Customer Reviews

Electronic Chime Alarm Clock

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

 

 

I really wanted to like this chime clock. I don't like waking up to blaring sirens or radios. This offered a quiet progression of real chimes to wake me up.

First, the chimes are relatively quiet, so while they wake me up, they don't wake up my boyfriend. You could consider this a good or bad thing :) If he had bought it for him, he'd be pretty annoyed. As it is, it works out well.

The chimes aren't "gentle" though. They are sort of harsh sounding. I'd much rather have wood-on-metal - with the current setup there is a sharp tone to them.

The clock is able to run on batteries of power - but they don't supply a power unit so unless you find one that matches, you are stuck with batteries. With batteries, the clock only lights up (so you can see the numbers) if you press a button. The unit is so light that you really have to grab it to push that button in - which makes it start chiming. It's really a pain to look over, not know what time it is and have to grab it and make noise to find out.

A similar problem happens when you want to shut off the chime. The button for snooze is equally as hard to press in. To actually turn it off, you have to slide a lever - however, the far left position is "ON" (as in always chiming). So it's very easy when trying to slide it from alarm to OFF in a leftward direction (while sleepy) to set the darn things on permanent chime.

There are several other units for slightly more money that don't have these issues, so I suggest you look at those in comparison.

I thought this was going to be so cute to have on my desk in my office, but it never kept time. It lost over an hour a day (several minutes an hour) and I had to keep resetting. Changed brand new batteries three times and it would just time any time the wrong time would display. I plugged two power cords in and it didn't keep the time, but I was too busy to take the time to return it, so I am out the money. I took the batteries out and threw it in a drawer. I'll probably take the fishing line out from the hanging chimes and make my own windchime to put on my patio. Extremely cheap quality plastic. Do yourself a favor and buy something else.

I was immediately unhappy with this purchase- the chimes CLANK against the plastic console each time the wheel that moves them goes around making a thunk thunk thunk noise while it chimes. Perhaps I have a faulty one, but I am in the process of trying to return it for a refund. Have not used it- put it right back in the box... The chimes are not at all gentle nor melodic.... sounds more like somebody strumming across metal bars with a wand and then of course they hit the plastic of the console adding a CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK. Save your money- buy a more expensive model that does what it is supposed to. Hopefully I can return this if not I will give it as a present to my 6 yr old nephew. UPDATE: the vendor never responded to my request for a refund. All in all this was a BAD purchase. :(

The Princess Electronic Wind Chime Alarm Clock is beautiful and space saving. The chimes are very subtle. Almost everyone who has heard it comments on the chimes. The reason I only gave 4 stars is that, sometimes the chimes ring twice, and others it rings 3 or 4 times, and others 10 times. It does not seem to be related to the time, however.

The chimes haven't worked from day one. It's a good idea, but cheaply constructed. It doesn't even come with a power cord.

Please don't waste your money! It's hard to imagine how such a simple-appearing clock could be so complicated! The instructions are senseless and bizarre, so I had to figure things out on my own. It isn't obvious which "mode" the clock is in, and you have to switch back and forth between several buttons to set it, so setting it becomes a task. Also you have to be careful to set the clock on "auto" rather than "alarm" using a small switch so it's hard to discern.

There's no power cord, although you can pay another $10 for one if you want to add that to your investment. The batteries run down quickly and then - no alarm goes off! Very disappointing. I am returning this asap.

When I bought this about 3-4 years ago I turned the chimes off the first day (What an annoying sound!)and just used it as a bedside clock. Fine. But when I changed the batteries and had no instructions, all I could do was make it show a variety of flashing numbers with no meaning. I must have spent hours---and asked various younger family members to spend hours---trying to set this silly clock. I am someone who freaks out at a contantly blinking 12:00 on a VCR and obviously was annoyed by a piece of meaningless metal that flashed numbers and clattered!

I couldn't Google for a copy of the operating instructions because it had no visible names anywhere on it; only "Made in China" and patent numbers. If I had rated it that day I would have given it a minus 10. Finally remembered I could get instructions from Amazon: Voila! I'm satisfied to have ANYTHING these days that only cost $15 and works for 5 years.

This is very difficult to set, even with detailed instructions. The sound of the motor mechanism nearly over-whelms the sound of the chime. My inner child likes it. It's definately a toy. If you love chimes, as I do, look for another product.

I have had this clock for a week and so far, I love it. With all the poor reviews in such contrast to my experience, I wonder if the other users simply had trouble understanding the operating instructions. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it, but once I did, it works just fine. I love the sound; it's very gentle and pretty. I love that I can set it to make a short run through the chimes on the hour, every hour, which makes me smile every time. For the price, this clock is a great buy, far less expensive than many other chime clocks, but just as effective.

Construction is kind of cheap, though, and the rack of chimes, if pushed or bumped just so, too easily comes out of its seat in the top of the clock. That is a minor problem that I can probably fix with a little inconspicous tape and, for me, it's not enough to say the clock is not worth buying and having. But, technically, the manufacturers could do better.

At the time of this review, Amazon links to an off-site seller with a short video depicting the clock so potential buyers can hear and see it working. So far, my experience of it is just as seen in that video. That site also includes a how-to FAQ that would probably address several of the complaints seen in the other reviews here. It helped me better understand the user instructions so I could work the clock with no further difficulty.

All in all, I like it enough to buy another one for a friend who saw mine and would like it for a gentle "time's up" indicator for counseling sessions. I also have a very popular chime clock that cost approx. $100 and honestly, I'm not using it because it races through 4 large batteries, didn't come with an AC adapter jack (we ended up fabricating one), is hard to set the alarm precisely (it isn't digital), and the motor that runs the little hammer ringing the chime bar is nearly louder than the chime! I like this digital chime clock better and it was 1/5 of the price of the other. It -does- have a little plug in jack to connect an AC adapter, but for just 3 AA batteries, so far, I like the portability and I use rechargeables, so it's not wasteful.

My only worry is that maybe this one won't have a long lifespan, if the parts are cheap, but only -time- will tell! If anything happens to it like that, I'll come back and update my review, but so far, so good.

got this for my mother, it's does ok. we can't get the date set but that's ok. i was hopeing it would have been a little louder.i hope i can later find a louder indoor chime.