Sangean RCR-22 Atomic Clock with FM-RDS / AM / Aux-in Digital Tuning Clock Radio, silver, one size

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. CONS It 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.

I guess I just got tired of my 15 year old Sony Dream Machine. It worked, but, somehow, I thought maybe someone would have built something better. All clock radios seem to be pretty much the same. So I searched, and was willing to pay good money to find something that at least tackled how to make a clock radio better. Seemed like almost every clock radio was cheap and basic. The Sangean is what I came up with. Better, but could use a few improvements to be perfect. Pros: 1) Atomic clock. Finally! Accurate time! I want the radio to go off at just the time the 6:30 news starts. For one reason or another, over the course of a year, there are least a couple of periods when the clock has to get reset and the time ends up being either too early or too late. Then you get too lazy to do all the button pressing and watching your other clock, assuming it's right, to get it set to the exact time, if you can, and you end up saying to yourself every morning, I've got to set the clock right!, until you finally do it and it never seems to be exact even then. This thing has a detachable antenna thing that catches the correct time by radio waves, or something. I don't know, or care. It works. You may need to move it around, though, and it may take a long time to actually update, but you don't have to do anything once it starts. 2) Radio reception. Probably as good as it can be for me, in my bedroom. One of the main reasons I started looking for a new clock radio was the frequent "fuzzy" reception periods my Dream Machine would go through (must be because of weather conditions). No matter how much I moved it and the antenna (electrical cord) around, the radio would stay fuzzy for weeks at a time. This one has better reception and the separate cord for the radio antenna is easier to position. Also, the tuning wheel is a fine tuner, so it is easier to zero in on a station. 3) Set alarm once and forget. I am not going to complain about how difficult it may be to learn how to set up a new clock radio. They are all hard; too many things to do with too few buttons. Clock radios are something you will learn to use over time. That being said, once I did figure out how to set up my alarm schedule, I haven't had to touch it since. I don't have to turn it on or off each day. It can be set up by days of week and then works according to the schedule you set. After the alarm goes off, you can either hit one button to turn it off for that day, or do a snooze. It has a lot of customization options, too. Nice not to have to think about it. Eliminates days I forgot to set my Dream Machine alarm and got up late. (Even though I don't use it, the buzzer has a pretty cool sound and varying loudness pattern to wake you up more gently.) Cons: 1) Brightness. The face is bright, but you can turn it down. Even at the lowest setting, though, it is relatively (and I mean it is only at night it seems bright) bright. I do not consider this a deal killer, though. You get used to it. It isn't like you left a light on. I still go to sleep just fine. Still, some people may find it too bright. 2) No tone adjustment control. This is something that would make it closer to perfect. I don't know why they didn't include bass and treble adjustment control. The default radio is good, but some people like it adjusted differently, especially for waking up in the morning. Again, not a deal killer. I only use the radio to wake up to. 3) Instructions could be better. They cover the needed settings, but it doesn't talk about other things, like how long it takes for the clock to actually pick up the correct time (I called customer support, a number they don't seem to want you to find, and the guy told me it usually takes hours for it to set), and it doesn't give you much info how to contact them. Overall, I like the way it looks and works. The feet are sticky enough so that when you push a button, it doesn't slide. When you look at the face it has a bunch of information to look at: Hour, minute, second, whether the alarm is scheduled and when the next one goes off. When the alarm isn't scheduled it shows the month, date and year, something I wish was displayed all the time (and make it closer to perfect). It displays when daylight savings time is active (and you can turn that on and off depending if you follow it where you live). It shows the radio station. To me, it is at least an attempt to advance the state of clock radio design. From what I read, Sangean has been improving their offerings with each new model, so I will keep an eye on what they come out with and hope they eventually create something more perfect.

