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- Incredibly customizable: from the duration of the snooze to the brightness of the LCD backlighting, nearly every feature can be adjusted to suit your personal preference.
- Designed to be easy to set: a simple twist of the patent- pending rotary dial makes complicated push-buttons a thing of the past.
- Two 7-day banks provide two, completely independent seven-day wake schedules - his and hers, for example.
- Other features include: descending snooze, up to 7 daily reminder alarms, calendar display, flexible inputs and outputs, ac powered with battery backup
- Choose your wakeup sound: wake to NPR news at 7:00am weekdays, a morning talk show on a different station on Saturday, and the buzzer on Sunday (there's no other clock radio in the world with this capability)
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Alarm clocks are very important to me. I'm not a morning person. So let me start by listing the things that I *don't* like about this product.
1. No syncing with WWVB - you'd think for this price they could make it "atomic."
2. Radio reception is awful - out of the box it was unlistenable. "fixed" it by putting a sheet of aluminum foil underneath it. seriously.
3. alarm doesn't go off if the power is out - battery backup is for timekeeping only.
4. USB charging/power port is a neat feature, but it won't charge my Motorola cell phone.
5. Like others have reported, the dimmest display setting is a little on the bright side, but it hasn't kept me awake.
6. my "ultimate" alarm clock would have a relay output or switched outlet so that I could turn on a lamp when the alarm goes off (I take my sleeping seriously.) I've seen some very old clock/radios with this feature, but nothing resembling modern. wonder why?
That said, because of the 7-day programs, I have not once since I got this clock forgotten to set my alarm clock, nor have I been rudely awakened at zero-dark-hundred hours on a Saturday morning because I forgot to "unset" it. Once it's set up, unless your schedule changes, you're good. I held off on reviewing this for a while after I got it to see if I had any of the reliability problems that earlier users reported, and as of yet I have had none. The one I got was one that shipped after they came off of backorder earlier this year (2009) sounds like maybe they fixed their issues?
My previous alarm clock was a battery-powered "atomic" alarm clock from Target. The main reason I ditched it for an AC-powered clock was that the alarm beep just wasn't loud enough. The Neverlate Executive is good in that regard, I just hope I don't have a power failure the morning of an important meeting... (I'm actually seriously considering cutting the buzzer out of an old UPS and running my alarm clock off a UPS so as to avoid that worry.)......
When looking for a new bedside clock, I was amazed at just how difficult it is to find a really good, modern one that ISN'T an iPod dock. It seems like very little has changed over the last 20 years, despite how cheap and easy current technology would make it to implement some wonderful improvements. (Yes, I'm an engineer- I think a lot about these things.)
That said, this isn't quite the modern clock I was hoping to find.. but some thoughtful design puts this a step out of the pack in the right direction. It's surprisingly configurable (you can adjust the snooze time, screen brightness, and a lot more), an interface that more or less actually makes sense, and I really appreciate the USB port on the back (though it's for power only- I charge my phone on it).
I'd say the biggest shortcoming is the screen. My previous clock had a LED screen, and I was disappointed by the switch to the side-lit LCD on this. The contrast isn't great- it's hard to read from across the room and harder to read when I've just woken and eyes aren't focusing right yet. The narrow viewing angle also seems adjusted for looking down at it- when your head is level with it (as in laying in bed), it looks significantly faded. It also produces more 'glow' in a dark room. Still, this does its job well.......
After years of selling the most perfect alarm clock ever,American Innovative Neverlate 7-Day Alarm Clock American Innovative has done it again - they've upgraded the clock to an Executive Model. It now has buttons instead of knobs, and it has an adapter to take an Mp3 Player (iPod), but beneath the skin, it's still the amazing little (5" cube) alarm clock that could.
Almost everything about this clock can be ustoized to make you happy. A few of the reviews criticize that, but think about it - how many alarm clocks give you separate alarms for each day, set you up for a midday nap in just a few seconds and take up so little room on your nightstand? For the longest time, it was the predecessor of this clock, but now you have a choice. We've been delighted with the old version for what seems like forever, and we bought the kid this version when she went off to college. Now she's as big a fan of the clock as we are.
If you are a person with fluctuating work schedules, or if you're part of a couple where both people work, then you need this clock. If you work from home (lucky dog!) and can sneak in a nap in the afternoon, then this is the clock for you. Or choose its predecessor, which lacks a few bells and whistles, but is a darned good clock, nonetheless. It may not be the prettiest clock on Earth, and you will have to spend a few minutes reading the manual (or the "Quick-Start manual) to learn what you need to do when you set up the clock for the first time, but the utter happiness you'll get from having a clock that does everything but make your breakfast will sell you on the Best Alarm Clock in the World.......
