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Read the manual...
This is a nice little clock-radio except for the alarm: it's a little tricky to figure out, and you need to carefully read the manual to do so. This is my radio; Tony Soprano uses it too! I don't know what the other commenter is on about. I've had this puppy for years and am now looking for two more for other rooms in the house. Plus it's the alarm clock Tony and Camilla Soprano use (see below.) Listen, you need a couple things when you need a clock radio. There is no excuse for any clock radio to fail these criteria: *You can drop it a lot and it keeps working. Resulting minor cosmetic damage does not render it useless or tacky looking. *You can work it reliably by touch, in the dark, tired, and -- when you need it most! -- sloshed. Buttons are big and unambiguous; you can't accidentally turn it off. Hitting "Snooze" never accidentally kills the alarm for ever. *You can move the alarm time backwards and forwards. When setting time or alarm, there is NEVER a reason why you should have to scroll forwards by 23 hours just to set the alarm back 10 minutes. It's the 21st century, people. *Unplugging the radio to move it does not require resetting ANYTHING. Alarms stay set. Radio stays set. Time stays set. *The alarm still works if the power fails. Duh. *Snooze and Sleep functions have durations that you can set, not some fixed duration. My GE 7487 does all these things. The 9volt battery does not pop out when it falls off a ladder while I'm painting the room. There are no knobs that pop off or catch. It uses the mature analog dial for tuning the radio, so you can quickly find the station you want. Reception is great. There's a little "Nap" button: you can set it for whatever number of minutes you want and be awakened, without messing with the main alarm settings. Turning the alarm off takes pressing the Cancel button and then one different button for confirmation; good. But then there is the GE 74837's star power. In two episodes of The Sopranos a few years ago, a scene began with a shot of this very model alarm clock on the bedside tables of the Soprano bedroom. Tony and Camilla each appear to have one their side of the bed. What more fitting testimony could there be to the reliable, mature technology employed in this clock? Like the family itself, time-tested and incorporating the prudent innovations suggested by years of experience. A pity I can't purchase two more on this very page. Surely the GE corporation will reissue this fine model soon. As to the commenter who slandered this clock because he was baffled by the seven clearly labeled buttons and single slider switch, who was miffed by the need to read a manual: let us hope his occupation does not have a significant effect on society at large, and if it does, that he has patience enough to survive a learning curve longer than the two minutes I spent once, four years ago, figuring out every feature of this fine clock radio. Had it for years, and love it! I got this clock in a silent aution just because it looked cool. I didn't know that it would become a clock that I would love for several years. This clock have MANY wonderful features like the ramp up alarm feature: It always woke me up w/o jumping out of bed like I'd heard gunfire. It also has great sound quality in the radio, unlike many other alarms. Its also easy to set and easy to turn off. I also like the large display, its easy for me to read at night. The only downside is also my favorite upside, the ramp up alarm. After awhile, it does get kind of obnoxious, but it still keeps me from jumping. I had this alarm for about 5 years before I purchased an iHome for my iPod, and I would recomend it to ANYONE! this alarm is a piece of pooh my parents own this thing and put it in the spare bedroom, and every time i stay at their house, i wonder why, for the love of god, they keep this thing. i hit the on/off button on accident repeatedly because it makes no sense where it's at. they are larger than the snooze button. someone needs to tell the manufacturer that snooze buttons are big because you reach up and hit them in a sleepy state. you might as well get out of bed if you need to expend effort looking for the snooze button. it took me an eternity how to figure out how to set the alarm so that it would go off in the morning, and how to turn the alarm off so that it didn't beep every few minutes. now, i can't figure out how to turn the alarm off. i've pressed cancel and every combination of buttons that i can think of. all cancel does is make the dot that signifies that the alarm has been set to flash at you for a few seconds before it goes back to normal. an alarm clock shouldn't need an owner's manual. an on/off button...i mean, what in the heck is that? what's "on"? shouldn't it just say "off"? and shouldn't "off" be indicative that you've turned the alarm completely off until the next time you choose to reset the alarm? if they mean "off" to signify that you've turned the alarm off, but it's still armed for the next morning, shoudn't there be a button that says, "really off"? and "on" button means that the alarm is set, right? i think this is the stupidest alarm clock i've ever dealt with. Worst Alarm Clock I Have Ever Owned First of all, I must say that you shouldn't believe the claims that this alarm clock has a battery back up feature, as my power has gone out several times and it has never worked. Also, I have yet to find a button on this thing that will actually turn the alarm feature OFF. Which means that someone like myself, who works a rotating schedule, must always remember to reset the alarm to a later time or else wake up at the crack of dawn on their day off. There are so many buttons on the top of this alarm clock that it's very difficult to hit the actual snooze button when you're half asleep. Don't waste your money on this one! | |
