Foo - How did you choose your alarm clock? and what does it say about you?

I have the Sony Dream Machine alarm clock. Bought it about 3 years ago. It's nothing fancy, just a square box that plays the radio and has an alarm. But it's real appeal is in its 3 inch diameter snooze button. It's great when you're still groggy. All you have to do is flop your hand in the general direction of the alarm clock, and you'll hit the snooze :D I tend to hit the snooze button a few times before I drag my butt out of bed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-ICF-C317-Dream-Machine-Clock/dp/B0000AKKQA

Anyone else have an alarm clock they put some thought into when buying?

I have an old Westclox (10+yo) on the dresser that sounds like hurting. I never hit snooze since I have to get up to reach it. It says I don't trust myself.

I have never ever found a satisfying alarm clock.
I always manage to sleep through them.

My favorite alarm clock was a 24 hour timer with a cassette tape recorder plugged in so I knew exactly what I would hear in the morning. There's no better wake-up tune than Jollity Farm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNRPUf9AVAA) by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.

I bought my current alarm clock in 1978. It's a small GE AM-FM table radio with a plastic fake wood appearance that I got at Savon Drugs. The clock is analog. I think it cost about $20 and when I bought it, I hoped it would last more than a year. It sits on a low table at the foot of my bed so I must at least sit up and stretch to turn it off.

It says I'm waiting for it to die, and it knows it and refuses. LOL. I have looked around, but haven't found anything to compare with the cassette player and 24 hour timer. I wish I could find an alarm clock with a CD player like I got my ex years back, but they're history too.

I use my cell phone as my alarm clock. It says that I like devices that multitask. I do like the Bonzos. Maybe see if I can set it to play Mr Slater's Parrot.

My favorite alarm clock was a 24 hour timer with a cassette tape recorder plugged in so I knew exactly what I would hear in the morning. There's no better wake-up tune than Jollity Farm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNRPUf9AVAA) by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.

I bought my current alarm clock in 1978. It's a small GE AM-FM table radio with a plastic fake wood appearance that I got at Savon Drugs. The clock is analog. I think it cost about $20 and when I bought it, I hoped it would last more than a year. It sits on a low table at the foot of my bed so I must at least sit up and stretch to turn it off.

It says I'm waiting for it to die, and it knows it and refuses. LOL. I have looked around, but haven't found anything to compare with the cassette player and 24 hour timer. I wish I could find an alarm clock with a CD player like I got my ex years back, but they're history too.

My sister still uses her GE Alarm Clock from the 70's. Works great.

I use my cell phone as my alarm clock. It says that I like devices that multitask. I do like the Bonzos. Maybe see if I can set it to play Mr Slater's Parrot.

I use my cell when I'm travelling, but otherwise I like my lazy man's alarm clock with the massive snooze button :)

I have one of those simulated sunrise alarm clocks - 30 minutes before I want to wake up, it turns on a dim light which gets progressively brighter. If I'm not awake by the actual alarm time, it plays either the radio or the sound of birds chirping (depending on how it's set). As the light gets progressively brighter, I fear that if I over sleep, the light will keep intensifying and become a Class VI laser and burn a hole through the ceiling :D

It seems to work well, but I need to adjust it - it's a little bright and it wakes me up about 15 minutes too early (you can adjust how bright the light gets).

Theoretically, it's supposed to lead to a more gradual (read: Less sucky) waking up, by tricking the body into thinking that it's naturally waking due to sunrise. The jury is still out on whether it's better to wake up to this or The California Report on NPR...

I use a Sony I bought in 1998. I bought it because it had a digital tuner (so I could listen to a station that doesn't always come in well), the weather band, 2 alarms (making it harder for me to sleep through the alarm) and didn't take up much room on my nightstand (so my cat could sit there). Every time the power goes out and I have to reset the time (which includes the year), I'm reminded of how long I've had it.

Alarm modes and battery backup were the important features for me. I have a Timex clock radio with dual 2-5-7 day alarms, automatic DST change, and auto-set date/time. The radio sucks but it was cheap and I never have to set anything.

