Look what I found today for $5!!!!

[westytoploader]

I was in the Electronics/Housewares section at one of many when I spotted *something good* on a shelf. It was quite dirty and I knew it probably wasn't going to work (and if it did it would have some sort of problem...), but I plugged it in, pushed a few buttons, and it appeared to work perfectly!! I was sold--needless to say I've never grabbed anything so fast in my life, and after looking long and hard to find one of these, I finally did when I least expected, and it was only $5! Man, was I glad I waited and didn't pay the $200 or so eBay price!!

I carefully took it apart and surprisingly, it was quite clean inside. After an hour of painstakingly detailing the shell, cleaning the electronics out and lubricating the keypad contacts with WD-40, I was surprised. While I wouldn't call it mint, it's better than most I've seen on eBay that go for higher prices; everything works including the light sensor, it keeps perfect time, has a wicked-sounding alarm, and it's my favorite--a blue display model!!! This is definitely going on the nightstand later...

--Austin

 

[westytoploader]

Picture 2

Cool blue display and slide controls...

 

[westytoploader]

Picture 3

Now HERE'S the reason why many call the GE 4885 "the best alarm clock ever made". Setting the current and wake times are a breeze, and the electronic tuner can't be beat!

 

[swestoyz]

Ah the 4885....

Only the greatest clock radio ever - I swear by the dual "wake" settings for the alarms! I don't think I could use another after using the 4885 - fantastic find!! Enjoy!!

Ben

 

[jasonl]

And I thought it was a police scanner

I have a GE clock radio from maybe the late 80s that isn't as TOL as yours but it's still goin and it pulls in stations really well.

I go to bed with the radio on all night, and I've been using my Ipod with the Itrip FM transmitter to feed mp3s to my clock radio so I can have all night music.

 

[petek]

That is nice

I remember seeing them when they were new, can't remember when it was. Certainly weren't a cheap clock radio...my first clock radio had those flipping numbers for the clock. I wonder what I did with it? Maybe it's still in my moms basement

 

[DADoES]

Yup, that's the one my sisters shared in their bedroom.

 

[jasonl]

My first clock radio

Was in fact a GE. It had the mechanical numbers that slowly turned over.

 

[westytoploader]

Now on the nightstand...

YAY!

 

[westytoploader]

Full frontal

Notice how I angled it...I couldn't set it next to the lamp side-by-side because it's so BIG! However, this setup works well because I can just look over to read the time, and the controls are at an easy reach. Really stands out on my nightstand too, IMHO; still getting over the reality that I did indeed find "The Holy Grail of Alarm Clock Radios"! I did keep the GE Touch Control and will probably put it on my parents' nightstand tomorrow...will definitely be better and easier to set than the confusing Timex they have now!

 

[petek]

Did you dust

before taking that pic..lol
BTW that lamp..I was looking at one very similar in HD the other day, the difference being that the one at HD has a pole made of some clear plastic material and it lights up a soft blue and can be controlled separately from the light bulb in the shade.. I thought it was quite sharp, didn't like the price though. I have just the little Braun early 70's modern fan that would go well on the other side.. I'll have to take a pic of it.

 

[kenmore1978]

GE 4885

I bought one of those new and it's STILL the one I use daily. Was repaired once under warranty (the button pads tend to go bad) and it has a glitch in that the display goes off completely in a dark room, instead of just dimming. Otherwise, works perfectly. And it does have a WICKED alarm, which also goes off when it loses poer and the backup batteries (TWO 9 volts) are dead. If you don't wake up when it goes off, you're no longer in the land of the living. And it actually has external antenna connections, both FM and AM!

 

[jetcone]

That looks like it could keep you very busy pushing buttons for a long time!
Jane Jetson would love it.

Nice find.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Yay!!!

I just love old clock radios, summit about them. I don't own a clock radio as such, but I have my hi-fi system set on a timer to come off in the morning and even that turned up at quite a high volume can't get me out of bed. I must have about 4 alarms (stereo, little battery powered digital alarm clock, mobile phone alarm and I also set the TV to come on in the morning), and often mum still has to come in to wake me up before school . You could say I'm a very deep sleeper :-D. Scary thing is I probably wouldn't wake up to a burglar or fire alarm...

