Sangean FM/AM PLL Synthesized Tuning Clock Radio RCR-22 Sangean FM/AM PLL Synthesized Tuning Clock Radio RCR-22

Pros: Neat.. Nice Alarms.. Cool Display

Cons: Radio time NEVER worked, and for some reason, it would all of a sudden loose a few hours here and there and I would be late for work.

Pros: Manually adjustable backlight. Digital tuning. Two alarms. Day-of-week setting for alarms. Nice sound quality (for mono-speaker clock radio). Great reception. Automatically set clock. External antennas for FM and time broadcast.

Cons: Display is cluttered, so the time is tough to read when I don't have my glasses on (which I rarely do while in bed). Manual adjust for backlight is impossible to turn without a small screwdriver or something similar, which makes it difficult to adjust at night.

Other Thoughts: The owner's manual for this clock-radio is rather sparse. I don't know if that's a bad thing or not. But it does mean that you have to fiddle with the thing for a while before you really figure it out.

I've never had luck with LCD displays on bed-side clocks. They are typically either too dim to read when the lights are on, or so blindingly bright in the dark that they keep me awake. This display lets you manually adjust the brightness of the backlight in its "dim" mode. So, you can set it as dim as you like. Any time you press a button, though, the display automatically kicks up to its "bright" mode, so you can read it even in daylight. You can also force it back to "dim" mode with a button.

The adjustment knob for the volume is well-designed, too. It has a soft surface, and the pivot is very smooth. Compared to the sticky, jerky pivots on cheap clock-radios, its refreshing to be able to set the volume easily to "just so".

Pros: The RCR-22 is a much improved RCR-2 in 3 key areas:
1. Even though the RCR-22's display is slightly smaller, it is a MUCH better display than the RCR-2, as the RCR-22's white on blue display is a MUCH larger viewing angle than the RCR-2's black on orange display. In bed, I could not dependably see the RCR-2 time without my glasses, so bought another cheap clock just for it's large display. With the RCR-22, its display is easily visible sans glasses (at least for me). YMMV.

2. The RCR-22 is able to display a 24 hour format while the RCR-2 cannot.

3. The light on each alarm BUTTON illuminates only when alarm is within 24 hours of occurring, the alarm LCD indicator will indicate buzzer or radio, and the LCD display shows the current alarm's (the 1 that will sound next) time. If not within 24 hours, any active alarm will have a simple alarm icon, and the LCD will show the date in place of the alarm time. With the 24 hour button lit, EASY to see if there will be an alarm tomorrow.

Cons: It's not plug-n-play. Reading the manual really is a must, even for something as simple as setting an alarm. But once set, I never had to touch them again for a full year. When I eventually did want to clear out the alarms (rather than just turning off), I did have to refer to the manual again. Broad functionality does come with a price.

For an alarm, you have to tune the station; you cannot simply punch one of the preset buttons to enter in the station.

I wish the power button was indicated more clearly with a label rather than just an icon.

Other Thoughts: Otherwise, the RCR-22 is very similar to the RCR-2.

Being a true atomic clock, it can take some time to sync to the time signal. The initial display does help, even though it is not explained. On page 5 of the manual, it uses the J part of the LCD for a Level counter, L {n}, along with a data counter (Page 5, M) below that counts from blank to 9 a number of times. Every time the data counter reaches 9, the L count increases. If the counter does not reach 9, the L count is reset. I'm guessing this is collecting time signal data. Moving the time capsule around will help the time sync go faster with the counter and levels increasing as you watch, without being reset. It might not sync while you watch, but by using that initial display, you will see if you are well on your way.

Following the Newegg product link to the Sangean web site, downloaded the manual (it did have a pdf extension). It opened fine with Adobe Reader, but would not display with Foxit Reader.

Pros: Atomic clock, Aux in are good selling points

Cons: The manual, specs and flyer all require finding and opening an "Unknown File Type". No way.

Other Thoughts: Sanegan needs to be more forthcoming with product info.

Pros: High-Tech design

Cons: too much bass, odd button functionality, faulty alarm, non-existant tech support.

Other Thoughts: I bought this item a year ago. Although I am tech-savy, it was difficult to set up. Even though I had the alarm set correctly, it would go off four hours early, in ADDITION to the proper time. I e-mailed Support, who responded with a strange, nearly illiterate "non-answer" after a week. By then, I had returned the product and bought a different brand. I will never purchase a Sangean product again!

Pros: Atomic clock, digital radio tuner, small package, seven day programmablity, never needs a battery back-up, dimmer actually works, nice looking design, great sound.

Cons: Manual not well organized, buttons serve multiple functions, slight learning curve over basic alarm clocks, small clock display. The closer to a window it is the better the atomic clock works.

Other Thoughts: I bought this over a year ago. Out of the box it was not the most user intuitive alarm clock set up, mainly because it has more than 4 buttons, and requires a little reading in the manual to figure out how to actually program it. Once you figure out what you need to do to set things up it is a snap to use this thing. If you have problems setting up a DVD player, or using all the features of a microwave oven, you may want to look elsewhere for an alarm clock.

This is a great alarm clock. (not recommended for people looking for a kitchen table radio) The there are several alarm modes including one where the alarm gradually gets louder until you wake up. The radio alarm works perfectly every time since it is a digital tuner and doesn't have the nasty habit of shifting off the channel like many manual ones do. If you have the display in dimmer mode, it turns bright when the alarm goes off and lights up the room, and returns to dim mode 10 seconds after you turn the alarm off.

Pros: Atomic clock works well.
Alarm functionality is very nice with the ability to program only those days you want the alarm to sound.

Cons: AM Reception is aweful. I've had to physically alter the direction the clock faces to obtain stations, and even then, the stations have significant static.

Other Thoughts: If you are buying this clock for FM only or for the alarm clock functionality, this is a great clock. If you desire good AM reception, I would purchase something else.

Pros: Gentle-wake alarm; even adjustable from the factory settings
Attractive blue face, but difficult to read

Cons: Lousy customer service
Manual (and website) missing important information
Attractive blue face, but difficult to read

Other Thoughts: This radio can take up to 72 hours to get a signal from the atomic clock. It doesn't say that anywhere in the manual! If you go to their website's FAQs, this model is BLANK - NO info. Their website also boasts of their fabulous customer service, but the responses I received from emails was short and rude, and didn't even address my question! So then I wrote to the VP of Sales, who also sends a response that doesn't address my original question, NOR the rude responses I received. Bizarre.
Shutting off the alarms, if they are set close together, is kind of weird - I haven't figured that out yet; I have the alarms 5 minutes apart - the one I thought I shut off was snoozed, and the one I snoozed was shut off. The blue face is striking, except that it is impossible to read from the bed (right next to the radio). Okay... I DO like the gentle-wake alarm feature, which can be adjusted from the factory settings. There also seemed to be a lot of buttons to push to set the alarms, but after I go