Travel Alarm Clock Black with Battery

I got sucked in by the designer look--and it does look cool. It's simple and clean, without a lot of nonsensical buttons or other options. But there are 2 problems: the alarm sound is just too low. I'm not a heavy sleeper, but even with the clock on a nearby nightstand it does not always wake me. That's problematic, especially when you consider that this is a travel alarm, and you never really know what kind of ambient noise you'll be dealing with on the road. Add to that that many people use foam earplugs when traveling (or even at home) to cut out the hotel fans, street sounds, etc. when sleeping, and you really have to have a loud alarm to cut through the clutter. No way will this alarm do the job.

The second problem is less of a big deal, but it is hard to read the numbers on the front. You can press a button to light them up, but it automatically shuts off very quickly. This makes it a problem when setting the clock in the dark. You'll be pressing the buttons...Read more

nice looking, but the sound is too low to be effective at waking anyone up, for how expensive this alarm clock is compared to the competition I expected way more

This is a nice looking alarm clock (after ordering it I saw it in the SF MOMA as part of the "influenced by" section in the Dieter Rams (Braun) exhibition!). It works fine and is easy to use (but not as intuitive as you might think - almost every button has a double meaning, depending on how long it is held down for). The beep is loud enough, but not super-loud. As others have said, it's not that easy to read the display from a distance, but on the other hand it doesn't glow in the night and keep you awake, and it's a nice, portable size. It could be improved slightly by having a more rubbery finish, I think - it's lighter and more "plastic" than I expected (although still not "cheap" feeling). Finally, the company (Speranza Design Gallery) were responsive to my emails (the delivery box was surprisingly small and we managed to overlook it...!)