The best clock radio I had ever seen was one I had when I was a kid (which was an old one handed down to me from my mum), I can't remember what brand it was but it dated from the late 70s/early 80s, had a green digital clock, and had 2 wake-up times. Much much better than the cheap Matsui that I had after that, which my mum and dad still have now...

One question which probably has an obvious answer; but does the keypad allow you to key in a time (e.g. 6:30) rather than pressing an "hour" button through 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then a minute button through 01, 02, 03, 04, 05 etc through to 30? That must be one of the most annoying things when you set alarms, when you miss by about 2 or 3 minutes and have to scroll through all over again...

Take care all,

Jon

 

[westytoploader]

More information

Hi Jon,

The keypad is one of the absolute best features I've seen on a clock radio, and that's the reason why the 4885 and 4880 are much-wanted on eBay. And you're right; no messing with hour or minute buttons. Despite its appearance, it's really quite simple to use (there are instructions on the underside that do come in quite handy, LOL) and takes much less time to master the 4885's controls than the controls on a new clock radio, ironically enough! I'll go over the operations:

To set the initial time, for example, 11:30 PM, just key in "1130 PM ENTER". It automatically defaults to AM, hence the PM key. To set it for 11:30 AM, it's just "1130 ENTER". Setting wake times are the same; just slide the "DISPLAY" lever to "WAKE 1" or "WAKE 2" and then key in the desired time. You can wake to music, music and alarm, or alarm. As with most GE's I've seen, the alarm's volume is variable. You can also adjust the snooze time; for a 10-minute snooze, hold the "SNOOZ" bar down and key in "10 ENTER".

The radio has an electronic tuner which is hard to find even on modern clock radios, and has good sound compare to others I've heard. Just push "FM or "AM" to turn it on; the red LED's next to the "FM" and "AM" keys indicate just that. You can either scroll up or down the stations using the "TUNING" keys, or slide the "DISPLAY" lever over to "RADIO" and key in the desired station (for 100.3 FM, key in "FM 1003 ENTER"; for 740 AM, key in "AM 740 ENTER"). You can also store up to six stations; to store the current station, just push "STORE STATION (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6) ENTER". To recall a stored station, just push "RECALL STATION (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6) ENTER". The sleep time is adjustable (I use 60 minutes; slide the "DISPLAY" lever to "SLEEP" and key in "60 ENTER"), and I believe the sleep timer automatically comes on when "FM" or "AM" is pushed. Sliding the "DISPLAY" lever to "RADIO" leaves it on full time. If you're using an earpiece or pillow speaker, the alarm as well as the radio will play through that, which might come in handy for heavy sleepers.

I think I've pretty much covered everything there is to cover with the GE 4885...and I highly recommend it. Start checking resale shops, thrift stores, etc...I would only use eBay as a last resort because they tend to go for outrageous prices. You'll definitely never go back to an ordinary alarm clock again once you have a 4885--I know I won't!

--Austin

 

[frigilux]

Good lord, Austin! That is one substantial alarm clock! Make sure you don't inadvertantly launch any nuclear devices with it!

 

[kenmore1978]

GE 4885 clock-radio Instruction book

Austin, if you want, I can scan the original instruction book that came with my radio.

 

[kenmore1978]

Features

When I was looking for a radio to replace my Columbia Masterworks drop-leaf clock radio (which I still have), the 4885's direct entry of stations and time is what sold me, plus the spacy-looking styling and the woodgrain finish. The ability to hook-up an external FM antenna was a big plus, too. Did you notice the Power Failure switch? If this switch is on and the power fails and the backup batteries are dead, the dispaly flashes and the alarm sounds intermittenly. Is yours made in Singapore? So used to seeing South Korea, Malaysia, or China on such items these days.

 

[kenmore1978]

4885 Snooze time

Somehting Austin didn't mention was how the Snooze works. If set to wake to radio, hitting the Snooze button turns off the radio for the time the snooze button is set to. When set for radio & alarm, Snooze button kills the alarm, but the radio continues to play and alarm goes off again after snooze time has elapsed. When set to alarm only, Snooze button kills alarm until Snooze time has elapsed.

Also, the station that is stored in button 1 is the station that comes on when Wake 1 goes off. Station stored in button 2 comes on when Wake 2 activates. If Wake 1 hasn't been turned off or is in Snooze mode, Wake 2 wil override it when it's time comes. If alarm is not turned off manually, radio and/or alarm shut off automatically after an hour. This radio was very cleverly thought out.