Customer Reviews

La Crosse Technology WT-3102B 10-Inch Atomic Analog Clock

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(49)

 

 

I own 8 atomic clocks 5 of which are these LaCrosse brand clocks. Unfortunately, the only problems I've experienced are with the LaCrosse. The others have been problem free. Although I am very close to the Colorado transmitting station (Utah), some of my LaCrosse clocks have had a hard time picking up the atomic signal. I'd wake up in the morning or come home from work in the evening and notice several clocks were WAY off the correct time. (Sigh) I've had to reposition the clocks several times and ended up locating them in areas I really didn't want them. But I finally got all of the LaCrosse clocks to work at least.

Some of the LaCrosse clocks tick loud enough to disrupt sleeping. Others don't which is odd because they are all the SAME model. I've had to rotate clocks around until I found one quiet enough to put in my bedroom. But the quiet one has a signal receiving problem, so I had to put it on a different wall and move the artwork to a different place. It looks rather awkward now. (Sigh)

Of the eight atomic clocks I own, five didn't update at daylight savings time. You guessed it! All five were the LaCrosse clocks. (Sigh) The other three updated instantly. This was one of the main reasons I got the atomic clocks to begin with. I didn't want to hassle with updating the clocks manually. When I contacted LaCrosse support, I was told that it would take up to five days for the new time to register. Why LaCrosse clocks take five days while the other brand atomic clocks updated instantly is a mystery to me. It defeats the whole purpose of having the atomic clocks in the first place. I've inserted a new battery and reset the clock and waited a day or so with no DST update. I finally got tired of it and put them on a different time zone so they would reflect the correct time. Waiting almost a week for the clocks to update is ridiculous!

Overall, I'm rather disappointed. I've actually spent MORE time adjusting and tuning and moving the LaCrosse atomic clocks than I ever did with my old manual ones. LaCrosse brags about its "technology", yet I find it hugely lacking. I am amazed at the good reviews here. In fact, I bought all these clocks based upon them. I also gave several as gifts around Christmas time (I'm so sorry for those of you who got one from me).

I would certainly recommend another brand.

UPDATE 3/17/07: I contacted LaCrosse customer service and was told there was a "flaw" discovered in the engineering of this model which doesn't allow them to update the new DST. They claim they were just as "surprised" about this as their customers. They took my information and promised to arrange an "exchange" of clocks some time in April 2007. I hope they don't expect me to pay for shipping them. I own five of these models. I will update again in April when I get further information. Meantime, I changed the "time zone" to reflect the correct time. Luckily, I'm able to do that.

I purchased this clock which is advertised as Model # WT-3102B. The clock that I received is Model # WT-3102. I do not know what the difference is between the two model numbers but my clock does not work properly with the new daylight saving time rules. I tried to call LaCrosse technical support and the line has been busy for several days. When I finally got through the most you can do is leave a message in voice mail for them to call you back and they have not called me back. Although LaCrosse advetises that all of their clocks are compatible with the new daylight saving time rules, this clock is not. Based on this and the lack of technical support I cannot recommend this clock.

I bought 4 of these recently, and found that while they picked up the timing signal perfectly from WWVB in Ft. Collins, CO, they did NOT 'spring forward' for DST. Since the DST indicator bit is part of the time-code signal, this was very confusing. I just got off the phone with LaCrosse technical support, and they acknowledged that this is a known-issue (just confirmed in the last couple days), and the WWVB receiver IC used in any of the movements with a red sticker on the back IGNORES the DST bit sent on WWVB (and uses the pre-2007 DST date algorithm instead.) LaCrosse is taking names and numbers and will supposedly be contacting everyone in late April with instruction on how to exchange the product for a working one.

Wow, This is a nice little Atomic clock. At 10 inches in diameter with the face measuring 7 and 1/4 inches, It's perfect for a small room. The numbers are on the thin side so I wouldn't recommend this clock being placed where you had to view it from a great distance. The case is plastic but I was surprised that the face plate was glass! Pretty nice for the $12.99 I paid. When you set the clock up you just put in the battery and press the time zone, That's it! The second hand ticks a few beats and stops. This is normal. A bit vague in the instructions, So don't panic thinking it doesn't work when none of hands move. When it finds a signal it moves and fast fowards to the correct time. My clock picked up a signal pretty quickly (about 2 hours before my digital wall clock normally does) so the reception is pretty awesome on the unit. The second hand is very quiet as it "ticks" every second so it wont keep you up at night like some noisy clocks I've had. A very nice little clock at a nice little price.

