Customer Reviews

Sony ICF-C490 FM/AM Clock Radio with Super Loud Alarm Setting

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

 

 

It is just one tiny little button. One tiny little button behind the snooze bar. One tiny little button that you probably won't even realize is there, until it is too late.

I think I'm a smart guy, but it took me and my significant other a week to figure out why the ... my alarm would mysteriously shut itself off, seemingly on a whim.

Maybe it's my fault. I admit I didn't read the instruction manual. But it's a clock radio! Why should I? I'm in the IT industry. I don't need no stinkin' manual!

Or maybe the mention of the tiny little button is not in the owners manual. no difference. the tiny button might wreck you too.

The tiny button is right behind the "snooze" button. The BIG snooze button, the button you smack with your big swarthy, sleep deprived American hand when you're mumbling "forgodsakesjustshutupandletmesleep!"

The button is the "alarm cancel" button. And let me tell you, it is far, far, far too easy to hit, and it will shut your alarm off until the next day. And you will slumber peacefully until you wake with a start realizing that it's an hour later, and your Sony ICF-490 clock radio is sitting there silently.

The Sony engineers (and most clock radio "engineers") had/have the right idea to make you slide a switch or operate some other kind of gizmo that requires some waking coordination to shut off the alarm. Indeed, you have to slide a switch on this clock radio to shut the alarm off, a logical operation. But then, for some reason, they added the "alarm reset" button to the top of the radio. behind the snooze bar. the tiny button from hell.

If you've read this far and you aren't scared yet, the thing does keep time. And the numbers are nice and big and bright, which is good if you're like me and half-blind (as well as swarthy.) The radio reception pretty much is awful, but if you the station you want to tune in is broadcasting from underneath your bed, you should be ok.

But you should really avoid this alarm clock if you actually have to get up in the morning. I've trained myself to gingerly reach out and tap the snooze like a little girl but needless to say, I'm shopping for a replacement. And then, when I find it's replacement, this clock will pay the ultimate price.

I'll leave you with a little haiku:

Sony Alarm Clock
sleepy hand reaches for snooze
sun rises, late again.

I needed a dual alarm feature, and this was the only clock-radio left in Target that said "Dual Alarm" on the box. Now that I have it, I see why this was the only model left.

What the box doesn't say is that one alarm setting is for the radio and the other is for the buzzer. Frankly the "user manual" doesn't explain this either. I didn't know that the buzzer and radio each had a separate alarm time setting until I read one of the other reviews here. The user manual could have been written much better.

The physical design is poor. How many buttons does it take to implement these features: Radio on/off, setting the clock, setting alarm 1, setting alarm 2, and snooze? This alarm clock uses two 4-position slide switches and seven separate buttons. User-friendly this ain't. The goal of a good manual is to eliminate the need for product support. The goal of good product design is to eliminate the need for manuals. This product fails on both counts.

I really can't understand how everyone else hates this thing, but let me give you my 2 cents. I think it's great! I received this as a gift from my sister for Christmas, and I am shocked to see that the price is under 40 bucks!

What I like:
- sleek, aesthetic black design
- nice, easy-to-read green display
- two settable alarms - one for the buzzer and one for the radio
- easy to set the clock or alarm time; intuitive, with both forward and back buttons with slow/fast speed (basically)
- decent reception on the radio

I guess my only quibble would be that the single speaker is not exactly Bose-quality, but I have a stereo system for that... I just want to listen to Howard Stern's annoying *** to wake up in the morning. Good thing the station I listen to isn't owned by ClearChannel... Oh, and I'm not sure, but maybe I have accidentally hit the Alarm Cancel button when trying for Snooze before, but I have been known to shut off other alarms in my sleep as well, so I can't crucify the alarm for that.

The bottom line is that compared to most others out there you can get at the store, it really is a nice alarm clock. No stupid looking cheap white plastic, no impossible-to-figure-out clock, option to set both the radio and buzzer alarms... it's all good stuff. If my house burned down and I was looking for another alarm clock, I would buy this one for sure! No competition.

