Customer Reviews

iHome iH12 Cube Clock Radio with Dock for iPod (Black)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Good size, good sound, good basic design..... but 2 problems.
1) The control buttons on top have raised designs to distinguish them, but not raised enough. So you hunt and peck for the right button in the dark searching to turn off the alarm. I've placed a very small blob of clear glue from my glue-gun next to the off button to find it more easily.
2) I have an older version of the iPod mini. Out of the 5 plug-in adapters for different iPods that come with the unit.... NONE of them are for the older version of my iPod mini. It still works... but I have to be careful plugging it in and taken it out and not bumping it when plugged in.

I received this today. It's a nice little unit - just the right size for my nightstand. And one of the main reasons I bought it was because I couldn't find another clock radio that didn't light up the entire room - the dimmer works great.
Sound is just OK when listening to the Ipod. And as expected, the tiny little wire antenna for the radio isn't great. It only works well if you're holding it.
The only real problem was that the remote wasn't included. The box states that it's not included, and there's an order form inside to purchase the remote for $19.99.
I should also mention that the sound can be improved if you put it in 3D mode. But you need the remote control to do that! LOL

Update:If I could, I would change this to just one or two stars. I did the research - Ihome used to include the remote. Now they don't. (I emailed this to amazon, and they'll change the product description some day soon.) The size and looks are great for what I need, but the poor sound quality, along with an added $20 price tag just to get the remote is ridiculous. I could live without the remote except as the previous reviewer mentioned: Without it you have to sit up in bed to use any of the buttons, because they're flat and you can't simply feel for them.
I'll never buy another Ihome product.

The sound quality is horrible. I could hear "white noise" coming from the unit while listening to the radio and iPod. If you actually want to listen to what people are saying, then this unit is not for you -all of the words were muffled together. Not very good at tuning in radio stations (am and fm). It has a feature where you can plug other devices into it (through the cord provided - one end plugs in the back of the iHome and the other can plug into the headset part of the portable players), like a portable CD player or cassette player and listen to them - you have to control the volume through your portable players and the sound quality is such a disappointment. I would not recommend this product at all. If you are going to spend this much money on a unit, at least pick a unit (probably not an iHome) that has better sound quality.

Overall I liked the features of this iPod clock radio. Unfortunately at low volumes (i.e. volumes you would listen to as you relax to go to sleep) the background noise/hiss was nearly as loud as the music or voice (e.g. talk radio). The hiss sounds like what you used to hear on audio tapes without a noise reduction switch, and occurs in all audio sources including radio and iPod. I don't know if this is a flaw in the circuitry of this model or just my unit. Some people may not notice or care, and I realize this isn't particularly expensive audio equipment, but this is something I just don't expect from today's digital audio at any reasonable price. There are no controls on this unit that might adjust the background noise. I also called iHome support and they walked me through resetting the unit, but that didn't fix it.

I've had this alarm clock for about three months now. I purchased it to replace the 16-year old alarm clock that I had been using previously. Overall, this unit has fulfilled my needs - I like the choices it gives in level of brightness of the screen, that the sound slowly fades in when the alarm starts, and that it has two alarms (great for a weekday and weekend setup). Sound quality is okay; I wouldn't use it as my primary radio in any space, but for an alarm clock, it's sufficient. My ipod (120 GB ipod classic 6G version) has worked in it with no problems; both random shuffle and playlists work with the wake up feature, so you can design a playlist specifically for wake up if you want. Mine did come with a remote, although I've only used it to turn on the 3-D sound, which is a definite improvement over the standard set up. Setting the alarms was not entirely intuitive in my opinion, but not too hard to learn either. I can understand the criticism of the snooze button not being raised enough, and the power button is right next to the snooze in the layout, which means you can accidentally hit it while searching for the snooze button. I think it would have been a better design to have placed it at the other edge of the keypad, further away from the snooze button.

Speaking of the snooze button, here's my biggest issue with the radio - it turns the alarm off after an hour, regardless of whether you've been using the snooze or not. I can understand having it automatically shut off so that if you accidentally leave it on, you're not irritating neighbors or roommates all morning. However, this automatic shutoff means that if you had set the alarm to 6 AM and you press the snooze for the seventh time (like on those days that you'd set the alarm earlier to give you time to get up and exercise) at 6:54, your alarm is not going back off again. So fellow frequent snooze button users, be aware of this "feature" and make sure you're getting up before the alarm shuts itself off.

The sound coming from this small cube is more than acceptable for an alarm clock. The two alarms are easy to program, and the feature that slowly ramps up the music when the alarm goes off is a good one. This clock radio also has two volume settings: sleep and normal. It remembers the volume you set during sleep mode, so you can fall asleep with the volume set low without worrying about the sound being too soft to wake you up in the morning. This brings me to my first complaint: the volume is set by steps, rather than continuously, and the lowest setting is just a bit louder than I prefer while listening to music as I'm falling asleep. The other issue I have is that the IH12BR is very sensitive to IR signals and the backlight (which has 4 settings) often changes when I click my TV remote. Overall, I rate this product "good". I'd probably give it 3 1/2 stars if that option was available.

Don't waste your money on this unit. I bought one in May, and in mid-August, it just stopped working. It wouldn't respond to any button you pressed (volume, radio preset, play, pause, etc.) All buttons just stopped working.

Amazon sent me a replacement unit about 6 days ago, which worked fine until this afternoon, when, once again, the same symptoms reappeared. Buttons no longer work.

Quality control, or perhaps even basic engineering, is substandard. I'd be suspicious of any product from iHome.

I bought this to occasionally listen to news radio and podcasts but it works for neither. I don't like to send stuff back but this was so bad I had to.

The problem is the sound is geared to be big and boomy, not to voice and it's so low and muffled it's indecipherable for normal voice radio at any distance at all. The 30 year old portable I intended to replace with this with sounded way better for voice radio.

Second, the FM reception is very poor. My old portable got much better reception with no external antenna. The iHome unit has a little long stringy FM receptor cable that didn't pull in stations clearly no matter now I strung it.

If you want a big boomy sound from a little ipod player this is probably OK but for podcasts and clear radio reception no way.

Love the way the radio gradually turns on and off. Love the levels of light for the display. Love choices for "sleep". Love how it pulls in more stations than my last clock radio. Love the small size.

Would not recommend this product. Got it working for about 5 minutes after bringing it home, then as I attempted to set alarms, all buttons stopped functioning. Tried new batteries, had a friend who is great with gadgets try resetting it, nothing. Buttons also poorly designed and can see how they would be an issue if using it for an alarm clock. For the few minutes I had it working, the music sounded good, but the inability to adjust the volume due to the failure of any of the controls to work had me very frustrated. Very disappointed.