Customer Reviews

Oregon Scientific BAR339PA Projection Atomic Clock with Weather Forecaster

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I had an older Oregon Scientific clock (atomic, projection, weather) that works perfectly. It projects the time in crisp red which is the right brightness - you can clearly see it at night, and it does not illuminate the whole room. Also one can rotate the displayed image 360 degrees. My only complaints with that clock were the lack of temperature display on the ceiling and the hard to read clock face (old style LED - dark gray on light gray). One can illuminate the clock face by pressing a button but cannot permanently turn illumination on.

I needed another clock so I decided that this one should be much better, especially with the temperature being shown on the ceiling. That new clock was a huge disappointment. First it is indeed too bright - it is like a projector that illuminates the whole room, although one can get used to it. The image cannot be focused very well, and it has only two positions at 180 degrees from each other. Because of that I can either have the image on the ceiling right (but cannot see well the clock face), or have the clock turned so that I can see it (but the image on the ceiling is at an angle). Another huge problem is the illumination of the clock face. When turned off it is difficult to read but unlike the old model you can turn it on. And there the problems begin. Some designer kid has had fun designing the display with animations and color changes that are supposed to track better the weather changes. So at night, while you are trying to sleep and get used to the bright bluish light from the projector, suddenly color flashes start playing around. My wife almost got a heart attack when this happened for the first time.

The verdict - just returned it.

Great product. A bit of a learning curve to get the World Time Zone set, but the remote temperature sensor is on my back porch and sends in a good clear signal upstairs through our two-story home. The only funky thing about it (projector works great) is the projector sleep/lock. If the projector is set to ON it is very bright and lights up the darkened room almost too much. So I turned it off, to touch-on only mode, which strangely goes into lock mode if left inactive for a bit and makes you hold down snooze for many seconds until the display projects again. I mostly have it off now which defeats the cool purpose of hitting snooze to temporarily show the display. Even the main display is really bright and can be like a night light -- but so close to the bed is too bright I found. Still geeking out with it though and love it overall.

I like all the features of this clock, except that the projection image can only be rotated 180 degrees. It projects both the time and temperature at the same time, which is a feature I wanted most. I like the alarm symbol that is also projected to let you know the alarm is set. When the snooze is activated the alarm symbol (a bell) flashes. It has an AC adapter and a battery backup. The reviews I read said the projection was too bright. I agree that it is rather bright, but it doesn't keep myself or my spouse from loosing any ZZZZZZZs and functions as a nice night light.

I hesitated with buying this clock even though it seemed to have everything I wanted because of the critiques of it being too bright. Those must have been written by very light sleepers. It is a bit bright, but I think that's just fine. I want to be able to see it in the dark and it's never bothered me! The crescendo beeping alarm is wonderful and sure beats those loud, irritating ones. It took a while for it to lock on to the sensor outside...I had to move it where it could see it. But once locked in, I moved it back to my desired spot and it works fine. The different colors are nice, but since I live in San Diego, I will worry if it ever turns green (snow). At 1 AM it does rotate and flash through the colors as it recalibrates the signal from Boulder, Colorado, but that's never disturbed me. I don't think any alarm clock is perfect but this is close. I had a marvelous but expensive chiming clock from Now & Zen but it died after about a year and a half and the time light was too dim to see at night. I had a Honeywell projection clock, too, but it also died. Maybe they all have a limited life expectancy, but here's hoping with this one.

I decided after my original Oregon projection alarm clock finally died (after the projector went out after 7+ years) I would give this one a shot. I read the reviews and alot of people think the projector is too bright. I was shocked at first because it was bright, but then I thought how my old clock got more dim as time went on so I was OK with it. If you've never had a projection clock, you've got to try this. I like the fact that both the LED screen and projector are able to be shut off at night. The projector has a light sensor so if you turn your room lights on it will automatically shut off. Also the weather forecast is nice. I've only noticed once the forecast was not accurate, but again if it's as accurate as the weathermen it's pretty good. Overall I would give this clock 5 stars. It does what it's advertised to do. I also would say if your worried about the projector being bright, you will get used to it.

I bought this Oregon Scientific unit, because of the great quality of the last unit. I had to get a new one because the remote sensor went after 8, or so years, and OS does not carry a replacement. Here are the problems I had with this new unit.

1) Time won't sync.
2) There is light leakage, which has a round, blue spot where the numbers are projected on the ceiling. It also projects a 5-foot halo of white light on the ceiling around the projection.
3) Numbers are harder to read than the red light I use to have on my first unit. I am not sure if it is not as good a projection unit, or it is the blue light.

Tech support is responsive, but I'm familiar with the way these things should work, and I'm frustrated as to the diminished quality of this unit.

I love projection clocks, but this model is an example of terrible design.

* projection bulb is very bright blue light at night -- it will light up your whole room! i have a larger bedroom (20' x 30'), and the whole darn room was lit up like dawn or dusk hours. Perhaps good if your a day sleeper. ...older models that used the red projection colored bulb did not have this problem.
* snooze is not a button, but a 'touch sensitive bar' -- it doesn't always work when you touch it. Very frustrating.

I would absolutely not recommend this product.

This clock works pretty well. It projects the time on the wall and the temp/weather prediction works as advertised. The only thing missing is a radio (nice to wake up to music, not an ugly beeping). A small flaw is that the plugin power cord does not grip into the clock plug very well. Just moving the clock slighly will dislodge it. Overall, I'm satisfied with it.

I have owned the same alarm clock for more than 15 years and then I bought this. I guess its not hard to out do a 15 year old alarm clock but this one did. Took a day for the radio signal to get picked up for the weather forecast. Its great if you want to know the temp outside and inside. The projector is also a feature i enjoy as well as being able to turn of the back light at night. The alarm itself is a quiet beep that would not wake a deep sleeper and you cant control its volume, but its exactly what i like.

I bought this clock after the projector portion of my older model of the same clock started to fail. This newer clock is too bright when the back-light is on. The projection is not at all the same quality as the older model. The snooze button is not really a button, its an 'area' on the top of the clock that must be struck with fair force or contacted in a particular way to shut off. The color modulation of the weather forcaster is now stuck in demo mode, regardless of the setting of the switch. This has the effect now of of being in a hotel room in vegas with blinds that won't close. After 30 days, this product cannot be returned. After having spent $225 for two clocks that have failed, I am done with with oregon scientific, and will not purchase any more of their products. If amazon had a method of rating negative stars, I'd have used it.