
- projection on ceiling is very cool at night - you can look straight up as you lie in bed and know the time.

Cons:
- even though it plugs in, the clock runs on batteries. the plug is only for the projection part.
- the alarm wouldn't wake up the lightest sleeper - it's just a little beep like your microwave makes. it just makes them more often as you sleep through it.
- the projection doesn't work at all if any light is on in the room and it's really only usefull on a perpendicular surface - otherwise it's stretched and half out of focus.

So as a second clock and something neat to have, this is fine. Don't get it as your primary alarm clock if you want to make it to work on time and not get fired :-)

We have been using this product for the last six months... and, of course, it's nice to be able to look up at your ceiling in the dark of the night and realize that it's 3 a.m. ... BUT, as a Minnesotan, it's downright comforting to see that [sometimes all too negative] outside temperature projected on your ceiling. In addition, it's very nice to have an alarm clock that actually checks the time and makes a weather forecast... this is certainly the most entertaining alarm clock we have had... so, why not 5 stars? That little matter of an internal button that had to be re-seated before I could set the timezone gives me some pause about recommending this product without hesitation. Fun product with perhaps some quality control risk.

I had this for a year now, and I NEVER had a problem with it. *Knock wood*. It does what it says, and it is very accurate, and the weather forecaster is pretty acurate too. A must buy!

I like the controls and the layout. The clock is well designed and easy to use, which is unusual for one of these things. It's a solid little unit that picked up the atomic time in less than 5 minutes. So far, so good. The fatal problem is what others have noted: it is WAY too bright even on the dim setting. The thing should be called an atomic clock radio / night light. We compared it to two other alarm clocks and it had to be three times as bright as either of them. It literally lit up half a side of our king bed on the dim setting.

I mean, you create a nice design and layout, which seems like the hard part, and then you make an obvious goof on the display. Did anyone put this in a dark room before finalizing this thing for production?

I bought this item through a Gold Box offer since it was a better price than competing clock radios with similar features. After I took it out of the box, it took about five minutes to set up. (The manufacturer includes a quick start tag in case you don't want to read the manual) Here in Pittsburgh it takes about 2.5 days to sync with the atomic clock, but the manual warns that it can take up to 72 hours. Even before it was synchronized, the clock kept good time and operated perfectly. The dual alarms are great...they allow you to have weekday-only and weekend-only settings. The radio has decent quality sound for such a small device and it gets better reception than the stereo that sits in the same room. And, of course, the backup battery feature is a must when you live in an apartment builing like ours where it's questionable if the electricity will stay on after you go to work.

This is the best alarm clock I have ever had! We live in the mountains and the self setting mechanism still worked within 10 minutes. Two alarms and more features than I ever dreamed of.