THIS IS A WONDERFUL CLOCK RADIO. ITS MANUAL, LIKE SO MANY WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO KNOW TOO MUCH AND ASSUME THAT THE CONSUMER ALSO KNOWS PLENTY.....COULD USE SOME EXPLANATION. BUT THE LITTLE TUBE-LIKE "CARTRIDGE" THAT FITS ON THE BACK, SOMEHOW DOES AN INCREDIBLE JOB OF GETTING AN FM RADIO SIGNAL. WE LIVE OUT IN FARM COUNTRY IN THE MIDWEST. WE HAVE HAD ACCESS TO ONLY ONE CLASSICAL RADIO STATION. WITH THIS CLOCK RADIO WE NOW HAVE THREE. WHILE IT ONLY ALLOWS TWO SETTINGS FOR ALARMS (ALL WE NEED) RATHER THAN ONE OR TWO EACH OF SEVEN DAYS LIKE ANOTHER CLOCK WE RECENTLY PURCHASED, I WANT TO LIST WHAT IS WONDERFUL ABOUT THIS ONE IN ADDITION TO THE RADIO. YOU CAN ADJUST, FROM THE BOTTOM, WITH A SLOT SCREWDRIVER, THE BACKLIGHTING FROM BRIGHT TO SEVERAL GRADATIONS OF DIMMER, TO TOTALLY OFF. THIS ENABLES YOU, ONCE YOU FIGURE OUT THE BUTTONS ON THE FRONT TO: PRESS THE LOWEST ONE OF FOUR VERTICAL ONES ON THE RIGHT TO ACCOMPLISH THIS. I THEREFORE SET IT TO SAVE OUR SLEEPING EYES, AFTER READING HOW DAMAGING LIGHT CAN BE THROUGH THE EYELIDS OF SLEEPERS WITH ILLUMINATED NUMBERS OR BACKLIGHTING. LIKE MOST PEOPLE WHO BUY SUCH A CLOCK-RADIO, WE HAVE IT TWO FEET AWAY FROM OUR BED, IN ORDER TO TURN OFF THE ALARM THE NEXT MORNING. ANOTHER REALLY NICE FEATURE IS TO BE ABLE TO PRESET THE SEVEN TOP BUTTONS FOR AM OR FM STATIONS. WE NOW HAVE A CHOICE OF THREE CLASSICAL SIGNALS. JUST LAST NIGHT, ONE OF THE STATIONS HAD SORT-OF BOMBASTIC MUSIC, WITH A LOT OF DRUMMING. WITH JUST A POKE OF A BUTTON, I TRIED ANOTHER STATION AND GOT GORGEOUS, SUBTLE JAZZ GUITAR PLAYING...PERFECT FOR GOING TO SLEEP. THE TOP RIGHT VERTICAL BUTTON GIVES YOU OPTIONS FOR ON/60/45/30/15 MINUTE INCREMENTS FOR SLEEP...LIKE OLDER RADIOS USED TO DO. YOU JUST LISTEN FOR A BEEP. THE LEFT TOP TWO VERTICAL BUTTONS ARE ALREADY PRE-SET BY US TO SELECT ONE OR THE OTHER ALARMS, FOR THE TWO DIFFERENT TIMES WE NEED DURING THE WEEK. WE JUST LOVE THIS RADIO. I SELECTED IT BECAUSE I HOPED THAT IT HAD NO STRONG GREEN, RED, BLUE BACKLIGHT AND NO STRONG GREEN, RED, BLUE (THE WORST ON THE BRAIN, I HAD READ) BACKLIGHT. IF YOU DO NOT NEED A DIFFERENT ALARM TIME SETTING MORE THAN THE TWO OPTIONS, THIS IS THE FINEST CLOCK-RADIO YOU CAN GET. IT IS BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED AESTHETICALLY AND FAIRLY PRICED. IT HAS A LOVELY SOUND FOR MUSIC ALSO. THE REASON FOR THE APPRECIATION OF MORE THAN ONE STATION IS ALSO BECAUSE, WHILE NEWS MAY BE WHAT SOME PEOPLE WANT, IT IS NOT WHAT YOU ENJOY WHEN GOING TO SLEEP OR AWAKING, IN MOST CASES. I THINK IT ALSO HAS A SLOWLY-GROWING LOUDER ALARM BUT I AM NOT SURE. NM