I have this model and the bigger silver WT-3144P that amazon always has as a buy it together option. It has been 5 days and no matter how many times I take out the battery and try pressing different buttons, they are both still 1 hour behind. I am starting to believe this clock will only be accurate in November when DST changes again. My 6 casio radio controlled watches all changed to the correct time on March 11th so the problem is not because of the signal coming into my house.

Since I am on the east coast, I can't trick it into the correct time by using another time zone. This product has poor engineering and I don't know if LaCrosse can come up with a fix.

I had bought 4 clocks for $31.00 with the 4 for 3 deal and $10.99 each. (about).

Each clock was identical in appearance and behavior. The clock is solid feeling and totally
made out of plastic. The second hand makes some noise but it's so quiet that it's virtually
imperceptable. I've got one sitting 2 feet from my head and it bothers me not during night
time sleep. So that answers a quesiton many of you have.

Operation of the clock could not be easier but it's important that you do it properly or else
you might be frustrated a bit. Here's what you do.

There are 4 buttons on the back. You press only one of them after installing the battery.
They are marked for the time zones. PT, MT, CT, ET for Pacific, Mountain, Central and
Eastern time zone.

Put in the battery and press the button which corresponds to your time zone. That's it.

The clock will advance from the 12:00 position that you receive it to about 4:00 (AM I think).
Then it sits there waiting for the signal from the atomic clock ni Boulder , Colorado. When
the night time sky conditions are right for the strongest signal from the above clock in Colorado
the receiver in the clock will receive the signal strong enough to cause the clock to turn the hands
quickly to the right time.

My clock battery was installed at about 12 midnight. I live in the Central Valley of California.
This tells you that my signal is weaker than if you lived in somewhere closer to Colorado.
So it was not until about 3:40 AM that the signal was strong enough to cause the clock to
receive the signal and set itself. At about 3:40 Am the hands of the clock turned quickly
and set themselves to 3:40 (about).

When I checked these clocks against both Internet computer time (based on atomic clock)
And also my other atomic clocks they all agreed to exactly the same time within 1 second.
When the second hand moved to 12:00 all of the clocks moved to the next minute. Since
then , about a week ago, they've all been right on time.

The thing I like about the second hand is obvious. You can see both when the next minute is
coming and if you want to count off 25 seconds it's easy to do . With most digital clocks there
is no Seconds indication.. There is no noise that I can hear louder than barely perceptable from
the clock. However it's possible that if you have it on a wall with a very hard surface it might be
a bit louder than mine. I have mine sitting on a table right now with a padded cloth behind it.
If you wanted to help reduce any sound you shuld consider putting a cloth behind it which would
absorb some of the sound. But it 's very quiet.

The appearance of the clock is good. Some products you buy always have something odd or
unique about them which makes them look so different that you're irritated by them. This clock
is so very basic and everything is 'right' about its appearance. There is no room for complaint.

A tip: NiMH rechargable batteries lose 5% of their charge per week (about) So in a couple of
months it's basically dead. NiMH rechargable batteries are made to use when you plan to use
them right away and use them up and then rechage them. So don't use them in a device where
you want the battery to last for a year. Instead use an alkaline, regular , battery. It accepts a
1.5 volt AA battery. I had several when I know where old and nearly discharged. They all
still worked to make the 4 clocks run just fine. So it's nice that the clocks don't require anything
but a basic working AA battery to operate on time. I'm saying that a weak battery still works
OK if it works at all.

I'm not going to take the time to see how far away I can see the clock clearly. But I work with
optics and I'll make a guess that at 10 feet you'll still be able to clearly see the time and the second
hand. This means that in a normal room like bedroom or kitchen you'll be able to quickly and
easily see the time with no problem.

I had the idea before I bought them to paint the ring brown with streaks if I wanted it to appear
like wood. If you wanted to do this I'm sure it would be simple to do. I think it's attractive
in a basic way to put up without being embarassed by it's basic look.

If you missed the $10.99 price and 4 for 5 price don't despair. Amazon occasionally prices the
product quickly to the same price within a few weeks. Today is 12/2/07 so watch it daily to
catch it at a good deal. There's no reason this clock has to cost over $10 so watch for a deal.

We bought this clock to replace one of those cheap quartz wall clocks in our new (used) motorhome. I wanted it so that I would not have to wear a watch but would still have a dependable and accurate time piece.

It took a couple of nights before the LaCrosse atomic clock received the signal to synch up, but after that it seems to be working exactly as advertised, accurate right to the second.

