Max Talks Alarm Clocks

About Core Innovations

Core Innovations is a small American electronics manufacturer. They make everything — alarm clocks, speakers, TV sets, computers, portable DVD players, projectors, and on and on and on. They also make pool toys, because reasons. Actually, the reason is that Core Innovations has a sizable market for kids’ products, electronics and otherwise. The company has a license to make products for many kids’ media franchises (Baby Shark, Blue’s Room, CoComelon, Ryan’s World, etc.). (And no, we are not going to go down the rabbit hole of the Baby Shark alarm clock, or the PBS Kids tablet/DVD player combo...)

I’d say the clock we're discussing, the Galileo (model CTAC02), is somewhere between Core Innovation’s kid-facing and adult-facing products. The endearing design, plus the soothing sound and night light features, remind me of other kid-oriented alarm clocks. But I hardly think cute, colorful design should be restricted to kids’ products, and indeed, the press photos of the Galileo show it in adults’ bedrooms. So this alarm clock is approved for adults!

Based on the packaging’s copyright date, the Galileo was launched in 2022. It appears to be the successor to an extremely similar alarm clock, the Chronis (model CTAC01), which has a different shape but the same clock face and the exact same controls. For the sake of not overwhelming myself, I’m going to focus this post on the Galileo!

I’m not sure that Core Innovations products are pinnacles of quality. I purchased my Galileo for about $30 new, and it came with a slightly scratched-up front panel and a crumpled instruction manual. That said, it is in working order, which is the most important part!

Design and controls

The Galileo has a friendly, rounded white exterior that is capsule-shaped. It houses a minimalist black clock face with no digits, just markings for each hour. The clock hands are green and the alarm hand is red, and the green is echoed by the two little feet that the clock stands on. A small LED hides within the top of the clock face to illuminate it when needed.

Looking at the front, you’d never guess how many features the Galileo has. That’s because, except for the top-mounted snooze button, all the controls and features are hidden on the back. Here you’ll find three rows of controls and components, flanked by two stereo speakers.

The top row includes six white buttons: volume down, play/pause, volume up, sleep sounds, mode, and previous/next. (Previous/next is one button, not two. Trust me, we’ll be talking about that.)

The middle row includes two small dials: one to rotate the clock hands to set the time, and the other to rotate the alarm hand to set the alarm time.

The bottom row includes a whole bunch of random stuff. There’s a power on/off switch. Then a USB-A power output port. Then a micro-USB power input port, with a status LED to the right. Then a 3.5mm audio in jack. Then a pinhole-sized reset button, which you press with a paperclip or other tiny object. Then an alarm on/off switch.

I do kind of love how the rows of controls are almost ombre and color-coded: the white buttons, then the gray dials, then the black ports and switches and tiny holes.

Power in, power out

I’ve discussed before on this blog how, typically, there is a dichotomy between AC-powered and battery-powered alarm clocks. AC-powered alarm clocks stay constantly plugged in, and they usually have power-hungry features like music playback or night lights. Battery-powered alarm clocks usually run on disposable batteries (like AA or AAA batteries), and they usually lack power-hungry features or gimmicks so that they can last years on a single set of batteries.

I’ve noticed more clocks recently that defy this dichotomy. Now there are a few clocks, like those from Mudita, IKEA, Lexon, and La Crosse, that run on a rechargeable battery. You plug the clock in every few weeks or months, and then it’s ready for anything! These clocks are handy because they eliminate the waste of disposable batteries, they have the battery capacity to handle power-hungry features like music playback, and they retain the go-anywhere versatility of a battery-powered device.

Taking advantage of these, uh, advantages, the Galileo is also a rechargeable clock. It has a 2000mAh non-replaceable rechargeable battery. To charge the clock, you connect a power cord to the micro-USB input port on its rear panel. The status LED flashes red during charging and illuminates solid red once fully charged. Core Innovations says the battery takes 2.5 hours to fully charge (not bad!) and can power the clock for up to 10 hours of audio playback (also not bad!).

I’m not sure what the battery life is like when the clock is just keeping time. And that leads to an interesting quandary, and my first criticism of this clock. What happens when the battery dies during the night? The Galileo’s status LED is on the rear panel, not the front, so even if it flashes to let you know the battery is low, you won’t see it. Does the battery just die and leave you stranded in the morning, when your alarm was supposed to go off? I don’t know. I haven’t owned the Galileo long enough for it to actually run through a full charge, and in fact, I suspect it can run the clock mechanism off the battery for a ridiculously long time. But if you own this clock, you’ll probably need to make a habit of plugging it in periodically, to make sure it never dies at an inopportune moment.

Interestingly, the Galileo also has a USB-A port for power output. These ports are common on modern alarm clocks. The idea is that you can connect your phone’s charging cable to your clock, which is already plugged in, rather than needing to find a power brick and a second outlet. (I personally don’t recommend using these USB ports, because charging your phone using unauthorized devices can potentially damage your phone or void the warranty. But still! The feature persists nonetheless.)

What’s weird about the Galileo is that it’s battery-powered. Typically, alarm clocks that can charge your phone have to stay plugged into the wall, so that charging your phone doesn’t run down any kind of battery within the clock. But I confirmed that the Galileo’s power output works even when the Galileo is running on batteries. (See the photo below, where my booklight is charging off the Galileo's battery.) The Galileo will discharge its own battery to charge your devices, making it a bit like the world’s weirdest power bank!

The many faces of analog clock faces

Traditional analog alarm clocks have fully mechanical timekeeping. A quartz crystal or other such oscillating device causes the clock hands to advance a tiny amount each time a set interval of time passes. Usually, that interval is a second, so the clock hands advance every second. When the clock hands intersect with the alarm hand, you hear a “click” sound in the mechanism, and that click triggers the alarm to sound. These clocks keep time from 12:00 to 11:59 without distinguishing between AM and PM. So you set your morning alarm for 7, and then you turn it on after 7 PM, because otherwise it would sound at 7 PM (as the clock has no concept of “AM” and “PM”).

There are a fair number of alarm clocks that merge an analog clock face with digital features. Some clocks, like the Casio TSA-80 and TSA-81 (below left) that I threw shade at recently, are fully mechanical, except that the mechanism triggers a digital device to play digital alarm sounds. Some clocks, like the Aiwa FR-A705, RCA RP5620 (below middle), and Philips AJ7000, keep time digitally and show the time on a digital display, but the digital display shows a depiction of analog clock hands. Some clocks, like the Nanu Arc (below right), keep time digitally and allow you to set the time on a digital display, but then use motors to rotate the clock hands to match whatever time you digitally set. And some clocks, like the Timex T318S (which I hope to blog about soon), have a digital clock with digital display that runs basically all the features (including the alarms), and then a separate fully mechanical analog clock that lives within the same housing but doesn’t communicate with the digital system at all. Note that all these systems, except the first one that the Casio clocks use, are able to track AM/PM because the timekeeping is done digitally.

Of course, the Galileo uses the first design that I mentioned, the one that the Casio clocks use. This means the clock is entirely mechanical (with no AM/PM), and then it activates a digital system as needed to play the alarm sounds. The difference is that the Galileo has a whole lot more digital brains than those Casio alarm clocks, which cannot play music or nature sounds or charge a phone. For a clock with this many digital features, I’m surprised by how low-tech the clock itself is.

One challenge with analog clock faces is how to illuminate them in the dark. Core Innovations clearly put more thought into this issue than Sangean did with the RCR-29 (said with disdain and spite)…but even so, the Galileo doesn’t exactly nail it. There is an LED light (below left) that you can turn on, and then it will illuminate the clock face indefinitely until you turn it off. But it’s horrendously bright. So it’s great if you need a night light! Less great if you actually need to sleep.

But Core Innovations has a backup plan! The Galileo also has glow-in-the-dark clock hands (above right), which are way less bright and sleep-disrupting. This would be a perfect solution…except that the glow-in-the-dark effect fades too fast after the room gets dark. It definitely wouldn’t last the whole night, so I can imagine waking up at 3 AM and being utterly unable to read the clock display, at least without blinding yourself with the LED light.

The power switch

Most alarm clocks cannot be turned “off” per se. They may have an on/off control for specific features, like music playback. But the entire device cannot be shut off without unplugging it or removing the batteries. Alarm clocks will typically keep and display time for as long as they receive power.

But remember, the Galileo has an “on/off” switch on its rear panel. What does this switch do? The instruction manual doesn’t say.

As far as I can tell, the Galileo has a digital “brain” that operates several of its important features, like the radio, the Bluetooth, the aux-in, the nature sounds, and the alarm sounds. This “brain” is essentially Frankensteined to the rest of the Galileo’s workings, including the fully mechanical clock mechanism. (We do love a mechanical mechanism.)

The “on/off” switch turns the Galileo’s “brain” on and off. When you slide the switch to “on,” the Galileo plays a power-on melody, and all of its features become accessible. (Though no audio immediately begins to play, which makes this switch very different from a typical on/off control for music playback.)

When you slide the switch to “off,” the Galileo plays a power-off melody, and everything gets extremely weird.

When the switch is “off,” the FM radio, Bluetooth, aux-in, and nature sounds are inaccessible. You also cannot set the alarm sound or the preferred nature sound. This makes sense, because all these features are controlled by buttons and appear to be driven by the digital “brain.”

But even when the switch is “off,” the clock continues to run. This makes some sense. You wouldn’t want the time to fall behind whenever you shut this switch off. And the clock mechanism isn’t driven by the digital “brain,” it’s driven by a little motor. So the motor keeps running and the clock keeps ticking. (An aside: The clock doesn’t actually tick, it makes a much-much quieter and more rapid sound to drive the clock hands’ smooth movement. Normal people won’t be able to hear this sound. I can absolutely hear this sound.)

If the clock keeps running when the switch is “off,” you might think the LED light that illuminates the clock face would also keep running, so you can check the time. But it doesn’t. The LED light only works when the switch is “on.” But the USB-A power output port? That still works when the switch is “off.” So you can’t check the time, but you can charge your phone. We’re so lost in the sauce here.

And this is the part that really kills me. It kills me dead. What happens with the alarm when the switch is “off?” Well, it sounds. Of course. Except something hilarious happens.

When the switch is “on” and the alarm time is reached, the alarm sound plays. When the switch is “off” and the alarm time is reached, the power-on sound plays, and then the alarm sound plays. And when you stop the alarm, the power-off sound plays. Here's a demonstration (preceded by the power-off sound as proof that the clock is "off"):

This makes me think that at the alarm time, the Galileo cuts its digital “brain” back on, so that it can play the digital alarm sounds. And because Core Innovations was kind of lazy, the Galileo still plays the telltale power-on and power-off sounds that signify when the “brain” is being reactivated, then disabled. (Which makes for a slightly weird alarm experience, because you hear this random melody before your chosen alarm sound.)

So in short, the “on/off” switch turns off most of the clock’s features, including the clock face LED light, but keeps powering the clock mechanism, the power output port, and the alarm. Got it?

THIS IS SO ILLOGICAL AND BIZARRE. There are many devices that have “on/off” switches. But usually, the device is completely off when the switch is set to “off.” The Galileo’s switch is more like an “on/kinda on” switch.

And the thing is, I don’t know why anyone would even turn the clock off. I mean, you can’t even access the LED light when the switch is set to “off.” So why not always leave it “on?” And why did Core Innovations even include this switch in the first place?

They may have included the switch because the Galileo is rechargeable. Maybe leaving the digital “brain” on results in phantom battery drain, but turning it off conserves power. But they don’t mention this in the instructions, so even if that is the reason, no user of this clock would know that turning it “off” is a good way to conserve power.

Or they may have included the switch because the Galileo is portable, and turning it “off” prevents accidental button presses when it’s stored in a bag or suitcase. But I feel like a “key lock” or “hold” switch, similar to other devices, would accomplish the same thing (more obviously than the current switch does), without needing to fully disable the clock’s digital “brain.”

The whole thing is massively baffling. No wonder Core Innovations doesn’t even try to explain it in the instructions.

Loud enough for you?

The Galileo has a digital volume control. This means that the volume is adjusted in steps that are predetermined by the manufacturer, rather than adjusting on a continuum from 0 to the maximum.

Unfortunately, Core Innovations selected the volume steps poorly. Specifically, the lowest volume level is RIDICULOUSLY LOUD.

But there’s a workaround. If you use the Galileo as a Bluetooth speaker, you can turn the volume down from your phone past the lowest volume level accessible from the buttons. Then, as long as you leave the clock powered “on,” it will remember this new volume level, even for features like the radio or nature sounds that have nothing to do with Bluetooth.

So the Galileo is capable of low volume levels. You just can’t access them without jumping through hoops.

Cool! Awesome! Fabulous!

Here's a demonstration of the volume issue. First, I play the nature sounds with a low volume level that I had previously set from my phone via Bluetooth. Then I turn the clock off and back on. You'll see that I can't return to that low volume level via the buttons on the back of the clock.

I’m not sure if the alarm volume is fixed or corresponds to the current volume setting. (This would be easy enough to check, but I don’t wanna and therefore I’m not gonna.) Amusingly, if you want a quieter or louder alarm, you can choose a different alarm sound, because Core Innovations managed to record all the different alarm sounds at different volumes. (Now that’s quality!)

Look, ma! No screen!

Most digital(-ish) alarm clocks have a screen so you can change their various settings. Even the Nanu Arc, which has an analog clock face, has a tiny secondary screen to make time and alarm adjustments easier.

The Galileo has no screen. Even though it has buttons and plenty of digital features. So how do you know what settings you are adjusting?

The Galileo tells you, because it can talk! (Somehow, that is the least interesting feature of this alarm clock, which tells you something.)

The Galileo has a “modes” button on the back. When the power switch is “on,” the clock sits around in what we’ll call “standby mode.” Nothing happens in standby mode.

Each time you press the modes button, the Galileo switches to a new mode in the following sequence:

FM radio > Bluetooth > Alarm sound selection > Nature sound selection > Back to standby mode

This is a slightly weird setup. FM radio and Bluetooth are playback features that you might want to have on for a long time. But the alarm sound and nature sound settings are things you’ll only spend a few seconds adjusting. So bunching all these together as “modes” is a little odd.

Each time you press the “modes” button, the Galileo verbally announces which mode you have entered. The video below demonstrates this process, and also includes a demo of the power-on and power-off sounds. WARNING: This video includes a sudden loud noise (radio static) that I will discuss further in a few paragraphs. I recommend playing the video at the lowest volume level available.

While in each mode, you can click the “prev/next” button to advance to the next option, or you can double-click the button to go back to the previous option. This sounds like a terrible UI, but for choosing the alarm sound or nature sound from a list of 5-to-10 options, it’s actually not so bad.

The FM radio is a disaster

For tuning the radio, it actually is so bad. The only good thing I can say about this clock’s FM radio is that it works…and even that’s a stretch.

This clock has digital radio tuning. Most alarm clocks with digital tuning show you the radio frequency on the screen. But the Galileo has no screen. So you might think the Galileo announces the radio frequency aloud, with its talking feature.

It doesn’t. So you have to tune the radio blind.

Basically, here’s my experience trying to tune the Galileo:

Turn the radio on.

Be blasted with an earful of DEAFENINGLY loud static.

Try to turn volume down in a panic.

Be stymied by the Galileo’s aforementioned terrible volume control that doesn’t go any lower.

Do the whole Bluetooth workaround thing to lower the volume level to a point that tuning the radio is even tolerable. (Most people probably never get this far in the process.)

Click through radio stations that all sound like garbled static, never knowing which station you’re on or if the station you’re looking for is higher or lower than your current station.

Experiment with the “automatic tuning” feature by holding the “modes” button down. (No one would know this feature even existed unless they read the instructions.)

Realize that not a single station the clock automatically finds is any more audible than the rest.

Try to turn off automatic tuning.

Fail to turn off automatic tuning because the instructions don’t tell you how.

Shut the entire clock off. (Aha! There’s a use for the on/off switch!)

Repeat.

I never managed to tune the Galileo to a station I could actually hear well enough to listen to. And while this was far from a formal test of radio reception, I will say that I have tried several alarm clocks in my bedroom that could tune in my local NPR station almost perfectly. Whether the Galileo couldn’t play NPR because it has bad reception or because I never found the NPR station while tuning blind, I don’t know!

The good news is, it barely even matters that the “prev/next” button makes it hard to tune to previous stations. Because if you never know what station you’re on, you never know if you need to tune backwards or forwards to get to where you’re going, so you relent and just tune forwards!

The best (and by best I mean worst) part of the Galileo’s FM radio experience is that, as previously noted, the FM radio is the first mode in the mode sequence. That means that every time you want to play Bluetooth, or change the alarm sound or nature sound, you have to click through the radio mode, and be greeted with DEAFENINGLY loud radio static that you can’t make quiet because of the terrible volume control. This is probably the single worst design flaw of this entire clock. You have to hear ear-splitting radio static every time you want to play Bluetooth, unless you play the thing like a rhythm game and click to the next mode fast enough to skip the static, but slow enough for the clock to actually respond.

One actually good thing: If by some miracle you get the radio to work, you can stop listening by pressing the play/pause button, without having to fully shut the clock off at the on/off switch or click through the entire mode sequence to get back to standby mode. Of course, then you have to wonder if you’re still in radio mode (just paused), or if you’ve exited fully to standby mode. Who knows. Unknowable things.

On the bright side…

The Bluetooth works! After you’ve been blasted by radio static, you can have a perfectly pleasant experience listening to your own music, at a low volume that you selected from your phone! The Bluetooth connectivity was reliable in the few times I tried it, and while I didn’t turn the volume up loud enough to really test the sound because MY EARS WERE STILL RINGING (/s), my songs did sound clear and crisp at low volume. So that’s good, I guess!

And Core Innovations did go all-out and provide an aux-in jack, in case you want to play the rare gadget that lacks Bluetooth capability. Aux-in sort of feels like the wrong thing for them to splurge on in the development process (as opposed to USER INTERFACE DESIGN), but what can you do?

