Customer Reviews

RCA RP5430 AM/FM Clock Radio with 1.4-Inch Display and Auto Time Set

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

This is just a terrific alarm clock. The only minus is that there are lots of buttons, but I find them to be very well laid out, with the occasional settings (daylight savings time, time zone, etc) hidden nicely on the back. I initially didn't care for the asymmetric casing, which looks a bit like someone cut off the left side of the clock, but it's grown on me.

Here are things I like:

* The numbers are clear, not too bright with the autodimmer on, and a very pleasant shade of blue. I can easily read them across a 11 foot room, even with my glasses off.

* It has two alarms, either or both of which can be radio or buzzer.

* The buzzer is a gradual-wake that ends up very loud. It's never failed to wake me.

* The snooze time is settable. I'm not a fan of the 9 minute snooze--I like a nice round 10 minute snooze. :)

* It has a nap feature, where you can set an instant alarm for however long from now without having to change the actual alarms.

* The time set is just the right speed--not too fast (and it's two-way if you overshoot) and not too slow. Sounds like a funny thing to note, but having just purchased another clock with a glacially slow time set, I really appreciate it.

My only caveat is that I had an earlier version of this clock that had an iPod-style set wheel and a slightly different button layout. After awhile, the switch that takes you between lock/wake1/wake2/clock set wore somehow, so that the clock would switch in and out of radio mode when you tried to set the alarm. No biggie, but it's one of the reasons I replaced it, and this clock has a very similar switch. If I run into problems, I'll update the review.

Update: I've seen some comments that you can't turn NAP off once it's set.

You can turn off NAP by holding down the NAP button for a few seconds again once the clock has exited NAP set mode and is showing the time. When you first hit the button, it'll go back into NAP set mode (probably showing 0:20) but after a few seconds, you'll go back to the time with NAP off.

Trick is, the button's a little quirky, and you have to hold down just the edge closest to the back of the clock. The middle of the button or any other edge just throws you back into NAP time adjust but never turns it off. I have no idea why--must be a design or manufacturing flaw of some kind.

This clock is the best clock I bought so far. In fact, it was better than my Sony Dream Machine that broke in 2 months. Below are my likes and dislikes of this clock radio.

Likes:

Big 1.4' LED Display

Great Radio Reception

Battery Back-up, no more waking up late for work

Auto Time Set Feature, when you plug it in, it adust the time for you automatically.

Easy to find buttons

Easy Daylight Saving Time feature. There's a switch you can push back and forth and it automatically adjust the clock to Daylight saving time so you don't have to set it.

Dual Alarm, great for waking up and taking a jog and going back to sleep then waking up to do your work.

Auto Dimmer, so it doesn't get too bright.

Easy alarm set

Snooze-get a few more minutes of sleep.

Volume Controll, adjust it to your right tone

Dislikes:

The LED can be a little bright even with the dimmer on. But it's okay for me, I can sleep easly.


Overall:

Great alarm clock! Well worth the money.

I'm very happy with my little RCA clock radio. Being a fan of blue LEDs, I really like the bold blue numbers on this thing. The auto-dimming feature is great, but I must admit, I wish it was just a little bit dimmer at night... however I'm getting used to the mellow blue light cast in my bedroom. The alarm setting procedure is really easy, as is setting up the nap, snooze, and sleep features. The radio quality if fine too -- better than I expected at this price point -- however I did have to twist around the power cable a little to a point where any interference would stop, but this could be a symptom of my environment, not the fault of the clock radio. Recommended.

**UPDATE**

Sad to say, this little clock radio's LCD display went a little haywire -- an interesting effect for sure, but certainly not useful when you want to know the time. Also, though I was happy with the blue light this cast, my girlfriend wasn't so enamored with it, so it's worth noting that even at its dimmest level, this is still a large set of digits that emits quite a bit of light! I still liked it though, and the radio part of it worked great, just not sure what happened to the display, it just went nuts one day.

The instruction manual is very precise; read it once or twice. It takes a bit more time to describe so many functions (like nap, adjustable snooze length, and auxilary input) that a bottom-of-the-line clock radio doesn't have. And the Off button always works---the alarm *will* sound again if you only hit the Snooze button, and that's the point. Read the instructions for the Nap function, and you find the clock works exactly as indicated by the manual.

In fact, the auxilary input jack is fantastic. You can play music not just from the built-in radio, but also from your computer, MP3 player, or music-equipped cell phone.

I would also like to add that the dimmer is great. In the day, the clock is a strong blue. When dimmed, the clock is a soft kelly green which is easy to read but not bright. You can choose to activate or de-activate the auto dimmer, a function that dims the clock when it's dark.

The clock time comes pre-set from the factory. You select (using sliding switches on the back) your time zone and whether DST is in effect. The clock comes with two AA batteries so that it has backup for power outages.

There are two alarms. You can set them to different wake times. And you can choose to activate (set) either or both of the alarms. Alarms can beep or play music, your choice for each alarm. There is a Grad-u-Wake function on the beeps so that the beep starts somewhat softly and gets louder over about 30 seconds.

I bought 2 of these at Target. When I plugged the first one in, it was nice that the time automatically displayed somewhat correct. I plugged the 2nd one in and it was 2 minutes different than the first. It appears as though the automatic set function means they set the time by hand in the factory before it ships. (The unit has 2 AA batteries in it already). When I tried to manually set the clock to the same time on each unit, I discovered the one unit did not allow me to set the time or the alarm at all. That one was returned immediately. The other one appears to be a little quirky at times... the sensor light to indicate that an aux source (iPod, CD player, etc.) is being used for the music seems to light up periodically even though nothing is plugged into the aux input. My wife hates the nap function, but that's just a matter of getting used to the buttons.

