Customer Reviews

La Crosse Technology WT-5120U Projection Alarm Clock with Outdoor Temperature

5 star:		(151)
4 star:		(99)
3 star:		(47)
2 star:		(57)
1 star:		(71)

 

 

This is one of the more delightful purchases recently. The little unit and its remote temperature sensor came to life shortly out of the box with no hastle and went to work as advertised. The readability of the projection on the ceiling when it's a little darker lighting, curtains pulled, and especially at night is wonderful. The direction of the projection is easily adjusted in several directions. It is easy to adjust and tailor to your environment, keeps the right time, right temperature and just sits there doing its job day in and day out in a most enjoyable way. I bought it as a gift to my wife more as a stocking filler, but neither of us would want to be without it now as we find ourselves depending on it. And it has delivered so far.

I agree with the other review explaining how it works. It is much smaller than expected. If I could change anything about it, I would make it so that the face was lit like a usual alarm clock 24/7. This is not lit. When you hit the large snooze bar across the top, it lights only while your hand is still holding down the snooze bar (the face of the unit lights up BLUE but the display on the ceiling or wall is RED)and the indoor temperature display goes away immediately and instead tells you what time your alarms (it's got 2) are set for. The directions that came with it are printed EXTREMELY small. I went to their website, downloaded for for free, and printed up a user manual which was much easier. I have mine set to go back and forth between the time and outdoor temperature (it won't project indoor temerature but does display it on the unit)though you can set it up to display time or temp only. You are able to set it up so that both alarms or either goes off. This has no radio. You can also set the amount of snooze time! The 2 alarms are the same high pitched beep-beep-beep-beep...beep-beep-beep-beep (repeating) which goes on for I believe a full minute. You can set the time and temperature display to rotate any which way you like and also tilt the display to be straight over you, more to the left, right, on the wall beside you, the wall across from you, etc. It has optional battery backup which requires 3 AAAs. I'm so satisfied with it that I'm buying one for my elderly folks. I have it too close to the end of my nightstand and I often knock it off onto the floor but like the old Timex commercials used to say, "it takes a licking and keeps on ticking". I'm satisfied and again, purchasing another!

pros - projects on wall/ceiling, shows indoor outdoor temperature, syncs the clock, got an alarm, snooze, operates on both battery and adapter ... all what u need for a room-cum-travel clock.

cons - connecting the adapter into the clock's socket is a bit inconvenient, the projection does not work in daytime.

Note - I learnt later that they don't use a strong laser (for projection) simply because a stronger laser beam might carry a risk of damaging your eyes, if you (or a child in more probability) looks directly into it. This equipment is therefore safe for your eyes (but that still means you should avoid looking into it) !

I got this clock because I thought that it would make my life easier when I get up in the middle of the night and want to see what time it is. This was a huge mistake. This clock is anything but convenient! This particular model toggles between time and outdoor temperature. So if you wake up in the middle of the night and want to see what time it is, if the clock is displaying outdoor temperature, you'll have to keep your eyes open for up to 5 seconds for it to toggle back to time. There is no way to turn the toggle feature off- I have confirmed this with their tech support, who suggested that I purchase their lower model which does not display outdoor temperature. Of course there's no way I'll be getting another La Crosse. Aside from this, the clock is not nearly perfect; the buttons are hard to press and the projection is very dim so it's very hard to see at night and completely useless during the day. I am currently shopping for a replacement and it will NOT be a La Crosse. Also, as others have mentioned, the instructions manual was frustrating and confusing- I would have been better off not referring to it because setting it up should have been quite easy.

This is a great unit for warm climate use. However, I am not satisfied with the accuarcy when the outside temperature is below freezing. The lower the temperature goes, the more inaccurate the sensor becomes where it can be more than seven degrees off at 0.

I used the La Crosse Technology WT-5120U Projection Alarm Clock with Outdoor Temperature unit for tow years and was always dissatisfied with the projection brightness and its apparent inability to focus and to project it right side up - I adjusted to reading it at an angle.

I recently bought an Oregon Scientific BAR338PA ExactSet Projection Clock with Cable-Free Weather Forecaster and am TOTALLY PLEASED. It feels much more sturdy, has this nice "180 deg projection reverse" thing which makes it way easier to put the time/temp right side up from your bed. It also has a focus feature which I am sure is nice but I did not need to use. MOSTLY - this unit's projection is GREAT!!! The La Crosse unit was always dim and small - the Oregon Scientific unit is like a movie screen - wide and bright enough to see at dusk and dawn (the La Crosse one could not be that bright)

Anyway - I have used the La Crosse unit for two years but this Oregon Scientific is my total keeper. I will kive the LC unit to my daughter - she is 11. :)

S

I received the WT-5120U-GB as a gift. It had a problem that should be a warranty matter. A request form on their web site resulted in a reply a month later asking for more information. A month after that a return authorization arrived, then the next day a different model (no outside temp, no projection) arrived. I've given up and now have a Honeywell PCR825W- a larger, brighter projection of time, outdoor AND indoor temp.

My husband works (I'm an at home mom) so the old alarm clock was always on his side of the bed - to see the time I had to sit up and look over him. Was looking into second clock for my side of the bed when I found this clock (at Cabela's for $39.99 plus shipping). Bought it and we love it. And yes, the room has to be dark to see the reading well but my bedroom IS dark at night. There isn't anything so complicated about this clock that the average person can't run it but it does have more buttons than the plain old alarm clocks. Buying one for my parents for Christmas.

UPDATE 2010 - both sets of parents use one, kids have one in bedroom, realized I hate sitting up in bed looking for the clock when we travel so now we take it with us. BTW - it still works perfectly!

This radio-controlled projection alarm clock does everything it's supposed to do -- just not particularly well. Initial setup is a hassle and the interface is somewhat complicated, but afterwards, the clock does its job without further assistance. The projection cycles between the current time and the outdoor temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

Unfortunately, the projection is extremely dim and useless in anything brighter than complete darkness. Light sneaking in from the window at dawn (or even a nearby nightlight) renders the projection invisible. The product literature says that the intensity can be changed, but this appears to be a mistake as there is no intensity button on the clock itself and the feature is not discussed in the manual.

On the plus side, the clock was able to acquire a time signal rather quickly. The LCD screen has a large time display with a backlight that comes on at the push of a button.

Also, it should be noted that the clock uses 2 AA batteries (not included) for the wireless temperature sensor. They are only required if you want to see the outdoor temperature. The clock itself can also run on 2 additional AA batteries instead of the AC adapter, but it makes no sense to do so because the projection won't stay on that way.

1. It doesn't include a constant backlight for the LCD display, so it's impossible to know what time it is if room isn't dark enough
2. The buttons are hard to push
3. There is no Fahrenheit/Celsius selection for temperature display
4. Alarm doesn't work sometimes
5. The most annoying issue for me is that it toggles between outdoor temp and time,
and you can't turn that feature off. I don't want to wake up during the middle of the night to see half the time what the outdoor temp is