Philips AJ3950 CD Stereo Clock Radio (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I've owned many clock radios over the years, starting with a simple Sony model back in the 1970s. Most were adequate, but left me wondering whether the people who designed them actually used them, since the products consistently lacked features that would have added significant convenience. Late in 2003, I set out on the search for the perfect clock radio. After reading the descriptions and reviews of countless models, I settled on the Philips AJ3950. It has exceeded expectations on all counts. The perfect clock radio for you will depend on your specific needs; for me, the features that make this product a hit are the following:- Excellent sound quality for a $45 multi-function product- Dual alarms (either one can be set to alarm, radio, or CD)- When using CD for wake-up music, you can pick which track it starts on- Crescendo alarm volume -- you can set both the starting volume of the alarm and the volume it rises to, and the volume levels can be set independently for the two different alarms- Weekend reprieve, so the alarms don't go off on weekends- Easy to read display with adjustable brightness- Built-in power saver for short power interruptionsWith this functionality, you have tremendous flexibility in setting alarms. The price of this flexibility is complexity, and the manual is unforgiveably unclear on some points. However, the controls become intuitive after the first few uses. I wish the manual was clearer, and I wish the power failure battery was bigger; but overall, I have been very pleased with this product for the past year. It offers dramatically higher quality, flexibility, and ease of use than the comparable Timex product, for which I paid twice as much.

I can see why the engineer failed this clock, but you know what? It's still a great buy. If you're like me and really don't fiddle with them much once the time and alarms are set, then this clock has some really great amenities. Weekend Sleeper - I love it already and haven't even hit my first weekend. No turning the volume down on Friday night (if I remember) or turning it back up Sunday night (if I remember). The gentle wake is really nice too - no jarring out of bed to run and turn the thing off. It actually took three minutes for the volume to get me up but it did it so gently that it felt almost like natural waking. The sound is passable - I'm not going to rave about it like others, but then I don't listen to my clock for entertainment. Works and sounds good enough. Nice bright LED that I can sure read across the room without my glasses. It's a keeper. Now for a complaint - the people at Phillips that refurbished mine slapped a huge paper sticker right on the side of the unit itself. One of those stickers that never completely comes off after 15 minutes and generous applications of Goo-Gone. I ended up starting to remove the finish and just gave up, fairly disgusted. Oh well - I saved $20.

The title of the review says it all. This is a pretty great clock, with great sound and cd-player. The clock has the capacity for 2 alarm saved settings, so in the event that you have different times you have to get up on certain days, be it for class, work, etc., all you have to do is switch from one alarm to the other, instead of having to change the setting every night. The alarm itself is a 'gentle wake' that starts of at a low pulse that you can specify, and increasingly gets louder. If you prefer, you may set the alarm to start out loud and become even louder. The Weekend Sleeper feature is great, for those of us that have off on the weekends, the clock keeps track of days on a 1-7 scale(starting with Monday), and with the weekend sleeper on it will know not to go off on Saturday and Sunday (days 6 and 7). The brightness settings can dim the LCD display enough to not bother you at all while you try to sleep, and can also make the display bright enough to see from a long distance. I also completely disagree with the review that claims the numbers are hard to see...I had no trouble seeing the numbers easily at a glance from more than 50 feet away.But as I stated in my review, the alarm itself is ultimately unreliable. Many times, the snooze feature will inadvertantly trigger off the alarm, and it will just stop going off. This has cost me considerable time more than once. Since I thought it was a defective clock I returned it and got another one. Unfortunately the same thing happens. The alarm simply seems to trigger itself off after a while, as if it just gave up trying to wake you up. I read the instructions thoroughly, wondering if it was simply human error on my part, but there is nothing in the instructions covering automatic alarm shutoff. Beware of this flaw if you decide to pick up this otherwise great alarm clock.If you do decide to purchase this clock, then I highly recommend setting both alarms to go off within 10 minutes of each other, just in case one alarm decides to shut off by itself. But all in all, this clock will be a worthy investment, especially because of its clear sound and CD Player.