Customer Reviews

Sony ICF-C153V Large Display Clock Radio with FM/AM/TV/Weather Band Reception

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Overall, we're happy with our purchase with one complaint. I wanted a clock radio with a weatherband, but it has nowhere that I can find to put batteries so it's worthless in event of power outage (which usually happens during a storm when I need the weatherband the most!).

We use it in the bathroom for a clock and to listen to the radio in the morning, so I can't comment on the alarm features. It's a little dim at night, but that might be desirable if it's by your bed.

I do like the daylight savings time feature and the preset buttons. It's also a very attractive clock and radio reception has been very good (with occasional adjustments to the antenna).

This clock radio has alot of good features, such as 5 buttons for radio stations, 3-position brightness control, and a small footprint, so it fits well on my nightstand. Reception is fine in my area.

It allows me to set the clock, instead of having it set automatically from a remote transmitter, as other clock radios are starting to do. We have had a wall clock that is set this way for about 2 years, and it is often changed to be one or more hours early or late. I would not recommend having a clock set this way if you rely upon it for waking you up.

It is advertised as having 2 alarms, but actually it is one alarm for the radio and another for the buzzer. It does not have two alarms for the radio, which is what I had wanted.

My biggest complaint is that it is too wide for me to pick up without accidently pressing one or more buttons on the side. One of these buttons is for brightness control, and another one is for Daylight Savings Time. Once again, I woke up an hour early today because I didn't realize that the time was incorrect. I have tried taping over the button, but cannot prevent it from being pressed through the tape.

This radio has pretty good reception. I didn't orient the power cord in any special way, but it works well in our second-story bedroom. FM, TV, and weather bands all come in well. Of course, we're close to an airport where the weather station is located...could be a factor.

My previous radio had a setting for day of the week. This provided an automatic disable for weekends. It also had selectable buzzer/radio for both alarms. This radio does have two alarms, but one is dedicated to buzzer while the other is the radio wake up.

All of the presets are really nice and the digital tuner works well. We're avid baseball fans, and we like to listen to the games in the evening and then listen to music in the morning. Unfortunately, I lost all of the presets at the first power outage. Again, my previous bedside radio had a battery backup. Unfortunatly, it had an analog tuner that was a bit of a pain and developed a buzz in the speaker when the radio was on. I bought this item expecting that Sony had done a better job on the user interface than I found when the unit was used.

I wanted something which was easy to read at night as I am pretty short-sighted. This does the job for me.

Radio reception is average and sound is OK considering size and price of the unit.

Easy to use overall.

Just received this clock radio. I like the looks & modern style. Setting the clock, alarm and station presets were very straightforward. Station reception was excellent and the digital tuner makes locating a station easy. Sound is very good for a small mono radio. I really like the cube design; it does not take up the entire nightstand and LCD display is easy to see. All in all this comes close to being a perfect clock radio for me. If the clock was an atomic clock with an LED readout, then it would be perfect.

LCD has 3 brightness levels; it does not bother me but I can see why people, who need total dark to sleep, might find even the lowest setting too bright.Two alarms: one is radio only and one is buzzer only. It does not have a battery backup. But I noticed that when it was unplugged for a couple of minutes it did not lose my settings. So there may be a built-in backup; have to wait for a real blackout to find out.

If you don't need the TV & weather bands or want the clock radio in black, check out the ICF-C143 model; its just AM/FM.

1.) The power-cord is a bit on the mammoth side and stiff. Hard to
bend, but managed to get two plastic wire-ties around the the rolled
up power-cord after i positioned the radio in the bathroom.
2.) The radio plays good on the Weather Band here in the woods...about
20 miles from the transmitter.
3.) The FM band, no complaints. Does the job fine. Good quality
reception. We use the FM band nightly during bathing.
4.) AM band is good too... except for our lamp-dimmer in the wall
which generates strong square-wave interference when used at night.
Daytime reception is no problem... without the lights on in the
bathroom.
5.) We use the radio with the display on the dim positon... and
still has plenty of light to read it at night from the johnny
seat... pleasant enough & handy.
Basically, no problems with the radio other than the powercord
being much to ugly, black and HURKY. Way to large for the rated
5-watt radio consumption. OverKill on the powercord.
After the warranty runs out, i will solder a light-gauge white
lampcord (cut to proper length) in place of the present powercord.
We like the radio muchly. Takes minimum space on vanity counter
with small footprint. Pleased actually.
We live in deep woods of N.E. Minnesota above Lake Superior.

I needed a new radio for my barn and this one is perfect: it is small, has preset buttons making it easy to change stations, it has am/fm, tv and weather - all features I was delighted to find in one unit. The fidelity is more than fine for this application. The only improvement would be a little more volume but it's fine for a closed room.

I had one of these for years and liked it. I LISTEN to TV to go to sleep. So, of course, I bought another one almost identical to it. Forgot about not being able to get the tv part of it after Febr of next year. Until that time, I would give it 4 stars.

I purchased this produce because of the Weather Band Feature. I live in the South where there are many Tornadoes and Severe Thunder Storms. This feature works great. The Radio features are also good. The only negative about this product is the Display. It is hard to read in the middle of the night. The contrast and color between the back light on the display, which is gold, and the information displayed, which is black, is not good. If they were reversed it would be better.

This is my 2nd sony clock radio the 1st one I got is still in use after many years. This new one is nice I like having station presets 10 for fm 5 for am the TV band is cool also I can listen to the 11 o'clock news now without having the telly on. A battery battery back up feature would make 5 star.