I keep writing the [email protected] support address and I get no answer. I have two questions they should be able to answer but have not. First the manual goes into how to set up the two alarms but then does not say how to use one button to enable either alarm. Second the manual says to use the Standby button to turn off the alarm but there is no Standby button in the list of buttons and illustrations of buttons. Why would an alarm off button be named Standby anyway? Possibly because it has other functions. It is mentioned in the manual several time but in none of those context does the name, Standby, make sense. There is no photo sensor to adjust the light from the display in response to room light. I have the display turned all the way off so I cannot see the display in room light to reduce the light in the room at night. The first thing the alarm does when it goes off is turn the display up to maximum brightness. That wakes me up instantly. Unfortunately, it also wakes up my wife. The slow increase of sound is a nice feature. I like it. I get to listen to it for a long time while I try to turn off the alarm. Pressing "any button other than the Standby button will silence the alarm for 5 minutes" so trying the wrong button costs a lot of time. Seems the button that finally does it one day does not do it the next day. The radio is terrible. Even FM channels are noisy. It keeps searching for Boulder clock signal but fortunately it finds it often enough. Once again the naming and functions are not logical. The "TUNING Up/Down" button is used to select the AM or FM when there is a "Band/Select" button. The "Band/Select" button is used to enter increment step mode and to confirm a station selection. The manual says to unplug during lightning storms. Perhaps they occur at night when I am asleep because at least twice the clock "forgot" an alarm was set during the night and failed to go off. Obviously part of the problems I am having are related to the poorly written manual. Perhaps a well written manual would have made this a less frustrating product for me. If I cannot find out soon how to simply enable an alarm and simply turn it off I intend to return it.

The Sangean RCR-22 is not my idea of a handsome radio. Never mind; does it work well? I would say so, although the booklet of operating instructions kept me cussing. It was quite a while before I located the "Standby" button, which the instructions in English call "Power button/Sleep button"; eventually I discovered that fact in the German language instructions (which might just be a little clearer than the English ones). The volume control is not specified on the "Controls" diagram. Setting the clock was, for me, a challenge, and I'm not sure now exactly how I managed it (the automatic atomic clock feature did not put in an appearance, but that was probably just because I bungled the procedure). Then came the change from daylight savings time, and I blundered about for the better part of a half hour before getting it right. The instructions for setting the time manually begin on page 15 and then continue on page 8. Huh? Well, should I try to set the alarm? Or how about making the gizmo wake me with the radio or the buzzer? Oh, no! I don't need either feature, so those of you that do require those tasks accomplished (it IS a clock radio) have my best wishes for good luck. I'm thoroughly humiliated and intimidated. Otherwise: the radio has a small, cheap speaker, of course, so Beethoven does not exactly evoke gooseflesh, but I knew that would be the case. No harm, no foul. From a glorified clock, I just need halfway decent reproduction of the spoken word. I like the display for its two brightness levels, and the presets are good (once you decrypt the instructions on how to set them, which is not a real challenge). Tuning is easy, thank goodness, and so is adjusting the volume...now that I know where the volume control is. I believe the alarm functions, because it started nagging me unexpectedly; it may have a mind of its own. I no longer fear it because eventually I exposed the "Standby" button's hiding place. Gotcha! Summary: pug-ugly but still pretty good clock radio; nothing wonderful. Crazy-making instruction manual. I don't know whether the atomic clock setting feature works (and I certainly could not care less). Setting it up was a chore for me, but you, with your IQ a bit above room temperature, don't have to fear the instruction booklet. Chin up, shoulders square, self-esteem on High setting, and off you go to slay the three-toed dragon! I'll hold your coat...

