Customer Reviews

iLuv iMM153BLK Dual Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker for your iPod - Black

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Here is the rundown:

Pros:
+Docked flawlessly with my iPod nano 5g.
+All buttons worked.
+Ability to have auxiliary input.
+Wake up bed shaker is a nice touch. (and it has a very long cord)
+Alarm is a beep that gets louder over time (and can be used in concordance with the bed shaker)
+Can customize both alarms to incorporate different alarm types (ie. Shaker and beep, shaker and playlist, etc)

Cons:
-Sound was absolutely unbearable with any bass (even with ipod EQ settings set to bass reducer)
-Wake up bed shaker is not as strong as I hoped it to be.
-Product "feels" cheap (thin plastic, cheap buttons).
-Time setting is clumsy and difficult, why not just have it sync to the atomic clock (my $15 walmart clock did that)
-There are two bass "holes" in the back that appear to do nothing (I don't hear anything coming from them)
-Many comparable docks have remotes included. This does not.
-The screen does not look like it does in the image. It has a bright blue backlight.

Bottom Line:
This is great if you want an alarm clock with multiple alarm features that will also charge your iPod. You should not get this if you want to listen to music on it.

Why I gave it 2 stars:
I got this so I could listen to my iPod while I go to sleep. The sound quality is so unbearable that I stopped using it. It still has nice alarm features, but is overpriced for what I wanted.

I purchased this alarm clock for my 14 year old. We have tried numerous other alarm clocks for her, even the ones with the bells on top that clang. She has slept through them all, sometimes even when they go off for 30 minutes near her head. This year she started high school and has to get up much earlier. The iLuv has woken her up much more quickly than any other alarm clock! I no longer have to get up and drag her out of bed. I would recommend this for sound sleepers!

A great concept let down by a few design flaws.

My intent for buying a new alarm clock was two-fold:
1) To enable me to set an alarm which would wake me, without disturbing others
2) To have a way to dim the clock so it would not disturb my sleep with too much light in the room.

Having this connect to an iPod Nano was a bonus.

The first thing that impressed me from the specs on this alarm clock was the bed shaker. Now, take note, this says Bed Shaker - and it truly is. Anyone sleeping on the same matress will feel their skull vibrating almost as much as yours, even when you place the vibrating disc under your pillow. 9/10 points for effort - 4/10 points for implementation

The second thing that persuaded me to this model was that it appeared, from reading through the reviews that the brightness on the clock was settable from 0 (no backlight) to 9 (bright enough to read a book by). This seemed great as this would allow me to have the backlight off for sleeping and adjust it if/when I needed to read the clock... However, the implementation of this is a fatal flaw for me with this product. Let me explain in detail:
a) The brightness change requires you to set a new overall brightness level; so if you are at 0 you click the Dimmer/Snooze button and it goes to 1. To turn the light off you have to click the button another 9 times to cycle back to 0. This is awkward, though is way surpassed by the loud clicking made by the cheap switch which wakes anyone else not wearing earplugs...
b) Insult is added to injury with the design of the Dimmer/Snooze button. Imagine you're sleeping with the backlight off (Dimmer 0) and the alarm occurs - you hit the button to increase the brightness, but it's a joint-function Dimmer/Snooze button... So, the alarm snoozes - and no matter how many times you hit the dimmer/snooze button again, to turn the brightness up to see the time, nothing happens. It appears the the clock is in "alarm mode". The only way to see the clock is to fumble for the alarm off button, turn off the alarm permanently and then hit the Dimmer/Snooze button again to now increase the backlight on the clock to level 1.
I know, and apologise, if this appears like a rant - and maybe my unit is faulty as the Dimmer 1 setting is incredibly bright and disturbing to sleep.

On the brighter side. The iPod functionality works well, even on the new iPod nanos, and the speakers are ok - definitely not hi-fi, but for a bedside table to listen to music whilst reading a book, they are adequate.

