Customer Reviews

RCA RPC100 AM/FM Clock Radio with Extra Large LED Display

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I don't get the bad reviews, at all. The clock has a large, easy to read face with a subtle light, which means no struggle to read the time when you're waking up, and no intrusion when you're trying to fall sleep. It includes an adjustable backlight, an AUX jack for your MP3 players, and 2 awesome settings: NAP, which lets you set a quick nap time - up to about 90 minutes I believe - without having to change the actual alarm time, plus a SLEEP setting to listen to your radio and have it turn off automatically when you pass out.

Radio reception for me is great, and the clock includes a mini display to the right that shows the preset alarm time when the alarm is turned on. I love this, since I know, as long as I see a time there, I know it is on. Otherwise, it says OFF. Way handy compared to other clocks which have you hit Snooze or some other button to confirm the alarm time.

Great clock overall! A+

Overall the clock is okay, seems sturdy and had a nice big numbers and some nice features - but if you are buying it for someone with dexterity problems or arthritis (who needs easy-to-use buttons or switches) this might not be the best bet.

The reason I gave it a lower rating is because I ordered it for my father who has some difficulty using his hands. His old alarm clock wore out and most of the new models have tiny and/or hard to reach buttons for turning off the alarm.

Both the product description and other user reviews mention the big easy to use button to turn off the alarm. There is indeed a large button prominently placed on the front for turning off the alarm BUT it only works once the alarm is ringing/buzzing. My father almost always wakes up early and wants to turn off the alarm before it bothers anyone else. This however, requires a different button - or rather a little lever on front (vertical) face of the clock labelled "wake mode". It's black on black, nearly impossible to see in the dark and it's a three position lever that needs to be pushed to the middle position to disable the alarm, requiring a bit of manual dexterity to make it stop in the middle position. It's relatively small and needs to be grasped between the thumb and forefinger to be used. I realise this is a special situation and not relevant for many people, but I did feel somewhat mislead about the clock. If you are the type of person who never wakes before the alarm rings, it probably won't be a problem for you.

What makes this even more difficult - and what makes the clock less appealing overall- is that there are so many other (highly/over sensitive) buttons and controls on the clock that it's nearly impossible to grasp the clock in your hand without triggering some other function like the "nap mode" or "sleep mode" or something else. (Ironic that the one function we hoped would be easy to use isn't and the others are overly sensitive.) The worst bit is the top of the clock, which consists of three large push/button controls that are just too too sensitive - and you end up with an alarm going off at some odd interval when you thought the clock was turned off. I wish I had heeded the comments to this effect made by other reviewers.

I find the buzzer annoyingly loud (it builds volume quickly) and wakes people in other rooms even though doors are shut. The radio reception is awful, but I didn't really care about that - although others may.

It's not a bad clock - but the design could be better. The overall dimensions are bit bulky too.

While my vision is good when I'm wearing glasses, it's pretty poor when I don't have my glasses on. So, trying to find the right button on the alarm clock with no glasses while it is dark is very frustrating! Pleased to report that my desire to throw the alarm clock at the wall to get it to stop has ceased now that I have this model.

It has some really nice features, such as big letters and big buttons - there are only two main buttons (one to turn the radio on, the other to turn the alarm off) and you can easily find them in the dark. The clock letters are nice and large, and you can adjust the intensity of the light. The snooze bar is big and stretches the length of the top - no way to miss it!

My favorite feature is that it has a night light. You can set it always on, always off or in auto mode, so it comes on only when you press the snooze or when the alarm goes off. It's a very soft light that projects from the base - not enough to read by, but more than enough to show you where the clock is. Really nice feature.

The alarm has a separate display so you can easily confirm that it is set, and what time it is set for. The alarm intensity starts low, so if you're a light sleeper the alarm won't wake up the household. But, it gets progressivly louder so it will wake the dead at the loudest point.

Has a battery backup and uses 2 AA cells.

Downsides are that the snooze is not length adjustable (fixed at 9 min), no dual alarm function, and the radio sound quality and reception is pretty much what you would expect at this price. But, I want an alarm clock to wake me up at the right time, and be easy to use - and along those lines, this is a five star product.

Very pleased with the design of this clock.
The buttons are large along with the lettering. Easy to view.
Easy to use buttons and functions.
Antenna is in the power cord, no extra antenna wire hanging around.
Nice night-light feature.
Good radio signal pickup.

This clock radio is very simple to set up, buttons and controls are designed for ease of use. People with arthritis would be able to use & set the buttons without any problems. When the alarm or radio turn on, a nightlight underneath the unit lights up until you hit the off button or snooze. For those of us who can't see without glasses or contacts, the large display is great. The only complaint so far is the speaker - it sounds chintzy and tinny. I won't be using the radio for anything other than waking up in the morning, so I guess I can live with it. UPDATE: I wrote this review in May '09 but now just a few months later, I must update my commentary to add that the digital display is "out" on the top of the last number.... a 7 now looks like a 1. That's not appreciated considering the cost of the item, and it's only a few months old. Not to mention it stinks thinking I have 6 more minutes to sleep than I really do.

Big buttons are great....but sound from rear speaker is squeaky, and of very poor quality. I replaced with an Emerson at same price.

I bought this clock radio as a gift for my mother who had recently been complaining that her current clock radio is no good because the small, light-grey numbers on white background are getting harder for her to read with her advancing age. She has been driving all over the place for several weeks to find a clock radio that would fulfill two requirements:

1) large, high contrast display which is easy to read
2) digital radio tuner so that if she sets the radio to (for example) 88.3FM, she can be assured it's at the station, rather than with an analog tuner, where she has to guess

Well, I am happy to report that this radio was a hit. My dear mother has gone ga-ga over it and can't stop thanking me. Thank you Amazon! Thank you RCA!

The only "negative" thing I would like to mention is that this radio does NOT have station presets, so if you have a few favorite stations, you will have to tune to each station instead of just touching one button to make the change. Given that the radio has digital tuning, this is NOT a terrible problem - it just would have been a nice "additional" feature.

In any case, this alarm clock radio was a hit and my mother cannot rave enough about it.

I bought this alarm for my husband. He resently was getting very frustrated with his old one since he now needs glasses to see close up and he was always serching for his glasses to set the alarm. This has large buttons and numbers and is very easy to use. He is very happy with it. Was shipped very quick...thank you

I bought this clock about 8 weeks ago. It would be nearly perfect for me except for one major thing (although it *might* just be a 'bad' clock I got, and not an issue with every one):

The buttons on the top of my clock are *EXTREMELY* touchy. If you even just lightly brush or even just blow on the 'Nap' or 'Snooze' buttons, it engages that function. And now, as a further symptom of that same 'touchiness', when my radio alarm turns on, it will turn itself off and back on at random intervals in the hour it is supposed to run. Yikes. So, now I need an alarm clock I can trust, and don't have the box or receipt to return this one, so I have to eat it.

I also noticed as some other folks did that it only picks up the strongest radio stations without a static hiss, no matter how I arrange the power cord.

If I didn't have the button issue, and the intermittent alarm issue, I would give it a '5' at the price.

PROS:

* Well finished and sturdy.
* Huge Display with brightness adjustment
* Like the huge Snooze button.
* Got a quick nap setting with different minuts ( 30, 60, 90 ... )

CONS:

* Its huge and the image does not do justice to the size.
* Radio quality is bad. A single frequency would play well for a while and then would induce tons of noise.
* Radio does not pick up few FM channels.