One weird thing: I’m pretty sure this clock has stereo speakers. There are two speaker grilles on the back, and while many clocks have a fake second speaker grille, the instructions list the speakers as "2*3w" which I believe means there actually are two of them (at 3 watts apiece). This is also a weird thing for Core Innovations to splurge on, since there’s no actual stereo separation between the speakers. And yet, here we are!

The great nature sound trade-off

Don’t worry, y’all. There are still more idiosyncratic and arbitrary things to discover about the Galileo!

The Galileo includes 9 nature sounds to help you or a loved one fall asleep peacefully. The nature sounds seem fairly competent at a glance, although some are so similar that I couldn’t tell them apart.

The instruction manual notes that you can turn on the “sleep sounds” by pressing the button on the clock’s back panel. Or you can turn on the “snooze sounds” by pressing the snooze button. You can select the “snooze sound” within one of the clock's different modes, like I mentioned a few sections ago.

When I read the instructions before buying this clock, I wasn’t sure if there was a distinction between “sleep sounds” and “snooze sounds,” and if so, what that distinction was. Now I know, and…ugh.

When you press the snooze button to start nature sound playback, the clock plays whichever sound you previously selected. But you can’t set a playback timer. The sound plays indefinitely until you shut it off.

If you want to set a timer, you have to turn nature sound playback on using the button on the back panel. Repeatedly pressing this button toggles through the available timer options.

But when you turn nature sounds on using the back panel, you can’t choose which sound to listen to. The button on the back panel always turns on the same nature sound, which has various wildlife sounds (like birds chirping).

So basically, you get to play the fun trade-off of whether you want a timer for your nature sounds, or you want to pick a sound other than the wildlife sound. Because you can’t do both!

Is this clock any good?

This is a good time to remind you that I am not a product reviewer. I did not test this clock methodically, and I cannot speak to its durability over time. Though it seems to now be unavailable for sale anywhere (except used), so I guess my take on it doesn’t matter either way.

I think my take is that this clock, as fascinating as I find it, is not a good clock. I think the issue of deafening FM radio static makes this clock a frustrating radio or Bluetooth speaker. And I think the issues of poor clock face illumination and no obvious way to check the battery level make it an iffy alarm clock. At least it’s a fairly competent nature sound machine, despite the weird timer nonsense!

Core Innovations could have made this clock way better with just a few simple tweaks. I think a small display (even on the back) could show settings, radio frequency, battery level, and other information, which would vastly improve usability. The FM radio static issue could be eliminated by offering lower volume levels, and by allowing users to turn on features like Bluetooth without having to turn on the radio first. (Honestly, Core Innovations could drop the radio feature entirely if they wanted to, since so few people still use radios and so few alarm clocks still offer them.) I also think dimming the LED light (or offering a brightness setting) would make checking the time in the dark far more pleasant.

But despite its flaws, I am enormously grateful that the Core Innovations Galileo exists, because it just gave me 4,500 words of alarm clock blogging! By following precious few alarm clock conventions and charting its own (messy, idiosyncratic, endearing) path, this clock has won my heart and burned itself into my memory. Alarm clocks this bizarre are once-in-a-lifetime finds, so I will happily accept this gift from the universe. I hope you found this clock as entertaining as I find it!

Image credits:

Press photos: Walmart

Other photos and videos: Me

Other Core Innovations products: Core Innovations (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

I have given up on buying clocks from eBay. Either they show up broken, or they don't show up at all, and I've decided it's not worth the risk or the frustration.

I owe you all a couple of posts! About six months ago, I promised you a post about an unnamed clock. In case I don't have the energy to write that post, I'll just tell you up front that it would have been about the Sony Smart Bluetooth Speaker BSP60 (first photo). I'm also trying to decide if I want to write a post about the Sense Mother smart home system, which isn't really an alarm clock but does have an alarm clock feature, so it's only kinda cheating.

My beloved, older-than-me Timex alarm clock (second photo) broke. But I'm not going to keep you in suspense — it's now fixed! The brains of the clock were working fine, but as I later learned, the alarm on/off switch had become warped inside the clock, and it kept getting stuck and not actually turning the alarm on. I had to resort to using my phone's alarm for the first time in my life, and frankly, I didn't love it. It turns out that it is not straightforward to find a store that is willing to repair digital alarm clocks. Most clock repair stores work on grandfather clocks and other mechanical ones, and most electronics repair stores focus on the kinds of electronics people can't just replace for $10 easily. But I found a clock repair shop willing to take a chance on me, and they fixed it in about 30 minutes for $30. I am eternally grateful. They told me the clock is surprisingly well-built for a battery-powered alarm clock (I agree) and has like 30 screws holding it together inside!

One of my friends asked me for advice about buying an alarm clock, so I was able to fulfill my true purpose in life.

While I was with this same friend at IKEA, we saw the TJINGA alarm clock (third photo) in-person, and it is so effing cute! It's yellow, and red, and asymmetrical, and I love it... Geez.

It's not quite an alarm clock, but one of my family members bought a digital shower clock with countdown timer, temperature display, and humidity display from a company called Kadams (fourth photo). I knew there used to be shower radios, but I didn't know there were modern-day shower clocks that omitted the radio. But there are! It's waterproof, and you can mount it on the wall of the shower, and you can see how humid the shower is making your bathroom, and you can set a timer so you don't turn yourself into an actual raisin showering for 47 years (guilty as charged). Also, it comes in fun colors and is surprisingly aesthetically pleasing!

I have been trying and trying and trying to find a funny article I once read about a terrible Zenith hotel alarm clock. I want to add it to my "Further Reading" list on this blog. But I cannot find it for the life of me. The problem is that whatever blog it was on seems to have gone offline. And if I could find the URL, I could search it on the Wayback Machine and see if they have an archived copy, but I have no earthly clue what the blog's URL was. (And unfortunately, you can't search the Wayback Machine's full contents by keyword like a Google search.) Ugh. It's so annoying. On the bright side, while searching, I did find a different article I read a long time ago about a woman who realized she is pickier about alarm clocks than she thought!

This really isn't an alarm clock, but more of a sleep aid: did you know there's a "robot" called Somnox that you can cuddle with as you sleep, and it takes deep breaths so that you start to mimic its breathing rhythm and fall asleep faster?

I feel like I'm forgetting one more thing, so if I remember it, I'll update this post. But these are the recent alarm clock-related things that have been going on for me. I hope you enjoyed hearing about them!

Image credits:

Sony BSP60: Google

IKEA TJINGA: IKEA

Clock #1: Philips AJ3138

The Philips AJ3138 is a kids' alarm clock radio released circa 2010. The two bell-shaped appendages on top are actually the radio volume and tuning dials! This delights me to no end, especially because I love a big, grabbable dial.

I'm also delighted to report that the AJ3138 is customizable. Each one came with a pink set of two dials and one faceplate, and a blue set of two dials and one faceplate. You could swap out the dials and faceplate yourself to change your clock's appearance! I have a suspicion the choice of pink and blue was done to reinforce the gender binary, which gets a big queer thumbs-down from me. But still, I love the idea that you could swap out the colors as your aesthetic preferences changed, or as the clock got handed down from user to user. You could even create a Frankenstein's-monster version with mismatched colors, like in the photo above!

The AJ3138 has a lot of features I don't want to list out, but the one that's most noticeable is that you can record an 8-second audio message on it using the built-in microphone, and then wake up to that message. Since this is a kids' device, I can imagine a parent recording a sweet message for their child, encouraging them to get out of bed that day!

Clock #2: Electrohome CR35

The Electrohome CR35 is a clock radio released circa 2015, and reviewed in several publications here, here, and here. The two bell-shaped appendages on top are actually LED lights! Like on other sunrise alarm clocks, you can set the lights to begin gradually illuminating 30 minutes before your alarm sounds, so that your body can wake up naturally.

The LED lights also double as a nightlight, and the clock has a motion sensor on top. If you need to see in the middle of the night, you can wave your hand over the top of the clock, and the lights come on! Another wave cuts them off.

The CR35 also has a lot of features I don't want to list out...so I won't!

Clock #3: To be revealed...

I have one more clock that fits this theme, but it's actually so awesome that I bought it on eBay, and I will try to do a full deep-dive post on it soon, once it arrives and I can discover its secrets!

I'm grateful to the manufacturers of these clocks for understanding that (a) the classic alarm clock shape is cute and adorable, and (b) the classic alarm clock shape is functional too, and modern remakes should reflect that. I'm excited to continue this theme in my big deep-dive post soon! See you then!

Image credits:

Analog alarm clocks: Amazon, Walmart, The Home Depot

Philips AJ3138: Google, Philips Singapore, irecommend.ru

Apparently SDI Technologies loves brand licensing

If you are me, you know the name SDI Technologies.

For a fairly small American company (founded in 1956), SDI has a pretty outsized impact on the alarm clock universe. That's because they make Timex alarm clocks...and iHome alarm clocks...and Zenith alarm clocks...and on and on and on.

Let me explain. SDI has a few brand names that they developed in-house, including Realtone and Soundesign, which are no longer in use, and iHome, which is still a very active brand today.

But because SDI is small and relatively unrecognizable, they achieved more sales success by licensing other companies' brand names...companies that consumers know and trust.

SDI currently licenses the Timex brand name. Timex is a real company that makes watches, but they don't make alarm clocks. Instead, SDI pays Timex a fee for the privilege of using the Timex name on SDI's alarm clocks, so consumers recognize the brand and trust the product more. (Which is not very consumer-friendly, but what can you do?)

SDI used to license a whole lot more brands, including Zenith (the now-defunct electronics manufacturer, whose name SDI used on alarm clocks), New Balance (the shoe brand, whose name SDI used on sport headphones), and Sylvania (the lighting brand, whose name SDI used on outlet timers for lamps).

SDI also has a division, formerly called KIDdesigns and now called eKids, which licenses kids' media franchises and makes electronics based on them. One of these franchises is Barbie! Everything's starting to make sense now...

(And in case this isn't enough brand licensing for you: SDI's in-house brand, iHome, became recognizable enough that then SDI started licensing the iHome name to other companies. Hence these iHome instant cameras made by Elite Brands, and these iHome phone chargers made by Lifeworks. SDI loves brand licensing, I can tell you that.)

I've just told you a lot of information, but let me summarize the most relevant part: the Timex T318S isn't made by Timex. And the Barbie BE-327 isn't made by Barbie. (I guess she was too busy being president or something.)

Rather, both alarm clocks are made by SDI Technologies. And SDI decided to save a buck by sharing the same plastic exterior shell between these two devices. Which is kind of creative, considering that these alarm clocks have virtually no features in common! They're not a match made in heaven. SDI went to a lot of trouble in the design process to fit these two very different devices into the same shell, so they could go to way less trouble actually designing production equipment to build these things. As a result, we ended up with two clocks that are as different as they can be, except that they both have an analog clock face, and they both have a nostalgic shell that I think is inspired by vintage radios.

Now let's discuss these clocks, starting with...

The Timex T318S: Two clocks in a trenchcoat

Originally selling for $25 circa 2002, the Timex T318S has a really unique design, in that it combines an analog clock and a digital clock into one unit. In the photos above, you can see the big, mechanical analog clock face, along with a smaller LCD display underneath that shows the time digitally.

What's really interesting about this design is that the analog clock and the digital clock don't talk to each other at all. They are two entirely separate clocks in the same body. Calling them Frankensteined together would be an overstatement, because last time I checked, the body parts of Frankenstein's monster at least communicate with one another. Here's how disconnected the analog clock is from the digital clock:

The digital clock is powered by the AC power cord, with 2 AA batteries as a backup. The analog clock is powered solely by a 3rd AA battery, not the AC power cord. The diagram below shows how the battery for the analog clock is literally a different battery from the backup batteries from the digital clock. I believe you could connect the power cord and batteries in such a way that only one clock or the other actually operates (though there's no reason to do that).

The digital clock is set using buttons on the device. The analog clock is set using a small mechanical dial on the back of the device. This means that it is possible for both clocks to be set to completely different times (though, once again, there's no reason to do that).

The "low battery" indicator that appears on the digital display only checks if the backup batteries for the digital clock are low. There is no indicator to check if the battery for the analog clock is low.

The only thing that the analog and digital clocks really share is a single brightness button that adjusts the illumination for both the analog clock face and the digital clock display. So the analog clock face's illumination is connected to the digital system, even though the analog clock itself isn't. (In fact, while the analog clock runs off its own battery, the analog clock illumination runs off the AC power cord and will shut off when power is disconnected.)

You might be wondering why in the world this clock is designed like this. In my last post, I discussed clocks that merge an analog clock face with digital features, and none of them go to the trouble of incorporating two different timekeeping mechanisms into the same device. But actually, I think this design is a pretty good one! Sure, it would be nice if, when you set the digital clock display, the analog hands automatically adjusted to match. But that would add tons of complexity to a product that is supposed to be affordable, with no real benefit. Or Timex could have gone the route of clocks from Aiwa, RCA, and Philips that have digital displays that show analog clock hands. But where's the fun in that? This clock is retro-styled, so it deserves a true mechanical clock display to match. And Timex could have ditched the digital mechanism fully (FORESHADOWING) and relied on the analog mechanism for alarms. But the digital display (a) serves as a backup for folks who bought this clock but actually prefer a digital display, (b) allows you to set AM/PM for the alarms (which you can't do on an analog clock), (c) allows you to change the alarm times more easily and precisely because you can read the exact time you're setting, and (d) allows for additional digital features for the alarms.

The Timex's unique design results in a few facts worth noting. First, the alarms are programmed on the digital display, and they trigger based on the time of the digital clock. The analog clock face is solely for timekeeping, not alarmkeeping (a word I made up).

Second, if you find it redundant to have the time shown on an analog clock face and a digital display, you can press a button, and the current time will disappear from the digital display, replaced by the day of the week in large letters (e.g., "SUN," "MON"). The packaging illustrates this quite nicely:

The packaging also highlights some of this clock's additional features, of which there are quite a few! These include:

An AM/FM radio with analog tuning and volume controls

The option to wake up to radio or 3 bell sounds (cathedral bell, mechanical bell, or chimes)

The option to fall asleep to radio or 3 nature sounds (babbling brook, forest spring, or ocean surf)

Gradually increasing alarm volume for the bell sounds

7-5-2 feature so your alarms can be set to sound on weekdays only, on weekends only, or every day

Sleep volume control so you can fall asleep to radio or nature sounds at a different volume from your usual playback or alarm volume

This is a pretty robust feature set for a clock that already has a one-of-a-kind design! (Okay, fine, maybe not one-of-a-kind, since I discovered this Timex Expedition alarm clock that I think has the same analog/digital hybrid design. But still.)

Here are a few more photos of the T318S. You can see the analog clock adjustment dial on the back, above the speaker. The buttons on the front (pictured earlier) are primarily for adjusting the time and alarm settings. The dials and switch on the right-hand side control the radio. And the buttons on top are fairly miscellaneous, including a large snooze button in the center, three small buttons behind it, and on and off buttons for music playback mounted on either "wing" of the clock.

Between this clock's dual clock mechanisms, its retro-style shape, and its helpful features like weekday-only alarms and nature sounds, the T318S would be pretty interesting to discuss all on its own! But we haven't even gotten to the meat and potatoes: this clock's fraternal twin!

The Barbie BE-327: A kid-friendly clock radio...in pink

This clock is kind of adorable, right? (Especially in these high-quality photos from Retrospekt.) The light pink shade, the bright pink accents, the floral patterns, the retro shape...it's fashionable as all get-out.

It didn't start out this fashionable, though. The BE-327 seems to have two revisions, and an earlier model has a slightly less crisp color scheme, a more generic floral motif, and a less attractive font on the analog clock face that is more reminiscent of the Timex. Here's this older revision in its original packaging:

This packaging is literally so sad. They came up with two features to highlight on the clock: "Lighted Clock Face" (🤯) and "Wake to FM radio or buzzer" (🤯🤯🤯). We also have this slight grammatical mess of back copy:

"This Cool fashionable design was made for girl with style. Featuring FM radio, and easy-to-read clockface and more!"

Also, can I just say that this clock has nothing to do with Barbie? This archived page suggests that SDI made some Barbie-themed electronics with "cool phrases" and "awesome tunes," but this clock has none of that. No Barbie iconography, no Barbie sound effects, nothing. I think this clock is part of a different product line of "hi-tech products that really work," so the thrill of this being a working clock radio for kids is supposed to overpower its lack of Barbieness. (Even though SDI made another Barbie alarm clock, the BE-107, that actually works and includes Barbie sound effects. It can be done, people.)

Anyway, we're losing the plot here. The Barbie BE-327 cost $19 circa 2002, so you would think it would have almost as many features as its Timex twin, which costs only $5 more. But you'd be wrong. SDI removed tons and tons and tons of features from the Timex clock to make the Barbie. But I actually don't think this is a bad thing! This is a kids' product, so it needs to be way easier to use. Do kids really need weekday-only alarms? No. Do they need three different options of bell sounds for the alarm? No. This clock is no-frills, and that means it's easy for kids to learn.

The Barbie clock has a few fundamental differences compared to the Timex. I'm going to re-paste both the Timex and Barbie clocks so you can compare them:

The first big difference is that the Timex has both an analog and digital clock in the same body. The Barbie doesn't. It only has the analog clock. Where the digital display on the Timex used to be, there is a conveniently large Barbie logo instead.

I suspect the loss of the digital "brain" is what resulted in the loss of the nature sounds, the bell sounds, the 7-5-2 feature, the sleep volume feature, etc. The radio is still there, though for unclear reasons, the AM reception is removed. The Barbie is FM-only. (Maybe they figured kids are too young to listen to AM stations, which were sort of old hat even when this clock was new.)