Anyway, please take the review as is, and if you we looking to an alarm clock with similiar prerequisites steer clear of this one. I wish/hope that these flaws are corrected and welcome any feedback to highlight better alternatives.

Hope this helps,

I personally don't regret getting this alarm clock, there are some downsides but they are easily negligible.

Pros:
-The bedshaker and alarm is very effective
-The sound quality of the speakers is decent
-The time on the clock is clear
-The alarm clock is multipurpose, can serve as a speaker system for your laptop or computer if you desire
-The radio is pretty good, the antenna is small and can provide decent service
-You can change the brightness of the screen display
-iPods work in general, and this clock charges it
-You can use it without an AC adapter by batteries
-Snooze button is easy to access when you're dead asleep

Cons:
-It is confusing to use at first, you might adjust to the controls
-The buttons are very loud, so you might disturb the other person if you share your room
-iPhone 3G shows up as not compatible for some reason, but you can charge it perfectly
-May cause problems in your iPod if you use sleep
-Bit overpriced

In all, this alarm clock is good, but there are small things that can be fixed. It's a bit overpriced, but I really liked the design which brought me to buy it. Amazon has some of the price slashed then if you bought from the original company.

My daughter bought this for herself and loves it! She places the bed shaker under her pillow and it wakes her up quickly without startling her. You can program 2 timers and for each, you have a choice of the bed shaker, iPod, radio or buzzer to wake you up. My daughter likes the bed shaker because she doesn't get startled and she wakes up every time (unlike the buzzer which is annoying or iPod/radio can be easy to sleep through). Sound quality is good and buttons are easy to press and timers easy to program. Would definitely buy another and recommend!

iLuv the iLuv. My husband is a very deep sleeper. The bed shaker is a god-send. It wakes him up immediately. If you don't hit the snooze or off button within about 10 sec, the alarm clock starts beeping to make sure you are away and turn off the alarm. The sound quality is good, no problems there. We didn't buy it for the radio portion, but are happy with the sound quality. His iphone 3G charges overnight with no problems. Overall, great buy!

I ordered this product only for the alarm. I wanted an alarm that could play my ipod touch, charge it, and not have a way too bright display. the display has a setting 0 to 9, with 9 being super bright. I really like this alarm clock because it's easy to use and the sound quality is good. I'm not sure what to make of the bed shaker yet. I don't know if I like it or not, because it annoys me a bit but that's it's job so it wakes me up. the only thing i was disappointed with, was it was smaller than I imagined. Not super small but smaller than I expected. I think this is good for teenagers like me who have trouble waking up because the bedshaker combined with the music or buzzing gets the job done!

It's an alarm clock that allows you to set two alarms and listen to music through your iPod, FM radio (no AM unfortunately) or an AUX device. It's got a sleep function which is nice, dimmer, two separate alarms, etc.

I could sleep through Hiroshima, and I found this out when, after about an hour of the bed shaker and buzzer going off, my roommate sleeping upstairs had to tell me to turn it off because it was keeping him up. This tells me that for normal people the shaker would be an effective way to get you up...I on the other hand require something more for it to be consistently effective (though generally this unit is adequate).

I give four stars due to reasons stated in others' reviews. Nothing bad enough to keep me from buying it though. I sleep with the dimmer on one of the higher settings. Doesn't bother me in the least

Great product! I'm a pretty heavy sleeper, and this wakes me up every time. iPod Touch integration is an added bonus. A word of caution about the iPhone integration, though - it's not fully compatible. You can increase/decrease the volume and change the song that's playing, so you do at least get the basics.

This alarm clock is fantastic. Bed shaker works nicely, and alarm is nice.
Yes, I'll agree that the iPod clock should sync with the clock of the alarm.
If your looking for a good alarm clock with pretty nice sound, I really recommend this one.
I've done my research and it seems this is a pretty good one for a decent price.