Customer Reviews

iHome iH8 Clock Radio for iPod (Silver)

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Update Feb 7, 2010.... I wrote my original review almost 2 years ago. And, as I said, I liked the unit so well that I bought a 2nd. But now that I've used them for a couple years, they both have become unusable as alarm clocks. I assume dust has worked its way under the wheels used to set the clock. Now you can spin the wheels but the alarm time remains the same. Happened on both units. Call me old fashioned but that is too soon for these things to wear out...and the fact that both units have the same problem indicates a design flaw.

Also, I was not pleased that with my newer iPod connected, my radio would just be total static. It was tolerable, only because I preferred to wake up to the iPod, but I should be able to wake up to the iPod and radio, not just to the iPod or static.

So, I've changed my rating from a 4 to a 2. These things weren't that expensive, but combine the design problems with the fact that both units no longer allow me to change the time of the alarm, and it makes this product something I would not recommend.

We bought this alarm clock because I like to listen to music while I am upstairs (just bedrooms) and I don't want to have a separate stereo in already tight quarters. The design looks simple, much better than my old alarm clock. After a brief glance at the instructions, we had it up and running. We used it with both my old 20gb click wheel iPod and my daughter's newer 40gb iPod video. Both worked great. Here is what we think:

Pros:

-Dual Alarm

-Battery Backup (comes with batteries)

-Sets the time itself

-Looks nice, clean design

-Charges my iPod so it is always ready

-8 FM 4 AM preset stations

-Remote with battery included

-Adjustable brightness

-Sound quality is nice for a product like this

-Slide a switch for Daylight Savings!

Cons:

-You have to wake to iPod (or buzzer if no iPod is docked) for first alarm, radio for second alarm

-Control by remote has a little lag time

-iPod cannot be in a case or skin to be docked...I wanted to get this for my daughter, but I know she will not pull hers out of the skin to dock it every day and I told her she has to use the case to protect the video screen. (My iPod skin is older and the bottom folds out of the way so mine works.)

-When you turn on the iPod, you can only play what is already selected...a playlist, CD, or just all your songs...you can't pick and choose, but you can skip forward or back in order.

Overall I like this clock a lot and would recomend it as a way to have music when you want it in a bedroom!

There's something important you need to know about this clock radio that the product description won't tell you. If you're buying this so you can wake to your iPod (as I did), know that you will ALWAYS wake to the first song on your iPod - NOT to where you set it the night before. This isn't technically the fault of the product because it's the iPod reverting to the main menu when it goes to sleep, but unless you feel like waking to Take On Me by A-ha for the rest of your life, it's kind of pointless. A call to iHome customer service and I found out this is "normal". If you're not really interested in that function and want it for others, the short story is that it does everything else it says it will do and the sound is actually very good for its size. I could delve into other pros and cons, but since the main reason I bought it is a bust, I'm not going to bother. This item is going back. UPDATE: someone else told me they didn't think this happened to them with their iHome Clock Radio (how could you not be sure?) so now I just don't know anymore, but like I said, iHome support said my experience was "normal". You can take a chance or not....

this is a nice machine. the dock seems a bit flimsy, though. i get worried that i am going to break something if i might accidentally bump the ipod while it is docked, but so far everything is in great working order.

the things i love the most are the sleep features (i like being able to fall asleep to the ipod and wake up to the radio, for one thing. i also like that the volume controls are separate for sleeping and waking, so i don't have to worry about re-setting the volume high enough to wake myself up.) i also like the sound quality. it isn't fantastic, but it is pretty damn good for the price. another thing i like is the portability. i took this unit to a cabin, and it was amazing to have all my music and videos available to share in such a small unit. i just tucked it into a small bag, and it was good to go. the back-up battery has worked great to maintain all my settings when i plug and unplug. the radio reception is much better than my old clock radio, too. i used to constantly run the battery down on my ipod, and i would have to make a point to charge it. now that i have this unit, that is never an issue. it is so easy to use as a charging station ... just put my ipod in the dock and let it sit!

i like this unit so much, i bought two -- one for home, and one for my office. i highly recommend it.

