Customer Reviews

American Innovative Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

I generally only review a product if it's really bad, really good, or as in this case, a very good product with lots of room for improvement to make it even better. I've only owned and been using this product for a few days, so this is a preliminary review, but so far I have noticed a lot of both good and bad with it.

First, there are several features of this clock, some that are less prominent and therefore not mentioned in the description or anywhere else. These are as follows:

-When setting alarms, it starts at 7am. This is great, because you don't have to sit there forever on each alarm changing it from midnight to whatever time you get up in the morning. Most people get up around 7-8, not midnight. I can't believe this isn't more common in alarm clocks, and it's one of many things that shows the ingenuity of the designers.

-Set and preference buttons need to be held for a couple seconds before they bring up the menu, avoiding accidental menu access by merely pressing the wrong button.

-Great sound. I was expecting sound superior to normal clock radios, but I was really impressed. It definitely surpassed my expectations and then some.

-Small (smaller than I thought it would be) and looks great, with great layout for the most part.

-Excellent snooze button size and location. (could be seen as a con by some people I suppose)

-Remembers nap/sleep timers for quick one touch setting

-Alarm duration setting, nice so alarm can be set to only go off for a short period of time, just in case you leave it on when you leave and it will disturb others when it goes off.

-Gradual wake feature.

-Alarm volume independent from sleep volume.

-Four different alarm sounds.

-Descending snooze makes it so every time you hit the snooze button you get less time before the alarm sounds again. Once again, I can't believe this isn't a more common feature, but this is the first clock I've seen it on.

Now for the negative points. Some of these are pretty severe, at least in my mind, whereas others are really quit minor and even perhaps a little nitpicky. However, I believe a product can always be made better, and I hope that by pointing these things out American Innovations will be encouraged to take them into consideration for an improved model. Also, for a product with such obvious creativity and ingenuity involved in its design, the fact that some of these negative items even exist is just that much more baffling and upsetting. Also, I feel the consumer should be as informed as possible when making a decision, so hopefully this will help people considering this clock. Here are my issues with this alarm clock:

-Value collar (outer ring) should spin more freely. It's whole purpose in life is to quickly advance the time backward or forward to set the clock or alarm, and this is done by spinning or rotating it. For this purpose, I feel it is way too stiff, and that detracts from its functionality.

-Minimum volume should be lower. It's pretty quiet, but I have absolutely no doubt there are people that like to listen to very quiet music when they're going to sleep, quieter than this will go down to, and there should be more options on the low end of the scale to account for that. I realize that is a problem with digitally controlling the volume instead of using an anolog dial with infinite positions, but they could, and should, certainly implement a few more volume steps between their current minimum volume and no volume.

-The volume buttons are backwards from any sort of common sense arrangement. Seriously, who puts the volume up on the left and the volume down on the right. It's just counter-intuitive.

-I'd prefer the use of a couple AA or AAA batteries instead of the 3.0V CR2032 button-type battery that's used for the backup functions. They are everywhere, people are a lot more likely to have spares of them lying around the house than CR2032s, and they can be rechargable.

-More color choices would be nice. The white and gray don't really fit into the colors of the rest of the room. I personally prefer the colors of the standard version of the clock, I don't know why the options are so limited here, or why they chose to go with this color for this model instead of the same color scheme they have on the other.

-Easy to accidentally (or subconsiously) hit the on/off button instead of the snooze button, killing the alarm completely instead of snoozing it.

-No alarm preview function. In order to hear the different alarms to know which to use, I had to set nap timer to 1 minute, wait for it to alarm, switch alarm sounds, and repeat until I heard all four.

-Lowest brightness for display not dim enough. This goes hand in hand with the lowest volume not low enough problem.

-No preference for how long the display stays on high brightness after pressing a button.

-Alarm volumes and lengths can't be set independently from one another.

-Beta feature for making one time change doesn't allow changing of multiple banks, or at least I haven't figured out how yet if you can.

