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,
Click Here to see more reviews about: iLuv iMM153BLU Dual Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker for your iPod - Blue
Product Description:
Deep sleep ? Now instead of just hearing your alarm, you can feel it too. The iMM153BLU's bed shaker alarm accessory will shake you awake and make over-sleeping a thing of the past. The "Shake and Wake" bed shaker alarm accessory vibrates your bed or pillow to shake even the heaviest sleeper awake. Rich sound quality from the built-in speakers provides depth and clarity to your favorite iPod tunes, while the universal iPod dock plays and charges your iPod. Auxiliary line input for 3.5mm jacks allows you to plug in other audio devices as well. The large, easy to read digital numbers can be brightened or dimmed with a 10 step-LCD dimmer level control. Drift asleep to the sounds of your iPod or FM radio, and wake up to your choice of iPod, FM radio, buzzer, or bed shaker. FM radio features PLL tuning digital tuning technology and 10 programmable stations.
No comments:
Post a Comment