I guess it says that I prefer to set and forget.

http://unitedtty.com/store/media/sb1000.jpg
This bad boy, cause it actually is capable of waking me up, sounds like a damn trucks backing up horn.

Digital face because I hate reading analog clocks to see exactly what time it is. Two alarms: one set to catch the early train, one set for the lazy train. It sits on the other side of the bed because sometimes I turn it off without really waking up...

When I really need to make sure I wake up for an appointment, I'll set one of those old-fashioned manual alarm clocks that are loud enough to wake up the neighbours as well. I'll set this up far enough away that I have to get out of bed to turn it off. It's usually not a pleasant way to start my morning.

Smart phone, I get to select what song I want to hear to wake up to. And I can set multiple alarms so I don't oversleep on those harder nights.

I use a water based alarm,when my bladder tells me it needs emptying for the second time I think about staying up, you can tell I'm retired. :D I've set the alarm on the clock twice so far this year and will do it again in a couple of days so I can catch the first ferry off this rock for my Christmas vacation trip.

This thing will wake you up, and the neighbors as well....

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=sharp+alarm+clock&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=BZg&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&resnum=3&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=673&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=4373391914677651797&sa=X&ei=UCfuTsazGorgsQKEkOjCCQ&ved=0CIEBEPICMAA

230916

I've had some Sony alarm clock with two alarms and a radio forever. I think I bought it when I was a freshman in college. The beeping starts out slow and gets faster if you don't turn it off.

I have an old crappy no-name alarm clock bought years ago from a drugstore. I put it across the room from the bed, so I have to get up to shut it off, or more likely, hit the snooze button.

I want to buy a REALLY LOUD one, but it hasn't been high enough priority to bother.

On the rare occasion that I use an alarm, it is the one on my cell phone.

My sister still uses her GE Alarm Clock from the 70's. Works great.

I have a Radio Shack LED clock from 1980 or thereabouts. 2" tall numbers so I can read it from across the room without my glasses, and it sits across the room so I have to get out of bed to turn off the obnoxious alarm. They don't make 'em like they used to!

I have an old crappy no-name alarm clock bought years ago from a drugstore. I put it across the room from the bed, so I have to get up to shut it off, or more likely, hit the snooze button.

I want to buy a REALLY LOUD one, but it hasn't been high enough priority to bother.

See post #16!

I don't care about the brand or the looks. All I want is a clock that will display the correct time when I plug it in. This can be done in 2 ways...

a) Clocks that set themselves up via satellite.

Not sure if they used the time function of gps signals or what else. But they set themselves up. Problem is sometimes indoors is difficult or impossible to get a signal and even when they do, it takes them hours to tune into the signal and get the current time.

b) clocks that has been pre-set from factory.

These are my favorite. They have a 2nd battery inside that drives the clock circuit. The battery last for 10 years and the time is set up at the factory.

On both, the only thing you have to set is your time zone and if you want to use daylight.

What they say about me? That my power company is not reliable and that I'm lazy.

My favorite alarm clock was a 24 hour timer with a cassette tape recorder plugged in so I knew exactly what I would hear in the morning. There's no better wake-up tune than Jollity Farm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNRPUf9AVAA) by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.



In high school my brother had his stereo rigged to play Cheech & Chongs "Earache My Eye" skit

I just use my phone. It says that I hate ugly alarm clocks in my carefully decorated apartment. There is nothing attractive about tacky molded plastic and neon digital clock faces.

+1. The snooze button is indeed nice, but what I really love about it is the nap function. I alternate between the 20 and 30min option. As I get older I am appreciating "nap time" much more than as a kid. ::thumbsup::


I have the Sony Dream Machine alarm clock. Bought it about 3 years ago. It's nothing fancy, just a square box that plays the radio and has an alarm. But it's real appeal is in its 3 inch diameter snooze button. It's great when you're still groggy. All you have to do is flop your hand in the general direction of the alarm clock, and you'll hit the snooze :D I tend to hit the snooze button a few times before I drag my butt out of bed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-ICF-C317-Dream-Machine-Clock/dp/B0000AKKQA

Anyone else have an alarm clock they put some thought into when buying?

