Sangean Atomic Clock Radio (RCR-22) + Digital AM/FM Alarm Clock Radio (RCR-5)

UPDATE 2022-10-24: The super capacitor has long gone sour. The function buttons are bouncy and cause errors; even the ON/OFF button requires multiple operations and sometimes does anything but. It's life is nearing end.As of this writing, I have had the RCR-22 for over two months. These days, our product range of offering is limited by crowd-driven selection, based on an uninformed, undiscerning public dictating a mundane choice for those of us who know what we want. Once in a while, something shows up that makes me say; "where did that come from?" Looking at the available clock radios was underwhelming based on what I knew I wanted and what I could find. These times, every product is the same as the other.......or worse. It's either common or excellent.When I found the Sangean RCR-22, it stood out way above the plethora of "me-too" clock radios. I won't go over all the features here as they are already published. I did find a few pluses that are not listed in the features as well as a few of my own items I wish it had. What I wanted was a clock radio that had a quartz time-base that was reset by the time radio signal transmitted from Boulder Colorado, which is connected to the world-standard atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. A good quality AM/FM radio, runs off AC with a battery that only serves as a backup during power outage. A large enough display that was lit at night but very dim, preferable amber in color (warm colored light in a dark room is more conducive to sleep than the blues and greens). Of course, I didn't quite get everything I wanted.With the RCR-22, I found most of what I wanted, then some. It's an "atomic clock" radio. It runs off AC, without one of those "wall warts". The AM/FM radio is above average quality with "phase locked loop" FM tuner. The sound coming out of the speaker is above average for a clock radio. It has a headphone output for stereo headphones but it only has mono audio out. It has a lot of buttons to access lots of functions. Some buttons are on the front, some on top. One thing I found convenient is that when pressing the front buttons, there is a post on top at each side to place a finger behind to stabilize the unit while pressing a front button. It does not use a back-up battery but instead has a "super capacitor" to keep clock running for an hour or so during a power outage. Some outages last longer. If it goes beyond the power stored in the capacitor and your wake-up time, the alarm will not sound. Even if power is restored before your wake-up time, it may take a while to reset to the atomic clock signal. That's why I would prefer a back-up battery. We recently had a 2-hour power failure and when the power returned, the clock had lost its time. All other settings (alarm and radio presets) were still intact. The clock will reset automatically by radio control but that will take a while depending on reception.The clock face illumination is blue LED. You have a choice of bright or dim. The dim choice is fully adjustable by screw-head adjustment on the bottom. You can adjust from nothing to bright as the standby setting. That means that even with be color being blue, you can adjust it so that it is barely visible in a dark room. That's what I did and I can still read the display in a lighted room. The snooze can be silenced by ANY of the top buttons. The snooze alarms every 5 minutes. I would have preferred 8 to 10 minutes.If I try to write all my thoughts of this product, I never will get this review in. I will just say in conclusion that I am very satisfied with this Sangean clock radio. Instead of warming over a product to compete with everything else, they innovated and put thought into a product that rises above the rest. Of course, it's too early to discover how long it will last. I do know that my previous Timex atomic clock radio lasted 13 years until the function buttons lost their conductive film inside.UPDATE 2016-11-06: The clock does NOT automatically reset for changes between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time. It has an add or subtract an hour setting. Some people prefer this, some don't. I have other radio controlled clocks that automatically reset. I would prefer the option instead, to choose between automatic DST setting or not automatic. The DST/ST code is already sent along the radio signal from Boulder Colorado and if the dates change, the radio signal contains the change.

I was looking for a high-quality alarm clock after about 12 years with an unimpressive Sony Dreammachine. This clock delivered on that front, and unlike most consumer electronics devices I've purchased in the past several years, it is clear that lots of thought was put into this device (and very little into the manual).PROS:There are tons of little nuances that the manual does not detail that I've discovered using the clock for a few weeks. For example the display can be dimmed with a dial on the bottom (which on my unit did not take effect until my alarm goes off the first time). The clock remains dimmed at your preset level, but goes to full brightness when the alarm goes off, making the clock easier to find. Combined with the pleasing blue light and the HWS (makes the alarm bell go from soft to loud) it's really nice to wake up to.Another thoughtful touch is that alarm indicators only light within 24 hours of your alarm. Either alarm can be set to go off on particular days, with any combination of Su-Sa set for each alarm (i.e. alarm1 can be set for Monday, Thursday and Sunday, no weekday/weekend restrictions like some others). The alarm indicators however only light up when your alarm will ring the next morning. Very nice.Other functions like the snooze, nap timers, etc. all work well. Like most alarms you need some time to figure out how it works, but after a few mornings most functions were intuitive.The radio functions well, and pulls in way more stations than the Dreammachine. The speaker is fine, that is to say neither exceptionally good or exceptionally poor. If I want the ultimate music experience, I have an expensive stereo for that.The clock is a true atomic time clock (not just a "preset" clock like many others). I don't know all the nuances of atomic cock synchronization, but the weather and location of the antenna seem to affect the two atomic clocks I have at home. Try moving the antenna towards the window if you have problems.CONSIt is nicer than average plastic and construction, but still not going to win any design awards. I can't figure out why all alarm clock designs are frozen in 1992.The manual was clearly written by a bunch of engineers. It is no nonsense, and explains how to set/use everything, but does not mention any of the usability features I noted above. For example if it's Monday and you set an alarm for thursday, You might wonder why the alarm indicators do not all light up. No mention at all in the manual. I thought the clock was broken since the dimmer did not function until the first time an alarm went off. Again, no mention in the manual of what turned out to be a very nice feature, and one I almost returned the clock for!Another example is the unwieldly "Time Machine" antenna for the atomic clock. It is big and odd looking, but fits nicely to the back of the clock. Again, no mention in the manual save for a single line drawing.When I initially plugged the clock in, all kinds of crytic numbers flashed on the display while it synced the time, again, no mention of what was happening or why in the manual. The manual does tell you how to DO everything, but does not explain WHY certain things work the way they do, or explain the various nice features someone clearly took time to think through.Overal a great buy, especially for something you'll likely use every day for 5-15 years. I would like to see a better manual, autodimming of the display (it is BRIGHT when set to max), Sangean using a designer that is somewhat current, and perhaps a user manual rewrite, other than that, this clock works very well and will be on my nightstand for years to come.I agonized over what to put on my nightstand (everything from Bose to Timex) and am very happy with my choice.