This is the most expensive and worst alarm clock I have ever bought.Let's start with the positive. It can be used as a speakerphone, and the sound quality is great. It comes with a remote, looks nice, and is iPad compatible.
Here is what it may not do:
Wake you up on the weekends
Wake you up to the iPod
The snooze button may do nothing, forcing you to turn it off
So if you don't need to wake up or hit snooze it could be a nice device.
As you would expect for a high end alarm it as two alarms, A & B. Each can be set to everyday, weekdays, or weekends. These settings can not be trusted. I have gone to using both every day and changing them several times a week. One would THINK that you could use one for the weekend and one for weekdays. This does NOT work reliably, and I tend to be just a bit picky about making it to my job on time.
Often what happens is the "wake to iPod" setting somehow changes to "CUSTOM" of which you can change this back only by scrolling through menu items with the hidden buttons on the back of the clock (it was the app interface on the phone that set it wrong so you can't use that to fix this). Since I have had this for over a year I have tried a wide variety of changes, of which nothing works every time. FURTHER, I have gotten a second ia 100 to see if it was my unit (it wasn't). I've also re-installed SW, and even upgraded my phone since this purchase, and called their tech support more than a few times. My point here is that I've ruled out this being an issue with one bad clock.
Why the snooze button always works for dimming, and works 80% of the time (but not 100) as a snooze button is beyond me.
I've waited long enough for a SW/firmware refresh to address these issues. My only salvation is to save you from this same torment.
For some odd reason that is due either to incompetence in the packaging department, a highly dubious marketing strategy at iHome, or a combination between the two, American consumers can expect to experience miscommunications and unhappiness regarding this product (despite whatever merits the features that this product might have to offer once you can get juice into it), until some very basic issues get cleared up.
The best I can do is to warn you to contact iHome and/or your Amazon.com seller directly prior to purchasing this item to ask them to tell you PRECISELY what is included inside the box. You may uncover some odd reason why a product which the manufacturer sells for $200 on its website is discounted so sharply by Amazon.com vendors. Protect yourself ahead of time: get a guarantee that you will get a product you can actually plug into an American-made wall socket!
Also, I can share with you the email I wrote to iHome technical support to bring these issues to their attention. It will be a measure of the quality of their products and their customer service to observe how they handle such feedback.
To iHome tech support, via their website:
I bought a brand new iHome iA100 Bluetooth Audio System for iPod iPhone from an Amazon vendor last week, and I was rather surprised that there was absolutely NO WAY that I could get A/C power into the unit! This leads me to conclude that there is something seriously wrong with:
1) your packaging quality control procedures
2) your marketing strategy
3) your inadequate web site copy
1) In the first place, your box contained three elements that, if they would only fit together properly, would allow me to obtain electrical power from my USA A/C power outlet: Howerer, these items do not play nicely together:
(a) the iHome 100-240V (Made in China!) universal adapter, model 110148-12, which has a cable that correctly fits into the iA100 chassis coming out of one side, and a two-prong input jack on the other. So far, so good.
(b) A cable with a plug that correctly fits into the universal adapter on one end, with a plastic plug that contains European or Asian style, rounded pins on the other end. The item has no identification as to its make, model, or style -a rather stupid oversight in design engineering.
(c) A Helms Man A/C plug, with flat pins to be inserted into a standard USA A/C power outlet on one side, with tiny round holes that were apparently intended to accept the much larger pins on the cable. Unfortunately, the larger pins of the cable, item (b), don't fit into the holes of the plug, item (c). Not only is the pin size a mismatch, but the distance between the pins do not even match correctly with the distance between the holes. (Maybe they measure things differently in China, but last month I bought a 2-prong to 3-prong A/C adapter with the metal ground that you screw into the A/C jack's plate unable to match up either! Pitiful! This ain't rocket science.)
SINCE I CANNOT PUT THE EUROPEAN/ASIAN POWER PLUG INTO THE USA POWER PLUG ADAPTER, I CANNOT GET POWER INTO YOUR UNIT!
(2) Whether it is intentional or not, that's very bad packaging! It not only frustrates a consumer to get a product that they cannot use, but it also makes me wonder if your products are as incompetently designed as your packaging philosophy seems to imply they might be. Every little detail counts.
Worse, if it is your marketing strategy to send out a box to the United States market that does not contain a cable with a universal adapter that directly plugs into the flat pinned outlets of American consumers, then your marketing people are not playing with a full deck of cards! It's stupid marketing. You don't send European/Asian elements to the American marketplace, expecting us to "adapt," and you certainly don't complicate the affront by includng parts in your package that don't fit! In the case of the iA100, one incompetent marketing decision led to another incompetent packaging methodology, or worker mistake, and it resulted in the mess that you sent to me.
(3) If your web site copy under the "Accessories" tab, regarding the availability of a iAD100B, which is apparently a Black AC Adapter for iA100 is supposed to mean that American consumers have to spend an additional $21.99 to buy an essential item that ought to be included in the original box at the price stated for the product, then I condemn you not only for gross incompetence, but for implementing an unethical business practice. No where I can find do you clearly state that the box contains "European/Asian" electrical items only and that American consumers MUST buy the "accessory" AC adapter merely in order to operate your device. My experience in marketing communications tell me that when marketing copy is skimpy, or vague, it is either due to the incompetence and laziness of the web site copywriter who does not think with the consumers' interest uppermost in her mind, or, worse, it is due to shady, unethical business practices on the part of marketing upper management, who compel the copywriter into writing vague, incomplete web pages on purpose, so that they can see if they can take advantage of the market's gullibility and stupidity.
Whether you realize it or not, you just cannot successfully market a product like this with such blatant errors in packaging philosophy and marketing strategy. You cannot package items that don't fit together to give power to your unit; and you cannot compound your mistake--whether that "mistake" be intentional or not--by offering to sell us, for an additional price and in a subsequent order, the item which can allow A/C power to flow from an American electrical outlet to your unit!
I will be interested in seeing how you try to wiggle out of this dilemma, and I will take you to task in a follow-up warning and review of your product on Amazon.com. If you want to sell to an American public, then such packaging incompetence marketing lunacy really does need to be chastised in public, too.
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I did not wish to rate this product, because I have not yet been able to use it, but Amazon.com won't let me post my caveat without giving a star rating, so I have to give this item one star for packaging defects. If and when I can get power into it, I'll revise my rating accordingly on the features later, if possible.
Buy iHome iA100 Bluetooth Audio System for iPod iPhone NEW! Now
This alarm clock works well and is very cool.The sound is good. The alarm clock works all of the time, as configured. Bluetooth works pretty well.
Here is my biggest complaint:
Snooze changes the dimmer settings of the alarm clock, which I find very annoying. The dimmer setting should not be modified by remote control. The real problem is the display is too bright. It would be cool if the device had a way to set the dimmer to a specific setting during sleep time and another setting for awake time.
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this is probably one of the few things i can see keeping for a while because of the amazing sound quality and countless features.Want iHome iA100 Bluetooth Audio System for iPod iPhone NEW! Discount?
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