I purchased this alarm clock for my 14 year old. We have tried numerous other alarm clocks for her, even the ones with the bells on top that clang. She has slept through them all, sometimes even when they go off for 30 minutes near her head. This year she started high school and has to get up much earlier. The iLuv has woken her up much more quickly than any other alarm clock! I no longer have to get up and drag her out of bed. I would recommend this for sound sleepers! iLuv iMM153BLK Dual Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker for your iPod - Black
Here is the rundown:
Pros:
+Docked flawlessly with my iPod nano 5g.
+All buttons worked.
+Ability to have auxiliary input.
+Wake up bed shaker is a nice touch. (and it has a very long cord)
+Alarm is a beep that gets louder over time (and can be used in concordance with the bed shaker)
+Can customize both alarms to incorporate different alarm types (ie. Shaker and beep, shaker and playlist, etc)
Cons:
-Sound was absolutely unbearable with any bass (even with ipod EQ settings set to bass reducer)
-Wake up bed shaker is not as strong as I hoped it to be.
-Product "feels" cheap (thin plastic, cheap buttons).
-Time setting is clumsy and difficult, why not just have it sync to the atomic clock (my $15 walmart clock did that)
-There are two bass "holes" in the back that appear to do nothing (I don't hear anything coming from them)
-Many comparable docks have remotes included. This does not.
-The screen does not look like it does in the image. It has a bright blue backlight.
Bottom Line:
This is great if you want an alarm clock with multiple alarm features that will also charge your iPod. You should not get this if you want to listen to music on it.
Why I gave it 2 stars:
I got this so I could listen to my iPod while I go to sleep. The sound quality is so unbearable that I stopped using it. It still has nice alarm features, but is overpriced for what I wanted.
A great concept let down by a few design flaws.
My intent for buying a new alarm clock was two-fold:
1) To enable me to set an alarm which would wake me, without disturbing others
2) To have a way to dim the clock so it would not disturb my sleep with too much light in the room.
Having this connect to an iPod Nano was a bonus.
The first thing that impressed me from the specs on this alarm clock was the bed shaker. Now, take note, this says Bed Shaker - and it truly is. Anyone sleeping on the same matress will feel their skull vibrating almost as much as yours, even when you place the vibrating disc under your pillow. 9/10 points for effort - 4/10 points for implementation
The second thing that persuaded me to this model was that it appeared, from reading through the reviews that the brightness on the clock was settable from 0 (no backlight) to 9 (bright enough to read a book by). This seemed great as this would allow me to have the backlight off for sleeping and adjust it if/when I needed to read the clock... However, the implementation of this is a fatal flaw for me with this product. Let me explain in detail:
a) The brightness change requires you to set a new overall brightness level; so if you are at 0 you click the Dimmer/Snooze button and it goes to 1. To turn the light off you have to click the button another 9 times to cycle back to 0. This is awkward, though is way surpassed by the loud clicking made by the cheap switch which wakes anyone else not wearing earplugs...
b) Insult is added to injury with the design of the Dimmer/Snooze button. Imagine you're sleeping with the backlight off (Dimmer 0) and the alarm occurs - you hit the button to increase the brightness, but it's a joint-function Dimmer/Snooze button... So, the alarm snoozes - and no matter how many times you hit the dimmer/snooze button again, to turn the brightness up to see the time, nothing happens. It appears the the clock is in "alarm mode". The only way to see the clock is to fumble for the alarm off button, turn off the alarm permanently and then hit the Dimmer/Snooze button again to now increase the backlight on the clock to level 1.
I know, and apologise, if this appears like a rant - and maybe my unit is faulty as the Dimmer 1 setting is incredibly bright and disturbing to sleep.
On the brighter side. The iPod functionality works well, even on the new iPod nanos, and the speakers are ok - definitely not hi-fi, but for a bedside table to listen to music whilst reading a book, they are adequate.
Anyway, please take the review as is, and if you we looking to an alarm clock with similiar prerequisites steer clear of this one. I wish/hope that these flaws are corrected and welcome any feedback to highlight better alternatives.
Hope this helps,
I personally don't regret getting this alarm clock, there are some downsides but they are easily negligible.
Pros:
-The bedshaker and alarm is very effective
-The sound quality of the speakers is decent
-The time on the clock is clear
-The alarm clock is multipurpose, can serve as a speaker system for your laptop or computer if you desire
-The radio is pretty good, the antenna is small and can provide decent service
-You can change the brightness of the screen display
-iPods work in general, and this clock charges it
-You can use it without an AC adapter by batteries
-Snooze button is easy to access when you're dead asleep
Cons:
-It is confusing to use at first, you might adjust to the controls
-The buttons are very loud, so you might disturb the other person if you share your room
-iPhone 3G shows up as not compatible for some reason, but you can charge it perfectly
-May cause problems in your iPod if you use sleep
-Bit overpriced
In all, this alarm clock is good, but there are small things that can be fixed. It's a bit overpriced, but I really liked the design which brought me to buy it. Amazon has some of the price slashed then if you bought from the original company. - Clock Radio - Ipod Clock Radio - Alarm Clock - Ipod Speakers'
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