On the Timex, the alarms run through the digital clock. But on the Barbie, because there is no digital clock, the alarm runs through the analog clock. That's why the Barbie has an extra hand on the clock face (indicating the alarm time), and an extra dial on the back (for adjusting the alarm time). You can see this distinction in the photos below, and I find it fascinating that the Timex has placeholder plastic where the Barbie's extra dial would have gone, suggesting that these clocks were designed in tandem. (In other words, the Timex didn't come first, because it wouldn't need a placeholder for one of the Barbie's features otherwise.) The photos below also reveal the second big difference between these clocks:

There are cords coming out the back of the Timex. One is the FM radio antenna, and the other (more important) one is the AC power cable. The Barbie has neither. The Barbie runs entirely on batteries.

So these clocks are the same, except that one is an analog/digital hybrid clock that plugs into the wall, one is an analog-only clock that runs on batteries, and they share basically no features whatsoever. Got it!

Honestly, though, I think it's a good thing that the Barbie runs on batteries. Kids can rip hardwired cables off of the back of clocks...or get tangled up in them and hurt themselves...or follow them all the way to the power outlets that they shouldn't be touching. A battery-only design removes all these pitfalls. It also makes the device portable, in case kids want to carry their tunes around the house or to a friend's house!

Where the FM antenna goes on the Timex, the Barbie has a vacant hole. (I guess the antenna is entirely internal on that model.) Where the power cord goes on the Timex, the Barbie has a piece of filler plastic.

The Timex's battery compartment has a pull-tab to open it, but the Barbie's compartment door screws in, so kids can't access the batteries (for safety reasons). The Barbie takes one more battery than the Timex, though its rear panel suggests that it too has 1 battery cordoned-off to power the clock mechanism only. The Barbie's battery door also has a sticker noting that the radio automatically shuts off after 35 minutes, to conserve batteries (a smart feature for a kids' product). Since this basically works like an always-on sleep timer, the Barbie has no button to activate a sleep timer.

What I find perhaps the most fascinating about the Barbie BE-327 is how the Timex's controls are adapted for it. The Timex has six buttons on the front panel that digitally adjust the time and alarm. But because the Barbie is all-analog, it doesn't need these buttons. So instead, there are six decorative gray placeholders that look like buttons, but don't actually do anything. Scroll back up to the picture of the Timex and Barbie side-by-side and you'll see what I mean. This amuses me to no end, and honestly, it actually doesn't look terrible, in part because it's consistent and all six buttons are now decorative (rather than just some of them).

The top panel still has "on" and "off" buttons in the same places, along with a "snooze" button that still activates a display backlight (though I suspect that backlight shuts itself off quickly to save batteries). The three buttons behind the snooze button have been replaced with one giant button to switch the alarm on and off. The right side still has tuning and volume dials, but the AM/FM band switch is unnecessary for the Barbie's FM-only radio, so it has been replaced with a switch to select between radio and buzzer alarms.

That's all!

Let's recap what we've just discussed. We have a Timex alarm clock that's not made by Timex. It has a unique combo of analog and digital clock displays, along with neat features like weekday-only alarms and nature sounds.

And we have a Barbie alarm clock that's not made by Barbie. It has an analog clock face only, and it is battery-operated and no-frills, giving kids the thrill of their very own alarm clock radio.

These clocks might as well come from opposite corners of the earth. One is fairly retro-styled and designed with useful features for adults. The other is bright pink, fun, and whimsical for kids.

Yet both clocks are made by the same company, and that company came up with a clever way to build them using the exact same plastic shell, to save a buck and give them some stylistic flair. They replaced digital displays with Barbie logos, switched alarms from digital to analog, ripped out power cords, and turned buttons into decorative stripes.

And in doing so, I'd say SDI managed to make two fairly compelling alarm clocks! The Timex has a pretty nifty set of features. And the Barbie is easy for kids to use, and quite adorable too. This is a rare moment where cost-cutting doesn't mean quality-cutting, and it's all thanks to whichever designers and engineers at SDI did this process thoughtfully. Kudos to them.

That's everything I've got! I hope you find this tale of two alarm clocks as interesting as I do, and I hope to see you again soon!

Image credits:

Timex T318S: Google Images, eBay, WorthPoint

Timex T318S instruction manual: ManualsLib

Barbie BE-327: Retrospekt, eBay, eBay

Sunbeam Elite CR1003-005

We'll start off with something tame. This clock is a tiny bit irritating, but mostly it's really cool. I haven't gone too deep down this rabbit hole, but there is a subgenre of alarm clocks specifically designed for hotels. I alluded to such clocks a few days ago, and this wonderful blog post by a UI designer is a deeper dive into the topic.

Hotel alarm clocks are different from regular alarm clocks in that they are designed to be user-friendly without requiring you to read an instruction manual. They also have hotel-specific features, such as alarms that do not stay enabled for multiple days (so they don't wake up the next guest staying in the same room), and accessible USB charging ports (so you don't have to rummage around the hotel room looking for outlets).

The Sunbeam Elite hotel alarm clock is a pretty well-designed, full-featured hotel alarm clock! It has a radio with digital tuning, plus an aux-in jack and an iPod dock so you can play your own music. (This clock launched in 2012, so iPods were still a thing.) Besides the iPod dock, it has a front-mounted USB port for even more gadget charging. It has a white noise feature, which I've never seen on a hotel alarm clock, even though that's probably exactly where you want it most (to drown out all the loud guests and screaming kids)! It has three selectable alarm sounds, and a nap timer so you can wake up from a nap without changing your alarm time. And the snooze button even lights up when the alarm sounds so you can find it more easily!

Most hotel alarm clocks have instructions printed on them to aid ease of use. And the Sunbeam Elite definitely needs instructions, considering that it has more features than most hotel alarm clocks. But there are no printed instructions. That's because this clock has audio instructions that play automatically when you press a button, walking you through common features, then confirming whatever you've selected!

Except. Take a look at the video below, demonstrating these voice instructions. (And then go back and watch the whole video, in which the presenter is weirdly enthusiastic about this alarm clock. Like, even more than I would be.)

When you press "Alarm Set," the clock says, "To set alarm time, adjust set wheel, then press enter." This sounds like you are supposed to spin the wheel to set the alarm time, and then once you press "Enter," you're done!

But that's not correct. You spin the wheel to set the hours only, and then once you press "Enter," you spin the wheel again to set the minutes only. The voice instructions don't reflect this. So you might press "Alarm Set" and spin the wheel, then wonder why only the hours are changing. Or you might press "Enter" and think you've set the alarm, when actually you still need to set the minutes.

Because the hours flash first, then the minutes, I feel like most reasonably savvy users could figure out how to set the alarm. But I've always been a little bit irritated that this clock, which is so intent on being easy to use that it has audio instructions, doesn't have correct audio instructions. I don't think it would be that hard to have one audio clip that says, "To set hours, adjust set wheel, then press enter," followed by another audio clip for minutes.

I still think this is a really good clock, but this seems like a flaw that was both easily avoidable and worth avoiding!

Lenoxx Sound CDR-190

This circa-2000 CD clock radio is unattractive and exceedingly basic. It has a CD player with playback modes, an AM/FM radio with analog tuning, a headphone jack, and...that's it! You can't even choose a CD track to wake up to. If you use the CD alarm, it always starts from track 1.

Despite the lack of features, if you gave me this clock as a gift in 2000, I'd have been thrilled. Sometimes you just need something simple to play your music on, and while I doubt this had excellent sound quality, I do imagine it worked well enough!

And I do love the chunky front-mounted dials and switches, plus the chunky top-mounted buttons, shown below:

But we're not here to pontificate about this bargain-basement alarm clock. We have a job to do. And that job is to criticize!

Most modern alarm clocks have separate controls to turn on the alarms, and turn on the music. But back in the day, many alarm clocks had a single control that did both. Here's an example of what it should look like, from the Realistic Chronosette-273:

This clock has a four-position switch: on/off/auto/alarm. In the "on" position, the music is on. (The alarms are off.) In the "off" position, the music is off, and so are the alarms. In the "auto" position, the music is off, but the alarm is on and will play music rather than a buzzer. (In other words, the music plays automatically at the alarm time.) In the "alarm" position, the music is off, but the alarm is on and will play a buzzer.

This isn't necessarily an intuitive design, but it works well enough! The separate switch for tape/radio chooses which audio source plays in "on" or "auto" modes. And if you want to listen to music but the alarm is on (meaning you can't slide the switch to the "on" position), you can press the "sleep" button to activate the music for the sleep timer.

Now let's return to the Lenoxx Sound CDR-190. Take a look at its switches on the front:

These look similar at a glance. Except for one crucial difference. The "off" position has been moved from the switch on the left, to the switch in the middle. So we have an auto/alarm/on switch, and a CD/off/radio switch. (The AM/FM switch is mostly irrelevant to our discussion.)

You wouldn't think that moving the "off" position to another switch would ruin everything. Oh, but it does.

To listen to music, you slide the auto/alarm/on switch to "on," and the CD/off/radio switch to "CD" or "radio." Intuitive enough!

But what do you do when you're done? The instructions say to slide the CD/off/radio switch to "off." So the audio is off when the auto/alarm/on switch says "on" and the CD/off/radio switch says "off." Let me repeat myself. The music is off when one switch says "on" and the other says "off."

It gets worse. To choose the CD or radio alarm, you set the auto/alarm/on switch to "auto" and the CD/off/radio switch to "CD" or "radio." Again, easy enough.

But what happens when the auto/alarm/on switch is set to "auto" and the CD/off/radio switch is set to "off"? The manual doesn't say, presumably because you're not supposed to select these options. And I honestly don't know what would happen if you did this. "Auto" mode is supposed to "listen" to the CD/off/radio switch to pick your source. But if it listens to the "off" setting, then the alarm fails to sound even though you have the alarm turned on. Alternatively, if the clock just picks a source and the alarm sounds anyway, that could result in a rude unintended awakening. After all, in the example two paragraphs earlier, the "off" setting overrides the other switch. Shouldn't it do so here too?

Moving along, if you choose the buzzer alarm, you set the auto/alarm/on switch to "alarm." The instructions don't mention the CD/off/radio switch, and I believe that's because the "alarm" mode is not supposed to listen to that switch. "Alarm" mode is for the buzzer, so it doesn't need another switch to tell it which sound source to use. But that means if you have the auto/alarm/on switch set to "alarm" and you have the CD/off/radio switch set to "off," I think the alarm will still sound. So if you thought the "off" position would override the "alarm" position, I believe you'd be wrong.

The crucial error in these controls' design is that one switch (auto/alarm/on) contains only settings where something is on. And then another switch (CD/off/radio) contains the "off" option. So if you have "off" selected, it will always contradict the meaning (the on-ness, if you will) of whatever you have selected on the auto/alarm/on switch.

Making things worse, the contradictory switches seem to switch priority for no reason, getting me all switched up. In the "on" and "off" mode, the CD/off/radio switch overrides the auto/alarm/on switch. In the "auto" and "CD"/"radio" mode, the auto/alarm/on switch is dominant and the CD/off/radio switch feeds into it, so to speak. In the "alarm" and "off" mode, I think the auto/alarm/on switch overrides the CD/off/radio switch. And in the "auto" and "off" mode, I couldn't even tell you what happens.

The most frustrating part of all this is that this is a solved problem. Just have an auto/alarm/on/off switch and a CD/radio switch like every other alarm clock with this design. That way, when you have the switch in "off," it can't also be in "on."

I can just imagine an owner of this clock using it for decades, and finding it perfectly serviceable, yet always setting the alarm on a wing and a prayer and hoping it does (or doesn't) go off, because these switches make so little sense.

Casio TSA-80 and TSA-81

Well, that broke my brain. Thankfully, the rest of these clocks aren't so confusing!

We're switching gears now, in that the two clocks I've discussed above are just annoying. But this duo of Casio clocks is (in my opinion) offensive.

After my bird-themed alarm clock post that features three Casio clocks, I went down a Casio alarm clock rabbit hole (and actually bought one I may share about soon!). This really cool website has a database of many different Casio alarm clocks, including several I'm about to show you.

The clock above is the Casio Space Sonic 8, and it is not one of the offensive clocks I'm about to show you. It's an analog clock, and its nifty feature is that you can pick from a whopping 8 different alarm sounds, all whimsical (sort of like the Nickelodeon TimeBlaster). The sounds include a UFO sound, a laser beam, a fireball, and the classic "computer sound." Ah, yes. We love us a good computer sound.

But in all seriousness, despite the sometimes-silly sound names, the idea of a clock that can wake you up to all kinds of fun and exciting sounds is actually pretty cool! So Casio made two more clocks that have an almost-identical design.

The clocks above are the Casio TSA-80 (left) and TSA-81 (right). They are also analog clocks, and they also have 8 whimsical sound options, but the sounds are different from the Space Sonic 8. You can choose from fun options like "Dracula Sound" or "TV Game!"

Or "Machine Gun 1." Or "Machine Gun 2." Or "Bombing 1." Or "Bombing 2." Or "Bomb Burst."

Uh...they kind of had to go and ruin it, didn't they? Somehow when I think of cute and funny alarm sounds, or even cool and sci-fi alarm sounds, I don't usually think of sounds glorifying war and violence. What even does "bombing" sound like? Content warning for the next sentence (please skip to the next paragraph if you need to): For some reason, my mind imagines the screams of civilians embedded in the audio clip.

I think even sounds of cartoon violence, like the "fireball" sound effect on the Space Sonic 8, are not that big a deal. But sounds of actual, real-life weapons that have killed actual human beings...that seems in poor taste to me.

Sangean RCR-29

Switching gears, this clock is not offensive, but it is still stupid! It's also gorgeous. Look at the round design with a minimalist analog clock, the digital display hiding behind the transparent clock hands, the silver and wooden accents. Here are a few more photos:

And here's the RCR-29 in black:

I love that, on the black model, Sangean switches out the silver and light wood accents for dark metal and dark wood accents.

I discussed Sangean in my last post, and they slayed with the aesthetic design of this clock. They also slayed with the feature set! This clock has a radio with digital tuning and presets, support for Radio Data System (which shows info like the station name on the screen), and support for NOAA weather radio stations. You can even enable a "weather alert" feature that will sound an alarm and turn the radio on automatically when a weather emergency alert is being broadcast, even if you aren't currently listening to the radio at that time!

The RCR-29 also has an aux-in jack so you can play music from your phone, plus a USB port so you can charge your phone. It has a date display, dual alarms that can be set to sound once / every day / on weekdays only / on weekends only, and programmable snooze duration. And you can buy it today, for only $99! Not too shabby.

I love this clock. So of course Sangean ruined it. RUINED IT. This Amazon reviewer (named Amazonian Maven) shows us how:

YOU CAN'T READ THE TIME IN THE DARK.

Sangean remembered all kinds of design details on this clock. But they forgot to illuminate the clock hands. All 9 reviews I can see on Amazon mention this issue. Don't just take it from me. Take it from Tony P. on Amazon:

"This clock-radio, while nicely designed and built with good fit and finish, fails at the most basic task of a clock: showing the time! The hands on the analog face are neither backlit nor phosphorescent, so you cannot see them in the dark. The digital display shows the date, not the time. You can press a button to display the time, but it reverts to the date after five seconds, and there is no way to configure it otherwise. Therefore, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I cannot tell what time it is without pressing a button. The radio, on the other hand, sounds excellent for its size and tunes in local stations well. I recommend this as a desktop clock-radio to be used in the daytime, but not as an alarm clock."

– Tony P. on Amazon

I get that Sangean had to make the clock hands transparent so that you could see the digital display behind them. So maybe it was hard to add wiring within the hands to make them light up. But Sangean could have made the hands glow-in-the-dark (like a clock I'll be posting about soon). Or they could have added a light from one edge of the clock to illuminate the hands (like the clock I'll be posting about soon). Or they could have set the digital display to show the time, without requiring a button press as in the current design.

There are so many things Sangean could have done instead of this. So many things that would have made this usable as an alarm clock. Instead, they took a visually beautiful, thoughtfully designed alarm clock...and almost completely threw its usefulness in the garbage, irritating users in the process. It's such a shame!!!

Timex Wacky Wake-Up / Shake N' Wake T156B

I've saved the worst for last! This alarm clock is sort of adorable, and it's designed to be a funny, whimsical way to wake up. It has stubby little feet and a distorted clock display, and at the alarm time, it plays one of seven silly, annoying phrases, then starts obnoxiously vibrating and ooching across your nightstand. (You can reduce the volume and turn off the vibration if you like.) The online consensus is that this clock is not a terribly pleasant way to wake up, but I am tempted to commend Timex for trying something different.

Except. You know what Timex thought counted as funny phrases to include on this clock?

Phrases voiced by racial, ethnic, and queer caricatures and stereotypes. 🤦‍♂️😭

Why. Just why. Literally, why did we have to do this??? Not only is this blatantly offensive, I don't even know who would find this funny.

And this thing is not "of its time." Amazon says it came out in 2009! If it were from the 1970s or something, I'd be disappointed but not surprised. But this is from my lifetime!

This YouTuber demonstrates this clock's offensive phrases (and thankfully calls them out as offensive). I personally recommend not listening to the phrases, just to avoid filling your brain with unpleasant and potentially triggering vitriol. But if I've already opened the can of worms and you can't resist...just be careful.

That's...all!

Wow! That was a terrible journey. We had clocks that fail at basic usability and clocks that perpetuate negative social attitudes! Just delightful. (Not.)

I was unsure whether or not to post about these clocks, because I try to keep this blog positive and fun, not negative and stressful. And I'm only half-kidding when I say that these terrible exemplars break my alarm-clock-loving heart.

But I am here to chronicle pieces of alarm clock history, and these clocks are part of alarm clock history, whether I like it or not. (I don't like it, if you haven't noticed!) And while I don't think you need me to tell you why offensive and insensitive alarm clocks are a bad thing, I do think there's something to be learned from the Sunbeam, the Lenoxx Sound, and the Sangean about principles of usability and how not to violate them.