Initially, my husband bought me another brand. The light was so bright, I had to cover it to sleep. After much research, I saw this was a problem with most of the clock radios. The iHome is the only one that seemed to have more options, and I knew at worst case, I could turn the light off, so I took a chance. To my delight, there were many, many light settings, the dimmest of which was perfect for sleeping without adding light to the room. Please note that this is the iHome iH8BR. There are other models which may not have these options. I saw many excellent reviews on the older models, so I felt comfortable with trying this one. I was also able to see the instruction manual at the iHome website, which helped me understand the difference in the various models. Another nice feature is that all the buttons have the descriptions lit on the buttons so that you are able to read which button to select in the dark rather than the braille method when you need to adjust a setting. The light from the lettering does not add significant light to the room. This model has equalizer options, which are nice. The clock sets itself based on the time zone selected, and it also has a daylight savings setting. I can't think of anything negative to write on this item. Normally I don't write reviews, but since I had difficulty finding information about models that are dim enough to sleep, I wanted to provide this information for others. iHome must read the reviews, as this model has enough settings to make anyone happy. I'm quite sensitive to sleeping with light. I will add that the clock radio my husband first purchased was the Memorex, and that model was similarly priced, yet didn't come close to the quality and options with the iHome. Highly recommend this item.

I have the new 3G Nano and was looking for a unit to play podcasts at night while falling asleep. At least with my unit, when I set the iHome on a sleep setting (say 60 minutes), after a few minutes both the iHome and the Nano turn off and the Nano starts charging, not the sixty minutes expected. The volume setting or charge status of the Nano does not seem to matter.

I still give this unit 3 stars because if I set the sleep setting on the Nano and just turn on the iHome, the Nano turns off at the right time.

The sound is good for a reasonably priced clock radio type unit (my major reason for choosing the unit). The lighted keys and remote are useful but the remote could be better laid out and is missing some valuable keys like sleep and dedicated keys for preset.

I like this product except for one very major design flaw. The brightness button for the display is ALSO the snooze button. Like most people I want to turn off the brightness at night because it can be blinding. But when I wake up to my iPod and want to see what time it is I press the button for brightness and it defaults to snooze and turns off the iPod so then I have to figure how to turn the music back on in the dark. Not very smart iHome!

Sound quality is good, not much bass. I did pay $25 to spring for the external speaker so you get much better stereo output.

I was at an Apple store yesterday and saw something like this that had a dial just for the brightness. Now that's smart, normal. To have the brightness and snooze the same button doesn't make any sense.

It doesn't *completely" work with the new Nano. When you try to wake to your iPod, the iHome will in fact turn it on, but it will remain paused until you physically push "play".

It's very difficult to be woken up by a paused iPod.

I bought 2 of these in 2 different colors for kids for Christmas. One kid has a classic ipod, the other has an ipod touch.

Pros: Works great for both types of ipods and a great feature is that it charges the ipods. Speakers play very clear and loud coming from such small speakers. Nicely lit display so you can tell the time from across the room. There were other things but those were our faves.

Cons: I only have 2 cons and am worried about the 2nd. The first is that the lowest volume (at "1") is still too loud. Needs to go lower. 2nd: It overheats! It's almost painful to the touch when you've been playing the ipod in it for an hour or so, it's hot! Anyone else have this problem? I forsee this becoming a problem and possibly igniting a recall. What does everyone think? Please comment on this review...thank you!

I bought this radio after getting tired of CD alarm clocks that the CD player stops working after a year or two. I'm hoping this one will last a lot longer. My last radio had a more colorful display and a few nice features, but this one is pretty good overall.

I'm not sure a backlit display is right for a clock radio. My previous clock had an auto-dim feature so you can read it during the day without having a spotlight at night. I really wish this radio had that feature. If I set it to a dim setting that I can handle at night, I cannot see it during the day. If I set it bright enough to read during the day it is too bright at night.

The radio sounds real good, lots of volume and I really don't think the optional extension speaker would be necessary unless you put the clock on one side of the bed and want clear sound at low volume on the other side. We have a bookcase headboard and put the radio in the middle. My one complaint about the sound is that it is almost too loud for an alarm clock, I have the volume set to 2 or 3 so we don't get blasted out of bed. Perhaps a separate volume setting for the alarm would be helpful.

The two alarms are fixed as ipod and radio, you cannot decide to have alarm 1 be radio, it is always ipod. Sometimes I wish I could select which function to use for each alarm setting because I use alarm 1 during the week and alarm 2 on weekends.