Howard Miller 645-688 Crescendo Travel Alarm Clock

 (10 customer reviews)

The Howard Miller Crescendo Travel Alarm Clock is designed to be simple, function well and last a long time. It shares its clock works, which are made in China, with other available travel alarms, most notably the Ultralux H3 tritium travel alarm clock that can be branded by other companies - like Smith & Wesson. The Smith & Wesson (Ultralux)clock has an extremely heavy metal case and the clock hands have had tritium cells bonded to them, but the design of the back of the case is poor. The Howard Miller clock has a back that is mostly metal while the Ultralux clock has an all plastic back. The cover for the button battery on the Ultralux clock is poorly designed and fails very quickly - leaving the user with a clock that does not function. The Howard Miller clock case, however, does not suffer from such design flaws. I originally bought a Smith & Wesson Tritium Travel Alarm Clock and the company I bought it from did not replace it when I complained about the poor Ultralux...Read more

This alarm clock does seem to be well made but it uses the little watch type batteries which I knew and could live with. What I found to be annoying to me is that the alarm is not loud at all, I don't want one to scare me but I do want something that will actually wake me. Plus setting the time and alarm are a pain to me, the knobs don't pull out, you must push on them to get the time set and the alarm set only goes in one direction. This isn't the clock I was expecting, I feel that for the look and weight of this little clock and the hint that this is so well made I find the clock very annoying and frustrating. I have fingernails that stick out from the ends of my fingers which many females do have and I fins setting this clock frustrating and annoying. I am keeping it because it keeps good time but I think I need to look elsewhere for a clock that is easier to set and will be loud enough to wake me.

The Crescendo Travel Alarm by Howard Miller is truly solid - in every meaning of the word. Built to endure, apealling to the eye, and utterly reliable, this analog device outperforms its digital rivals.