One thing that's starting to annoy me is that the clock displays the radio station when the alarm goes off. So I'm finding myself trying to remember what time it was when the alarm last went off then adding minutes to that time to see how many more times I can hit snooze before I really have to get up. This makes snooze time kind of worthless since I'm paying more attention to remembering how long I can stay asleep rather than enjoying those precious last minutes.
***edit after 6 months of use***
After using the unit that was not DOA for about 6 months, it's starting to make an annoying crackling noise that sounds like a loose connection to the speaker. It's not super loud, but it's loud enough that if the clock is placed near your head you won't sleep at all. I will be trying to return it under warranty, but I don't have the receipt... we'll see how that goes. Luckily it was only a $25 mistake. Do yourself a favor and stay away from the RCA brand. Of all the things I've ever owned from RCA, all but one has broken after a few months of normal use. The one thing that didn't break just feels cheap as though it will break at any time. This alarm clock will be my last RCA purchase ever.

...Another update, for everyone who is having the common crackling problem, if you open the clock radio there is a black disk on the bottom with a red and black wire coming out of it. This black disk is a component called a piezo disk. They are commonly used to make noise for buzzers in electronic devices, but appear to have no use whatsoever in this clock radio. If you cut the wires going to this disk, the crackling noise goes away. You can still use both buzzer and radio alarms. There doesn't appear to be any functionality lost other than the annoying crackling sound. Obviously cutting wires would probably void your warranty, but do you really want to try your luck with another RCA clock radio? Chances are the crackling will happen again with the replacement or it will be DOA.

I wish I could change my star rating to 1 (since negative ratings are not available), but the site won't let me. :-(

I bought this for the big, blue numbers. It turns out to have a major (in my opinion)flaw: it blinks between time and alarm set radio station number. I don't need to see what radio station the alarm is set to after I set it. For me, nothing more annoying that looking at the clock to see time and see a radio station number instead. I called RCA/Thomson about this and was told there is NOTHING that can be done as it is part of the hard-wired function. Do NOT get this clock if you expect to see the time when you want to, despite the attractive blue numbers. I will not buy RCA again. If this manufactured flaw is in this clock, it is likely in ALL of theirs.

I love this alarm clock... all the basic features are covered in the description and other reviews, but I want to point out a few of my favorite features:

1. The snooze time is adjustable... you're can easily customize your snooze time unlike other pre-programmed clocks. This was my biggest gripe with other snooze functions on other alarm clocks.

2. The "buzzer" begins softly and gradually gets louder. That's such a great way to wake up as opposed to other alarms that just immediately start blaring. I don't know how to describe it except it's a more "gentle" wake up sound.

3. The "dimming" function is great... and the display is big, very easily readable from across the room.

4. Small "footprint" -- despite a much larger LCD display, this alarm clock takes up less space on my bed stand.

5. And the clock set it's own time right out of the box.... nice.

Overall, I really like it and would highly recommend.

I am certain that someone traveled to the future and brought this clock back to sell the technology to RCA. This is the best alarm clock I have ever seen. You plug it in, and through the magic of computers the time is automatically set. Ok, so it uses battery back-up to keep the time, I was hoping it was one of those deals that synced with the atomic clock, but they must not use the atomic clock in the future.
It requires two AA batteries (included) which is very good news because now I will not find myself taking the battery out of the smoke detector to power the clock backup. Ironically my last alarm clock shorted out and could have caused a fire.
Anyway... this clock features dual alarms with user-configured snooze epochs. It allows you to select the correct time-zone and if daylight savings time is in effect or not, and adjusts the time accordingly. Think about this: If it takes you 2 minutes to adjust your clock twice a year for daylight saving time, that would add up to over four hours of lost productivity over the course of an average lifespan. So let's say your time is worth $15/hour - that would mean that you would realize an ROI on this fantastic clock in just 30 years! Incredible! I know! You find me a more solid investment.
Now if that all wasn't enough, listen up: This clock features an extra large display. This feature is very helpful for those of us who require corrective lenses that we don't wear to bed. The display also features automatic dimming based on the ambient light in the room. I highly recommend utilizing this feature. I awoke last night and thought someone had turned on the television... I looked at the time and thought I was going to burn my retinas out. After enabling the auto-dimmer the soothing blue color rocked me back to slumberland. So much nicer than the "classic" red LEDs that would continually promote feelings of anger and hostility.
The instructions are admittedly a bit wordy as they try to explain all the features and warnings to not use the clock in the bathtub. If you are an individual who has trouble "logging into Firefox" I don't think a device with all these bells and whistles is for you.
The only problem I have run into is trying to decide if I want to wakeup to the sound of the radio or the buzzer.

I've gone through two of these alarm clocks in less than 6 months. While this alarm clock has all of the features I'm looking for, they are so poorly built that I'd avoid buying one. The first clock I bought from Target lasted only about 2 months before it just completely died one morning. No lights, no nothing. I'm guessing the components they're using are very cheap and burn out easily. But I thought maybe it was just a fluke unit, so I bought another one. This time the buttons are breaking. One of the alarm buttons started working intermittently, until it finally broke completely. Again, another sign of poor components.

I love the variable snooze time, the nap function, and the gradual wake up alarm, plus the auxiliary jack is nice. ]

I've been using this alarm clock for over 6 months now, and I have to say that it is the best one I have ever owned. It has all the features you could realistically want, plus some.

The radio alarm works flawlessly to wake me up immediately, but comfortably. The NAP function works just as well. It has decent sound quality. I'm, at the moment, using it for my computer speaker through the line in jack. Also, I want to note that I've loved the nice blue display as apposed to the horrid red that clocks usually have.

If you need an alarm clock, GET THIS ONE. That is all I can add to this review.