Westclox POS from WallyWorld...it says "cheap!"

I've got the exact same one as alfster.

I HATE!!!!! alarm clocks. I use my cell to wake up in the morning and usually wake about 2 minutes before it goes off so I don't have to hear the darn thing.

Best alarm clock I ever had was one back in boarding school.
It was a softball with a digital clock stuffed inside. To set the snooze you slung it across the room and 10 mins later you had to get up and find it.

b) clocks that has been pre-set from factory.

These are my favorite. They have a 2nd battery inside that drives the clock circuit. The battery last for 10 years and the time is set up at the factory.
Mine was like this. Only problem is in the last 5 years or so it drifted and has become about ten minutes fast. I decided to reset it the other day and it took me forever to figure out how to set the time.

http://www.amazon.com/Sangean-RCR-2-Digital-Atomic-Alarms/dp/B0000CFYNK

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81S7yBqk1QL._AA1500_.jpg

Atomic clock goodness. It is set to go off at 0500 Monday through Friday, but after 35 years of getting up at 0500, I usually wake up automatically at about 0455. But I lie in bed and listen to the first five minutes of headlines from NPR.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tfGC7tOlrdk/R3M3SwG3_jI/AAAAAAAAB7A/nPw4vl-uW7s/s400/bose-wave-radio.jpg
I like the alarm. It's set to a radio station, starts off quiet and builds to a intolerable level unless you hit the button.

I have a Sony dream machine which has been mentioned a couple of times. This one can play a cd for the wake up call. I'm easy to get up, so I don't have the volume up on it. I have a few absolutely beautiful cds that are about as pleasant as you can get, and very nice first thing in the morning.

The thing I would like to change on it is to have a 24 hour version. With the plug in radio and cd alarms, I've just never been able to get that. A 24 hour version saves at least one possible way of setting the clock wrong.

I do have a smaller battery travel alarm that is a 24 hour version. I use it as a back up but it's so noisy that I set it 5 min later so I can turn it off if the main one doesn't fail.

A 2 alarm clock system says careful and organized. :)

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab143/jatodon/baby-1-4-9-15-lg.jpg

Backed up by my Blackberry.

I travel a lot and sleep in a lot of hotel rooms and I HATE HATE HATE the Sony Dream Machine. Every hotel chain thinks they have found the perfect clock to put in the room and none of them are simple enough to understand when you stagger into the room at midnight just wanting to go to sleep and some moron has set the alarm to go off at 5am. After effing around with the stupid clock for a couple minutes trying to "dis-arm" it, I usually just unplug it because I just do not care to spend the brain bytes trying to figure it out.

According to the internet, my alarm clock is a Sony Dream Machine model ICF-C370, circa 1995. As such, there is one being sold on eBay as "vintage". Ohhh kaaaay. 1995 was only like three years ago. Come on.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q228/lorabilly/Clocks%20Radios/clockwhitesony4.jpg

It's like that, but black.

How did I choose it? Hell if I know. I probably saw something that looked like an alarm clock, thought, "Hey, I need an alarm clock!", and purchased it.

http://i.ebayimg.com/17/!Bt339vgCWk~$(KGrHqQH-D!Evqkmp6LPBL90ldfyUw~~_3.JPG

Had it since I was ~4, Still going strong. Shows I'm still a kid.

According to the internet, my alarm clock is a Sony Dream Machine model ICF-C370, circa 1995. As such, there is one being sold on eBay as "vintage". Ohhh kaaaay. 1995 was only like three years ago. Come on.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q228/lorabilly/Clocks%20Radios/clockwhitesony4.jpg

It's like that, but black.

How did I choose it? Hell if I know. I probably saw something that looked like an alarm clock, thought, "Hey, I need an alarm clock!", and purchased it.