All in all, this is a very nice alarm clock, and it's so convenient to not have to switch the alarms back and forth every day, since I have class at 9 MWF and 8 on T & Th, plus I like to have one for the weekends just so I don't sleep until the afternoon. Even with the flaws and areas of needed improvement, it's still a big step up. I just wish the creativity had extended more to some of these other things, as well as other things I probably haven't thought of. I would so far recommend it based off its functionality and the specific need it caters to, but as I said, I've only had it a few days, so it's still too early to tell. So far, I haven't noticed any glitch or bug issues with it.

EDIT: I have now owned this alarm clock for a little over 3 months and just wanted to make a quick update. This clock got me through a semester of late nights and early mornings excellently, and it is still running strong (knock on wood). I haven't really found anything new I like or dislike about it, it's performing exactly as I'd hoped and I'm really glad I got it. As I said before, it has its problems, but they are minor for the most part and do not overcome the usefulness of the clock. The only new thing I have to mention is when turning the two dials, or even when they're in position but pressed lightly, the display sort of spazzes out, for lack of a better term, and jumps all over like you're spinning the dial rapidly. It doesn't cause any real issues, it's just annoying, as you have to release it so it settles down (which is immediate) then you can make any changes you need to make. As I said, it's more an annoyance or minor hindrance at most, and does not impact the clock's functionality, and I wouldn't let it affect my decision to buy one. However, it is, to me, a sign of something either being poorly designed or poorly put together. I have no idea if it's common or just mine. Anyways, after owning it for 3 months, I still hold to my initial rating of 4 stars.

I used this this alarm clock for about 2 years; notice the past tense on this. The title of this review sums it up - the ideas behind the alarm clock are quite nice but the execution is really sub par.

*** Let's start off with what was nice about the clock ***
- The customization really was well above what you'd find on any other alarm clock
- There's a descending snooze feature that I really liked - in fact it was the single feature that sold me on the clock
- It seems (note the keyword seems) to be solidly built
- It's not bad on the eyes
- Aux in lets you hook up your MP3 player of choice

*** Now the neutrals ***
- This point is probably very subjective, but the more I used the clock, I actually kind of had to ask myself why? I have a somewhat regular schedule (I work a 9/80 schedule and on the weekends I wake up when I wake up) as does the GF. The different alarm banks were nice, but in the end it was a pain to set them up and really, it was overkill. I suppose if you're a college student and have a schedule that may differ every day it would be nice
- I never figured out what to do with that USB port on the back

*** And now the negatives ***
- As other have pointed out it's at night WAY to bright, even it its dimmest mode. What's worse, is that at the same brightness setting it's too dim to be read during normal lighting conditions. I personally like it dark when I sleep, so it may have affected me more than others, but it really is like a little torch. For comparison, I've also got a DirecTV HR-21 and Netgear wifi bridge in the bedroom. The lights on those are annoying, but not to the point that it would disrupt my sleep. I can't say the same for this alarm clock. In the end, I set the brightness to 0 (no backlight at all) and just hit the snooze button when I wanted to tell the time. The backlight would then come on for a few seconds and go off. It was fine for nighttime, but a real pain during the day. Why not have a customization option to modify brightness during different times of day?

- Build quality is really sub par. In two years, I had three different units. The first unit I had had an issue with the LCD backlight where it would constantly flicker. I had to RMA that one (more on that later). The replacement one that they sent me had issues with the rotation knob. Whenever I turned it it would first go into some default display then to the one I wanted. The third and final one finally died today (I had this one for about 16 months). Doesn't power on or anything. Tried replacing the battery; nothing. Unfortunately it's also well out of warranty. I'm sorry, but $60 for an alarm clock that doesn't last more than 2 years is a joke.

- Customer service was rude and unresponsive. The first clock I had to RMA had the issue almost immediatly. I submitted an RMA request on their website within the first 90 days (the length of the warranty) but never got a response. I tried again after about 5 months and then just got a reply saying it's out of warranty and to take it to my local electronics shop. They were completely unwilling to help until I produced evidence that they never replied to my original RMA request. The second clock also came with the issues above and that one had to go back too. Both times, they wouldn't reimburse me for shipping costs even though it was their fault (and it was their policy to do so, according to their website).

- Warranty is a joke. $60 alarm clock has a 90 day warranty? You've got to be kidding me. If these units were well built then this wouldn't be an issue but 3 alarm clocks in 2 years shows there's some serious quality control issues.

