Sangean RCR-22 AM/FM Atomic Clock Radio by Sangean America, Inc.
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Digital camera reviews of Sangean RCR-22 AM/FM Atomic Clock Radio
Digital camera Review: Atomic clock did not work
Summary: 1 Stars
The clock is supposed to connect to the Atomic clock in Colorado so it always has the correct time. This feature just did not work. The manual provides instructions to set the clock manually if the automatic time feature does not work, but I just returned it. I don't know why the automatic time feature did not work for me or how often this occurs. However, the manual was not helpful and contained no troubleshooting tips.Digital camera Review: Atomic clock no, super capacitor yes
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this radio for two reasons: the supercapacitor backup and the atomic clock sync.
I live in an area with above ground power cables and lots of trees. Consequently, we get a very large number of very brief power outages. I've tried every battery-backup alarm on the market and they all have one significant disadvantage: they don't offer any indication of the need to change the battery. My cell phone can do this. My laptop can do this. My MP3 player can do this. It's not rocket science. A little light that says "change me now" but no one has that feature. I also once had a Sony whose only purpose for a battery was to store the time that the power went out. The clock restarted from that time. I never did figure out that feature.
This clock has a large capacitor which stores enough charge to run the clock for an hour or so. That takes us through all the thirty second outages we have around here without ever needing to be replaced. Pro.
Con: I've had the thing for three years and have yet to get it to detect the atomic clock signal. I've put it and its antenna everywhere in the room. Just doesn't work. So it is at least iffy for that purpose.
As others have noted, the default brightness setting is "nuclear explosion." The adjustment (undocumented) is on the bottom of the clock. If you don't like sleeping on the face of the sun, you can dial it down.
My wife finds it impossible to set the alarm. I think that is partly a function of her and partly a function of an excessively busy display that makes it hard to tell what you just did.
On the whole, I like it. The power capacitor sold me on it. However, if I found another whose atomic clock signal reception actually worked, I would probably change.
Digital camera Review: Awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
Not happy with my current clock radio (a Sony Dream Machine), I have been looking for a high-quality replacement for many months. Every time I started looking at them, I got disgusted that there didn't seem to be any decent ones made, and gave up. This cycle repeated for the past few months. I admit that what I was looking for seemed to be very different than what everyone was trying to sell me. I didn't want a CD player; I didn't want an iPod dock (a - I don't have an Apple-made MP3 player, b - I have a very expensive stereo system that I use when I want to listen to music); I wanted 2 alarms that could be set independently for different days of the week; I wanted a progressive volume alarm so I am not jarred awake; I wanted a power failure backup system so that it wouldn't lose time; I wanted a true atomic clock that synchronized with the US cesium clock in Colorado; I wanted a well-designed and well-made unit that was user-friendly and would last a long time. Apparently this is a lot to ask for, because almost no one makes anything close to it. I know of Sangean from buying a table radio from them a few years ago for my dad. I was impressed with the tuner, amplifier, and speaker -- the unit was well made and sounded great. My dad loved it. After looking for a new clock radio and not finding one from any of the usual sources, I stumbled upon this one from Sangean. Well, it has every single feature on my wish list and it sounds great. I only have it a few days, but I am really impressed with it's build quality, feature set, and ergonomics. You can tell that a lot of thought went into almost every detail of it's design. Highly recommended.
UPDATE
It's now been a few weeks, and I have to say that this is, in my opinion, the perfect clock radio. Great build quality, well-designed, and is a pleasure to use. The HWS is awesome -- no more jarring alarms to start your day. The tuner and audio sections are quite good for a small radio, the atomic clock is awesome, the display is perfect, and the logic of the UI is perfect. This is a keeper.
Digital camera Review: BRIGHT device
Summary: 4 Stars
Great unit. Does everything very well. Only drawback; display is VERY bright. Great for daylight; way too bright for night. Has manual dimmer knob (under the unit), but needs a light sensing rheostat to dim or brighten display.Digital camera Review: Bad Display and Bad Time Sync
Summary: 1 Stars
The display is way, way too bright. It doesn't auto-dim either. There's a button to control it manually but that only toggles between "nightlight" and "can't read it at all" modes.
But the very worst thing about it is that the atomic clock synchronization only works about 50% of the time. I have other brands of atomic clocks in my house that don't have a problem synching so I think it's a problem with this clock.