Sangean RCR-1 Advanced Atomic Clock Radio - Silver

• Time is displayed via LCD and an analog dial!
• Dual time HWS (Humane Waking System) gently eases you out of slumber
• Tone controls
• Headphone jack (headphones sold separately)
• 3 x 4 speaker delivers pleasant sound from the unit's 800mw amplifier

This clock radio is OUTSTANDING!!! (and it looks great). The time accuracy (atomic clock) is beyond compare. The AM/FM PLL synthesized radio is static free and has excellent sound. Not stereo, but still pleasing! The unit is feature-laden. I love the "Humane Waking System" which gradually ramps up the sound for both alert/radio alarms so as not to jolt you out of bed. I'm a very heavy sleeper, and the adjustable volume for both alarms makes it plenty loud to get up. The independence of both alarms makes this extremely convenient for husband/wife and weekday/weekend settings. Another nice feature is the "nap" function. Set it and the alarm goes off from 10 minutes to 2 hours later, without having to touch the normal alarms. The background light display is a pleasing pastel blue, which changes to orange leting you know that the alarm is serious! The adjustability of the display is excellent, including a dimmer at the push of a button, and completely off if you so desire. I could go on and on about the features of this unit. However, here is where the "but" comes in...the instruction manual is not the most clearly written. The most serious problem, in my opinion, was not being able to pick up the atomic signal. Sure the instruction manual warns you that it might take up to 48 hours to receive the signal. It also warns you that the unit might need to be repositioned to receive the signal. I was frustrated after not getting the signal for a couple of days. Then I noticed that the back of the radio has a circular slot for the rectangular "block-shaped" atomic signal antenna. Once I put the antenna in the slot, the signal was received, and has been maintained ever since. This was NOT stated in the instruction manual. Another minor criticism is there are 14 (7 AM and 7FM) presets, not 21 as stated in the manual. 14 is more than enough for me. The alarm instructions took some patience to learn. These criticisms of the instruction manual should in no way detract from the features and quality of the product, both of which are excellent. Buy this and you will be extremely happy. Just be patient and fiddle around with it. Nothing beats trial and error when it comes to high-tech gadgets.

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All in all, a decent clock radio that I'm not altogeter unhappy I purchased. But there are a few oddities to bear in mind and I'd probably buy a different model if I had to do it all over again.

I have very good eyes, but even for me both of the clock displays are very hard to read when the room lights are off. The backlit digital clock doesn't have an adjustable contrast. This means that it's only legible in a darkened room if you have good eyes and are looking at it from a narrow range of angles slightly above horizontal. It can be a real problem if you're trying to see it off-angle, without glasses, or bleary-eyed from sleep. The advertising pictures you see on Amazon and Sangean's websites imply rock-solid sharp and easy to read displays and that just isn't the case.

The atomic clock receiver isn't the strongest and can be a bit flaky initially, but I can get a signal in our brick/concrete/steel frame condo which I think must be an unusually difficult environment. When I first set it up it took about a day to lock in, but I've had no troubles since then.

The FM radio has good reception. Not miraculous, but considerably better than the previous Panasonic radio we tried in the same space.

The alarm is very useful, easy to program complex times into it, and easy to deal with routine alaram/snooze/wake functions. But as other reviewers have pointed out, you cannot easily instruct the alarm not to go off if you wake up before it goes off. Instead, you need to enter the main alarm program menu, deprogram the alarm for which ever day of the week it is, and then remember to come back to the clock after the alarm time passes to reprogram it for that same day of the week. This is such a nuisance we generally don't do it.

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Overall, the Sangean RCR-1 clock radio is awesome. (For me, it replaced the "Sunrise alarm clock" by Sharper image that I found sorely wanting in quality and features). The Sangean atomic clock radio, however, was hardly wanting in any area. See below for my comments.

Advantages:

-small footprint: takes up half the space on your nightstand versus most clock radios

-atomic time synchronization: this works perfectly and is very accurate

-automatic tuning: sets station preset buttons automatically based on signal strength

-very cool looks

-adjustable illumination from very bright to nearly off

-gradual increase in volume of either alarm tone or radio to gently wake you from sleep

-reasonable radio sound fidelity, not "tinny" like many clock radios

-value: try finding another clock radio so feature-laden for this price. I tried... nothing else came close.

Disadvantages:

-difficult to read digital display at night (you can simply read the analog display, or turn up the illumination)

-my wife says the receiving bar for the atomic signal that attaches to the back of the unit is ugly. It is hidden but would be even better if it were internal

Why I didn't give it 5 stars:

I almost did! But it felt a little dishonest to do so since I did list two weaknesses. Nevertheless, I find these weaknesses to be minor, especially given all the huge advantages above. I have been exceedingly happy with this purchase and recommend it to anyone looking for a unique clock radio with the above features.

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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.

I agree with the other reviewers. The clock is nice and attractive but does not blow me away. My main complaint is the alarm settings. I had thought that you could program two alarms each day to go off whenever you wanted. Not true. You have two alarms that can be set for a specific time each day and specific days of the week. Foe example, Let's say you use one alarm and your spouse uses the other. You can set your alarm to wake up at 6:30 am M,W, and F. If you want to wake up at 7:00am on Tu and Th, your out of luck.

My other problem with this machine is the humane wake system only works for the alarm bell not the radio. Also, the display is of very poor quality and can only be seen at certain angles. I radio in this price range should also have a CD player.

I paid $80 delivered and I feel so-so about the purchase. I feel sorry for those folks that paid $130.