Okay, so I've read all the reviews, pro's and con's, and I bought this radio after two weeks of debate. I have had a month now and will buy this again if I needed to. I live in an area 30 miles outside of Boston and on all attempts at clock radios I have never received the Boston stations well. That was my first goal, a radio with good reception. This Radio picks up every station I want in Boston, and have programmed them into it. I acheived my first goal, a good radio - no a GREAT radio! Sound quality is good for an alarm clock. If you want great sound go with a BOSE. This offers a good sound and great reception. Next, almost all the reviews complained about the screen. I must admit in this day and age of OLED screens this could be better. But is not as bad as I have read. It dims to a great level for night time and everything on the screen is still legible (and I need glasses and don't wear them at night). Yes, if you put the screen on dim for the night, you won't see it in the day, but do you use it in the day that often? If you do all you need to do is hit one button and it is bright again! NO PROBLEM WITH THE SCREEN AT ALL. Programming it was EASY, although I am a bit of a tech geek. The instructions were fine but pictures would have been nice. The Atomic Clock is nice, and mine registered about 5 minutes after plugging it in. It can take a couple hours as people have complained, but mine was 5 minutes. And you can manually program it until it does click in. Finally, the Quality of the Alarm Clock. I found that this is a very good quality radio. Everything works well, never had a problem with the Alarm at all. In fact, the Humane Waking system is great. I turn it off long before it gets too loud. It does increase quickly but that's no problem. Much better than the old BUZZ BUZZ I use to have. So, a great radio, good sound, decent screen, and a solid alarm clock. I'd buy another one anytime!

I have had my Sangean RCR-22 for about 10 months now and I absolutely love it! I took a long while to choose a replacement for my Oregon Scientific Atomic Radio Alarm Clock (which I would rate mediocre) because I wanted to make sure I didn't repeat the same mistakes that I made buying that one (bad radio and BRIGHT display). The Sangean has so many features that I like, for instance, two alarms, excellent digital radio reception, great speaker, 7 programmable preset radio station buttons, & more. The feature that I want to address most, because I think it has caused many reviewers to unfairly criticize the clock, is the brightness of the display. This is a highly important feature of a radio alarm clock since most people will have it on their nightstand and don't want a bright light keeping them awake. I think that a lot of reviewers were unfamiliar with how the brightness modes work & thus were disappointed. There are two brightness modes for the display: Maximum bright, and dimmable. Maximum bright is obviously the highest setting and is clearly visible and legible 20 feet away in daylight. In the dimmable mode you control the brightness using the knob on the bottom of the clock. The knob is kind of fiddly (small, recessed, and stiff) so it's not something that you want to mess with on a daily basis. Anyway, you use the knob (easiest with a small screwdriver) to set the display brightness to what you are comfortable with at night (I have mine set all the way off). On the front of the clock (on the bottom right) there is a button to switch between the two brightness modes. At night I just press the button once to put the display into the dimmable mode which essentially turns the display off. If I wake up in the middle of the night I just find the button, press it to see the time, & then press it again to dim the display. Finding the button is easy due to the side posts & I know it is on the bottom right. In the morning when the alarm goes off, the display switches to bright mode so the time is then visible during the day. This is definitely the best atomic radio alarm clock that I have owned (it's my third one so far) and well worth the price.

The flaw is this: if your radio signal is too weak, the radio alarm will not sound. Instead the radio defaults to buzzer. This is a feature, in a way, not a bug: the idea is to wake you if the station goes off the air. But the delay while the tuner searches is very brief, and if you live in a fringe area, it will not lock on to the signal fast enough. A number of negative reviews have noticed this; the explanation came from Sangean Customer service. We live about 30 miles from our NPR transmitter. So it irregularly disengaged and we woke to buzzer. The kludge I discovered was to tie the single wire antenna to one side of an old FM dipole I had lying around the house. But this will not occur to may users, and some will just send it back. Otherwise, this is an excellent design. That sounds odd, given the above. But: it has many nice features not found in cheaper radios. First of course, is the time setting. Who wants a clock that you have to keep after and reset for DST? Sangean is the only manufacturer now that makes an “Atomic” clock, synchronizing with the NIST atomic clock, or with the Japanese and European ones. Emerson used to make such a radio, but it was replaced by their “SmartSet,” which, if you read the reviews, have problems of their own. If you do not live in an area with strong NIST signals, this radio (and other Sangeans) can synchronize with the RDS signals from some FM stations. The humane wake-up feature ramps up the volume so you are not jolted awake. And the night light is fully adjustable, a nice feature you do not see on many clocks, that don’t quite get that you want the room dark to sleep. Despite what you may read, the alarm is pretty standard to set up, not complicated. (And how many people use their smart phones and smart TVs without complaint: exponentially harder to set up.) So: if you have strong signals in your area, do try this radio, just being warned of the drop back to buzzer problem. Sangean could easily fix this with a longer delay to lock onto the signal. But; I doubt the market for such radios is very large. Probably not many under-40s use radio to wake up to. Most people I expect just use their phones in one way or another. And the atomic clock idea never really caught on: probably too complex to explain to people. Don’t know. But if you can get this to work with signals in your area, it is a good clock radio, good sound and accurate time.

