Customer Reviews

Exactset™ Automatically Adjusting Atomic Travel Alarm Clock

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a simple travel alarm clock, this unit would get 5 stars from me if only the controls were easier to use.

Pro:
- Lovely, clear display with at OUTSTANDING backlight.
- Alarm starts out quiet, then picks up steam. No shocking jolt of sudden loud beeping!
- Display shows you when the alarm is set to go off, even when you are looking at the time. So you can double check the alarm setting at a glance.
- It's pretty small.
- Comes with a protective travel case (a soft custom-fitted envelope).
- You can see it in person at Radio Shack if you want to check it out. (They give it a different name, but it's the same unit.)

Con:
- It's pretty unusual that a clock REQUIRES reading the manual in order to figure out things like how to set the alarm -- but I had to read the manual for this one.
- Though small and light, it would weigh even less without the radio feature.
- Unfortunately the radio signal is only available in North America. Elsewhere, you have to set it the old-fashioned way.
- At least in my home (in central Seattle), the radio signal is only strong enough near a window, not in mid-room.

I bought this clock over two years ago from Amazon, and have since bought one for my young son and daughter, and my dad. Although it is listed as a "travel alarm", and it is certainly great for this given it's small, lightweight, shirt-pocket size design, we use it as our everyday alarm. Initially, I thought the "atomic" feature was kind of gimmicky, but now I realize how practical it is. No more worries about power failures or weak batteries causing erroneous times. The clock is always correct. It even adjusts automatically at daylight savings time. Just put the batteries in and that's it. You never have to adjust the thing again. The alarm starts out with a very gentle beep-beep for 30 seconds, then goes to a louder beep-beep-beep-beep, and so on. You can give the top of the clock a gentle tap to get an 8 minute snooze feature, or the clock will do it automatically after the alarm has sounded for two minutes. In over two years, I can honestly say I have never had to adjust the time, and it has never failed waking me (and I haven't changed the batteries yet). It's great to always have a clock in the house that has the exact time in which to set all the other time pieces that go amok (VCRs, oven/microwave clocks, watches, etc.) Great product!

The backlighting on this clock really is beautiful, but it has too many mystery features to be a good travelling clock. You will really have to take the owner's manual with you wherever you go, if for no other reason than to figure out the three letter abbreviations for 130 cities, e.g. 'ANT' = Antananarivo, Madagascar and 'LOS' = Lagos, Nigeria.

Various mystery features:

* You would think something called a 'rotary knob' that is shaped like a little wheel would actually turn. Not on this clock. It is actually a switch with two settings. It almost did me in when I was going through the owner's manual and trying to set the clock. My husband finally had to intervene as I was about to flush Mr. Atomic Travel Alarm Clock down the toilet.

* Then there was the '58' that appeared on the clock face. I finally figured it was the default year when the clock kept insisting that the day of the week was Sunday, instead of Thursday. Why would the year default to '58'? Are the manufacturers using something other than the Gregorian Calendar?

* There is something in the owner's manual called the 'Hourly Chime function,' but nowhere does it say how turn it on or off. The last thing I want in my luggage as it is passing through airport security is a clock that beeps at the beginning of each hour.

* Why in the world would someone design a clock display where one whole corner is taken up by a map of the U.S. Time Zones?

* Don't use the alarm on/off button to turn off the alarm buzzer, unless you want to reset the alarm time every time you use it. I still haven't figured out how to turn off the buzzer without losing the alarm setting.

* The owner's manual is the biggest mystery feature of all. Almost a whole page is taken up with a list of abbreviations for days of the week in various languages, but nowhere does it tell how to turn off the alarm buzzer without having to reset the alarm time.

P.S. Be sure and take a 'blunt stylus' with you on your travels in case you have to push the reset button when 'the unit is operating in an unfavorable way.'

P.P.S. The reset button is behind the batteries in the battery compartment and is smaller than the head of a pin (I am not making this up).

This clock outperformed my expectations right out of the box. It locked on to the time signal from Colorado in less than 3 minutes, and has continued to check the correct time automatically ever since. It also set the correct year, month, and day from the same time signal -- which is accurate to a millionth of a second. The cool blue nightlighting is activated by a gentle push on the top of the clock -- which then goes off in a few seconds so there is no annoying light during the night. The alarm begins with a gentle beep -- nicely spaced -- which increases in loudness until silenced for another 8 minutes of sleep, or turned off with the touch of a button. Nice unit with carrying case and 2 AAA batteries for power up to a year. Oh yea, it will also automatically reset the correct time when you travel to a new location. Just push one button on the back to select the time locale -- which shows on a map on the front of the unit.

I am utterly enamoured with this little clock! It's become my only bedside alarm, at home and away. (And you always know for certain that the time is correct!) I cannot recommend this clock highly enough. Since I got mine in December, I've ordered others as gifts for friends and family.

I've gone through plenty of alarm clocks -- this is by far the best I've owned. Simple to use. Alarm always wakes me up, yet sound is not an overly-annoying like most. ...Beeping noise starts slowly and increases in pace until turned-off or snooze button is hit.

Also does not cast an annoying bright light into the room at night...just slap the clock and a gentle-glow illuminates the time-area for several seconds.

The batteries have lasted over 2 years now of *everyday* alarm use. That amazes me, 2 years and still going strong! Nice to know power outages won't cause me to be late.

Great clock, I highly recommended it!

I love the look and the nite-lited feature. Didn't realize that the radio-control would only be effective in the USA. But the manuel set should be fine for overseas travel,..which will be my primary use for this tiny gem. It will be going there next month for the first real try out.

I travel for business and have found the hotel clocks, even at the top end hotels, to be very unreliable or even complicated to set. The Scientific Radio Controlled clock was the answer I was looking for in a travel clock. It is compact, easy to pack, easy to set and with a touch of a button, switches to whatever U.S. time zone you have settled in. The alarm is pleasant and has an 8 minute snooze. The display lights up to a soft and readable blue when the alarm goes off or when you give it a tap on top so there is no blarring light illuminating the whole room while you are trying to sleep. There is a signal strength indicator on the display as well as an icon to let you know that the time was successfully adjusted to the Atomic clock. It is suggested that you keep the clock away from appliances such as TV's, else they could interfer with updating the time. If you need the instructions, they are easy to follow, only about a half page long and written in several languages. The only extra feature I wish this clock had is that it would include international time zones. That said, I am thrilled with this clock.

I bought this travel alarm recently for use in travel only. I like it so much that now I use it every day. The clock is easy to program and it sets itself according to the atomic clock in Colorado. It doesn't have a light that stays on constantly like some other alarm clocks. You just push on the top and rock it backwards to turn on the blue backlight and activate the snooze feature.

Enjoy the outdoors on your way to work on time! This is a new kind of appliance, so anyone concerned about learning the "controls" should have some patience before assuming it's as elaborate as a jet plane or as usual as the wind-up bell ringers we may have grown accustomed to. Just put the batteries in it and leave it alone for a minute without touching anything. The radio waves will do their thing, then you'll have an accurate time setting. Only after that can you start handling it and changing the time zone and alarm setting (if you fidget while it's sending the signal, it'll situate on whatever time it's on and you'll have to remove and reinsert the batteries). Okay, here's why it's great: The touch feature for the light is also the snooze function. The alarm gently sounds with an unobnoxious tone, then it gets more rapid after about ten seconds. If you ignore it without hitting the snooze, it will shut up after about 30 seconds, and then go off again gently after 7 minutes. It's reasonably efficient on the 2 AAA batteries, depending on how much you ignore it in the morning.