Customer Reviews

GE 11088 Wood Clock Night Light

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Looks great, easy to read (even from across the bedroom half asleep), keeps good time and the price was right. My only small complaint is that the battery compartment cover is made from plastic that is difficult to open more than once. The provided battery must be put into place without the protective strip in order to get it started. Great. The problem is that the manufacturers have the plastic screw cap tight enough so that when first opened it strips the groves that keep it in place. I'm going to hot glue a small handle to the back and hope that will take care of the problem.

I purchased this lighted clock/night light because I cannot find any other
night light with a clock. I use it for the kitchen since my coffeemaker
clock is not backlit. I, too, spent about 20 minutes trying to open the
battery compartment and finally found a simple way! Just take a dime
and twist the battery door circle to the open position (follow the arrow)
then lightly tap the clock (with the clock face facing you) on a desk or
counter and the little black lid pops right out. I have only done this
once but I would think it would work repeated times. I hope this helps.
Other than the difficult battery access, my only small complaint is that
the clock's second hand is audible with every tick, which slightly annoys me
just because I personally don't like to hear clocks tick.

We bought 3 of these clocks; one for our bathroom, one for our RV and one for the garage. They're bright, have battery backup, and are cute, too.

I guess the name night light should have alerted me, but for some reason I was expecting a much bigger product, like a normal wall clock, just backlit. That's what I was looking/hoping for. Instead, it has about a 3" diameter. Pretty tiny and hard to see during the night unless you're pretty close. Also, the "wood" doesn't appear even remotely wood-like. But it keeps time and puts out a decent amount of light for a nightlight product.

I bought this clock 13 months ago. Actually I bought a version with a different bezel that is no longer available, so I am putting my review on this page. But rest assured, it is the same clock, just a different color around the rim.

I found the battery easy to remove to reverse to get it started. Apparently some people simply didn't do it right and ended up damaging the case or the cover. You simply take any coin and rotate it gently CCW. Now it doesn't exactly seem to be released, but it is. It just is so light that it doesn't want to fall off of it's own volition. There are two ways to get it off. One is to bang it against a cushioned surface, such as your hand and let inertia do the trick. If this causes you to (justifiably) fear damaging the clock, do this instead: use a piece of tape (masking, Scotch, etc.) and stick it to the cover and pull it off. If it doesn't come off easily, it just needs a little twisting one way or the other to get the correct angle. It does NOT need forcing. It moves to the correct angle with very little torque. Once you have it off, you will be surprised how easy it was.

My reason for waiting so long to write this review was to see how well it performs over the long term. I can report now that the battery that it came with has lasted more than 13 months and it is still ticking. Yes, it does indeed tick. If that is something you are really sensitive to, you may not like it. Personally, it doesn't bother me. As for accuracy, I found that the particular clock I received loses almost exactly one minute every 3 months. I consider that acceptable. You can always adjust it to correct the 2 minute error twice a year when you make the daylight time adjustments.

As for brightness, I would say it is brighter than I would like for a bedroom clock, but just about right for a bathroom, which is what I use it for. The diameter is 2-3/4" and it is just under 3/4" thick. The plug on the back is offset downward, so if you put in the top of a duplex outlet, it will leave plenty of room to plug a 3 prong grounded plug below it. The clock runs on the battery so it will continue to keep time if you need to unplug it for any reason. But the backlight runs off the AC so the light will go off if unplugged. A nice detail is that the plug is not polarized, so it can be plugged in right-side-up no matter which end is up on a polarized outlet (also it will fit niecly into an older non-polarized outlet).

I'm very satisfied with this clock; the two reasons I only gave it four stars are because of the ticking and because I can understand how the battery compartment could be designed to be more user friendly for those who aren't mechanical geniuses or have some good instructions for guidance.

Update 6/9/11: Original battery just gave out. That makes the battery life for my particular clock about 20 months.

When getting up in the night to go to the bathroom it is so easy to check the time with this GLO clock. Small and perfect for the bathroom.

Had another clock like this one and found it to be extremely useful especially at night in the bathroom. Wife liked it so much she wanted others to put in other bathrooms. Great to have the time available in the dark!

This is a great little night light. There is just one problem with it and that is the cover on the battery is almost impossible to remove a second time, so this is what I suggest: put a small piece of folded cardboard under the plastic cover to hold the battery in place, then tape the cover over it. This way you can remove it easily to replace the old battery. The battery lasts quite a while, I think I replace it once a year or so.

Out of the box, this is simply a night light and nothing more. In order to activate the clock, you must open the battery compartment and turn the included battery around. Unfortunately:

1) The directions are terrible so it's difficult to identify what, exactly, you need to open.

2) Once you figure out what to open, you'll find that it's surprisingly difficult to actually do. I had to use a penny to twist the cover to the "open" position, and the smallest screw driver I could find to then pry the cover off (this took much longer than it should have). Now, the clock is finally ticking but the slot for the screw driver on the battery cover is quite stripped and I don't think I'll be able to open it again.

If you simply need a night light that looks like a clock, or you have some time to kill and like a little challenge, purchase this product. Otherwise, keep the money and go buy yourself a couple beers.

For years I had a digital night-light clock from Timex that no longer worked. They aren't made anymore so for some time I have been searching for something similar. Came across this and and it is exactly what I was looking for for the bathroom. The wood-look plastic case goes perfectly with the oak in this room. I've even received comments on how attractive this little clock is.

The level of the light is ideal for a night light. Not overly bright but just right to see well enough to not turn on the main light. I ordered a second one for another room. Some complaints are the loud ticking. I agree with this but neither of my clocks are in a bedroom so I don't notice. Perhaps in a sleeping area it would be bothersome. Meanwhile, I am delighted with this little gem.