Un excelente radio y despertador, sintoniza con claridad, lo recomiendo ampliamente

Wie versprochen wurde das Lieferdatum exakt eingehalten und es war auch alles sehr gut verpackt . Die Verpackung und der Versand waren natürlich kostenlos. Jetzt zum Gerät: Da war ich am Anfang etwas misstrauisch, aber ich habe beim Lieferanten angerufen und er sagte mir das ist das neuere Gerät des RCR-22 . Ich habe dann 2Stück bestellt ,ein Gerät für meine Frau und ein Gerät für mich. Ich muss sagen alles Top mit den zwei Geräten. Man kann 7 Sender einstellen 2 verschiedene Weckmethoden einstellen, also mit Weck-Ton oder mit Radio-Ton. Der Sound ist auch ganz schön ordentlich für dieses kleine Gerät. Und die Uhr wird über das Radio funkgenau eingestellt Sommerzeit und Winterzeit. Also alles in allem ein Top Gerät kann man nur weiter empfehlen.

Había tenido problemas con otros aparatos a la hora de recibir la señal. Con este todo bien. Como pega le pondría que no se puede apagar del todo la luz de fondo azul, si bien se puede atenuar a costa de que la hora no se vea a menos que lo ilumines tú.

What a fantastic unit. The screen is lit with a variable intensity blue background so you can leave it on low intensity overnight and then when the clock radio alarm begins the intensity automatically jumps to high, to light up the clock face. Very nice. Also the clock radio sound comes on gently over a half minute or so with a gentle volume then increases in volume. No blaring radio here folks ! The sound is very nice, clear, with some nice bass. It is very easy to read, the alarm settings are very thorough and easy to set and reset. There are 7 preset station buttons on top of the unit so you can preset your favourite stations. Also there is a great function called the "Information" button which is the bottom button on the right side face of the unit and when you turn it on, if the station is a Radio Data station, a read-a-board style message moves across the screen identifying the station you are listening to and the name of the song and the artist. It is a nice size unit, not taking up much space on my limited sized bed size table. Easy to learn how to use. I am glad I waited the month to get it as it was on back order. I could not have found a unit as excellent as this in the smaller city I live in. This Sangean product I purchased through Amazon was great. Shipping was fast. A great purchase ! N.C.B. Kelowna BC.

Dear fellow consumers,I am pretty happy with my purchase of the Sangean RCR-22 clock radio. First I will start with the radio, the reception on am is adequate, being able to pull in more out of town stations at night. The fm is qiute good with the wire antenna extended being able to pick up local stations and a few out of town stations as well. The 3 inch speaker is quite decent for the size with pretty good sound. Of course the stations are digitally viewed being spot on. The clock is wonderful, picking up WWVB practically every hour so the clock is accurate to the second. The Humane Waking System which gradually goes from a barely audible beep to the volume that you have set to the highest volume is just a great feature. The display I keep at a high intensity during the daytime and at night I dim the display and there is a control on the bottom to set the intensity to your liking. They say that the radio is in stereo in the instructions with headphones, but the technician at Sangean says that his display as well an mine did not show stereo. The stations are easy to set ,7preset for am and 7 preset for fm. You can also have the option of hooking up a aux sound source, in my case a portable cd player which translates into mono through the 3 inch speaker, not exactly high fidelity. The blue display is very clear to see and the unit looks high tech. I forgot to mention that there is also an antenna for picking up WWVB which has a length of 5 inches.This is a very good choice for a clock radio and is well made.