Sangean RCR-1 Advanced Atomic Clock Radio (Classic Black)
by Sangean
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sangean RCR-1 Advanced Atomic Clock Radio (Classic Black)
Customer Review: Excellent Features, Good Sound Quality
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm the type of guy that is fanatical about my electronics. This clock radio offers nearly all the features I want in a clock radio with only a few draw backs. I love the flexibility of the alarm's. You can set it up to wake you only on certain days of the week. It also features what Sangean calls Humane Waking System which is basically a way of gradually increasing the volume of the alarm tone or radio. This allows for a gentle wake up as opposed to a sudden jolt when the alarm sounds.
One reviewer on this site claims that he was unable to wake to an AM station. My unit wakes me to AM stations just fine so I don't think he understood how to set the station while setting up the alarm. The instructions don't really explain that very well so here is the easy way to set the station you want to wake to. Simply turn on the radio and tune to the desired station. Then press and hold either Alarm 1 or Alarm 2 for more than two seconds and wait till you hear a beep. Then your wake up station will be stored into memory.
Turning on either alarm requires several key presses but it is not overly difficult to master. My take on this is that it is a safety feature so that you don't turn on/off an alarm by mistake. The radio also features a basic power failure feature. It will retain it's settings for up to 4 hours in the event of a power failure. However, the alarm will not sound at the designated time if the power is out. I see that as a critical oversite and I hope that Sangean corrects that in the next model. I have mine plugged in to a APC Battery Backup so I don't worry too much about power failures.
What I don't like about this clock radio. The LCD display is is very hard to read. I have good vision and I find it difficult to read the display. The contrast could use an adjustment knob but sadly there isn't one.
A clock radio of this caliber should have an automatic dimmer. I hate having to manually set the brightness before I go to sleep.
It should have a programable snooze function. It does snooze but only 5 min. at a time. You cannot tap the snooze bar repeatedly to add more time.
Overall I'm very pleased with this clock radio but as always the search continues for the perfect clock. When I find it, I'll buy but until then I'm happy to use this one. BTW, the sound quality is very good. Not Bose or Tivoli quality but good nontheless.
Customer Review: Best clock radio for my needs but room for improvement
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had this clock radio for a couple of weeks and overall have been very pleased with it. I especially like the adjustable dimmer control for the clock so that it is not keeping me awake at night and with the button that switches from the dimmer setting to full-bright, I can see what I need no matter the room lighting conditions. I also like the fact that I can listen to AM talk stations at night with low volume and still have my alarm wake me to my favorite FM station at its own preset.
I was not bothered by the multiple functions for the various controls. It may be confusing for some, but I am used to dealing with these kinds of multi-step processes. Also the fact that it sets for specific days means that I don't need to fuss with the settings as I am on a regular schedule that really doesn't change.
The analog clock is a nice feature as the digital face gives tuner information when the radio is on. I like this.
The radio quality is good for both AM and FM stations. The problem is that the speaker is on the back of the unit and provides more of a room filling sound and not the direct sound pointing at my face which I prefer (as does my girlfriend) for when the alarm goes off in the morning. I solved this with a set of inexpensive powered speakers but would prefer a speaker at the front of the unit.
As I live a few dozen miles from the atomic time clock broadcast center in Colorado, I have no problems whatsoever with the atomic clock finding a signal and syncing up.
I wish the snooze alarm was adjustable, instead of being fixed at five minutes. I already mentioned the speaker location issue I have.
I'm glad I bought it and am sure it will work well in the future.
Customer Review: Great Analog, FAIR LCD, Great Radio
Summary: 4 Stars
Trying to find a clock radio that has all the necessary requirements is a daunting if not impossible task. My top requirements were: Ear Phone Jack (so I can listen to the radio while my wife sleeps, great AM reception, 2 alarm settings; and under $100.00 (please, it's a Clock Radio for goodness sakes!)
This clock radio provides great reception and basic alarm functionality that most clock radios have.
The only drawback is the LCD display. For those of us in the reading glasses stage of life or used to the old style "lit" numbers, the LCD can be quite difficult to see and read, unless the back lite is turned up. Even then it is lacking badly. The Sony Dream machine has a much better LCD (my son has one) but the controls seem even more complicated than the Sangean; and it doesn't have an earphone jack. However, the Sangean's Analog clock provides the solution to the "what time is it?" question and is why I did NOT get the Sangean RCR-2!
It's nice that it has the Atomic Clock, but if you lose power, there's no battery backup!! Talk about an engineering oversight!
I live in a rural area in western Massachusetts and the Atomic Clock works great, no reception problems!
I have to agree the manual is really bad. But thanks to some of the reviews I've been able to figure it out. Plus it's not as difficult as one would think.
Customer Review: Easier to use than I expected
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading the reviews here, I was worried that this clock radio would be nearly impossible to set up. Instead I found the controls to be easy to use, so no complaints there.
I also like the way the display changes color and intensity based on what the alarm is doing. It's handy when you're groggy and can't remember whether you turned the alarm off or just hit snooze.
I didn't find the humane waking system to be as nice as I expected -- it seems to ramp up too fast -- but it is still a nice thing to have.
Right now my primary complaint is that the analog clock has just stopped working, after only a couple weeks of ownership. I'm going to try a few things to see if I can get it to wake up.
Overall I am happy with this clock radio, and would recommend it except for the potentially short life of the analog portion.
Customer Review: I like this clock radio
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this sangean clock radio about 3 yeqrs ago. I bought it because I didn't want another boring clock radio but something that looked jazzy. This radio fit the bill. It's not perfect! If you want perfect DO NOT buy this one. The atomic clock feature works great. If the power goes off; day light savings time; whatever, the clock will reset itself. The radio has a good sound for its size. The negatives are: 1. a little complicated to set the alarm, but after doing it a few times no problem
2. the clock face light is too bright for our dark bedroom so I always use the dimmer control on the bottom of the unit. Inconvenient, but no biggie.
3. it gets dusty. So does everything else. I'm happy enough with this radio to put up with a couple of inconveniences.