Customer Reviews

Atomix 544 - 10" Silver Anodized Aluminum Atomic Clock

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

 

 

I had wondered whether having one-second accuracy would make any difference, particularly since quartz watches and clocks seem to keep time to within a minute or so. But it is fun to know that there is one really precise clock in the house --- I can use it to set other time pieces, and I can now know just when to return to radio or TV. The clock has a construction typical of quartz wall clocks in this price range. Is easy to set up (though it took mine about a day to get in real sync). I'm a bit disappointed that it will lose sync with battery replacement (I'm inferring this from my reading of the instruction sheet) --- a problem they could have eliminated by providing a parallel battery connection to keep power on while a new cell was being inserted. But I haven't needed to replace the battery yet, and the loss of time sync should last only a few hours once every two years or so. Haven't yet had the chance to check the automatic daylight savings time feature.. All in all, a very attractive and satisfactory product at a remarkably reasonable price.

I never did find about the accuracy of the clock, 24 hours after I installed the battery the second hand dropped off! Since it is a sealed unit, I guess this is a problem. I did read a few bad reviews about the manufactures products prior to purchasing this unit (poor workmanship). However, I bought it anyway, and oh boy what junk.

Mine's been running for about 6 months now; no problem out of the box (except for the set-up procedure noted by a previous review, which I vaguely remember but apparently got right, and you only have to do it once). No problem getting a signal either in Washington state, and there is that undeniable thrill twice a year when you don't have to change the hour. It really looks cool, too. It's a gadget, to be sure, and arguable whether it's worth the price, but I personally like mine a lot and didn't have any of the quality problems reported by other reviewers.

Being a student I need to keep track of my time for classes and deadlines. The clock does updtae itself to the current time but I found out the hard way that you have to keep your clock near an area where the radio signal that the clock picks up can be picked up. In other words it doesn't work everywhere, only places where the time signal can be picked up. Other than difficulty with finding a good signal which can be difficult at times the clock is great. You might fumble a little at first when setting up the clock since it's not totally automatic when you first set up it, requiring you to press a button on the back at certain intervals so the clock can be set up correctly.

There is a fairly elaborate procedure for setting up this clock. First, the hands must be set at about 10 minutes earlier than the actual time. Then a button on the back of it needs to be pressed once the second hand reaches the 12:00 position and again when it is one second past the minute hand. If the signal from NIST is being received properly, the clock will then automatically adjust to the correct time within a few minutes. If you don't live in a daylight savings time area, you must press and hold down the button on the back while inserting the battery. Otherwise, the clock will automatically adjust itself for daylight savings time.

Interestingly, one can even set the clock five or ten minutes fast.

Regardless of whether or not you already own a clock or watch, I think owning an atomic one is beneficial because you know it's always going to be accurate to a fraction of a second.

I bought 3 other atomic clocks (one as a gift), each for $20, and each required a less complicated procedure to set up than this one. So don't think you need to spend a lot to get an atomic clock. The better (or at least less expensive) one I'm referring to was by Lacrosse Technologies, and I bought it at a local store. I also like the way it looks although the materials are probably less expensive than this one. (But the second hand doesn't fall off!)

Although this clock looks great, it failed to pick up a signal and set itself anywhere in my home. I returned it to the manufacturer for repair, but the repaired clock also failed to set itself. Further, it does not automatically set itself when you put the battery in, you have to go through a cumbersome set-up procedure. I would not recommend this clock to anyone who does not live in Ft. Collins, where the time signal originates.

I've had this clock for several years, and how useful it is really seems to depend on where you live. I'm in California (east San Francisco Bay area), when we were in a 4th floor apartment the clock worked fine. Now we're in a single story house just a mile away, and it doesn't really work at all. It's worse than a normal clock in that you can't just set it yourself -- it rarely gets a signal but when it does it's as likely to set the time off by an hour as it is to set it correctly. Inbetween the minutes slowly drift off, so at the moment it's running 63 minutes late. This is more or less true of all "atomic" clocks that set themselves over the air, every time we move there's some shuffling of self-setting clocks around the house, especially ones with weaker reception, until we find a spot where they can all get a signal. But there doesn't seem to be a spot where this clock works now, so I can only conclude it has the weakest reception of all out self setting clocks.

As others have mentioned, the initial setup for setting the time is complicated. More so if you can't get a good signal, and in that case you end up doing it a lot.

In the end what you think of this clock will depend on how good of a signal you can get. If you get a strong signal you'll only have to set it up once, and you'll probably like it, it's a 4 or 5 star clock (assuming the DST settings are new enough!). If not, the clock becomes a nuisance, and you'd probably give it 1 star. I'd give it 2.5 if I could, so I'll round it up to 3. But given that this clock seems to have the weakest reception of our four self-setting clocks, overall there are probably better choices if you aren't sure how strong of a signal you're getting.

I bought an Atomix atomic clock expecting it to work as well as an AccuRite brand I have. Unfortunately the Atmoix never worked right, though I didn't realize it for a while. It kept losing or gaining time, not consistent either way, and every attempt to set it according to the instructions (it's more complicated than the AccuRite) failed. The clock never responded to the instructions printed on the back. I e-mailed the Chaney company and their advice was to use alkaline batteries (which I had been doing), let the clock sit for 24 to 48 hours looking out a window toward Colorado (no kidding!), and if that didn't work, buy another from them. Sorry, my next atomic clock won't be from Chaney.

Within five minutes of opening the package from Amazon I had this clock set, synchronized and on the wall. The set up was not at all difficult or complicated as it took me less than a minute. I live in the Chicago area and the signal was picked up within five minutes and the time was set. I have another atomic clock in the house and I was able to confirm that the time was accurate.

The silver color looks great in our living room which is a bit on the side of IKEA in design.

I'm very happy with this clock.