I've been hunting for a new alarm clock since my Polk iSonic died a couple of months back. I had a few requirements, none of which could I find in a single alarm clock to my satisfaction, but this unit comes closest. After reading all the reviews, I was a little hesitant to spend $50 (Amazon's price as of this review) on it, but I'm glad I did.
Pros:
-This is an insanely customizable alarm clock. You can set up something like 21 different, independent alarms on this thing, each with a different buzzer or radio preset. You can set separate alarms for each day of the week.
-It has gradual wake capability. This is crucial in my book. As I don't get to sleep on a regular schedule, sometimes I wake up quickly at the first inkling of a noise from the alarm clock. Other times, it has to be going pretty loudly for a bit to get me awake. The gradual wake feature slowly ramps up the volume of the alarm over a few seconds rather than hitting like a sledgehammer instantly. In the interim after losing the iSonic (which had this feature), I lived with a Sony clock that was generally very good, but didn't have this gradual wake feature (and a couple of other bothers). I found that I was generally more tired and had a harder time getting going in the mornings when so abruptly shocked out of slumber.
-Nap function. This is something you don't see much on alarms. This lets you set a quickie alarm timer that counts down from your preferred starting point with 5-min increments of time. Fabulous for catching a power nap or recharging yourself. It's sort of the opposite of a "sleep" function that turns off the radio after a selectable number of minutes (which this also has).
-Date display. I've never had an alarm clock that also showed the date. I've heard of them, but never owned one. Minor plus, but a plus. A byproduct of having day-by-day alarm sets.
-Small size. It's actually much smaller than I expected it to be. It's about the size of the old Sony cube "Dream Machine" alarms.
-Informative display. It has a lot of data on display at one time, if necessary, and I find this useful.
-Lots of clever features. Too many to really go into here, but this was a generally well thought-out alarm clock.
Cons:
-Complexity. With great power comes great need to read the instructions. This is not a straightforward, easy to set up alarm clock. It's a pain in the rear to turn this nob, push this button, twist that dial, etc. just to move your alarm time up or back by a bit. It's easier just to have a couple of preset alarms and toggle them both off/on as needed. There really should just be a simple A/B alarm mode to quickly disable one and enable the other (or both). It'd be quicker than setting up individual days.
-Cheaply built. This thing is not confidence inspiring. It's all plastic, goofy looking, and kinda cheap feeling. The color selection doesn't help this much. I don't think it'd just chuck it in the back of the car along with the rest of your junk as you move from dorm room to dorm room and expect it to survive for long. One other reviewer complained about the ring used to set various things by rotating it. Yes, it's a little stiff, but I found it perfectly functional and not too stiff. I am not sure if this is because mine is built a little looser or if it's personal preference. Another reviewer mentioned that the display would "glitch" out on him if he pressed the dial/knob/buttons on top. Mine doesn't do this. It is very suggestive that the build quality is not that good from unit to unit.
-Sound quality. Um, well, it's kinda not good. I know one of the other reviewers said it was good/better than he expected, but it's still pretty darn bad. I've listened to a lot of cheaper iPod docs and iPod dock/alarm combos (that I also cross-shopped with this) and I haven't found one of them that cost more than $30 that didn't sound a whole lot better than this thing. There is no bass to speak of, though the midrange and highs aren't horrendous. It isn't the sort of thing that tempts you to just lay in bed and listen to music on it. Maybe that's a good thing in a device that's supposed to get you out of bed. It's not horrendous, just not up to par with it's $60 MSRP. Not even close.
-Brightness. It's too bright, even on the lowest setting. It could be worse, and it's manageable (and not as bad as some alarms), but it's certainly quite a bit brighter than I'd personally prefer (I like my room very dark).
It's really surprising that, given the obvious amount of thought that went into this little box, they messed up on some of the more obvious things.
Overall, I like this clock. If the negatives above aren't a big deal to you, definitely check it out. If this is a bit steep of a price for you, I'd highly recommend a little Sony gem, the ICF-C180 which can also be found on Amazon. It's got an even brighter display, and no gradual wake, which were deal-breakers for me, but it's a great little alarm clock, too, with a lot of customizability yet is much more rugged and easier to use/set.......
At some point it just quit working, about 1 day after the 90 days passed. I can't believe I spent so much money on such a wholly worthless alarm clock.
The "Activate alarms" & "all off" are now Wednesday & Thursday now or something.
Please just buy yourself 7 regular alarm clocks or something.......
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