Alarm Clocks

[fan-of-fans]

So lately I've been on a bit of an alarm clock kick you could say.

Now, I've always used a basic red LED alarm clock. I don't need an alarm to wake up, and if I happen to need to get up earlier than normal, I set my phone alarm set low so as not to wake up anyone else in the house.

But a few interesting clocks turned up at Goodwill for cheap and I thought I'd try them out.

The first is a GE alarm clock radio that is also a cordless phone. The phone part is ok (it actually had a new battery in it). Caller ID shows on both handset and clock display. The radio reception on FM is surprisingly good, it's digitally tuned and even has 5 presets. It also has two speakers so sound quality is not bad at all. Unfortunately the AM external antenna was missing so I get nothing on that. It even has both a headphone jack and an aux jack so I could plug my phone in to play over it.

The biggest issue I have with it though, is the display. It has a white lettering with a bright blue lighted background. At night, it's blinding. Even with it dimmed down to the lowest setting, it still bothers me.

Another unit popped up as well. This time a Sony Dream Machine. Nice looking compact aluminum case alarm clock radio. It too gets good reception on FM, but again missing AM antenna. Its speaker is very small and tinny though. It also has an aux input (actually a cable underneath the unit). It even has a projector to display the time on the ceiling, as well as a built in thermometer. It has 5 nature sounds you can fall asleep or wake to. Gimmicky, but I did like the rain and brook sounds.

Again though, the problem is it has a blue backlit display, this time black on blue that even dimmed is too bright. You can turn the backlight off, but then you can't read it in the dark.

Finally, is a new Emerson Smartset alarm clock. This one sets itself as soon as you plug it in (if the battery is good). Really good reception on this too (it does not have AM at all though). It has both an aux jack and Bluetooth. You can actually play/pause and change music tracks on your phone/MP3 player from the clock radio itself. It even has an LED night light under the unit you can turn on. This time the clock has a blue on black display. But again, it's too bright!

I don't get why, but blue is just bothersome to me in the dark. So I keep going back to my trusty and simple red LED clock.

 

[cuffs054]

Why are snooze buttons always 'odd' numbers. Like 7, 9 minutes instead of 10?

 

[kb0nes]

Tom, I've always wondered about the choice of 9 minute snooze cycles too. It seems pretty standard. A few years ago I ran across this catchy song, don't hate me if it is an earworm

 

[cfz2882]

blue LED light...

...is known to be the worst possible light for sleeping and circadian rhythm.
my "in use" alarm clocks(I have about 40)
BDRM 1-'69 GE analog,electroluminescent dial,quite decent AM/FM radio,made in USA.
2nd-'80 GE digital LED AM/FM. pretty dim now.
BDRM 2-analog AC powered buzz clock,orange neon backlight,mfg 1990,but old school.
BDRM 3-exactly same as above,except clear case,gears and internal parts molded in color,1990.

 

[iowabear]

In the late 70s my sister got a Panasonic AM/FM clock radio with a blue LED display.  I thought it was very cool except for the incredibly annoying "Chirp Alarm."

 

[drhardee]

An oldie but a goodie.....Zenith!

When I was a boy back in the early 1970's, my father bought this Zenith alarm clock AM/FM radio for me. He thought it was high time I got myself up for school, instead of his having to whistle "reveille" at me every morning...which he still did as I inevitably overslept this alarm.

I don't know how much it cost; he bought it at the PX at Camp Darby army base in Livorno, Italy, where we were stationed at the time. It has, however, remained my constant companion and daily alarm clock for 45+ years, and it'll outlive me, I daresay. They definitely don't make 'em like this anymore!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I will let you guess, what we actually use to wake up to:

Mind you, the one with the sunrise or sunset, was my first digital clock, with my choice of preferring rotating numbers being against my mom's better judgement, given that over time the clicking might quit working, or the small light needed to illuminate them would burn out and opening all that would make it arduous to replace, hence the LED design has lasted a very dependable more than thirty-years, with the flashlight bulb inside for the display needing only o be replaced once... Howver, the alarm is quite quirky, and it not reliably going off at the time it's set (or not at all!) has been resigned to disuse... And it as well as the time is difficult to set, as the numbers fly through at warp speed, causing me to stand over that clock through light years any time I have to recover the correct time after a power outage or adjust for Daylight Savings...

