Customer Reviews

Timex T435B MP3/CD Line-In 8-Color Clock Radio

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

This is a nice clock for the office, but I don't depend on it to wake me up. I chose this clock because of the dual alarms and iPod connection. The buzzer alarm is not very loud and turns off automatically when the radio alarm goes off. The radio is not good - very bad reception that fades in and out without moving the dial or antenna wire. I'm going to find a better alarm clock and take this to the office as a desk clock & iPod speaker. The good features: dimmer for the display, 2,5, 7 day alarms, automatically updates with Daylight Savings change and you can adjust the volume for the sleep setting without changing the alarm volume.

Timex watches might take a licking & keep ticking, but this clock radio is very poorly designed. It's difficult to program time/date (not intuitive like other clock radios). The off buttons stopped working after 2 weeks. I'm taking it back to the store. This is one of those cases where you get what you pay for. Now I'm willing to pay more to get better quality.

I recently purchased this Timex clock radio because of it's dual-alarm and MP3 hook-up capability. The alarms are way to soft and I slept through them twice (and I am not a heavy sleeper). However, the worst part was that I was unable to read the clock face unless standing above it at an odd angle. The lighted digital display of time did not contrast with the background enough to distinguish unique characters. The clock constantly looks like it reads 18:88 instead of the correct time. Changing the soft display colors did not help. After two days of having no clue what the correct time was, I returned it for a full refund.

I'll admit, I bought this clock mostly for the shiny colors. The MP3/CD jack was an added attraction, along with the low price. But I've had it for less than 24 hours and I'm already sorely disappointed with it. First off, you can only set one of each type of alarm - one buzzer alarm, one radio alarm. That doesn't really qualify for a dual alarm in my book, and this is the first alarm clock I've ever seen where you can only set one alarm to buzzer and one to radio.

The buzzer alarm is hardly a buzzer - it's more like a "meep meep" sound. And to hook your MP3 player in to listen to it, you need to keep it on continuously, or wake up and turn it off when the sleep timer shuts off. I don't have an iPod so I can't dock it in an electrical charger, so that means lots of burned-out batteries. The radio/MP3 line in are both great-sounding, bordering on pleasantly loud, but the radio reception is kind of iffy. If I could set both alarms to wake to a loud radio, I think this alarm clock would satisfy me - but alas, I can't.

The redeeming qualities are that you can set an alarm to go off every day, M-F, or weekends. Of course, I work Sunday-Thursday starting at 11:45 PM, so if I set the clock about 45 minutes fast, this would work for me. The daylight savings time auto-switch is nice, too. And, of course, I'm a fan of the shiny colors. But after having this clock for approximately 12 hours, I'm going to return it to the store tomorrow.

I've had this alarm clock for a year and a half, so that's pretty good because many others have said that within only a few days the alarm clock will completely reset itself as if the power went out. This is what happened to me a few days ago. I thought the power went out because the date and time were wrong, so I went to set the clock to the right date and time and as soon as I did, the clock completely reset itself on its own again. I'm glad it hasn't done this when I had to wake up for class or work, I guess I'm lucky. But don't buy this if you want a reliable clock that lasts.

I like this alarm clock, but there are several problems. With batteries that I know are good, the time still resets when there is a brown out and we lose power. Also, its designed to automatically update for the old daylight savings time, so you now have to set four times a year (twice for the actual daylight savings time, and twice to correct it when it changes for twice the old daylight savings time). I have no problem with the new daylight savings time, since its on the news, and I get memos about it at work, but the old daylight savings time I will never remember and will not be on time.

If timex has updated this clock, then its a good purchase, if not avoid it.

The radio reception is also pretty bad, but I dont use that often.

My husband and I bought 2 (one for each side of the bed) a few years ago and we are in our mid to late 20s. They were on clearance for 14.99. That should have been my first clue, huh?

I have used the mp3 feature a few times but it is when in the bedroom folding laundry; not to wake up to the ipod (because it has to stay on to work which can kill batteries and there is no charging station). Turning on the ipod through the alarm clock is WAY more complicated than it should be. As a result, I find it much easier to bring my iSymphony ipod speakers (awesome by the way, but that is another review) into the room for tasks like that.

For DST, we only use the "off" switch and manually program it because we do not trust "auto", with good reason. But, if you want to only program once a year, turn off and then in the spring when changing all of the other clocks, slide to +1, and it will automatically change correctly. Then, turn back to off in the fall and manually reset back an hour.

We have noticed that the time seems to get off easily between the 2 alarm clocks. So, periodically, we reset both to the exact same time (per cell phone). As of last week, my husband's is now 4 minutes faster than mine and mine is 1 minute slower than the cell phone.

Another feature I don't like is that I cannot set 2 alarms - one for the week days (i.e., 5:30) and one for the weekend (i.e., 8:30). If you have a job where the hours are not just Monday-Friday, this is not the alarm clock for you. With my husband's job he sometimes had to work weekends so he just uses his cell phone alarm for those days. I don't work Fridays, so I just turn the buzzer alarm off Thursday night. So, that is no big deal if there is one day during the week that you don't work.

In addition, there are a numerous times I hit snooze just to shut it up quickly (because it is a big button), then press off (small button right next to snooze), get out of bed and leave the room, and the alarm goes off 10 or so minutes later. the off button seems to stick a little. This is also a bad feature. Oh, and I also don't like that when I turn the volume down (i.e., listening to my ipod), it also turns the buzzer volume down. What if I forget when using the ipod to turn the volume back up? I would not trust this alarm clock if you live alone, are the only adult in the house, or other adults in the house are not on the same schedule as you to make sure that you wake up to go to work as a backup.

After my last day of work this week, we walked into the bedroom and my alarm clock light was out so you can't see the time unless you are right up on it because it is now black on black instead of amber on black. We tried all of the usual suspects - batteries, bad outlet, maybe the cat hitting some button. When it was plugged into a different outlet, the display lit up for a minute or so and then went out again. So, I don't know what the deal is with that. An alarm clock that is not readable is worthless and is the final straw.

After looking around for what seemed like ages, I was thrilled to finally find an affordable alarm clock with a "line in" jack for iPods, etc. Unfortunately, the benefit of plugging in your iPod is grossly outweighed by its counter-intuitive button placement. And forget about figuring out which buttons do what, especially when it's the first thing in the morning. Setting both the time and alarm is also way more difficult than it needs to be. It's clear that Timex put the (none too pleasing) form before the function with this alarm clock. Give it a pass.

Was looking for a radio and an MP3 player. This little beauty fit the bill perfectly. It was just want I wanted and a great price too. Easy to use and good sound along with lots of other features.

i thought that this device would be able to charge my mp3 player, but it doesnt. radio is cool though, but my main purpose for purchasing this product wasnt fulfilled. oh, it took a about 20days to get this product. way too long!