Customer Reviews

GE 74897 Clock Radio Stereo CD player with Dual Alarm

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are looking for an alarm clock/cd player combo, this is an excellent model to choose. I have been completely satisfied with my purchase, for the following reasons.

First, let me discuss appearance. For the most part, cd player/alarm clock combos are large, relatively heavy, and boxy. However, this model has none of those characteristics; it is relatively light, and not at all boxy. I am extremely pleased with it's appearance - it has a very sleek look to it.

Next, let me focus on the alarm clock. This unit has dual alarms, each of which can be set to wake you up with either a normal alarm, or music (cd or radio). This clock has a "gradua-wake" system - instead of the alarm/music turning on at full volume, they start quietly and then slowly get louder. I really appreciate this feature - it allows one to be woken slowly and gently as opposed to suddenly. I also like the LCD display - the large green digits are very easy to read from most angles.

Soundwise, the unit is decent, though not spectacular. The radio and CD player both deliver good sound. Obviously, you won't get the pounding bass you would on a stereo system, but this is to be expected. There tends to be some hissing when the volume is turned way up, and for some reason, the volume switch does not go extremely high. For most people this should not be a problem, but if you have hearing problems or like listening to music LOUD, it could cause some trouble. The CD lid seems a bit flimsy to me, though I haven't had any problems with it.

Overall, I highly recommend this alarm clock/cd player.

We have two of these (so far)...one for the bedroom, another as a simple general CD player and clock for the kitchen! The one from the kitchen goes along in the suitcase whenever there will be an overnight in a hotel. It's been bashed around that way, but holds up solidly.

Sure, it could sound better...the cheap speakers tend to overload at maximum volume, which isn't very loud anyway. But it's easy to see the time, easy to reach the snooze button, and the low center of gravity keeps the unit from getting knocked around. It sits on the bedside stand firmly. I use it to go to sleep to music, and wake up to alarm. It works very well for that, playing a CD quietly.

There are some quirks: sometimes I have to open and close the lid to make the machine realize there's a CD in there. (Even then, it freaks out sometimes spinning the disc in both directions: we had to take one of our two back for a replacement as it had trouble playing discs.) It holds the CD very firmly: to remove one most easily, push down on the center spindle with one finger while lifting the edges of the disc. The time set buttons can be used to move the CD tracks forward or backward...but be sure you're not hitting the "sleep" and "nap" buttons there, else it will wake you up at a strange time! If you do hit the Nap button by mistake, it's tricky to get it turned back off before the 20 minutes are up. Every month or two I have to run the volume dial back and forth a few times to clear the static it's built up, and then it's fine. There's a lot of mechanical noise whenever a CD starts or stops.

All those quirks are sort of endearing, considering that the main function is the dual alarm clock, where it's solid and reliable. The gentle wake feature is nice: the alarm begins quietly, then gets more insistent.

Better combo machines with all these features are available, but not at this price.

Since many reviewers have already talked about this clock's good points, I'm just going to rant about its bad ones:

1) As some have already pointed out, the green LCD display is WAY too bright. If I look directly into it in the dark, I have to cover my eyes!
2) The 'grad-u-wake' feature doesn't work with the CD player, and with the alarm clock, it starts out too loud to actually be useful for what it was intended for.
3) If you wake up to the CD player and are a habitual Snooze button presser .. When you hit Snooze, the clock will simply flash the CD track number it was playing, so after the 2nd or 3rd time, you have absolutely NO idea what time it is
4) Also, when the Snooze time is up, the CD player will simply continue with where the song left off the first time, instead of starting the song over again. So if you had picked songs with silent intros to wake up to, once you hit the Snooze button, you're probably going to be blasted out of bed anyway the 2nd or 3rd time around.
5) Button placement is horid. The Snooze button is right in the center of the clock, and isn't as big as it should be. The OFF button is located around 3 other buttons of the same size, and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in the morning like it needs to.

It's really a shame that engineers can't put their collective heads together and design better alarm clocks than what we're currently stuck with :(

My main requirements were dual alarm, a loud enough alarm, reasonable controls, battery backup, and CD player. I tried several other clocks, including the Dream Machine which I returned dissatisfied. This one met all my requirements. It's extremely easy to operate every feature. The sound is good for a bedside machine. And the nap feature - being able to temporarily set the alarm for up to 120 minutes without changing the regular alarm settings - is very nice. I don't mind the LED (seems normal brightness to me and I don't need the dimmer). I think this is an excellent CD/clock-radio.

I agree with all the above comments. I have been looking for a decent clock radio at a fair price and this unit wins. The sound is quite good for such small speakers and it is nice to wake up to whatever CD track you want. It also has a very sold feel to it, not too heavy, but it won't fall off the nightstand too easily either.
There is the one downside, which can bother some, there is no dimmer switch and the green numbers are bright. That may not bother some and you can turn it away from the bed. It's too bad, I would have given this unit five stars otherwise.

I was a bit frustrated when I started looking for a new clock radio after my old one began faltering (or so I blamed when I'd arrive late for work). The ones that had the features I need (dual alarm, ability to set time in reverse) either had gigantic numbers or the layout of the buttons wasn't conducive to blind reaching to turn off the alarm or something else to irritate me. This one was the best I found. The numbers are big enough for a nearsighted git like myself to know the time without my glasses, but not so big that it's distracting when my glasses are on. I really like the Nap feature. Now I don't have to reset my alarm, I just set the Nap feature to however long I want to rest. I don't need to wake up to a CD (I have my favorite morning radio show and if I want to listen to a CD in the morning, I'll put on my stereo, which has better sound), but it's not a bad feature to have, and it didn't seem to drive up the price too much. The only problem with the button layout is that the radio's On/Off button is behind the Nap button, so I have a tendency to turn the Nap feature on instead of the radio!

I ordered this clock less than three months ago, and within the last several weeks, it has become possessed. The alarm fails to go off occasionally for no explicable reason, and the CD player runs amok, requiring that I unplug the radio from the wall socket. Not only will the demonic thing not play my CD's, it refuses to respond to any of the control buttons once the CD player takes over.

It was disappointing to discover that the display has no brightness control, but that information is not always given online. My old GE clock radio, god rest its soul, did have brightness control. I bought this GE based on my high level of satisfaction from my older model that functioned as expected for 16 years before I gave it away.

I've already ordered a replacement for this little monster.

This radio is rather good for the kitchen,where it could be used as a easy to read clock radio and as a CD player.True,it may not replace a boombox or a all in one home theater,but it is good enough for a kitchen,where high volumes are not needed.My recomendation:Buy this if you need a digital clock or a simple CD player

I used all of the reviews for this clock to decide on my purchase. I am pleased with the features and performance of this model.

One downside is the fact that you can not adjust the brightness of the clock face. I like the bedroom very dark and it took a bit of getting used to the green glow. I even covered the clock for a few nights but now I simply turn the face away from me. My husband says I am being overly sensitive but he is on the other side of the bed. It is something to think about if this will bother you.