This clock has a large protrudance on the back where the clock's works reside so the bezel does not sit flush to the wall. Either a large hole needs to be cut in the wall or you just have to live with it. No big deal, but it is something difficult to see from photos on the Internet. This is why I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

UPDATE: March 2011
Last summer the clock started acting up. For some reason it thinks it is in the Mountain time zone and is always 2 hours behind. No matter which time zone buttons I press the clock will not set to local time. Can't even set to Central time. Even the DST button does not change the 2 hour difference. I have been trying to correct it over the past 9 months so the DST time change seems to have no effect. I have a La Crosse Weather Station with digital readout that has been working great for over 2 years. Their analog clocks do not live up to that reputation.
If I could my rating would change to 1 star.
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UPDATE:
I was able to release the stuck DST button and the clock now shows correct time, and I am now pleased with its performance. The 3 star rating stays because the DST button should not have been stuck in the first place.
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Got the clock in late Fall 2006 and it seemed to work great (live in eastern PA). The clock synchronized easily and has kept accurate time.

This past March 11th 2007 I waited for the clock to move 1 hour ahead for DST and it never happened. Removed the battery multiple times and restarted the sync sequence, but it would not pick up that hour. Tried other time zones and all were 1 hour behind. Reading the manual I noticed there is a DST override button to cancel the DST change. Checked the clock and found my problem. The DST button was compressed in the down position so that DST was always canceled! I tried to pull the button up but no luck. I'll try more aggressive measures in a few days, maybe even remove the button.

The clock had been delivered with this defect and I did not know it until it is now too late to return it. Warranty fix is a joke because the cost of S&H is about the same as a new clock.

My advice. The clock works great except for this defect in my clock. If you get it try to check ALL its functions as soon as you get it. If it's the wrong time of the year to verify the DST cancel function at least check that the button (all buttons) move freely.

I now have a clock that is either accurate +/- seconds, or behind 1 hour +/- seconds depending on the time of the year.

This is my second radio controlled clock, and this is a vast improvement over the competition. With this clock, you merely put in the battery and it takes care of itself. You may need to adjust the timezone, but that's just the press of a single button.

After inserting the battery, the hands start to advance to the position where they wait for a signal. Then they advanced to the correct time. On my clock, the second hand lands a hair in front of the markings at each tick, but it does not affect the ability to tell the time or affect its accuracy. That's the only flaw I found.

My previous clock was made by Chaney Instrument. It had a complicated setting procedure that involved pressing a button when one hand passed another, and again when the hand got to 12. The problem with that is that the second hand did not land in a position that made this possible. Unlike the LaCrosse clock, the Chaney's second hand was off by about a half second. Sometimes it was before the correct position and sometimes it was after it. So deciding if a half second before 12 or if a half second after was not easy. If you end up a second off as a result, you could be off by as much as 1.5 seconds at times. That may not seem like much, but it's supposed to be an accurate clock that you can set your watch to. Also, the company insisted that it's working normally.

Although the LaCrosse is not perfect, it's far easier to use, and there's no ambiguity when it comes to telling the time. It sets more easily and is perfectly accurate when compared to other sources such as a computer synchronized with the NIST.

I purchased both this clock, and The Weather Channel WT-3131TWC Atomic Wall Clock with Forecast, and use them both. The Weather channel clock cost $69.99 so this is a considerable price difference to pay for the larger size and weather forecaster option (which does seem to work fairly well) so decide if these are important features for you. I actually like this LaCrosse clock's appearance and size better, and I certainly like the $12.99 price better.

I found both clocks very easy to set up, and the written directions unnecessary, as the back of the clock explains itself quite nicely with its four little buttons to choose from: (PT; MT; CT; ET). I merely had to put the battery in, chose ET for Eastern Standard Time, and the clock automatically set itself. You won't have to take it off the wall to re-set it for Daylight Savings, as it will automatically take care of that too! Besides a battery change when needed (one AA battery) there is no work involved with this clock.

Given that my other clocks were continually changing the time I had set (depending on the power of the battery??) I really appreciate now being able to look up and know for sure that this is the exact time. However, on the flip side, if you are someone who wants to trick yourself into getting places on time by purposely setting your timepieces ahead, be aware that this is not an option with atomic clocks.

There are also digital atomic clocks with backlight available, so if you prefer the visual clarity and a night time view of lit up numbers you may want to do a search for these. I personally did not choose the digital because the light emitted from digital clocks at night conflicts with recent medical recommendations to keep your interior as dark as possible when you sleep at night in order to insure the most deep and healthy sleep, and I was using these in personal areas. Obviously not an issue if placed away from the area you sleep in, and some of these looked very attractive, though the prices were not nearly as good. There are also digital clocks, such as the LaCrosse Technology WS-6002U-A Atomic Digital Wall Clock that Amazon sells for $19.99, which do not have a backlight, so you get the digital read out without the light. There are many options to choose from.

For the price I highly recommended this item. I intend to order more of these, as gifts for time challenged friends and family, and one for my office. 5 Stars!