If nothing else, I hope this post got you thinking. About something. I'm not totally sure what, but maybe you can fill that part in for me and then this journey will have been meaningful and emotionally significant!

Thanks for walking with me along this strange alarm clock path. See you soon, for less negativity and more fun and weirdness, I promise!

Image credits:

Sunbeam Elite CR1003-005: Amazon

Lenoxx Sound CDR-190: eBay

Realistic Chronosette-273: eBay

Casio Space Sonic 8: Ledudu

Casio TSA-80: Ledudu

Casio TSA-81: Ledudu

Sangean RCR-29: Sangean, Amazon

"During two-channel stereo recording, two microphones are placed in strategically chosen locations relative to the sound source, with both recording simultaneously. The two recorded channels will be similar, but each will have distinct time-of-arrival and sound-pressure-level information. During playback, the listener's brain uses those subtle differences in timing and sound level to triangulate the positions of the recorded objects."

The goal of stereo sound is to reproduce the differences in audio between your left ear and your right ear that allow you to sense location. This way, even if the audio is still coming from just one or two locations, your brain will be tricked into thinking that the sound is all around you. When you listen to music on headphones, you don't perceive it as coming from the headphones and being blasted into your ears. It sounds like you're inside of the music, and it's taking up your whole room. And that's because your headphones are sending slightly different sound waves to both of your ears, replicating the differences in sound waves you would hear if you were actually in the room with the instruments.

But here's the thing. It's very easy to send different sounds to each ear when you have headphones pointed into your ears. Play one sound in the left ear, play a slightly different sound in the right, done. But it is much harder to control what your ears hear when the device isn't right up against your ears. There are lots of alarm clocks that support stereo sound. They have two speakers! But the speakers are right next to each other, in basically the same location in the room. So rather than your left ear hearing the left speaker and your right ear hearing the right speaker, both ears hear both speakers. There's still a difference between when the sound waves reach one ear and reach the other. But that difference is because of where the clock is in the room, not because of how the left and right audio channels are separated in the actual audio. (By the time they reach your ears, they're basically no longer separated at all.) So you perceive the sound as coming from a little tiny object in a specific spot in the room, same as if the clock just had one speaker.

So what's the solution? The solution is to move the two speakers apart. If the left speaker is actually on the left of the room, and the right speaker is actually on the right of the room, it's more likely that you will hear the left sounds in your left ear, and the right sounds in your right ear. Then, when there is a difference between those sounds that comes from the audio itself, you are more likely to perceive that difference properly, which makes you feel as though the music is coming from all around your room (not just from two speakers).

There are many stereo (and surround) sound systems that have multiple speakers you can place around your room. That way, left audio comes from the left, and right audio comes from the right, resulting in an immersive experience without headphones. But this multi-part device design is a lot more rare on alarm clocks.

But it's not unheard of! Today, I want to show you four alarm clocks with separate speakers that you can position for optimal stereo sound. This is quite the rabbit hole we're about to go down, and we'll kick it off by looking at the...

Sangean WR-50P

Sangean is a Taiwanese manufacturer of radios, and somehow, despite all odds, they very much still exist. In fact, they are a little bit beloved, and this model, the WR-50P, retails for about $215 and is a top pick of Wirecutter.

This machine is a radio first, alarm clock second. It's quite a robust radio, with a giant extending antenna for FM reception, connections for an external AM antenna, digital tuning with presets and a "seek" feature, support for RDS (a feature that shows song names and other info for FM radio), a remote control, optional outputs to headphones or a subwoofer, and obscure radio-related settings beyond the scope of this post. And it also has Bluetooth and an aux-in jack if you want your own music instead of radio!

On top of that, for something that isn't an alarm clock first, the WR-50P is a surprisingly robust alarm clock! Sangean equipped this machine with a date display, programmable snooze duration, dual alarms that can go off once / daily / on weekdays only / on weekends only, and the ability to choose the alarm volume and radio station independently per alarm. That's a lot!

But the reason we're discussing this machine is its two-piece design. You can actually buy just the main unit (shown on the left in the photo above), the WR-50, and get all the features but with just a single speaker. Or you can buy the combined set, the WR-50P, which includes the extra speaker shown on the right (model SP-40) for stereo sound. The secondary speaker pulls power and audio from the main unit using a 6-foot cable, which is not as long as one might hope, but is long enough to get some distance between these two machines so you can point that left speaker at your left ear, and that right speaker at your right ear.

The photo below shows all the rear connections of these machines, including the red jack that allows you to connect the main unit and the extra speaker.

Sangean says on their website, "Though some may say the radio is a thing of the past, we believe that it remains a timeless medium that plays a part in every scenario. The beauty amplified in sound waves holds no prejudice towards age or group and can be produced effortlessly by our products." That's a lovely sentiment.

You know what does hold prejudice toward a particular group? The choice to label this machine's secondary speaker as the "Slave Speaker." Literally. Look at the photo above and read the back.

Wikipedia explains that master/slave terms are often used in technology to describe situations where one device controls another. AND THOSE TERMS SHOULDN'T BE USED, FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.

Don't worry though, y'all. I'm sure Sangean didn't mean anything by this, because they are a Good Company with Corporate Social Responsibility Programs:

Look! They have "office vegetation management." That absolves all their sins.

Anyway. Rant over. I do want to say one thing about the WR-50P before we proceed. If you're using this as a radio first and alarm clock second, finding space for both speakers isn't terribly hard. You could put them on a table or your bookshelves. But if you're using this as an alarm clock first and radio second, this setup might be harder to position. You could put both speakers on your nightstand, but then they're both pointing at the same side of your head, which hurts the stereo separation.

You could put the main unit on your nightstand and the secondary speaker on a nightstand on the other side of your bed. But the 6-foot cord isn't long enough to traverse a king-size bed (which Google says is 6 1/3' wide). Plus, does your partner really want a giant speaker that doesn't do anything else taking up half their nightstand? They already have to make room for their own alarm clock and all their other tchotchkes. Double-plus, you probably want the main unit on your side of the bed, but Sangean has the units factory-programmed so that the main unit is always the left channel, and the secondary speaker is always the right channel. You're out of luck if you're on the right side of the bed.

Another option is to put both speakers across the room, past the foot of your bed, as if you were finding space for a TV. You could control the system with the remote control, but checking the time from bed would require a lot of craning your neck. I don't know that the WR-50P is designed to provide both the stereo experience and the alarm clock experience at the same time. Clearly, we need a better option.

Sony ICF-IR7

And we have one! Meet the Sony ICF-IR7. Introduced circa 1991, the ICF-IR7 has huge, one-and-a-half-foot tall speakers. They’re huge for good reason. Each speaker unit contains two actual speakers: a regular one, and a woofer, which is a speaker that produces bass sounds. So you get stereo separation and improved bass. My back-of-the-napkin math suggests the inflation-adjusted cost of this system is somewhere between $400 and $700, but at least you were getting your money’s worth.

Because the speakers are huge, you probably wouldn’t want them on your nightstand. Indeed, Sony designed this system so you could place the speakers across the room from you, in both corners of your space. You can see this arrangement in the diagram above. But like I discussed with the Sangean system, putting your alarm clock across the room creates problems. The only way to control it is with a remote control, and who wants to hold a remote in the air every time you need to change a setting? And changing settings or checking the time would get really frustrating if the screen was all the way over there.

But unlike Sangean, Sony thought of this. Meet the "remote commander."

The remote commander is the third piece of the ICF-IR7's puzzle. For the record, "remote commander" isn't a term Sony invented for the ICF-IR7. They used to use that term all the time to describe their remote controls. (What can I say? Sony is weird. Exhibit A: the Rolly.) But unlike your typical remote control, the ICF-IR7's remote commander looks like a typical alarm clock.

Sony's solution for moving the speakers away from your nightstand is to deconstruct the alarm clock. The remote commander includes all of the system's controls (except the Mega Bass dial), and it also includes the clock display. And it lives on your nightstand, so that the controls and display are accessible even if the two speaker units are far away.

In deconstructing the typical alarm clock, Sony had to do a lot of weird stuff, and most of the weirdness owes to connectivity. You see, the two speaker units of the ICF-IR7 connect with wires, which isn't too weird. Below are the rear panels of both speaker units. The left speaker plugs into a wall outlet, and two wires connect the left speaker to the right speaker, which draws its power from the left speaker (so it doesn't need a separate outlet).

But it's one thing to run wires across the back of your bedroom between both speakers. You might be able to hide them behind a console or table. It's another thing to run wires across the side of your bedroom, to connect the speakers to the remote commander. So Sony doesn't do that. Instead, the remote commander runs on batteries (though you can plug it into an outlet with an optional AC adapter), and it sends commands to the left speaker unit wirelessly, via infrared. This is where things get really weird.

Most wireless devices in our home use Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or another radio-based wireless protocol. These protocols are super-handy. They can send a ton of data in two directions quickly. They rely on radio waves that can pass through walls and objects, so the Wi-Fi doesn't go out when someone walks between the computer and the router. And they're digital, which means signals rarely get distorted, and communication streams don't interfere with one another.

But in 1991, Wi-Fi would not be introduced for 6 more years, and Bluetooth for 7. There were home devices that used radio-frequency-based ("RF") wireless communication. But they were analog, which meant interference was common. (If you and your neighbor both had a cordless phone, and your phones were communicating with their base stations on the same wireless channel, it was possible for you to hear your neighbor's conversation over your cordless handset. Yikes.)

Sony smartly decided to avoid the mess of early-90s RF communication and use infrared instead. But using infrared introduces its own cornucopia of complexities. Infrared is digital, but it can't send nearly as much information as fast. And because infrared waves work similarly to light waves (they're even produced by tiny almost-lightbulbs), they can be blocked by walls or objects. (If you've ever used a remote that you had to point at whatever you were controlling, that's a telltale sign the remote used infrared.)

Because an infrared signal can be easily blocked by an object and therefore missed or interrupted, infrared is best used for communications that don't last that long and can be repeated if necessary. When we listen to music with a Bluetooth speaker, our phone has the music and transmits it to the Bluetooth speaker. But imagine the remote commander trying to transmit AM/FM radio to the speakers over infrared. I genuinely don't think it would be possible to transmit that much data that fast over infrared. And if someone walked between the speakers and the remote commander, the radio would go out. And this design would run down the remote commander's batteries absurdly fast.

So Sony does something you might not expect. Even though they pulled the clock display and controls into the remote commander, the radio receiver itself lives in the left speaker unit. In the picture above of the backs of the speaker units, you can see a little wrapped-up wire poking out to the left of the left speaker. That's the FM radio antenna. And in the first photo of the ICF-IR7, you can see a display on the front of the left speaker. That shows the radio frequency. The left speaker even has a battery compartment for a battery backup, even though the left speaker has no clock, because the radio presets are stored in the left speaker, and this was an era when affordable memory chips needed electricity to store info. So the battery backup is just to retain radio presets in the event of a power outage!

The ICF-IR7 tries to limit the amount of infrared transmission between the left speaker unit and the remote commander, to avoid wasted batteries and missed signals. So the left speaker unit doesn't transmit the radio frequency back to the remote commander. This means that you can tune the radio or switch through presets from your nightstand, but if you want to check the exact radio frequency, you have to go read the tiny screen across the room. (Alas.) Also, rather than the left speaker transmitting the current time to the remote commander, or the remote commander transmitting alarm settings to the left speaker, the timekeeping circuitry and alarm times both live inside the remote commander. At the alarm time, the remote commander just sends a signal to the speakers to cut them on. (This means you can't have any objects between the remote commander and the left speaker unit when you go to sleep. But Sony was smart and included multiple infrared transmitters in the remote commander, pointing several directions, so it doesn't matter how you have the remote commander rotated. One of the transmitters is always pointed at the speaker.)

There's one more thing I have to mention! The ICF-IR7 does not have a built-in CD player. Which honestly seems like a huge omission for something that cost this much and was already this complicated! But Sony hadn't forgotten about CD fans. If you scroll back up and look at the back of the left speaker unit, you'll see white and red jacks, which are commonly used on older electronics for analog audio input or output. Sony designed the ICF-IR7 so you could connect one of Sony's Discman portable CD players. You use a cable that plugs into the Discman on one end, and plugs into the white-and-red jacks on the other end, and now you can hear your CDs through the speakers!

But Sony went even further. Discman players were often designed to support a remote. Not a wireless infrared remote or anything like that. This was a wired remote, sort of like the kind on wired earbuds nowadays that has buttons for volume and track. In the photo above, you can see a jack on the left speaker unit called "DISCMAN REMOTE." If you connect this to the remote jack on the Discman, the ICF-IR7 can send wired signals to the Discman to control it, such as by changing the track. (I've seen many clocks with auxiliary audio input jacks, and almost none can actually control the audio device like this!)

So what this means is that you could press the previous/next track buttons on the remote commander. And the remote commander would send an infrared signal to the left speaker unit. Which would in turn send a signal out the "DISCMAN REMOTE" jack through a wire to the Discman. Which would cause the Discman to change the track, and then it would send the track audio back out through a wire to the red-and-white audio input jacks on the left speaker. Which would then play the left-channel audio, and send the right-channel audio through the gray-and-red wires to the right speaker, which would play it. That's at least four different connections happening to play one song. I cannot imagine anything more Rube Goldberg-ian, and yet, it works!

Panasonic RC-CD600 Twin Dreamer

Phew. Okay. I promise nothing else we're going to discuss in this post is as complicated as the Sony ICF-IR7.

In fact, look at this Panasonic system from 2001. Even at a glance, it's way simpler. Ignoring the regular-looking remote control, it has just two pieces, rather than three. (And the device on the left doesn't look too complicated. Though that's a tiny bit deceiving.)

We've established that the ICF-IR7 is so complicated because it needs a way to bring the controls and clock display to your nightstand, even though the speakers are across the room. But this system, the Panasonic RC-CD600, doesn't need to do that because the whole system lives on your nightstand.

See? The main unit resides on one nightstand, and the "sub unit" (as Panasonic calls it) resides on the other nightstand. This still results in great stereo separation, because the left unit produces sounds you hear from your left, and the right unit produces sounds you hear from your right. The main unit, which features tons of buttons and two different displays, plugs into a wall outlet, and a hardwired cable from the sub unit plugs into the back of the main unit to draw electricity and data. You can hide this cable behind your bed for a seamless-ish installation!

But imagine you share your bed with someone else. Wouldn't it be a hard sell to convince your partner to put a speaker on their nightstand too? They already have to find nightstand space for their alarm clock, after all.

Oh, but Panasonic thought of that.

The RC-CD600 is designed to take the place of two alarm clocks. It has two alarms that can be set for different times, which is not in and of itself unusual. What is unusual is that one alarm can sound through the speaker on one side of the bed, and then the other alarm can sound through the speaker on the other side of the bed. The diagram above shows this quite elegantly. You can see the speaker on the husband's side of the bed waking him up at 6 so he can go off to work, and then the speaker on the wife's side of the bed waking her up at 8, a little later. (How deeply heteronormative!)

Let's dive a little deeper into how this system works. First, let's look at the main unit.

The main unit is the brains of this system. It includes one speaker, two displays (one for the clock and one for the audio system), tons of buttons, the infrared receiver for the remote, the radio receiver, and the CD compartment. (Unlike Sony's system, this system has CD playback built-in.) The main unit has a pretty robust feature set, including CD playback modes, a radio with digital tuning and presets, equalizer presets, a headphone jack, and an alarm that (I think) has a programmable CD track or radio station, plus a programmable volume level.

Next, let's look at the sub unit.

The sub unit also has one speaker. (This unit is a regular speaker, not a subwoofer, despite the name "sub.") It has a hardwired cable that plugs into the main unit, and thoughtfully hides in a compartment on the back where you can store excess length of cable. And, crucially, the sub unit includes two buttons: a snooze doze button, and a button to stop the alarm.

If you go back up to the main unit, you'll notice the side of that unit has a button called "Speaker Mode." This button is the magic of the entire system. It toggles between three playback modes: dual, main, and sub.

In dual mode, audio plays through both the main and sub units, with proper stereo separation. (You can actually put either unit on either side of the bed, then slide a switch on the back of the main unit to choose which unit is on the left, and which is on the right!)

But in main mode, audio plays through the main unit only. And in sub mode, audio plays through the sub unit only.

You can set the speaker mode in advance for each alarm. So let's say you and a partner share the bed, and the main unit is on your side, and the sub unit is on their side. You can set your alarm to main mode, and the alarm will sound only on your side of the bed, reducing (though obviously not eliminating) the chance that it will wake up your partner too. And you can shut the alarm off using the buttons on top of the main unit.

Then you can set your partner's alarm to sub mode, and the alarm will sound only on their side of the bed. And this is what's really cool: because the sub unit also has snooze and alarm stop buttons, your partner can snooze or stop their alarm from their side of the bed, as if they had their own alarm clock. They don't need to go to your side of the bed or use the remote. All the controls they need are right there!

You'd think it wouldn't get any cooler, and yet, it does! The speaker mode doesn't just apply to the alarms, it also applies to regular playback. You can listen in dual mode and enjoy full stereo sound from both units. Or, if you want to fall asleep to music without disrupting your partner, you can listen in main or sub mode, and the sound will only play on your side of the bed, not your partner's.

Isn't this awesome??? You get stereo sound with amazing separation, and it takes up less space in your room and is less complicated than the Sony ICF-IR7. And because the speakers are on your nightstands, Panasonic offers features that Sony can't match, like alarms and playback on just one side of your bed, to take the place of two separate alarm clocks.

There's just one little problem. The sub unit has a speaker, and it has controls for the alarm. But it has no clock display. So whoever is on the side of the bed with the sub unit has to crane their neck to read the time off the main unit. That makes the system a little worse to use than two separate alarm clocks on either side of the bed.

When I had posted about the RC-CD600 back in March (now archived on Google Drive), I thought this was the end of the story.

