Sangean RCR-2 Digital Atomic Clock Radio with Dual Alarms Review

This is a great alarm clock, with some very nice features, including,

+ The ability to set two separate alarms that go off on specified days of the week,

+ The rock solid time due to the atomic clock synchronization ability,

+ Good, resonant sound from the radio with 7 presets,

+ A good alarm that starts off quiet and gets progressively louder,

+ A bunch of other features, including nap alarms, daylight savings time setting, etc.

This could be the perfect clock radio, except for the flaws:

- A really deficient display that is far too bright at night, and has a very limited range of angles for which it is visible. If they had a better (wide viewing angle) LCD coupled with two separate LED back-lights (e.g., bright green for day and dim red for night), it would be a market leader.

- Lack of automatic gain control (AGC) for the AM stations. The weak stations are nearly inaudible and need to be cranked up, while the strong stations are very loud. With a good AGC, one could cycle through the station presets and have the sound levels roughly the same. This could be rectified with a better radio circuit design. Also, they probably could have spent some more money for a better AM internal antenna.

- Substandard documentation. For example, it explains how to set the time so it not longer syncs to the atomic clock signal out of Colorado. It doesn't explain how to go back to automatic syncing. (Here's how you do it: hold the time button down for about 5 seconds, and the antenna icon will start blinking again.)

Overall, I am quite satisfied with the alarm. I would have been willing to pay $20 more for a better display and AM radio reception as explained above.

Buy it here now!