Sony ICF-CD855VSIL TV/Weather/FM/AM 4 Band CD Clock Radio
by Sony
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: SonyModel: ICFCD855V
Product features:
- Wake to your favorite CD or radio station
- Interior decoration conscious stylish design
- Sophisticated LCD display
- Clear acrylic lid lets you see the disc spinning
- Triple display (Present Time, Alarm A / Alarm B)
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony ICF-CD855VSIL TV/Weather/FM/AM 4 Band CD Clock Radio
Customer Review: You have to pay this much just to get a reliable alarm clock, which this one is.
Summary: 5 Stars
How good an alarm clock is basically comes down to this: When you set the alarm with the three or four settings you need to do--alarm on/off, radio/CD/annoying noise,volume, and in this case the track you want it to play or if you want it on shuffle or not--does it actually do what you specified the settings to do. The Sony Dream Machine does, and it features two equally accessible alarms as well so that husband and wife (or husband and husband or wife and wife as the case may be) don't need to argue over how to set the alarm for two morning schedules, along with convenient and easy to understand buttons for the radio presets and cd player controls.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The two alarm settings are completely independent of each other, so one person can wake up to a CD and the other to a favorite radio station if they like. My wife is from Japan for instance, and she wants a Japanese pop CD in there, while I'm partial to waking up to NPR news.
Best Feature--The Snooze button: It can be pressed multiple times at a shot to set how much time thereafter you want it to make another attempt at waking you, up to an hour later; and it's generously sized so that you can find it easily when you're not quite all there yet.
Worst Feature--the lack of any sort of backup battery. For this price, they should just put in a long term one like computers have--providing just enough power to startup the system and remember settings. I'm pretty sure a battery like the one Sony features in my video camera (circa 1998, TR3000 bought in Japan) would do the trick while only needing very periodic replacement.
Sound--good, not excellent, but it's an alarm clock, not a stereo. For a kid's room or for your general purpose needs, the sound quality is plenty good. No one needs 100 watts per channel, crystal clear sound to wake up to in the morning, and this little appliance does an exceptional job of serving both as an alarm clock and a handy, space-saving and attractive stereo. It's perfect for not only the bedroom, but the kitchen as well.
For the performance to price ratio, you could only do better by blowing the wad for a Bose unit.
Not for great-grandma: Younger grandparent-age people will probably be fine with it--say, as a gift--but if they're from the WWII generation or earlier, forget about it; in fact, forget anything with buttons or digital displays. Sony makes really excellent clock radios with the same reliable analogue features your grandparents have come to enjoy growing up but much improved, and they'll appreciate the thoughtfulness of such a gift much better--while this thing would just gather dust somewhere and be an entire waste of money or source of annoyance.
If I had to remark on one real downside to this unit, it's that the backlight really is too bright to sleep with it pointing at your face--and be close enough to reach without getting up--while being on a setting that is readable when you're still bleary-eyed. Add that the control for the brightness is not conveniently located (it's on the back) so you couldn't just reach over in your half-coma state, brighten it, then turn it back down. They should have added a feature like outdoor electronics have--such as cycling computers and GPS units--where you can press a button, it lights up for a moment, then goes back to it's preset brightness.
BOTTOM LINE: The best, most reliable, and enjoyable alarm clock I've ever owned. It's durable, easy to clean, looks nice, and features two utterly independent alarm settings--so you'll only need one--in addition to generous preset buttons and easy controls. It's really worth just exactly what Amazon is charging for it.
Description of Sony ICF-CD855VSIL TV/Weather/FM/AM 4 Band CD Clock Radio
SONY ICFCD855V -- You'll always get up on the right side of the bed, when you're gently roused to greet the day by this ultramodern Dream Machine(R) CD Clock Radio. Dual alarm with individual setting Extendable Snooze function Gentle Sleep function TV / Weather / FM / AM 4 Band Tuner 25 Station Presets 5 Direct Access(TM) buttons LCD brightness controlDigital Cameras & Photo Categories