But it's not. I found an alarm clock that works like the RC-CD600, but with one huge improvement, despite being 13 years older.

Are you ready to see it?

Nakamichi TM-1 and TM-2

This is the Nakamichi TM-1. It's an an alarm clock radio from 1988, made by a now-defunct manufacturer of high-end audio equipment. And let me tell you, this thing is high-end.

The TM-1 features digital radio tuning with 8 presets, the ability to select the radio preset and volume for the alarms independent of what you were last listening to, buzzer and radio alarms that gradually get louder over 5 seconds so as not to scare you out of bed, a headphone jack, and a sensor that adjusts the display brightness automatically based on the room's brightness. This would be fancy now, so the idea that there was a clock with all these features in 1988 is unheard of.

And apparently this clock radio had excellent sound quality. There are still folks talking about this device online: on online forums, on Reddit, on personal websites (replete with Nakamichi's marketing materials for this clock), and in the YouTube video below.

Let's take a brief tour of the TM-1.

The front of the TM-1 has the radio controls. The top has the snooze button, alarm controls, and a few extra buttons like the radio on/off button (which also stops the alarm). The right has four big, chunky dials for volume, treble and bass (fancy), and stereo balance (foreshadowing...). The back has a mysterious port (again, foreshadowing...), a headphone jack, antenna connections, and switches for the FM mode and the alarm volume. (The alarm volume only having 3 settings is a point of contention, as one person notes here how even the lowest setting is way too loud. Alas. Weirdly, I think the alarm volume switch applies to the radio alarm too, so you can't fine-tune the radio alarm volume like you can the radio playback volume.)

Now, these features are all well and good. But you might be wondering, where is the stereo sound? The TM-1 actually only has one speaker, so it can't produce stereo sound on its own. But look again:

OK, so we're looking at the same thing...wait. Where did the buttons on the front go?

Y'all, this is not the same device. We've been looking at the TM-1. This is the TM-2. The TM-2 Stereo Companion, to be exact.

Take a closer look:

Nakamichi did almost exactly the same thing that Panasonic did with the RC-CD600, except 13 years earlier. The TM-2 is an additional speaker that plugs into the TM-1 and sits on the nightstand on the other side of your bed. That way, you get stereo sound with good separation between both channels!

Like the sub unit in the Panasonic RC-CD600, the Nakamichi TM-2 has just two buttons: one to snooze, and one to stop the alarm (doubling as radio on/off).

But the Nakamichi has one leg up over the Panasonic:

Both units have clock displays!!!!!

This solves my biggest complaint about the Panasonic system. With the Nakamichi system, one person can have the main unit, and one person can have the TM-2 Stereo Companion. And the latter person has a speaker, controls to snooze or stop the alarm, and a time display to check in the night, making this a truly suitable alternative for a separate alarm clock.

Nakamichi even went to the trouble of including a second brightness sensor for the second clock display on the TM-2. They also include a switch on the TM-2's rear panel to disable the display, which could be handy if you don't have a partner and bought the TM-2 just for stereo sound.

The extra clock display isn't the only difference between the Nakamichi and Panasonic systems. The sub unit is included in the Panasonic system, but the Nakamichi TM-2 is sold separately from the TM-1, so some folks just have the TM-1 with no stereo sound. The Panasonic's sub unit draws power from the main unit, but the Nakamichi TM-2 has a second power cord that needs to be plugged in. The Panasonic's sub unit has four wires that plug into the main unit, but the Nakamichi TM-2 has a single multi-pin connector that plugs into the aforementioned mysterious port on the back of the TM-1. Panasonic includes a compartment to store the extra cable length of the sub unit if you don't need it, but with the Nakamichi TM-2, all that extra length just hangs out and creates a big tangling mess, as you can see in the photo up above.

Most importantly, the Nakamichi system doesn't allow you to set the speaker mode in exactly the same way as the Panasonic system. When you listen or wake up to radio, it is always played through both units in stereo. (Unfortunately, Nakamichi doesn't let you choose which unit plays the left or right channel. According to the YouTube video I embedded above, the main unit plays the left channel, which would mean it has to go on the left side of the bed.)

On the other hand, when you wake up to the buzzer alarm, alarm 1 plays through the TM-1 main unit only, and alarm 2 plays through the TM-2 Stereo Companion only, so that you and your partner can wake up separately. Neat! (When the TM-2 is not connected, both alarms sound through the TM-1.)

Nakamichi produced another set of alarm clocks, the Clock Radio 1 and Stereo Companion 1, that work similarly, but I can't find an instruction manual to draw information from, and they appear to be almost identical in functionality to the TM-1 and TM-2 anyway.

TL;DR

Stereo sound is more immersive when the left speaker is closer to your left ear, and the right speaker is closer to your right ear!

At least four alarm clocks have separate speaker units to facilitate exactly this!

The Sony ICF-IR7 jumps through wild hoops in order to connect its "remote commander" and its speaker units via infrared.

The Panasonic RC-CD600 and Nakamichi TM-1 / TM-2 let you put the speakers on nightstands on either side of your bed, allowing the systems to provide stereo sound and take the place of two different alarm clocks!

That's all!

I realize this was a very technical and very dense post, so if you made it this far, thank you for sticking with me and allowing me to introduce you to these truly one-of-a-kind clocks.

And remember, if I explained anything poorly, you can review the instruction manuals for these clocks by clicking the "Instruction Manuals" link at the top of my blog. I get all this info from the manuals anyway, so feel free to check those out!

See you soon!

Image credits:

Sangean WR-50P: Wirecutter, Sangean

Sangean website: Sangean

Sony ICF-IR7: eBay, eBay, Sony

Panasonic RC-CD600: ManualsLib, eBay, eBay, Craigslist

How it works

Anyone else remember Sharper Image? Like Brookstone, they were a chain store that sold all kinds of weird and clever gadgets. Also like Brookstone, they went out of business in the 2000s/2010s, closing all of their stores and becoming an online retailer that is a shell of its former self. (I actually went to Brookstone several times before it closed, because it was totally my thing, but I don't think I ever visited a Sharper Image store. Though my grandfather once gave me a Sharper Image keychain digital camera that I was never able to actually get working, so...there's that!)

The Travel Companion was one of Sharper Image's many creative products. The Wayback Machine shows us that this alarm clock was on sale in 2007, where Sharper Image was selling it for $25, a discount from its original MSRP of $40. So it wasn't a terribly expensive product!

The Travel Companion consists of two devices that click together into a single, travel-friendly package. You can see both halves separated in the first photo of this post.

The device's unusually detailed packaging informs us that one of the Travel Companion's halves is a travel alarm clock, which is not itself an unusual idea. Travel alarm clocks are battery-powered and usually fold up to save space in a suitcase. Back before phone alarms were common, people traveled with these clocks in case their hotel had a confusing alarm clock or none at all. (Of course, the alarm clock industry also made hotel alarm clocks that were specifically designed for the hotel industry. Selling hotel alarm clocks and travel alarm clocks feels like a racket to me. "Here, we'll sell you a clock to use instead of the clock we sold to your hotel!")

The Travel Companion's travel alarm clock does have more features than most. It includes a date and calendar display, a built-in thermometer, and a flashlight mounted on the side. The flashlight is particularly unique, as I only know of around four alarm clocks with that feature, all of which I discovered in the last week or two. (Searching for "alarm clock flashlight combo" is actually how I found this unit!)

But the other half of the Travel Companion is even more interesting. It has a lanyard that allows you to hang it on your hotel room doorknob. You turn it on, and it sounds a siren (a) if it detects motion from the door being opened by an intruder or (b) if it detects smoke using its built-in smoke sensor. You can see a photo of this setup on the packaging below.

The controls of the Travel Companion are fairly simple. The alarm clock half has pretty normal alarm clock buttons, plus a flashlight on/off switch. (It also has a display with a transparent upper half, which is not unheard of but is definitely rare!)

The motion/smoke sensor half has an on/off/test switch, plus a dial to set motion sensitivity. (You probably want this to be set high enough that you don't trigger the siren just by grabbing the unit to turn it off!)

Is it useful?

So the Travel Companion is an all-in-one travel toolkit. But you might be wondering why any of these features are necessary. Who is this for? (At least two people, according to this forum thread, but still.)

Let's discuss the usefulness of each feature one by one, starting with the travel alarm clock feature. Travel alarm clocks are wildly obsolete know, but I think circa 2007, when cell phones were hard to use and nobody even knew how to set an alarm on one, an alarm clock like this would have been really handy. Especially because you only had to learn it once, whereas every hotel alarm clock can be a little bit different.

Next, the built-in thermometer. I have been reading about (and buying) alarm clocks with built-in thermometers lately. But I'm not 100% positive why you'd want one? Like, if you're cold, turn the heat up. If you're warm, turn the AC up. But who cares what the exact degrees are? I could see this being slightly more useful in a hotel setting, where thermostats may be unfamiliar or defective, and you might want to confirm if you're just imagining it being freezing, or if it really is that much colder than you set the thermostat to. Still, I think this use case is fairly limited.

Next, the built-in flashlight. This really does feel useful to me. Oftentimes we want to find something on our nightstand or run to the bathroom, but we don't necessarily want to turn the lights on and blind ourselves (or whoever's in the room with us). In a hotel, where surroundings may be unfamiliar and where you may be sharing a room with more people than usual, having a flashlight that doesn't light up the whole room seems even more useful. (This forum post says it's not very bright, but that might be a feature rather than a bug.)

Next, the motion sensor or "intruder alert." This is actually a whole product segment. There are all kinds of doorstop alarms that you can pack in a suitcase, then put under the door of your hotel room, so that they will sound an alarm if the door opens. I haven't found many devices that use the Travel Companion's approach of hanging from the doorknob and detecting motion, except for this Cavius travel alarm that also has the built-in smoke alarm feature. (But no alarm clock. 😭)

I think there are a lot of companies that prey on people's anxiety by selling them "home security" products. (Even Sony once made a home security alarm clock, the ICF-C900HS, though it works very differently.) But I also think there are actual security-related threats that are worth protecting against. In the case of a hotel, it is true that hotel staff have keys they could use to open your door, though I'd like to think they are highly unlikely to break in while you're asleep. But I also realized that, for motels with doors that face into the parking lot, there might actually be a risk of a random third party breaking into people's rooms. (Unlike in a regular hotel, where you'd have to walk past the front desk both ways to get in and out.) So I can see how, particularly in a motel setting, the peace of mind of an intruder alarm would be helpful.

Finally, the smoke alarm. Travel smoke alarms are also a product segment, if a small one. I would hope that any reasonable hotel (Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, etc.) would have functioning smoke detectors in every room. But again, if you were staying in a motel, or borrowing a house from a friend (Airbnb didn't exist yet, folks), it seems plausible to me that the smoke alarms might be old and potentially nonfunctioning. So again, the peace of mind of having your own smoke alarm could be helpful! Though since heat rises, I doubt it's ideal to have the smoke alarm hanging from your doorknob, rather than mounted near the ceiling, like this travel smoke alarm is. But maybe it's a better-something-than-nothing type of situation.

(I do need to mention that I've never seen another alarm clock with a smoke alarm, but I have seen an alarm clock with a carbon monoxide detector! Everything's truly been done before.)

That's all!

The Travel Companion is two devices, each with at least two features, and each able to click into a single unit that fits into your suitcase. And I believe all the features of this device (except the thermometer) truly are useful! Not useful enough that I would buy a used twenty-year-old version of this to use as a smoke detector — holy crap please do not do that. But at the time, assuming this actually worked as intended (which is not a given, since we're talking Sharper Image, but one can dream)...I feel like the frequent traveler would have been well-served by an intruder-watching, fire-detecting, path-illuminating, easy-to-use alarm clock! I can't speak to the device's quality, and again, please do not purchase one used, but I do believe the idea is brilliant.

Thank you for letting me introduce you to an alarm clock that truly does it all! See you soon!

Image credits:

DAQICONCEPT Chirp and Whisper

DAQICONCEPT (rhymes with Clockyconcept) is a Taiwanese company that's been making designer electronics since 2015, including the Chirp and Whisper alarm clocks, which are still being manufactured today. (Both colors of the Chirp are shown above.)

Both the Chirp and Whisper alarm clocks feature an abstract bird silhouette, which is in fact present on every one of DAQICONCEPT's products. And this bird has a secret...

It lights up! You can use it as a lamp with adjustable brightness, and you can even set the sleep timer to turn the lamp off automatically. Or you can set the alarm to the "alarm with light" mode, which gradually brightens the light starting 20 minutes before the alarm goes off, to simulate a sunrise! (Sunrise simulators are fairly common, as I've noted before, but sunrise simulators that look like birds are not.)

The alarm clock guts of the Chirp and Whisper hide in the pedestal. Strangely, the clock display faces up rather than forward, and it actually shuts off except when you press a button, presumably to keep your room dark. The controls are sparse, so the clocks feature a kind of menu system. You can scroll left and right between five screens: clock, alarm, sleep timer, volume, and nature sound. Then you can press the OK button to adjust any of those five options.

Both the Chirp and the Whisper allow you to wake up or fall asleep to nature sounds. You can set a sleep timer for 30 or 60 minutes that shuts the nature sounds and light off, or you can leave both on indefinitely. You can also set the alarm volume separately from the playback volume.

The Chirp and Whisper have two key distinctions. One is that while both share the porcelain bird and metallic pedestal, the Chirp has a marble base, while the Whisper has a wood base, shown below. (I have a feeling both of these clocks cost a fortune.)

The other distinction is that the Whisper is smartphone-free, but the Chirp connects to a phone app. In the video below, someone who is not me does a very nice job demonstrating this app. You'll notice two things. Thing one: On the clock itself, you can set the alarm time, alarm volume, and whether the light comes on with the alarm or not. But in the app, you can also set the alarm sound. By which I mean you can choose one of several landscapes for the background nature sound, and you can choose a birdsong from one of several species of bird, and then the clock overlays both sounds into a single rich alarm sound. I've never seen an alarm clock where you can build your own alarm sound, until now!

Thing two: The app does not connect to the Chirp with Bluetooth. Instead, you change the settings in the app, and then you tap "Sync" in the app. The app plays a series of sounds through your phone speaker, and a microphone in the Chirp picks up these sounds and decodes them to receive the settings. Though I suspect there may be some sounds outside the human hearing spectrum that include the actual data, the app plays a birdsong that humans can hear during the syncing process, making it seem as though the bird clock and your phone are literally communicating with birdsong. I'm not even kidding. We're living in 3025, y'all.

(I do kind of dislike that the Chirp seems to have an always-on microphone to receive these sounds. The Chirp has no Internet connection or Bluetooth, since that's what the microphone is for, so it's not like it's phoning home and spying on you. But even so, the idea of the microphone being always on makes me uncomfortable. I wish you had to press a button on the Chirp to receive the syncing!)

Despite my quibble, these clocks are obviously absurdly cool, so here's one more video of the Chirp for good measure:

Nice.

&design Bird Alarm Clock

&design is a Japanese design firm that created this Bird Alarm Clock in 2005 for a company called IDEA, which I think is a chain store? Not really sure. Multiple sources say the clock cost just $40 when new, so hooray for design that's accessible for all! It's quite beautiful and minimalist, and you can hang it on the wall or attach it to an included stand:

That's lovely (truly), but how do you check the time?

Well, try turning it around:

The display and controls are hidden on the back! (Along with a speaker cleverly mounted by the bird's beak, as well as a notch for hanging the clock on a nail.) You can flip the clock around or take it down from the wall if you want to change the settings. But that would get really annoying if you had to do it every time you wanted to check the time.

But you don't. Check out this YouTube video:

This clock can talk! The front panel doubles as a button. I think it's a snooze button, but you can also press it once to have the clock read the time aloud, or press it twice to have the clock read the date aloud. A switch on the back of the clock allows you to choose from Japanese or English for the clock voice.

If the clock is hanging up or facing the wrong direction, you can just press the front to hear the time aloud. Clocks are so good at rushing us and making us worry about the time, so I kind of love that this one doesn't show the time to us at all, unless we absolutely need to check it.

The video shows two other things worth noting. Thing one: The front panel comes off to reveal the battery compartment.

Thing two: You can choose from two birdsongs or a beeping sound for the alarm sound.

Casio SQD-1000SJ

This discontinued alarm clock from Casio (maker of calculators and digital pianos galore) goes all in on the birdsong theme. It has a dial on the front that lets you choose a birdsong from 1 of 7 species for the alarm. Or you can choose the "random" option and let the clock pick for you.

This clock is battery-powered, and it's also radio-controlled, meaning it can sync to the most accurate time automatically. (Though this feature is designed to work in Japan, and Casio says the clock may accidentally synchronize to Japanese time even if it is outside of Japan.) The clock also has a really weird snooze feature that is probably a little too in the weeds to explain.

There's also a yellow variant of this clock (the SQD-1000J), as you can see below!

I also found a funny TikTok about this clock, because you truly can find anything on the Internet:

IdentiFlyer CK01 / CK02

So apparently there used to be (and still is) a device called the IdentiFlyer. It's made by a company called For the Birds. It's a little gadget with a slot, into which you insert cards with pictures of birds on them. These cards are called SongCards, and they have metal contacts on the back that connect to the gadget, allowing the gadget to play 1 of 10 birdsongs stored on the card. The gadget shows a little LED light next to the corresponding bird picture. The idea is that, if you're a devoted birder, you can use this device to learn birdsongs, or even take it outside and cross-check the birdsongs you are hearing in the moment, to figure out what birds they are. Here's a photo of the IdentiFlyer:

(It's sort of hard to believe there was ever a time when this device existed and wasn't just an app or website on your phone. And yet! I think it's especially hilarious that you can still buy this device today.)

Then For the Birds went a step further: they decided to turn the IdentiFlyer into an alarm clock! The alarm clock version came with a special SongCard of "beautiful birdsongs" to wake up to, according to this website. Or you could insert any of the other SongCards.