*** Overall Conclusion ***
I've said it earlier. This alarm clock is packed with neat features that could make it a great clock niche markets, but the reliability and the brightness issue end up making this a product you should avoid!

I never, ever thought I would pay 60 bucks for an alarm clock but I got so sick of setting and resetting my alarm clock for several years. I am a school teacher who is split between two different schools that begin at two different times. I also take classes on Saturday mornings for my masters degree. So that is 3 different alarms needed each week, so each night I am rewinding or forwarding my alarm wake times for the following day or changing the setting from weekday to weekend. So I splurged and bought this 7 days alarm clock. I used this clock this week and it worked GREAT!!!!!!! I didn't have a single problem and I never touched my clock once. I personally love the different alarm choices offered. The manual describes several situations where this clock will help you:

"I am a single person and I get up at the same time each day."

"We're are two people and we each get up at the same time each day, but my spouse/partner gets up before I do."

"I'm just one person and I have a varied morning wake schedule."

"We are two people with two different morning wake schedules."

This alarm clock has a scenario for ever working person!
The preferences offered are also great! Here are the few that I appreciate!

1) You can set the snooze duration
2) You can pick the snooze type. ( You can pick a set time and each time you hit snooze it will go off for that amount of time, you could pick descending where each time you hit snooze the snooze duration is halved or you can turn the snooze off where the snooze button will not respond and the alarm sound will continue until you turn the alarm off.
3) Gradual Wake- Audible alarms start quietly and slowly raise in volume. (I personally LOVE this feature, as most alarms startle me out of my sleep.)
4) Glow - you can change the settings on the front of the clock- either low, medium, high or off.

There are also 20 preset radio stations offered and there are several different buzzer alarms so you have plenty of choices as far as what you want to wake up to. The display is fairly large so even people with vision problems should not have a problem reading this clock. Finally there is a napping feature. You can set a specific amount of time for your nap, when you want to lay down for a rest, just hit the nap button and the clock will wake you up after whatever amount of time you had programmed. How great is that???

This clock has ALOT of great features. Don't hesitate to purchase this clock, you will appreciate all it has to offer!

This alarm clock is working out really well! I have had it for a little while now and am finding the bells and whistles to be really handy. I occasionally use the nap timer and therefore don't have to mess up my daily alarm settings, I use the skip timer when I wake up earlier than the alarm so as not to wake my significant other, I use the multiple settings to not just wake me up, but to remind me to do daily tasks, etc, etc. So all in all, I'm very pleased with it!

The Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock is one of the most ambitious alarm clocks I've seen, but don't let all the fancy features and supposedly user-driven innovation fool you--this is a poorly designed, buggy alarm clock that happens to have a few nice (and very rare) features. There are certain scenarios for which this alarm clock may be uniquely fitted, such as two people sharing the alarm clock (it allows for two sets of alarms for each day of the week) and needing a wide array of highly variable alarms. However, even at this, it would be very difficult to overcome the bugs. I've used the clock for over a year (with a great deal of trouble) and have been forced to use the absolute minimum features of the alarm clock. I will be getting a new alarm clock soon and, were it not for those rare features, would have found a new alarm clock a long time ago. My recommendation--don't buy it.

Pros:
-High speed buttons allow you to alter alarm times very quickly (forward and backward) with a single finger, which is vastly better than having to hold the "Alarm" button while repeatedly pressing the "Minute" button 45 times (and then another 60 when you go over your target time) like with 90% of other alarm clocks.
-Allows you to set separate alarms for each day of the week, which is very useful, particularly for college students when classes start at very different times each day.
-Numerous alarm sounds to choose from, all of which are far more comforting to wake up to than the all too common and ungodly annoying screech that comes out of most alarm clocks.
-Other various fancy features such as a radio that some people find nice--I won't go into detail as you can read about them plenty of other places.
-Battery will keep track of alarms and the time even when you're on vacation or in a power outage, which I've found handy.