The other clocks are out of commission, due to lack of a back-up battery, not being preferable wake-up apparatus (one is just for the time of day in the basement, while the other, also to not wanting to deal with battery back-up, despite it boasting a cool BLUE LED, in a world dominated by mostly red and sometimes green, has just been resigned to obsolescence gathering dust) while we lost my daughter's novel rubber cube we went through the rigorous expense of mail-ordering, to getting this one at the store (at Walmart, no less) and in each case, none WORK/workED!

There was an old fashioned bell-ringer design we had, but had real glass that shattered, while the real alarm was something internal, that beeped! A far cry from the Sesame Street character that had REAL bells, promoted on PBS, you got shipped to you Free, when you'd supporting the network, pledging the appropriate amount of funds...

As for the iPad (I will post a pic of this one I'm typing on next) you have a myriad choice of alarms, of which on that one, (as well as this) we'd resigned ourselves to "doorbell"...

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Face it, Friends:

Your alarm clock is OBSOLETE!!!!

Before there were iPads (here is our other one) I woke up to my phone, when it was a big, chunky, clunky thing with only ONE kind of tone, to a flip phone (at work, using it to alert me when it was time to return from breaks, I was known as The Alarm Clock Kid) to what I use now (also as a “break’s over, time to get back to work!”)...

This iPad like the other one is set for Doorbell while the phone (my favorite tone to alert me on end of breaks at work) is an actual alarm, but don’t like waking up to...

— Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I wondered what all that barking noise was:

It was the PHONE, mind you, LOL!!!!

— Dave

 

[DADoES]

 
Radio backlight quit working years ago.  Clock brightness is fully adjustable between max and zero.

Spare room that doesn't have an alarm clock = phone.

 

[iowabear]

Zenith Billboard Clock Radio

That's a really cool piece.  I found an ad for it in the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, dated August 5th, 1977.  It cost $60 in 1977, that's $250 today adjusted for inflation.  Imagine paying $250 for a clock radio!  Of course depreciated over 42 years maybe it's not so bad.

 

 

[askolover]

I can't sleep if I can see a clock of any kind.  When I was a kid, I'd often have trouble falling asleep.  As the minutes ticked by I'd get more and more anxious because I wasn't sleeping.  So I started putting the clock out of sight.  It's usually on the headboard above my head and turned around backwards.  The DVD/VCR player has black tape over the clock so I can't see it (plus it's blue LED).  Especially now that I've been a vampire for almost 30 years...I can't see any light during my sleep time in the day hours. 

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I have a "thing" for clock radios. Probably have 20 or so. I finally stopped buying them but I still look. Every so often one finds it's way to my home office. Do I use one to wake up? Certainly not. I retired when I was 52 and wake up when I want...usually around 5:30/6:00 AM. I don't care for weekends too. A week of all Mondays would be great. Sounds like an episode of "The Twilight Zone" huh? Would I want to be young and working again? Of course I would.</span>

 

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">A $3.00 favorite because tuning dial lights up.</span>

 

[kskenmore]

Sony

New products are so boring. When I needed another clock radio I searched for old. Found this Sony on Facebook marketplace in Wichita. I love it!

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Sony must have sold a ton of those little clock radios because you see them frequently on eBay. The lighted dial makes them extra-cool. I prefer analog clocks, probably because I'm an old geezer.</span>

 

[thomasortega]

Alexa, wake me up at 9 with whatever loud siren sound

... sometimes Alexa wakes me up with a tornado/air raid siren, sometimes with a police siren and sometimes with a "Ford escort" alarm.

I need something REALLY loud to wake me up.

The alarm actually doesn't wake me up, but it annoys both Dolby and Miele so they start barking like crazy, jumping on me and licking me to wake me up because "something is wrong".

 

[circlew]

That Sony reminds me of a 40's - 50's range clock.