In "Alarm" mode, the clock pulls birdsongs off the card to wake you up. In "Hourly" mode, the clock picks a birdsong to mark the start of every hour, like an old grandfather clock. ("Alarm" and "Hourly" mode are mutually exclusive, so when you turn the alarm off before going to bed, that shuts off the hourly birdsongs so you can sleep.) In "Manual" mode, the alarm and hourly birdsongs are off, but you can play the birdsongs manually if you so choose. The clock can run off of battery power or AC power.

Four clocks down, three to go!

Habitat Okko

I hate animatronics with a burning passion, and unfortunately, there are tons of animatronic bird alarm clocks. Tons. (Thankfully all cartoonish animatronics, but still.)

Even so, I have to include at least one of these clocks for completion's sake, and I choose this one. It's actually not that creepy, besides the bird having a weird red glowing Tron visor that I can't explain for the life of me.

Here's a video demo of this clock:

At the alarm time, the robo-bird moves around like a real bird would, and it is paired with a birdsong alarm sound that makes the whole thing a lot less terrifying than it otherwise would be.

I still wouldn't want this in my bedroom, though.

Weirdly, this clock is sold by a company called Habitat, but I've also seen identical clocks sold under other brand names on Google. I wonder if this clock was actually designed by a factory that sells the design to different brands.

Casio AC-110

You think you've seen it all in this life. And then you discover an alarm clock that wakes you up with a plastic woodpecker that goes thwack-thwack-thwack against the side of the clock.

Don't believe me? Just watch:

Wow. Just wow.

You can set this clock to wake you up with a traditional alarm sound instead of the woodpecker...but what's even the point, then?

This clock is part of Casio's "Robot Action" series (hence the model number starting with "AC" for action). That series also includes one more clock I have spontaneously decided to share with you today:

Casio AC-200

I just realized this is a penguin and therefore counts as a bird! Heck yeah!

Look at how this clock wakes you up:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa so cute. I said I hate animatronics, but this gets an exception. The little moving head...and arms...and feet...wow. And you flip the red snorkle backwards and forwards to turn the alarm on and off, and the scuba tanks on the back double as the battery cover. I'm in love.

Like the AC-110, this clock can be set to wake you up with "robot action" or a traditional beeping alarm. And sort of like the SQD-1000SJ, this clock has a really weird snooze feature, where basically if you use the beeping alarm, the clock snoozes itself after 1 minute, without you needing to press any buttons.

(And no, I have no clue why this penguin is scuba-diving. Just go with it!)

That's all!

Here are some key takeaways from our bird journey together:

Quite a few alarm clock manufacturers have tried using birdsongs as a more peaceful alarm sound!

Casio has an awful lot of cool and weird alarm clocks, considering that I don't usually think of them as an alarm clock manufacturer to begin with!

Birds are weird and cool!

Thank you for joining me on this deeply random adventure today. See you soon!

Image credits:

DAQICONCEPT Chirp: DAQICONCEPT

DAQICONCEPT Whisper: DAQICONCEPT

&design Bird Alarm Clock: OhGizmo, &design

Casio SQD-1000SJ / SQD-1000J: eBay, Ledudu

IdentiFlyer CK02: A suspicious website I'm not going to link to

IdentiFlyer: For the Birds

Habitat Okko: Habitat

Casio AC-110 (including video): Retrospekt

Casio AC-200: Retrospekt, TheOldRobots.com

This alarm clock was originally owned by my parents, and it sat around our house for a while, unused. I remember being a little kid, playing with it like a toy by turning on the display light again and again. Even though the battery was too depleted to show legible digits on the display, it still had enough power to run the light. And I was entranced.

Fast-forward a few years, and when I got tired of my crummy IKEA alarm clock (which, in its defense, was 99 cents), I remembered this thing was lying around somewhere, and I put a new battery in it to see if it still worked. And it did! And it still does.

My sleep routine is as fickle as everything else about my personality. It's like a house of cards: it works, but don't touch it or blow on it or even look at it funny, or it will collapse.

I find that most alarm clocks, however well-intentioned, want to change my sleep routine. I bought a cool alarm clock from Capello for $30 recently, and I thought I'd try it as my main alarm clock in place of this one. I thought maybe its built-in nature sounds would help me fall asleep better. Instead, the nature sounds made me hyperfixate on trying to fall asleep, which made me notice that I wasn't falling asleep, which in turn made me even more stressed and unable to fall asleep. The display wasn't entirely dark, which made me worry that the light would keep me awake, and then the worry about the light kept me awake. And I would look at the display without thinking and notice it was after midnight and I still wasn't asleep and therefore I wasn't going to get any sleep and I was probably just going to die. (Very standard logical train of thought.)

The Capello clock isn't a bad clock. In fact, it's actually really awesome, and I still want to post about it at some point. It's just that when I think about my sleep, I overthink about my sleep, and that makes my sleep worse. As so often happens, my excitement about this clock gave way to anxiety. So I need an alarm clock that doesn't even cause the fear of potential sleep disruption. I need the equivalent of an invisible alarm clock.

The Timex is that invisible alarm clock. It doesn't make any noise. It also doesn't give off any light, because it's battery-powered, so it stays dark to conserve battery until you press a button. It can't light up your room, nor can it show you how late it's getting unless you choose to check the time. It's perfect.

My alarm clock does one thing: tell time. And it does it really, really well. The display is large and readable. The display light is a beautiful blue color that matches the beautiful blue accents on the clock. The light illuminates the display evenly and stays on for several seconds before fading out. The buttons scratch my itch for tactile interaction: the snooze/light button in particular has a deeply satisfying "thunk" when you press it. Unlike another clock we own, this clock weighs enough that pressing the buttons doesn't flip it over or send it scurrying across the table, so you can set it without having to hold it in place. The alarm sound is a reasonably pleasant beeping sound that gets more frequent and hurried over several seconds. While that part isn't particularly pleasant, if I'm not awake before my alarm, I'm awake right after the first two beeps sound, so I don't have to listen to all the rest. (Perks of being a light sleeper.)

Sometimes, being boring means being dependable. My alarm clock has lasted years and years and years and still works flawlessly. It never even runs out of batteries: it will run on 1 AA battery for so long that I end up replacing the battery because I'm afraid it might corrode, not because it's actually dead.

As boring as this clock is, it still can't help but be quirky in at least three ways. Its display light has the catchy name "Indiglo," a portmanteau of "indigo" and "glow." (Technically, the blue color is more of a turquoise or sky blue than an indigo, but I'll let it slide here.) The Indiglo feature originated on Timex watches, and The Verge has a delightful article about the technology.

Also, this clock makes a high-pitched sound when the Indiglo light is on. As the light fades out (and flickers a little), the sound fades out too. I used to think this sound was a sign that the light would burn out soon, but it never burned out! Apparently this is just a weird quirk of this clock, as noted here, and perhaps even just a weird quirk of all Indiglo devices, as noted here.

Lastly, I'm not 100% sure who made this clock. Timex is a Dutch watch manufacturer, and they typically don't make their own clocks. Rather, they license their name to SDI Technologies, who also owns the Soundesign (now defunct) and iHome brand names. SDI probably built this clock, but usually they include a sticker with the model number and their name on it, and this clock doesn't have that. So the model number and precise origins of this clock will forever remain a mystery!

I would change two things about this clock if I could. I would make it so you can reverse the hours and minutes, not just advance them forward. (To be fair, forward-only adjustment is really common, as I note here.) And I would make it so the display lights up every time you press any button, not just the snooze/light button. I often need to adjust the alarm in the dark, and I have to keep cutting the display light on again and again, because it goes dark before I'm done adjusting the hours or minutes. But to be sure, these are small quibbles on an otherwise excellent alarm clock.

Sometimes, being boring means being reliable. And gentle. And compassionate. I don't want to have to run to keep up with everyone's excitement and energy. And this clock gets that. It has precisely zero gimmicks, but it does so much for me every day, and asks so little in return. And I think that matters.

If I follow this clock's lead in my life, if I am not the life of the party but I can meet someone exactly where they are...I think I'm okay with that. More than okay, in fact.

(Note: Where two photos are shown side-by-side, the left photo is always the OneClock, and the right photo is always the Nanu Arc.)

A gentle awakening

I feel like our society is obsessed with "wellness" these days. Not necessarily in actual, real ways, like learning to love ourselves or setting better work-life boundaries. Usually "wellness" looks very capitalistic, as in, here's the magical new product you should definitely buy that will make your life so much better! That product might be vitamins, or gluten-free food, or light therapy for your skin, or the Theragun. And to be fair, sometimes these products really are awesome and do make your life better. (The Theragun rocks, I can say from experience.)

The wellness craze has spread to alarm clock land, with clocks like the Hatch Restore 3 and the Loftie Clock promising better ways to fall asleep and wake up, leading to improved sleep and well-being. And the OneClock and Nanu Arc fall into this same category of wellness-inspired alarm clocks!

The Kickstarter page for OneClock begins like this: "OneClock is not an alarm clock. Let’s save the alarms for fires, burglaries and submarines." Both OneClock and Nanu cite research showing that loud, startling alarms (like the beeping of traditional alarm clocks) can result in negative side effects for users, like feeling groggy and disoriented after waking up. (Which I actually didn't know!) Instead, these clocks have unique alarm sounds, based in scientific research, designed to effectively wake you up without scaring the crap out of you.

Both clocks take different approaches. OneClock's approach is waking you up with music, rather than beeping. Every OneClock comes preloaded with seven melodies composed by Grammy-winning composer Jon Natchez. These melodies gradually increase in both volume and intensity over the first few seconds and minutes of playback. OneClock also aims to prevent "alarm fatigue," or a phenomenon where the same alarm sound becomes easier to ignore over time (again, no idea this was a thing!). To prevent this issue, the clock randomly selects one of the seven melodies each morning, so you aren't woken up by the same sounds again and again every day. The songs are beautiful, and you can sample all seven here.

Meanwhile, the Nanu Arc doesn't wake you up with music per se, but it does wake you up with melody. Unlike the OneClock and most other alarm clocks, which have a built-in speaker, the Arc has a built-in aluminum alloy "chime bar," which works similarly in concept to a bell or other percussion instruments. The bar is designed to produce exactly one note (B4) when struck, and the Arc uses a silent motorized mechanism to strike the bar to create the alarm sound. Like with OneClock, the alarm sound gradually increases in intensity over several seconds and minutes. Nanu draws from the same body of scientific research to select a frequency and tempo that strike a balance between waking you up and keeping you calm. And they address "alarm fatigue" with the Arc in their own way, by varying the intensity of each note and the duration between notes in a seemingly random way. The Arc's chime sounds beautiful, and you can sample it here.

I really respect how much these alarm clocks draw from scientific evidence to try to improve the alarm experience. I honestly didn't know that traditional alarms can be bad for users in some of the ways OneClock and Nanu cite. And while I'm of course not sure how true that is, considering it's being re-reported through companies that have products to sell, I do believe there can't be anything wrong with trying to improve the alarm clock formula to make it kinder and gentler for users.

Going analog

In the last section, I compared the OneClock and the Nanu Arc to other wellness-focused clocks, like the Hatch Restore 3 and the Loftie Clock. But these clocks are a lot more analog (slash retro, slash tactile, slash insert word of your choosing) than those clocks are.

I shall present evidence. The Hatch Restore 3 and the Loftie Clock have digital displays, like most alarm clocks. But the OneClock and the Arc have analog clock faces, referencing an era before computers had taken over every facet of our lives.

The Hatch Restore 3 and the Loftie Clock can be set so their displays are always-on, again, like most alarm clocks. But with both the OneClock and the Arc, the clock faces are dark by default. You have to tap the top of the OneClock or press the snooze button on the Arc to illuminate the clock face for a few seconds. OneClock claims that always-illuminated clocks are known to harm sleep. Again, I can't speak to the validity of that claim, but it's worth noting.

The Hatch Restore 3 and the Loftie Clock are controlled with buttons. But with the exception of the Arc's snooze button, both the OneClock and the Arc use dials, like their analog ancestors. It's actually sort of wild how similar the two clocks' controls are. Both have alarm-setting dials to the right of the clock face. And both have two dials on the back, one for clock-setting, and one for volume (which doubles as a brightness control on the Arc).

Most importantly, the Hatch Restore 3 and the Loftie Clock connect to Bluetooth, so you can use a companion app to access all kinds of additional features. But the OneClock and the Arc are Bluetooth- and app-free. And I don't even know what an app would do if these clocks had one, because...the clocks don't do much besides wake you up. They aren't also speakers and sunrise simulators and what have you. They're alarm clocks. Discussing their goals with the design of Arc, Nanu says, "Notice we didn’t include news or calendar updates, required apps, or white noise – we’re not against some of those things. We just don’t think your alarm clock needs to be a Swiss army knife for all of the latest tech." And discussing whether OneClock has an app, they say, "No. In fact, we want you to keep your phone and all those addictive apps as far as possible from your bedroom."

Old controls made new again

Despite their retro, analog designs, both the OneClock and the Arc have modernized controls. Traditional analog alarm clocks have an extra clock hand for the alarm time. For 6 o'clock, you point it to 6. For 6:30, you point it halfway between 6 and 7. This is fairly imprecise, so instead, OneClock switches the regular hour and minute hands to show the alarm time when you press the alarm dial. There's no separate alarm hand at all. This design makes it easier to set a precise minute (e.g., five minutes before the hour).

Nanu takes things a step further with the Arc. The Arc has a teeny-tiny monochrome OLED display located toward the bottom of the clock face. You might think a digital display is sacrilege on an analog, smartphone-free alarm clock. But actually, I think Nanu was brave to include the display, because it's not terribly disruptive (it's tiny and can be turned off completely), yet it drastically improves usability.

You can set the alarm time (or other things like brightness and volume) precisely, which is great for type A folks like myself. (I don't want to wake up at 7:57, dammit, I want to wake up at 7:55!) The display also doubles as an alarm indicator, which the OneClock already has anyway, just smaller.

And most importantly, the display shows AM/PM. Traditional analog alarm clocks, along with OneClock, don't have AM/PM, but the Arc does. This means you can turn your alarm on more than 12 hours before it goes off. (On OneClock, if it's 6 PM and you turn on an alarm for 7, it will go off at 7 PM, not 7 AM the next morning.)

As a result, the Arc allows your alarm to stay enabled when you silence it in the morning, so it will sound 24 hours later without you having to remember to turn it on again. Traditional analog alarm clocks, along with OneClock, can't do this because the alarm would go off every 12 hours, not every 24. So you have to turn the alarm back on every day.

Before we proceed, this might be a good time to share how-to videos for these clocks, if you're interested. Here's one for the OneClock, and below is one for the Nanu Arc:

Designing a better way vs. giving users choice

I believe strongly that good design can improve people's lives. Every time a well-made product makes something a little bit easier or more convenient or more joyful, it's brightening the day of the person who uses it, even just a little.

I think one reason design is so impactful is that we as human beings are pretty terrible at making good choices. Sometimes we do things that are bad for us but feel good in the moment, like staying up late on our phones. Other times we get overwhelmed by choices and can't do anything at all. One of my favorite, full-featured alarm clocks, the Sony ICF-CD873, is plastered — plastered — in buttons, symbolizing a plethora of choices to be made. And I can't help but wonder how many cool features owners missed out on because they got overwhelmed and just stuck to what they knew.

In an attempt to guide users toward a positive experience, without the need to make tons of choices, the OneClock and the Nanu Arc are very simplified. They don't have seven hundred settings or four million features. They do what they do, out of the box. You don't have to set the OneClock to shuffle between songs in the morning, it just does it automatically, because the designers thought that feature would be good for you. You don't have to turn off the illumination, it comes already shut off on both the OneClock and the Arc, because the designers wanted to keep your room dark so you could sleep better.

But there's a catch. Designers aren't us. They make decisions based on what they want out of the product, and they hope other people have a similar experience. In guiding people down a particular path of operating their products, they risk alienating users who want to use the product in a different way. It's a balancing act. How do you guide people toward positive choices (which is the beauty of design), while also letting them make their own choices if need be?

Let's say you have limited mobility, and reaching over to press a button every time you need to check the time isn't feasible. Maybe you need a clock where the display is always lit, so you can just turn your head in bed to check the time. But neither the OneClock nor the Arc can do that.

In the case of the OneClock, let's say you like all the alarm melodies except for one, and you want to take one out of rotation, or just pick the melody you prefer each morning. The OneClock can't do that.

I'm particularly struck by this Reddit thread about the OneClock. The author absolutely loves their OneClock, except for one critical flaw: even at the highest setting, the volume isn't loud enough to wake this person up. This seems like a fixable problem for the next iteration of OneClock. But instead, Jamie Kripke, the founder of OneClock, responds like this:

"But to your point of it not always waking you, I don't recommend our clock for super heavy sleepers. There are lots of those out there, but sadly it will be hard to find one that offers a pleasant experience. We did base our dB levels for OneClock on what Apple uses for the iPhone alarm clock, but iPhone alarm sounds are harsh, digital, and abrupt, so it's hard to really compare."

Basically, his point is, "We tried to make it loud enough, but if it doesn't meet your needs, there's nothing we can do, and you'll have to live with a crappier alarm clock instead." I feel like that is a disappointing outcome, when perhaps he could have responded with, "We'll look into making the maximum alarm volume higher for version 2.0!" (To be fair, maybe that's under consideration and they just don't want to spoil future development. I don't know.)

I'm also struck by how the OneClock and the Arc handle snooze buttons. OneClock and Nanu actually have completely different philosophies about this issue: the OneClock has no snooze button, but the Nanu Arc does. On their FAQ, OneClock says:

"Where is the snooze button? We left out the snooze. Research shows that snoozing is bad for you, because it repeatedly triggers your fight or flight response, and prolongs an already stressful moment. Learn more about why snoozers are losers."