Cons:
-The biggest problem is the quality. In under a month of usage, the display started doing these weird freakouts whenever I turned the dial, which you may have read about in other reviews. Apply too much pressure (or just when it feels like it) and the display starts flashing all kinds of things (including showing that an alarm is set when it is not); you can't tell what you're doing.
-Potentially linked to the aforementioned problem are the inexplicable ghost alarms--alarms that I did not set and that it does not display as being set that go off anyway. It doesn't happen all the time, but once is too many for me (it's happened maybe 10 or so times since I've had it).
-However annoying excess alarms may be, they are not as annoying as alarms you set not going off--beware the Beta ONE TIME feature (they don't provide ample warning that this is in Beta so watch out), it is buggy and can result in the Review button (which is supposed to show the next upcoming alarm) displaying an alarm that will not go off.
-Brightness: with all the features it has you'd think they could get brightness nailed down, but you'd be wrong. The minimum brightness is way too bright for me, so I have to have it off, which makes it hard to see.
-The "collar" that lets you adjust the times makes a loud clicking noise and requires a lot of work to crank around--to avoid this, just use the simple "seek/scan" + and - buttons instead; it's faster and easier.

Bottom Line:
It has some nice features, but the instability of the alarms themselves and the poor interface make it not worthwhile. As disappointed as I am, I'll still keep my eye on American Innovative because if they can get these bugs in order and get the basics down, this could be a very good alarm clock. As it stands now, it's just not worth it.

This alarm clock could have been 5 stars but it has some major problems. The biggest problem is that the Alarm Off button is right behind the Snooze button. There have been several occasions where I woke up late because I accidentally turned off the alarm when I meant to snooze. They could have easily programmed one of the buttons in the rear to be the alarm off button.

Another problem is that this clock does not automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time. I would expect such a feature in a $60 alarm clock.

Like I said, there are many good things to say about this alarm clock (easy to setup, multiple alarms, turn off LCD, skip next alarm) but the problems I mentioned need to be resolved to justify spending so much on an alarm clock.

I am a long-time owner of the original Neverlate 7-day alarm clock. It was a great idea in its day, and is still head-and-shoulders above (almost) any other alarm clock out there.

The only one that has the original Neverlate beat is its fancier cousin, this new Neverlate Executive.

Everything you ever wished your alarm clock could do...this does it!

Change the way the snooze works in the morning? Check.
Automatically rotate through different wake-up stations each morning? Check.
Charge your USB-powered devices overnight? Check.
See your alarms as a calendar? Check.

It's as though somebody opened up the back of a standard digital alarm clock and made everything customizable.

I'm still tweaking the settings on mine, but the fact that I don't have to unplug my lamp to charge my blackberry, and that I can listen to the baseball game late at night and still wake up to NPR the next morning (and not the awful talk radio on the morning sports station) are already worth the upgrade.

I have owned this clock for about 8 months and one day it just froze up. Nothing would work. One might figure that when paying $60+ for an alarm clock it would give you years of service. I have bought cheap alarm clocks from retail stores and paid $10-$15 and they have lasted 5+ years before the need for replacement. The features were nice of this alarm clock and it was loud, that is why I bought it, But the quality is just not there. I will go back to buying cheap alarm clocks. Don't waste your money on this alarm clock.

I have been using the Neverlate Executive for about a year now. Hands down it is the best alarm clock I have ever owned.
Best features:
- Easy to use controls. Buttons and knobs are simple and intuitive. I lost the instructions long ago but can still figure out how to customize all of the settings pretty directly.
- Big, easy to read display. Nice upgrade over the orginal Neverlate
- Option to wake to any radio station or buzzer.
- Digital tuner with presets... the simplicity of finding the station I want means I actually use the clock as a radio in my bedroom
- Nap timer is easy to set and useful.
- Customizable snooze duration. I have always found standard alarm clock snoozes too long.
- Multiple alarm banks and individual daily alarms are nice to have but I don't use them all the time. Good to have the option, though.

Potential drawbacks
- Some other reviews mention freezing or technical glitches but I have not experienced any. My clock works well.
- Softest radio volume level could be a little softer - but that is a nit.

The nicest thing about this clock is it can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. It does all of the basics extremely well and lets you customize as little or as much as you want. I would buy this clock again... and have given it as gifts to some friends and a couple nephews in college.

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.