Sony ICF-C318 Automatic Time Set Clock Radio with Dual Alarm (Black)

Comment: This is the first time I've written a review on an alarm clock. But I am very impressed with this little guy. The controls are easy to use, and the clock already was set to the correct date and time out of the box. I like how there are a separate set of knobs for each of the two alarms, and I really like the three levels of brightness. The lowest level is so dim, you can barely see the readout in daylight. My previous clock would light up the whole room when it was set to dim. The radio sounds pretty good too. I'm thinking about buying a couple more for gifts.

Comment: This is all you need and it will go as loud as you want it to. The dual alarms have saved me quite a few times as I like to hit the snooze button and end up hitting the wrong button.

Comment: And it does that. It's functional and space-saving. And it's Sony, so the quality is there. I do wish it had the ability to set the alarm for certain days of the week like my old Timex. Although that's not something one needs to take advantage of often, unless you work retail or something. Hated those odd hours. I recently started hearing some static through the speakers. The alarms were off and so was the radio. I have no clue what interfered with it, but I'll play around with some ideas and see what happens. It wakes me up, so it's doing what I need it to so.

Comment: Really love this design and dual alarm design.

Anyway, its awesome!!!

The only disadvantage is that its lack of battery support. Only coming with 110V input.

Comment: I stumbled across this clock when browsing Amazon looking for a reasonably-priced clock that would let me adjust forward or backward when setting the alarm. I put this clock on my "wish list" and my kids got it for me for Father's Day. It seems that my wife and I are always tweeking our wake-up time from morning to morning, based on slight schedule variations, so that we wake up absolutely as late as we possibly can. On the alarm clock I had before this one, the alarm time could only be adjusted forward, so it was a pain to back the alarm time up by 10 minutes (you had to go forward 50 minutes instead). So, one of my favorite things about this clock is the fact that the alarm time (as well as the time of day) can be adjusted both forward and backward.

Here is a summary of key things things I like about the clock:
1) Alarm setting can be adjusted forward and backward (I know, I've beat this one to death).
2) Using the CR2032 backup battery for power, the clock will sound the alarm at the correct time even if AC power is out.
3) Dual alarm.
4) Clock automatically adjusts for Daylight Saving Time.
5) Alarm can be snoozed for 10 to 60 minutes in 10 minute increments by repeatedly pressing the snooze button.
6) The alarm doesn't sound obnoxiously right away. It starts out fairly soft, so that if you don't need something loud and obnoxious to wake you, you can turn it off before it gets that way.

There are other features that might be important to others, but those above are the ones that I really appreciate.

Here are some noteworthy quirks/watchouts:
1) The clock is touted as having "Automatic Time Set," which might make you think that it picks up the NIST radio signal to set itself. Well, it doesn't do that. All the "Automatic Time Set" feature means is that the time is set at the factory and kept reasonably accurately by the backup battery so that when you first plug it in, all you have to do is select your time zone.
2) There is an imperceptibly small difference in alarm volume between the low and high settings.
3) The radio sound quality is not so great, but I don't use the radio anyway.
4) I don't know how often this happens, but my clock came out of the box indicating "low battery." The first thing I had to do was to replace the CR2032 coin cell battery.