7 segment display? how high tech of you.
There's still a split-flap alarm clock in this premise. It still works too, interestingly.

I have this, I wake to the smell of freshly cooked bacon.

http://mattysallin.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/doorcracked.jpg?w=640http://mattysallin.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/doorcracked.jpg?w=640

http://mattysallin.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/dooropen.jpg?w=640

I had a room mate for a while that could hit the snooze button on her really loud alarm clock for 45 minutes before getting up. It didn't bother her that it was loud enough to wake up others but didn't wake her up. I was going to get her one of these bad boys (http://www.activeforever.com/p-1656-screaming-meanie-220.aspx) so we'd just have to wake up once but ended up moving out and not having to worry about it. http://www.activeforever.com/images/Product/medium/A13455.jpg

I use a La Crosse alarm and picked it because it's so damn cool. I like that the time is set and controlled by a radio signal, so always correct and sets automatically at daylight savings time changes. I also like that the time is projected to a wall so I can see it during the night. Two alarm settings and indoor and outdoor temperature are also cool. The backup batteries keep the thing running during power outages, also cool.

http://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technology-WT-5220U--Projection-Temperature/dp/B001JQX0MO/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1324324574&sr=8-27

Like so many others, I use my cell phone. It gets plugged in at night so there's no worries about battery charge and it is set to Revielle. There is no snooze button, I have to be awake to swipe the display that turns off the alarm. I'm usually awake long before the alarm goes off anyways.

My alarm says that I cant be bothered by potential power blips or clock drift that might cause me to report late to work. And its on my phone so why bother buying a seperate alarm clock?

I have the same clock-radio I have used since about 1980. An old girlfriend gave it to me. It has the easiest, most user-friendly set-up for setting either the time or the alarm; a switch to choose between - wait for it - time or alarm, a switch to go forward or back, and two buttons, fast and slow, to regulate how quickly the time setting flies by. Brilliance itself. I have never seen another one like it, and none I like as well.

Whatzit say about me? I'm cheap, don't care about decor and don't want to figure out a new wake-up device if I don't have to.

7 segment display? how high tech of you.
There's still a split-flap alarm clock in this premise. It still works too, interestingly.I know. But I have to allow some high tech wizardry into my life...

I like the idea of the flappy clock, but in reality, I think the sound it would make every minute of the day would be annoying. I don't even like analogue clocks that tick loudly.

I like the idea of the flappy clock, but in reality, I think the sound it would make every minute of the day would be annoying. I don't even like analogue clocks that tick loudly.

The flapping sound is nothing. Listen to one of these at one in the morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZWz6457asM

I have requirements for my alarm clock:

digital;
dual alarm (one for school days, the other for not);
auto-set, by 'satellite';
snooze.

I back it up with my old cell phone, no longer on the network, because I can choose ringtones. Each one has about a 20-second clip of one of my favorite songs -- one is Motorhead's "The Game", another is Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer". The cell works better to wake me.

I have some cheap alarm clock that I bought on sale at Target. It's very loud and has tiny buttons and switches which make it difficult to turn it off in the morning. I place it out of reach from where I sleep, which assures I get out of bed.

I've considered rigging up something involving a clock triggered servo to actuate my Airzound horn so it's kinda like Spongebob's foghorn alarm clock.

I never use an alarm clock... I always wake up when I have to...

I never use an alarm clock... I always wake up when I have to...

I try to get enough sleep to do that too, but sometimes have a tight enough schedule that I can't be sure it will happen.

It's really nice to be a light sleeper. I usually wake up before the alarm goes off, or when the cd starts turning in the machine, but before any sound has come out of the speakers.

I was living in an unusual situation, renting a space in a warehouse that a couple had modified to live in. One night I woke up to the smell of smoke. It was toast starting to burn about 50 feet away. I went to the door of my area, and the guy in the kitchen didn't even realize it was burning yet.

An emergency happened to someone I know that was made worse when she couldn't wake up the only person in the house at the time. Some people are heavy sleepers, and that never seems like a good thing to me.