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SANGEAN Atomic RCR-3 AM/FM Clock Radio |
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Our Price - $78.99
5 Used - from $47.99
23 New - from $75.74
Availability - Usually ships in 24 hours
 
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SANGEAN Atomic RCR-3 AM/FM Clock Radio
ATOMIC AM/FM CLOCK RADIO
SANGEAN Atomic RCR-3 AM/FM Clock Radio Accessories
SANGEAN Atomic RCR-3 AM/FM Clock Radio Reviews
We share with pretty much everyone else the view that the Sangean clock-radio is fine, but the instructions are minimally useful. In the case of those for setting, or resetting, the radio/alarm, they're inaccurate; you have to pick days before getting beyond the wake-up time.
When our 20-year old Sony Dream Machine lost its "Enter" button to set stations, we bought a $150-iHome clock radio. What a horrid experience! Problems:
1. All the buttons are flush with the chassis. There is no tactile differentiation among the buttons. I ended up dripping candle wax on some of the buttons, painting Liquid Paper on some others so I could grope the buttons behind me and over my head in the middle of the night. Hopeless!
2. There was a 3-second delay between pressing any button and getting a response.
3. Sound was tinny and staticky..
Mind you, my husband and I are huge fans of Donald Norman who writes about User Interfaces in industrial design (and we are both, in part, UI/UX designers who studied under Norman at Apple). Norman's "Psychology of Everyday Things"--like why you can never tell which burner on a stove goes with what knob--is a classic. One key feature of the Sangean for me is pre-sets with individual buttons for each station. Almost all the other radios out there have what I call "bookmark pre-sets." You bookmark a station, then have to scroll thru your list of pre-sets. Not what I want to be doing in the middle of the night.
So we have had the Sangean for all of 12 hours and already I'm lovin' it. Great sound in our reception-challenged, tree-studded, down-in-a-little-valley, geodesic dome. Great grope-ability in the middle of the night. ***LOVE the highly differentiated tactile array of the top and front buttons*** Love the analog clock...just because I'm of that generation.
Lack of back-up battery is somewhat of an issue, prevents a 5-star rating. I will be especially disappointed if the pre-sets get wiped out. Other than with the occasional earthquakes (Northern CA), our outages are usually less than an hour, so we should be OK.
In one of the reviews it is mention of a signal strength L:0 (weak) to 9 (strong)
Is this just on start up because I can not find this signal on my clock. Also it can take up to more then 24 hours for the clock to set on my clock and I live in California. Also every time the radio is used I lose the atomic clock signal and another 24 hours or more before it get's the signal again.
This clock is not easy to read in the dark. The black-on-white color scheme is nearly impossible for me to make out at night. The result for me is a low wife acceptance factor (WAF) because she likes to know the time when she gets up at night.
The clock lets you specify the days of the week on which you want the four alarms to sound, and exactly what you want to hear with 2 of them - which radio station, even. The other two are beeping alarms. The "Humane Wake System" is pretty good. It turns on the analog clock face back light orange and beeps quietly at first, progressively getting louder. It also starts the radio gradually, and you can set the volume of the radio alarm independent of the volume for just listening to the radio.
This clock has a dial for adjusting the brightness of the back light in standby mode. I have mine turned almost off so it doesn't disturb my slumber. There is absolutely no way I can read the digital clock without touching my nose to the clock at that brightness. The analog clock is only slightly more readable.
The digital clock is replaced by the radio frequency when the radio is on.
I have observed the analog clock to be off by a couple of minutes, but it fixed itself within a day.
Great clock with all the features I wanted, plus 2 extra alarms. I did not have trouble operating or programming the clock as some others did. My favorite things: having 4 alarms (2 radio and 2 buzz), I can set alarms for different days of the week, automatic time set and radio set, the face lights up when the alarm sounds, I can adjust the light on the face to completely off and it dims itself out which is cool to watch, it doesn't take up much space, I can adjust the buzzer alarm volume as well as the radio alarm volume, and the very best features are the Human Waking System and the NAP features. Things it's missing: battery backup, cd player, time projection on the wall, and a weather report. None of those things are important to me. I have a clock radio in the bathroom with battery backup that automatically turns on when I am supposed to get in the shower.
Notes for programming: Read the directions and follow the steps. when setting alarms - if the day of the week is present in the window it is programmed for that day, if it disappears from the window it is not programmed for that day. When in doubt press the "set" button. You can always reset it if you don't get it the first time. Be aware that there are buttons on the bottom, side front and top. You are able to fine tune the brightness, tone and volume of alarms (buzzer & radio) by using the adjustments on the bottom and sides. When changing the brightness (knob on the bottom) be aware it dims gradually so you can adjust it to the exact level you want it. If you hold down an alarm button and can't tell if it's on, look in the window for the alarm icon for that alarm. If you hold down the alarm button it will either turn the alarm on or off. I suggest taking the time to read the instructions while programming it and get an idea of where all the buttons are, it only took 15 minutes.
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