I bought two of these. Both were defective and had to be returned. Both times the "decrease time" function was defective: the clock would not "decrease time" even though it had a button for this purpose.

Note also that although the clock does have a dual alarm feature, only one of the alarm times can be set to the radio. The other alarm time must be set for the buzzer.

Not the most reliable alarm in the world. As a college student, it seemed like a good buy when I was browsing the shelves at Target. However, don't let its simple design fool you. I've read the manual and I'll have to admit it's not very clear about using the secret "Alarm Reset" button. You have to set 2 different things on this alarm clock in order for it to go off in the morning. It's one of those things that is very easy to miss when you're tired and want to go to bed. As a result, I have missed several morning class sessions due to my alarm not going off in the morning. Try explaining that one to your professor!!! Luckily I've never missed a morning exam yet, probably due to the fact that I remembered to set another backup alarm clock before going to bed. The point is....if you value getting to work or class on time in the morning, don't buy this alarm clock!!!

This clock radio is actually a "Dream Machine" but it does not say that in the description. Dream Machine sounds very impressive but I think it is just something that was dreamed up by their marketing department. The reason that I bought this alarm clock was that it is advertized as having dual alarms. But you don't get two radio alarms you get a radio alarm and a buzzer alarm. I don't really like to be wakened to a buzzer and I use my clock radio to remind me about certain things going on around the house and I usually like just a radio to come on when that happens. And a lot of times I like to time more than one event at a time. So this radio is not as useful to me as it could be. A lot of the General Electric Clock Radios have dual alarms and for each one of the two you can choose if you want that alarm to be radio or buzzer. The time set feature is very good with a fast plus, a fast minus, and a slow plus. This is important because with some clock radios you can spend a lot of time setting the alarm time.

Dual alarm hard to program. Not easy to change alarm times. Don't know what button to push in dark to shut alarm off. Digits ok - bright and dim. Radio sounds ok.

Advantages:

1) green LED display (more closely matches the blueish tint of DVD and VCR displays compared with red LED's),

2) Can set the loudness of the buzzer and radio individually.

3) Can dim the display because if it's too bright, it'll interfere with sleep.

4) Big digits. Important for me since I place the clock across the room on my dresser, so as to avoid possible health effects from having electronics to close to one's head. Also, I frequent turn off any alarm clock while still asleep if it is right next to me within arm's reach.

5) Sony quality.

6) I don't snooze so I don't care as much where the alarm cancel button it.

Disadvantages:

1) The individual LED segments can differ in brightness, more noticeable when you dim the display.

2) Radio audio quality is not high.

3) Quite expensive compared with many other clock radios.

4) The time set feature involves three buttons, fast forward, fast reverse, and slow forward. Why not have just two buttons, forward and reverse, where the time movement starts slow and accelerates. This is what many electronics makers do.

5) While the styling is very nice, more so than the usual boxy lock, one disadvantage is that light tends to reflect off the curved clear plastic front, reducing visibility of the time. Not a problem wat night when the lights are off, but in daytime, it is. If the clear plastic was flat, there wouldn't be quite the problem.

6) Haven't read the instructions yet, so I don't know exactly what the meaning of the count-up displaY when you press and hold down the snooze button.

This fine alarm clock will wake the dead, (and my neighbors). Haven't been late to work since I plugged it in.

My friend lent this clock to me while she was studying abroad and I loved it so much I refused to give it back until I'd bought one for myself. I'm a very heavy sleeper and the alarm is the loudest I've ever heard and sounds like a truck backing up. Upsetting? Yes. But without it nothing would get me out of bed. The numbers are huge and the clock is bulky. I think they've made an updated version of this clock by now, but I haven't checked it out. It is true that the controls are slightly difficult. When I'm super tired I have slid the clock/radio/alarm set to the wrong position and made the alarm go off incorrectly. There is a radio alarm too that I don't use that often and the volume controls how loud the alarms are. Also, you are supposed to be able to put in a 9V for backup, but that doesn't work on my clock.

If you need simple large buttons this clock is not for you. But if the only thing that's going to get you up is a truck driving through your room, buy this clock.