Meanwhile, on their FAQ, Nanu says:

"Why is there a snooze button if it's bad for sleep habits? Hanna (our sleepy leader) battles chronic insomnia. While developing Arc, we learned the best practices for working through insomnia via her CBT-i programs (CBT-i is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia - think physical therapy for insomnia). One of the key learnings was that it's important to celebrate progress over perfection when working to build a sleep routine. We learned that the majority of people rely on a snooze button. We also learned from user testing that people are more likely to go back to their phones as an alarm if we remove the snooze button."

I think this is critical. OneClock chose to exclude the snooze button because it's bad for users. But Nanu chose to include the snooze button, despite explicitly acknowledging its flaws, because they didn't want to force people to give up snoozing in order to reap the other rewards of the Arc alarm clock. They acknowledge that people are imperfect and take time to build new habits, and they also acknowledge that people weren't interested in using the Arc in the first place if it lacked a snooze button.

This is an opinion, but my sense is that even though OneClock and Nanu created relatively similar alarm clocks, Nanu as a company is more receptive to user feedback and user choice. OneClock's website has several blog posts (here and here) that basically reiterate the idea that OneClock is the clock that it is, with the specific features and limitations that it has, and it may have limited appeal as a result. In contrast, the Kickstarter page for the Arc says that, when the clock was being designed, "...we took every opportunity to ask people about their sleep. We conducted dozens of interviews and sent hundreds of questionnaires. (Side note: strangers on planes have tons of opinions about alarm clocks!) It was surprising how many people disliked waking up to their cell phone but couldn’t find a better alternative."

I think OneClock is right that no product can appeal to everyone, and the designers do have to commit to a particular path. But sometimes it seems like OneClock adheres to this mindset so rigidly that they miss opportunities to make little tweaks that would make the clock appeal to more people, without compromising its integrity. I feel like Nanu better understands that making a bold product and giving users choice isn't an either/or dichotomy, it's both.

Longevity...at a price

One thing that distinguishes both the OneClock and the Nanu Arc from practically all their competitors is their emphasis on longevity. In their Kickstarter campaign, OneClock originally said their clock would come with a 20-year warranty...though by the time the clock actually launched, that was reduced down to 1 year. Meanwhile, Nanu actually sells the Arc today with a 10-year warranty.

Independent of the warranty, though, both companies discuss their philosophy of wanting to build clocks that last. Jamie Kripke of OneClock writes, "Most of us are accustomed to clicking a button and having something cheap arrive at our door very quickly. Unfortunately, much of that stuff is poorly made and quickly ends up in the landfill. ... We didn't want to be part of that problem." Meanwhile, Nanu has an entire webpage outlining how the Arc follows the principles of the Right to Repair movement.

The exteriors of both the OneClock and the Nanu Arc are made out of long-lasting materials (aluminum and wood for OneClock, cast zinc for Arc). Both clocks are intentionally designed to use screws rather than glue, so that they can be easily disassembled and reassembled. And OneClock has shared instructions online for how to disassemble the clock to make repairs if needed. (My sense is that Nanu will do the same upon request.)

OneClock specifically cites things like the long-lasting materials as reasons the clock costs so much. And this brings me to a complicated question. I personally admire that OneClock and Nanu are willing to sell clocks that last a long time and don't become e-waste, even if it means charging a much higher price. If I were in the market for an alarm clock, I would consider spending the full $235 for the Nanu Arc because I believe in Nanu's philosophy and want to support their work. Longer-lasting products protect the environment and save us the hassle of regularly replacing broken items. And in the previously linked article, OneClock notes that its clocks are hand-built, which in and of itself can result in better treatment of workers than mass-production.

But here's what frustrates me. The OneClock and the Nanu Arc are so expensive that they will always be out of reach for a huge, huge proportion of the population. I realize the idea that I or anyone could spend $235 (or $399!) on a freaking alarm clock is a very, very privileged notion.

There is an alarm clock brand I want to discuss more on this blog called Capello. Capello's clocks are sold at Target, and they are surprisingly stylish, feature-packed, and overall thoughtfully designed. Yet unlike the OneClock and the Nanu Arc, the most expensive Capello clocks (like this one) cost $30. That's about an eighth the cost of the Nanu Arc, and a thirteenth the cost of the OneClock.

Do Capello's clocks last as long? Probably not. Are the manufacturing workers treated well? Probably not any better than for any other mass-produced electronics. But from a consumer perspective, even if a Capello clock lasts 3-ish years, not 10, you would still spend less on three Capello clocks than on one Nanu Arc. You might have several broken clocks ending up in the trash. But while the environment might be worse off, your wallet would be better off. And for people living paycheck to paycheck, every dollar counts.

I don't think that OneClock or Nanu set out to make devices that were only accessible to the upper echelons of society. I think they set out to make devices that, without compromise, are well-designed and built to last, and the cost resulted from that goal. (OneClock basically says as much.) I don't begrudge either company for this. At the same time, I can't help but dream of a world where long-lasting, thoughtfully designed products are priced within reach of all human beings who would like to experience their benefits.

That's all!

Wow, that was a long post! If you made it here, I deeply appreciate your attention!

Despite the criticisms I make in this post, as an alarm clock nerd, I really am so glad that the OneClock and the Nanu Arc exist. They seem to be thoughtfully designed devices that improve people's lives and add to the landscape of interesting alarm clocks. And as I hope I made clear, there is so much we can learn from these clocks about product design and how it affects people's lives.

I enjoyed embarking on this journey with you all today! See you soon!

Image credits:

Wait, Nintendo makes an alarm clock?

They do now! Alarmo released in October 2024 for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, and Nintendo is expanding the release this month so that anyone can purchase it, subscription or not. (You don't need the subscription to use any of the clock's features!)

Alarmo retails for $100, and it has two main claims to fame: (a) it has tons of Nintendo-themed graphics and sound effects to choose from, and (b) it has a unique mmWave radar sensor that detects whether or not you're in bed, and whether or not you're moving. (Nintendo says that because this sensor is not a camera, it protects your privacy. You can also use Alarmo in "Button Mode," which shuts off the sensor, and cover it up if you prefer, but you miss out on some unique features.)

When Nintendo announced Alarmo a few months back, it seemed completely out of left field. And, I mean, it is. Nintendo makes video games and video game consoles, not household appliances. But I'll say two things. One is that I personally nearly died of excitement when I saw this, because I am not only a nerd about alarm clocks, but also a nerd about Nintendo's weird hardware (see: every single DS/3DS, the Wii, the Wii U, the Switch, the Satellaview, the Pokémon mini, the Game Boy Micro, etc.). Merging the two was a dream come true for me.

And also, the Alarmo is not out of left field when you consider Nintendo's focus on health. One of the YouTube videos I link below reminds us that Nintendo has a history of health and wellness products, like Ring Fit Adventure, the Wii Balance Board, and the Pokémon Sleep sleep-tracking app. I would add to this list things like the 3DS's Play Coins (which you obtain by getting your steps in using your 3DS as a pedometer), or even Nintendo's long history of including reminders in their games to take a break! Many of these wellness-related initiatives were inspired by former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata (rest in peace), and indeed, IGN has an article reminding us that 10 years ago, Iwata was showing off a concept for a bedside sleep sensor that pretty much sounds exactly like Alarmo!

About the design:

Alarmo is freakin' adorable. It's round and red, with a big color display on the front. (The 2.8" display is actually rectangular, and the extra black bezels are used to hide the radar sensor, plus an ambient brightness sensor.)

On Alarmo's top is a giant white dial. You press the dial to open the menu or to confirm options, and you rotate the dial to scroll through options. The dial is also translucent and has a multicolored LED inside that lights up at different points. In front of the dial are just two buttons: a back button, and a notifications button that allows Alarmo to remind you to try its many features. (This clock is pretty darn robust!)

On Alarmo's back panel are slits for the built-in speaker, stubby little black feet, and a USB-C port to connect the clock to power. (Nintendo does not supply a power brick, so you'll need one of your own, since Alarmo uses outlet power.)

Alarmo does have a coin-cell battery backup in case the power goes out, but Nintendo has it sealed inside the clock, so you can't replace it. I suspect this is to reduce choking hazards, though they still felt the need to plaster a massive choking-hazard label on the front of the box. (Oh, Nintendo.)

About the alarm:

The way Alarmo's alarm works is kind of hard to describe in writing, and I'll be real with you that I haven't watched the full video demonstrations of it, because I'm kind of sensory-sensitive and haven't mustered up the nerve to listen to the alarm sounds.

But from my understanding of watching videos on mute and reading descriptions, here's my understanding of how Alarmo's alarm works.

When you set the alarm, you choose from one of 46 "scenes" (and counting) from across 7 video games. The video games currently included are:

Super Mario Odyssey

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Splatoon 3

Pikmin 4

Ring Fit Adventure

Super Mario Bros. (from the NES)

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Nintendo has also said they will bring scenes from Animal Crossing: New Horizons to Alarmo, which just might convince me to buy one...

Anyway, each scene includes a unique combination of graphics and sounds from the corresponding video game. (You can also set Alarmo to randomly pick a scene from a game of your choosing, or to shuffle between all scenes from all games.)

At the alarm time, sounds from your scene begin to play, and a character from the game appears onscreen, as shown below:

This is where Alarmo's radar sensor comes in. Moving in bed tells Alarmo that you are awake, and it will quiet (but not totally shut off) the alarm.

Depending on the mode you've selected for the alarm, and how long you stay in bed, Alarmo may enter a "hurry-up" state where it gets louder, with different sound effects and more aggressive characters, as shown below:

Yeah, Bowser may be coming after you in the morning.

When you finally get out of bed, Alarmo's radar sensor will detect this and shut the alarm off automatically, complete with victory sound effects and graphics!

But if you get back into bed within an hour, Alarmo's radar sensor will catch you and begin the alarm again. (There's no tricking this clock!)

Alarmo has four alarm modes. Steady Mode, Moderate Mode, and Gentle Mode change how persistent the alarm is in trying to get you out of bed. Or if you choose Button Mode, Alarmo will shut off its radar sensor, and you will have to snooze or stop the alarm using the clock's buttons. (You have to use Button Mode if you sleep with another person or pets, because Alarmo's radar sensor can't distinguish between multiple people or animals in bed.)

I link below to several videos that show Alarmo's alarm in action, so you can get a better sense of how it works! But first, we have a few more features to discuss!

About the other features:

Besides the alarm, Alarmo has several other unique capabilities:

When you choose your alarm scene, Alarmo's clock display automatically changes fonts and icons to match whichever video game you chose, for maximum cuteness! It also shows a character from that video game engaged in a little animation.

You can set Alarmo to sound the alarm only on weekdays of your choosing! So if you work Tuesday through Saturday and want the alarm off on Sunday and Monday, you can program that. (Update: Nintendo released software update 3.0.0 for Alarmo, which now allows you to set different alarm times for each day of the week as well.)

Alarmo has a nifty "sleepy sounds" feature designed to help you go to bed at night. You program your bedtime into Alarmo, and when you get into bed after your bedtime, the radar sensor will detect this and trigger the sleepy sounds, which play for 5 minutes and (I think) match the video game scene you've selected. Because the sounds only play for 5 minutes, they won't necessarily lull you to sleep, but they might put you in a more sleepy, calm, non-smartphone-addled mood! (Update: Nintendo released software update 3.0.0 for Alarmo, which now allows you to play sleepy sounds for up to an hour.)

Alarmo also has an "hourly chime" feature that IS OPTIONAL. (I know some folks will not want that!) If you do want it, Alarmo will play sound effects and animations at the top of the hour that match the video game scene you've selected. (The demo I saw was Mario running across the screen and hitting a ? Block seven times, for seven o'clock! Adorable.)

Alarmo's radar sensor enables some sleep-tracking capabilities, though I recall seeing a review of the clock saying that they are inaccurate (but I can't remember if/where I saw this). Specifically, Alarmo tracks how long you slept each night, how long it took you to get out of bed after the alarm sounded, and when you moved during the night. You can view these patterns day-by-day and in reference to your monthly average for each metric!

Because Alarmo has a color display that can be a little distracting, Nintendo includes an automatic brightness sensor that dims the display for you in a dark room, and brightens it when the room brightens too.

Alarmo does not require a smartphone (and, in fact, there's no app), but it can optionally connect to the Internet to download software updates and new alarm scenes! You can also link it to your Nintendo account.

Further reading (and watching):

You can find a 5-minute video demonstration of Alarmo's alarm features at the top of Nintendo's product page for the device.

I love these two YouTube videos for giving a thorough walkthrough of Alarmo's features! The first video is about 10 minutes, and the second is about 20 minutes, so choose which one you prefer.

(Update: The below videos do not reflect some of the new features in Alarmo software version 3.0.0, just as a heads-up!)

(The channel with that second video has several more how-to videos on specific Alarmo features, if you want to dive even deeper!)

Nintendo has a really cool four-part interview with the developers of Alarmo that shows how this product evolved during the development stages, and how exactly Nintendo decided to create a motion-sensing video-game-y alarm clock! (The interview is very much like the Iwata Asks interviews, which I will recommend to any Nintendo nerd who wants to understand the development of Nintendo consoles or games from the DS/3DS/Wii/Wii U eras.)

Here's another link to the IGN article about how Alarmo seems to be the result of Iwata's initiative 10 years ago to create a bedside sleep tracker.

And here are two reviews of Alarmo, one from The Verge and the other from Wired, if you want to see some thoughts on the device and its quality!

That's all!

This is not the most thorough discussion of Alarmo out there, nor is it a review that can render judgment on the quality or lack thereof of this device and its features. But I still wanted to chronicle Alarmo on my blog, because it is truly a one-of-a-kind alarm clock! I can't think of any other alarm clocks that have such robust motion sensing capabilities, and use them to almost reinvent the way a traditional alarm works. And the fact that this clock is filled to the brim with Nintendo charm is almost an added bonus!

And of course, it's nice to showcase a clock on this blog that hasn't been discontinued for 20 years, and is in fact something you can buy today if you choose to!

About the design:

Here are a few details about this clock's design that I want to call to your attention:

It's very 1999. Very. The fabric speaker covering, the gray plastic, the amber backlight...

I do appreciate how the amber backlight contrasts with the bluish-purplish-indigoish fabric! I also love the Sony logo attached to the fabric itself.

This clock is huge. It's a honkin' 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and 12 x 9.75 x 4 inches (which is actually smaller than it looks in pictures, but still). It's big enough that you could kill someone with it, though I prefer you don't.

Like many Sony clocks, the user interface is phenomenal, at least for its time. All the buttons are clustered in one place (the top, on the right), so there's no hunting. (Yes, there are two dials on the top-left and two switches on the right side, but still.) Each button is clearly labeled, and they rarely do more than one function. They're also differentiated by feel, with indents and tactile dots and different shapes and sizes. Take a look at the controls below.

And the display is just as intuitive. Though it's irritatingly tiny, it's got clear word indicators (like "RADIO," or "TRACK," or "SHUFFLE") for important features. It's also split into two numeric zones, so you can see the time and the CD track (or radio preset number) at the same time. Sony also includes a delightful animation for the CD shuffle mode, where the CD track number becomes a little spinning loading icon. (You can see it in my video later in the post!) Here's a diagram of the display, along with diagrams of the controls for good measure:

I love the big, grabbable analog volume dial. I just love it. That is all.

Last thing: it's much rarer, but at least in some countries, this clock also came with red fabric and a silver-and-gray body, rather than the indigo fabric and gray body of mine. Take a look, courtesy of this Polish resale site:

About Voiceplus:

OK, I won't stall with the design anymore. I promised you a talking clock!

The ICF-CD873 is interesting, because it shares many features with other Sony clocks, and then it has some features basically no other Sony clocks have. And one of those is Voiceplus, this clock's talking feature!

You might wonder why a clock should talk in the first place. I remember seeing this clock included on a website for accessible products, which made me think it was to help folks with vision impairments? But that argument falls apart quickly. Sure, the "Time Report" feature that reads out the time when you press the snooze button is handy when you don't have your glasses on. But Voiceplus doesn't read out voice instructions or narrate what you're doing, it only confirms things after they're done. So you can't use the clock entirely by ear. And with a small screen and many buttons, you actually need darn good eyesight (or glasses) (or contacts) to program this thing.

So what is Voiceplus for? Besides reading out the time when your glasses are off or you're bleary-eyed, I think this feature is also designed to make this clock less intimidating. We really need our alarm clocks to work correctly, or we risk waking up late (or early). And this clock has enough features and buttons and indicators (as well-designed as they are) to be fairly complicated. So having the clock read out, in plain English, exactly what you've set it to is actually really reassuring!

Plus, it also bears noting that this clock came out around 1999, and I feel like a talking clock brought a turn-of-the-millennium cool factor that went right along with our visions of flying cars and Rosie-the-robots and whatever we thought the 2000s would bring. (How optimistic our visions of the coming decades were...)

All right. I've included a very thorough demo of all Voiceplus's "lines" in the video below. But if you don't want to watch it, I'll also break them down in writing below:

"Hello. Voiceplus is on." The clock says this when you plug it in for the first time (or after its memory has been erased), or when you turn Voiceplus back on.

"Voiceplus is off. Goodbye." The clock says this when you turn Voiceplus back off.

"[8 o'clock AM.]" The clock reads out the current time right after you set the time, or when you press the Snooze / Time Report button.

"Alarm [A] time is set for [8 o'clock AM.]" The clock reads out the alarm time right after you set the alarm, or when you press the Alarm A or Alarm B button to check the alarm time. (I love that Sony lets you check the alarm time without having to re-set the alarm!)

"Alarm [A] time is set for [8 o'clock AM.] Please set alarm mode." This feature is BRILLIANT. Ugh. I love it so much. Sony realized that it would be confusing to have the clock reassure you that the alarm is set, if the alarm isn't actually on. So when you set an alarm but it's not turned on yet, the clock additionally reminds you to "Please set alarm mode," which is the feature where you turn the alarm on. Literally such a clever touch!

