Sangean RCR-1 Advanced Atomic Clock Radio (Classic Black) by Sangean
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List Price: Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Sangean RCR-1 Advanced Atomic Clock Radio (Classic Black)
Digital camera Review: Good idea gone wrong!
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm a computer geek, and thought all of the features would be awesome to play with. Well, I got it and man was I wrong! The FM reception is TERRIBLE! I literally got 10x reception with a cheap $15 radio. It couldn't even tune to my favorite station!
The atomic clock receiver antenta is this large (4" or so) bar shaped device which screws into the back of the clock, which looks pretty darn ugly. The controls are horrid, and you need to constantly read the manual to do anything, even use the radio!
After two days this clock immediately went back for a refund. My $15 Emerson Research clock is vastly superior, easier to use, and almost as feature rich.
Digital camera Review: Good sound, horrible user interface
Summary: 3 Stars
I read the reviews on this machine before I bought it as a replacement for another Sangean clock radio that had the speakers go out, and even though there was one review that mentioned the complicated instructions, I thought surely I'd be able to figure it out. I'm pretty tech savvy and so's my husband, so how hard can it be?
Well, pretty hard, actually! The most complicated part is setting an alarm, which I need to do pretty frequently. Yes, it's got a handy feature that says on MWF I need to wake up at this time and on Sat/Sun I need to wake up at this other time. But actually turning the alarm on, wow. This is so poorly designed I can't believe it. I need the "instructions" to help me each time I need to change my alarm. I'm thinking of writing my own UNDERSTANDABLE instructions to keep on the bedside table since this is so counterintuitive as to be nearly unusable.
That being said, the sound quality is fantastic, the atomic clock worked fine for me, the tuner is very strong and gets weak stations great, and I like the analog clock though it is somewhat difficult to see at night, even with brightness controls adjusted. Time will tell how long this lasts. If it doesn't make it through this year, it may be my last Sangean product; we'll see.
Digital camera Review: Good, but not perfect...
Summary: 4 Stars
I like it. It is a keeper.
However, I agree with other reviewers concerning the tricky nature of the controls. My solution: I kept the user manual on the night stand, by the radio, where it was easy to find and refer to. After several weeks, I found myself no longer looking at the manual, nor having to experiment, nor grumbling to myself about the poor design. It's all natural to me now. That said, for forcing me through such a training exercise, I down-graded the thing by one star.
I also agree with comments that the LCD's contrast could be better. However, back-lighting intensity is NOT a problem because it is fully adjustable with a small knob on the bottom of the radio, and switchable between bright and dim by a button on the front. Some reviewers may have not scoured the user manual sufficiently to find those tid-bits of info.
Another complaint I have seen in reviews concerns the presumptive lack of battery back-up and how that makes no sense on a higher-end clock radio. I consider that complaint to be misguided. In fact, it DOES retain settings in a power failure and it does it without requiring user-supplied batteries. I have not dis-assembled the thing to determine the exact method used, but I can guess. These types of electronic devices typically store a small amount of back-up power on an internal gizmo known as a "super capacitor". An alternative, sometimes used, is a very small internal NiCd cell. Whichever it is, this radio demonstrated its stuff during an 18 minute power failure that occurred a few weeks after my purchase. It retained all of the programming and the mechanical clock display spun itself around to the correct time within a minute or so of power being restored. On another occasion, I un-plugged the radio to move it to a different location and noticed that the LCD clock display continued running while un-plugged for that short time. For my money, that's good enough and preferable to having to pay attention to AAA cells that can go bad and leak.
Another complaint I have seen concerns the effectiveness of the "Atomic" aspect of the clock. That can be a problem because the Atomic clock signal is a radio signal that can be interfered with by household appliances, metalic materials in a building and atmospherics. However, of the three Atomic clocks in my house, this radio's clock is the only one that I have not seen get off track on the night of the switch to/from daylight savings time. I believe it is better than most because Sangean made the radio pick-up antenna separable from the radio itself (look at the back of the radio- see the detachable bar?). My antenna is detached and positioned away from 110V power cords and other electronic devices (such as cordless phone, cell phone charger, etc.) that can locally radiate interfering signals. That works for me.
Finally, I like the radio's sensitivity on both AM and FM. It's sound quality is a cut above others in its price range. The rear-firing speaker works better than I might have guessed- sound reflection off the wall works fine. The unique tone control seems to adjust nicely from wide response for decent high and low note rendition on music, to narrow response centered around voice tones. I find the latter to be useful when listening to talk-radio on distant, noisy, weak AM stations.
Summary: I don't think Sangean is very good at human factors engineering, nor are they good at english language technical communication, but I think they do an above average job of designing the innards of a radio.
Digital camera 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.
Digital camera Review: Great Radio But Follow My Advice For Programming It
Summary: 5 Stars
This radio is great. Check the other reviews for the features, which are wonderful and for a reasonable price. The biggest issue is learning to program the thing. It is difficult, but not imposssible. The instructions are not well written and the lack of illustrations on the same page for setting the alarm don't make it better.
Here's how to think about it and it actually makes some sort of sense if you do think about it this way, I think. You need to push the alarm 1 or alarm 2 button 2 button in the front to "indicate your interest." The screen will show you the "status" of the current settings. If you press the button on the extreme left of the top during the status display you have indicated that you want to actually change some settings. At this point, you can change the time with the rocker switch on top (pressing the button on the extreme left again moves the setting from hours to minutes and back). You can also press the day selections by pressing the other buttons on top. Then, push the alarm 1 or alarm 2 buttons again to lock in your new settings. Really, not too bad.
Now you have to actually turn the alarm on or off (you've only changed some settings so far), if you want to actually turn the alarm on or off, then after pushing the alarm 1 or alarm 2 buttons, you have to push the button on the top extreme left (or you may have already gone through this part as described above). Now, you have to push the button on the extreme right of the top to cycle through alarm off/on/radio positions. Then, push the alarm 1 or alarm 2 buttons again to lock in your new settings.
To set one of the alarms to a different station, just tune in that station (radio on) and hold in the alarm 1 or 2 button for a couple of seconds until the beep. That alarm now has a new radio station associated with it (again, it's just a setting for when the radio alarm is really turned on with the button on the upper right hand side on top).
To turn off the alarms when they are ringing, push the radio on/off button on the front face upper right.
I hope this helped more than hurt, but it really does work. I'm going to rate this a 5 star based on the fact that I think it is a great machine once you learn how to work it, but seriously if you don't like fairly complex interfaces, this is not the clock radio for you. Be honest with yourself, but if you don't mind a bit of a learning curve, this radio is great (price, features, performance).
Lastly, the analog clock is more readable than most clocks, but I secretly long for it to be even larger, as I have really bad eyes without my glasses. To be honest, if it had better instructions (and maybe a wi-fi enabled version for internet radio, I'd go bonkers and buy the new one, too! Well, maybe next year, but seriously, if you don't mind a learning curve, this is an amazing clock radio at a very good price. Have fun! :-)