"Please set alarm time." The clock says this when you try to check an alarm time that you've never set before.

"Alarm mode is set for [A, CD, and B, river.]" The clock says this right after you set the alarm mode (basically, which alarms are on, and which sound they are set to). If you turn on just one alarm, the clock only mentions one alarm, and if you cut both alarms off, the clock says nothing. I love that even though you set the sound for alarm B (buzzer/bird/river) using a switch on the side, and it's not shown on the display, the clock still reads out which sound option is selected, so you're not caught off guard!

"Alarm mode is set for [A, CD.] Please set alarm [A] time." The clock says this right after you set the alarm mode, but you're turning on an alarm that's never been set before.

"Good [morning.] It's [8 o'clock AM.]" The clock says this when the alarm sounds, right before playing your selected alarm sound. (So yes, when Voiceplus is on, you'll probably wake up to the talking before you hear the alarm itself.) I love that the clock says "morning," "afternoon," or "evening" depending on the time of day.

And that's Voiceplus! I'm impressed by how clear the voice actually is, without the awkward pauses of an old answering machine. You can adjust the voice volume between three levels using the Sound Level switch on the clock's side. You can also shut Voiceplus off entirely by pressing the Voice On/Off button, in which case the "Voice" icon disappears from the display.

About the other features:

There are other talking clocks besides the ICF-CD873. RCA made one, Seiko made a few that look like pyramids, etc.

But for most of those clocks, talking is their only unique feature. For the ICF-CD873, talking is just the icing on the cake of a whole bunch of unique features!

So let's go through those remaining features:

A built-in woofer. Most alarm clocks have either 1 or 2 speakers. The ICF-CD873 has 3. Two are normal speakers that produce stereo sound. The third is a built-in woofer that is dedicated to bass sound. And I can say from experience (if brief experience), this clock has impressive sound, especially the bass! In the pictures below, you can see an opening below the display that is a telltale sign of a woofer, and you can see the Mega Bass dial that you use to adjust the bass sound. There are precious few alarm clocks with a woofer: the only others I know are the Sony ICF-CD803, the Sony ICF-CD863V, and the Philips/Magnavox AJ3930. And none of those can also talk, so this machine is a rare breed.

A headphone jack. This is not a given on alarm clocks, so it's nice to have here!

A CD player with playback modes. You can choose from normal, Repeat 1, Repeat All, Shuffle, and Shuffle Repeat modes. Not all clocks offer those modes, so they're a nice additional touch!

An AM/FM radio with digital tuning and 5 presets. Each preset has its own button, numbered 1 through 5, so getting to your favorite stations is literally one-touch.

Nature sound alarm. Very few Sony alarm clocks have nature sounds, but I think because Sony already included some kind of audio chip in this clock to store the voice recordings, they figured tossing some nature sounds in wouldn't hurt. So when alarm B is set to the sound mode, you can choose from a normal buzzer or two nature sounds, bird or river. You can't fall asleep to the nature sounds, and you wouldn't want to because they loop every few seconds, but they are a more peaceful way to wake up than blaring beeping!

Dual alarms with tons of customizability. This clock has two alarms (which isn't a rare feature), so two people can wake up at different times, or you can store two different wake-up times and switch between them, or you can set a backup alarm for when the first one doesn't get you out of bed! Alarm A is restricted to the CD, but you can program which track you want to wake up to. Alarm B can be set to radio mode, or sound mode. In radio mode, it plays radio preset 1, which you can set to be a station that gets you out of bed (even if you were falling asleep to peaceful radio the night before). Or in sound mode, as noted above, it can play a buzzer sound, or bird or river nature sounds. The Sound Level switch that controls the Voiceplus volume also controls the volume of the sound alarm (buzzer/bird/river), which is really nice, because usually buzzer alarms have a fixed volume level.

Radio sleep timer. Most clocks have this, and this one does too! It shuts the radio off after a set time of your choosing, so you can fall asleep to radio without it playing all night long. There's no sleep timer for the CD player, but the CD player will automatically shut off at the end of the CD, which kind of serves the same purpose.

Daylight savings time button. In theory, this saves you time every six months by letting you press a single button to jump forward or back an hour! In practice, I know not a single person who set up this clock between March and November remembered to press the button before setting the clock. So in November, when they went to press the button to fall back, the clock probably sprung forward instead, and then they just set it manually and the button was pointless. Alas.

Self-powered backup. This clock does not have a battery backup, which is probably its biggest limitation. But it does have a self-powered backup that never needs to be replaced. When power is disconnected, a built-in capacitor keeps all settings for up to 1 minute, and then when power is restored, the capacitor recharges and is ready for next time. But for a longer outage, all settings are lost, including time, alarm, radio presets, and whether Voiceplus is on or off. That's kind of annoying.

Here's a few more photos of this clock, because why not?

That's all!

I love this clock so much. It's a treasure trove of cool features: it can talk, it has a woofer for extra bass, it has nature sounds, you can choose the buzzer volume, and so much more.

And I love that Sony struck a balance between cool music-listening features (like the woofer, or CD play modes, or digital radio tuning) and cool alarm-clock features (like the nature sound alarm, or buzzer volume setting, or Voiceplus).

Even today, this machine can still offer both a peaceful wakeup, and a music-listening experience worth rocking out to. There are clocks being sold right now that act like nature sounds are a brand-new idea, so the fact that Sony was making a clock that did all this TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO is truly mind-blowing.

(Note: The clock doesn't change color from white to gray. That first photo shows a more realistic color, and that second photo shows the clock in the dark, where the screen and lights are more visible!)

Who makes this?

This is the Firefly, and it's made by La Crosse Technology, an American company founded in 1983 that makes wall and alarm clocks (both analog and digital), weather stations, thermometers, rain gauges, and more.

The Firefly's not particularly similar to La Crosse's other products, as you can see below:

But that makes it all the more interesting!

About the design:

La Crosse says that the Firefly has "a nostalgic mason jar appearance," and it certainly feels like a mason jar, with a glossy translucent cylindrical body, plus a round metal top that looks like a screw-on lid. (That metal piece cleverly houses the speaker grille!)

But the carrying handle on top does not give mason-jar energy to me. Rather, it reminds me of a lantern. La Crosse seems to be conjuring up the image of catching fireflies in a mason jar to use as a lantern...but the carrying handle seems more real-lantern and less firefly-lantern to me.

Still, the design is adorable and nostalgic indeed, so I don't mind the mixed metaphors!

The front of the cylinder includes the clock display and decorative lights (we'll talk about those), and the back of the cylinder includes the buttons, some extra indicators, and a USB-C port for battery charging.

About the features:

The Firefly is three devices in one: it's an alarm clock, a nature sound machine, and a Bluetooth speaker. Unlike most alarm clocks, but like many nature sound machines and Bluetooth speakers, the Firefly is rechargeable, with a non-removable battery that charges via USB-C. La Crosse estimates the battery life at 12-16 hours when the lights or sounds are switched on.

The Firefly has decorative lights that make it look as though it's literally a mason jar with fireflies in it. How cute! The light effects are animated, and you can toggle between several different light modes. La Crosse's YouTube video on this product demonstrates the lights:

The Firefly's alarm clock feature is fairly basic. You can choose to wake up to a beeping sound or any of the built-in nature sounds. And there's a 9-minute snooze. And...that's it.

Though La Crosse does include a clever feature that's unusual for alarm clocks: you can toggle the whole clock display on or off. If you're not using this device as an alarm clock, you can shut the display off to save battery power. Or if you are using it on your nightstand, you can keep that display on so it's easy to check the time. (I assume the Firefly can run while plugged in too, but I'm not 100% sure, so maybe contact La Crosse if you're curious.)

The alarm clock feature may be a little basic, but the other features are not! The Firefly's sound machine features a whopping 18 built-in sounds, outlined in the image below. There's a good mix of nature sounds (ocean, rain, campfire, etc.) and lullabies/music. I get the sense sound machines are great whether you need to lull little kids to sleep, or drown out noise and wind down yourself. And at least from the specs, the Firefly seems like it can hold its own as a sound machine!

To seal the deal, the Firefly is also a Bluetooth speaker, so you can play music from your phone. I have no idea how the sound quality is, but the speaker is at least probably bigger than the one in your phone, so I suspect that counts for something!

The Firefly also includes a sleep timer that shuts off the lights, nature sounds, and/or Bluetooth after up to an hour, so you or a loved one can fall asleep to sounds without running down the battery.

Who is this for?

The Firefly is interesting to me in that, like the Philips AJL305, I can imagine different users buying it to make use of different features. And not every person will use every feature it has!

You could buy this for yourself, and leave it perched on your nightstand, so it can lull you to sleep, wake you up in the morning, and play your favorite music as you see fit. You might not need the battery-powered capabilities, but the rest of the features would be handy!

You could also buy this solely for the aesthetics and take it on outings as an adorable Bluetooth speaker. I could imagine taking this out at night with friends or a partner, turning on the firefly lights for maximum vibe-y-ness, and playing peaceful, outdoorsy music to set the scene. I feel like the Firefly would be at home on a porch or a camping trip, for sure!

As a third option, you could buy the Firefly to use it as a sound machine for a little kiddo. Because it's portable, you can take it on the go, so your kid can sleep or stay calm even in the car or in public. And depending on where you place it, I could imagine the peaceful lights would have an added calming effect.

There's so many different ways to use the Firefly, and I'm honestly so impressed with this device's design. It combines an adorable aesthetic with handy features that will appeal to adults and kids alike. I'm sort of surprised there's so few people talking about this device online. I see one Amazon review and that's it, when I would have expected a few influencers to jump on the bandwagon and tout this thing. La Crosse markets this device "[w]hether you're looking for a fun gift or want a device reminiscent of backyard memories," and though I can't speak to this device's quality and reliability, I think the design and features will bring a smile to pretty much anyone's face.

Bonus: Compare and contrast!

In my last post, I highlighted another alarm clock that, at the time, was the only one I knew of with a design like the Firefly. This clock is the FNURRA, from IKEA, and though it is discontinued, it was sold in the last few years, so it and the Firefly draw from similar banks of inspiration.

Because I'm a nerd, I want to briefly compare and contrast the Firefly to the FNURRA, just to document the design attributes they share with each other and basically no other alarm clocks...as well as the features that are surprisingly different between these two similar-looking devices.

Both the Firefly and the FNURRA are rechargeable and portable, though the Firefly's rechargeable battery is non-removable, while the FNURRA uses rechargeable AA batteries that you can replace yourself. There are very few other rechargeable alarm clocks out there, though I've seen a few more offered in recent years.

Both the Firefly and FNURRA have lantern-inspired designs, with cylindrical bodies and flexible carrying handles.

The Firefly and FNURRA both have lights, but they use them for different purposes! The Firefly's lights are decorative and animated, so they can set the scene but can't light up a room. In contrast, the FNURRA's light is bright enough to use as a lamp or night light, and it can also gradually brighten the light before your alarm goes off to simulate a sunrise! (Again, for the record, it's not the only sunrise alarm clock out there, but it is the only one I know of that looks like a lantern.) Both clocks do have a sleep timer so you can fall asleep to the lights, though.

The Firefly and FNURRA also both have soothing sounds, but again, they use them for different purposes! The Firefly has 18 sounds, and you can play them indefinitely, fall asleep to them with the sleep timer, or wake up to them with the alarm. The FNURRA has only 3 sounds, and they are for waking up only. You can't play them indefinitely or on a sleep timer.

The Firefly has a Bluetooth speaker, while the FNURRA does not.

The FNURRA has programmable snooze duration, while the Firefly does not.

Thanks for indulging my brain's wish to categorize, sort, and compare these two clocks!

That's all!

I'm very delighted to have discovered the Firefly. I just love when pedestrian-seeming devices are designed to bring joy instead, and I feel like there are a surprising number of devices like that in the alarm clock world. And the fact that the Firefly is still in production, and you could own one if you so choose, is the icing on the cake!

The cool thing about both of these clocks:

Most of the alarm clocks I discuss on this blog need to be plugged in to operate. Some have battery backups, meaning they can keep time using battery power even if they are unplugged (or the power goes out). But when running on battery power, most features are disabled. On many clocks, the display doesn't even work, let alone the alarm or radio.

Now, there are many alarm clocks out there that do run entirely on batteries. I own one myself! But they are usually too uninteresting to discuss on this blog, because they don't usually have power-draining features like radios or CD players or lights. If they did, their little AA and AAA batteries would run down too fast, and you'd be replacing them all the time. (My beloved, if uninteresting, battery-powered Timex alarm clock can last years on a single AA battery. It's a marathon, not a sprint.)

So we've got two options for clocks: always-plugged-in or battery-powered-and-boring. The DÅNDIMPEN and FNURRA offer a third option. They can be plugged in to operate if you so choose. (Though they don't come with a power plug. Instead, they come with a USB-C cable that you connect to your own power brick.)

But if you don't want to run these clocks plugged in, you can load 3 AA batteries. Not just any AA batteries...rechargeable AA batteries. (IKEA specifies that these should be Ni-MH batteries, like their own LADDA series, and at least for the FNURRA, they say not to use regular old disposable alkalines.)

When batteries are loaded into these clocks, they too can run entirely on battery power. But they've got power-hungry and interesting features, meaning their batteries aren't going to last for years on end like my little Timex.

That's why IKEA asks you to use rechargeable batteries! If you plug the clocks in with their USB-C cable when batteries are loaded, the batteries will charge inside the clock. Just like your smartphone!

So to recap: you can run these clocks off of a power outlet. Or you can run them on rechargeable batteries, and plug them in every few days to keep them running. (The manual for the FNURRA says it lasts 7 days on a charge, which is honestly a little short, but I'm not sure about the DÅNDIMPEN.)

There are three big advantages of the design these clocks use. First, you don't have to dedicate a power outlet near your nightstand to powering them, if you don't want to. You can run them on battery power, without any cords or cables in the way. And when the batteries get low, you can take them to the kitchen/desk/space station/wherever to charge them.

Second, unlike your typical battery-powered clock, these clocks can have cool power-hungry features (like radios and wake-up lights) because they don't have to last as long on a charge. They're not wasting your money on endless battery replacements, after all!

And third (this is the coolest part), because these clocks are battery-powered, you can take them off your nightstand and use them around the house! You'll see why that's handy when I discuss each clock in 3...2...1...now!

DÅNDIMPEN

Design: The DÅNDIMPEN has a delightfully retro design, with a big metal radio antenna that telescopes off the back. The clock itself has a crisp white body without too many buttons (some buttons do double duty, and others are hidden on the back).

But the focal point of the design is a terra-cotta-orange grab handle. When the clock is stationary, the handle swings under the display and props it up, making it easier to see the time from afar.

But if you want to take the clock on the go, you can grab the handle, and the whole clock hangs down from it, with the clock display facing up and the speakers facing out. It looks like a modern-day boombox, and it actually works like one too! The only downside is that in this position, you can't extend the radio antenna, because it is now on the bottom.

Features: The DÅNDIMPEN has a built-in Bluetooth speaker, plus an FM radio with digital tuning and 6 preset stations. Because it's battery-powered and has a funky handle, you can take it wherever you go to play your music! Music in the bedroom, or the kitchen, or on the balcony, or at a friend's house, or in the park... So many idyllic possibilities to choose from. Ugh. Wow.

Besides these neat capabilities, this clock also has dual alarms. Each can be set to play the "wake-up sound" (which I assume is beeping...?) or the FM radio. The manual also says you can set the "day" for the alarms, and since this clock tracks the day of the week, I think that means it can automatically shut your alarms off on weekends! To seal the deal, this clock also has a programmable snooze duration. It's pretty nifty!

(Credit to this eBay listing for many of the photos above!)

FNURRA

Design: This clock looks (and works) like a little lantern! It's a cute little cylinder with angled facets, kind of like a paper lantern's folds. The top half is black, and it conceals a turquoise display and also holds the clock's buttons on the front and back. (And the top-edge is a touch-sensitive snooze button!) The bottom half is white, and it hides a built-in LED light and also cleverly unscrews to reveal the battery compartment. A woven lanyard/grab handle (which is turquoise like the clock display) makes this clock easy to carry with you.

Features: The FNURRA's LED light can be used in all kinds of ways. You can cut it on for however long you need, and set the brightness you like. (And if you do that, the grab handle means you can carry this around the house like a lantern, to illuminate dark pantries or bathrooms or stairways!) Or you can set it to stay on while you fall asleep, and then shut off after a set time.

But the best part is in combination with the alarm. This clock has a wake-up light feature, where the light gradually increases in brightness before the alarm time, so that by the time the alarm comes around, it's pretty darn bright. This feature is designed to mimic a sunrise, which naturally cues your body to get ready to wake up! The FNURRA is far from the only sunrise-simulation alarm clock out there, but it's one of the cutest ones, for sure.

Once the light is bright and it's time for your alarm, the FNURRA has three soothing alarm sounds to choose from. Apparently a firm called Plan8 was involved in designing this clock, and their webpage says the sounds are "a smooth acapella, a soothing piano, or the peaceful summer forest." (You can preview the sounds on that webpage if you like!) The sound gradually increases too, and you can disable it entirely if you want to wake up only to light. Plan8 calls this clock "the gentle alarm clock," and it's easy to see why!

The FNURRA doesn't have any radio or Bluetooth or things like that, nor can it shut its alarms off automatically on weekends. But like the DÅNDIMPEN, it does let you program the snooze duration!

Plan8 has a cool video demo of the FNURRA that you can see below:

That's all!

I've always loved IKEA, and I love alarm clocks, so these two devices are just the best. I love how unconventional and visually interesting their designs are, I love their combinations of features, and I love that IKEA makes them portable so you can bring light and sound wherever you need it in your house, or in the world. We tend to think of alarm clocks as things that stay put on a nightstand, but IKEA challenges that notion with the DÅNDIMPEN and FNURRA, and I very much admire the creativity.