Sangean RCR-22 Atomic Clock with FM-RDS / AM / Aux-in Digital Tuning Clock Radio, silver, one size

I live in a rural area, making reception difficult to find. But with this radio, I was able to find the perfect place to receive stations clearly. It was easy to set up, functions well, not too big & bulky, & the clock numbers are easily seen,

I searched for a long time to find a bedside clock radio I thought would make me happy after my 20 year old Zenith radio died. Like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, it seems like most clock radios available are way too basic or way too complex.For the most part this Sangean radio delivers on being in the comfortable Goldilocks zone. What I want is a radio that does not require a graduate degree in quantum mechanics to operate but still has some flexabilty. I don't need a Bluetooth enabled internet MP3 player to wake up in the morning, but it would be nice to have a reliable alarm that sounds at the correct time.As other reviewers have noted, the instruction manual is for the most part grammatically correct and covers the necessary information, but is lacking some needed detail. Some illustrations in the time setting options section might help. Having said that, this radio is pretty easy to figure out by just trying it out for a few minutes. Generally, the controls are logical and behave in a consistent manner between different functions. Unlike my old radio, I don't think I'll have to keep the manual for this radio handy to refresh my memory of seldom used features.The radio reception of this Sangean stands out as better than most moderately priced table radios. Both AM and FM stations are received clearly and without static. It is clear that Sangean's experience with short wave radios has benefitted this radio. It is also nice that the volume control is a digital thumb wheel instead of buttons that must be punched. This radio has an automatic volume sensitive tone control circuit that keeps the sound rich and balanced as volume is adjusted. Be aware that this is not a stereo radio, but sounds very good for a compact device. Audio output power is about one Watt, but is quite room filling and plenty loud.Time setting offers three modes. The default time setting system uses one of the national extremely low frequency time broadcast stations. The Sangean is apparently manufactured for one of the regions of North America, Europe or Asia and will receivce the time standard station in that region. The model I received uses WWVB, which is located in Colorado, United States. The instruction manual should explain that atomic time broadcasts can usually only be received for a few hours a day, typically between 12:00 AM and 4:00 AM local time where you are. This is due to daily atomospheric conditions. The Sangean has an internal backup that keeps time going for at least a few minutes of outage, however a long power loss might mean correct time will not be set until the early morning hours.If you live in an area with FM stations transmitting an RDS signal, you have the option of selecting to have the Sangean set its time from the RDS signal. Some FM stations don't seem to have the savvy to keep the RDS time they transmit correct, so how well this feature works may vary. In general, RDS time setting is a the best choice because it will allow the Sangean to quickly set the correct time.If neither automatic time setting option is appropriate, manual time setting is also a menu option. Generally, this radio seems to keep fairly stable time, so manual setting should not be an issue unless you live in an area with frequent long power outages.It should be noted that the Sangean relies on its short term backup power source and then setting by radio signal for long outages. The Sangean will not sound the alarm if the power happens to be off at the time the alarm is supposed to sound. I think Seangean sould have made it an option to be able to install a disposable backup battery so that the alarm alwwys sound even if power is off.The alarm functions are pretty well thought out. There are two independent alarms that can each trigger a beeper or the radio separately. The volume levels of both the beeper and radio are adjustable for each alarm. When the alarms sound, they start at a soft level and then quickly reach full volume; the light on the LCD display also goes to full brightness. The alarms also have a one-shot mode that allows setting for one sounding after which the alarm shuts off from further soundings. This is nice for setting a one-time weekend wake-up if you have your main alarm set for just Minday-Friday. A red LED on the alarm buttons is a reminder that the respective alarm is set to go off.Some reviewers have criticized the LCD as too bright. There is a button on the front of the radio to switch between full and user adjustable brightness. Full brightness is definitely bright, but the adjustable setting can be anywhere between off and full brightness. I didn't have any problem finding a setting that is dim but allows easy reading min a dark room. My only criticism is that the brightness adjustment knob is curiously located on the bottom of the radio. The instruction manual does explain brightness setting.Oddly, the instruction manual does not explain the rather large, "time capsule," antenna. The time capsule clips to the back of the radio, after a little fiddling to figure out the correct orientation to get the clip to lock into place. An adhesive dissc is included for attaching the time capsule to a surface separate from the radio. You may want to have the capsule separate if you have trouble getting reliable WWVB time reception. The capsule works best when it is broadside to the dirction from you to WWVB.Over all this is a very nice, good sounding, radio for a moderate price, and it will wake you up at the correct time unless there there is an unusually long power outage.

UPDATE 2022-10-24: The super capacitor has long gone sour. The function buttons are bouncy and cause errors; even the ON/OFF button requires multiple operations and sometimes does anything but. It's life is nearing end.As of this writing, I have had the RCR-22 for over two months. These days, our product range of offering is limited by crowd-driven selection, based on an uninformed, undiscerning public dictating a mundane choice for those of us who know what we want. Once in a while, something shows up that makes me say; "where did that come from?" Looking at the available clock radios was underwhelming based on what I knew I wanted and what I could find. These times, every product is the same as the other.......or worse. It's either common or excellent.When I found the Sangean RCR-22, it stood out way above the plethora of "me-too" clock radios. I won't go over all the features here as they are already published. I did find a few pluses that are not listed in the features as well as a few of my own items I wish it had. What I wanted was a clock radio that had a quartz time-base that was reset by the time radio signal transmitted from Boulder Colorado, which is connected to the world-standard atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. A good quality AM/FM radio, runs off AC with a battery that only serves as a backup during power outage. A large enough display that was lit at night but very dim, preferable amber in color (warm colored light in a dark room is more conducive to sleep than the blues and greens). Of course, I didn't quite get everything I wanted.With the RCR-22, I found most of what I wanted, then some. It's an "atomic clock" radio. It runs off AC, without one of those "wall warts". The AM/FM radio is above average quality with "phase locked loop" FM tuner. The sound coming out of the speaker is above average for a clock radio. It has a headphone output for stereo headphones but it only has mono audio out. It has a lot of buttons to access lots of functions. Some buttons are on the front, some on top. One thing I found convenient is that when pressing the front buttons, there is a post on top at each side to place a finger behind to stabilize the unit while pressing a front button. It does not use a back-up battery but instead has a "super capacitor" to keep clock running for an hour or so during a power outage. Some outages last longer. If it goes beyond the power stored in the capacitor and your wake-up time, the alarm will not sound. Even if power is restored before your wake-up time, it may take a while to reset to the atomic clock signal. That's why I would prefer a back-up battery. We recently had a 2-hour power failure and when the power returned, the clock had lost its time. All other settings (alarm and radio presets) were still intact. The clock will reset automatically by radio control but that will take a while depending on reception.The clock face illumination is blue LED. You have a choice of bright or dim. The dim choice is fully adjustable by screw-head adjustment on the bottom. You can adjust from nothing to bright as the standby setting. That means that even with be color being blue, you can adjust it so that it is barely visible in a dark room. That's what I did and I can still read the display in a lighted room. The snooze can be silenced by ANY of the top buttons. The snooze alarms every 5 minutes. I would have preferred 8 to 10 minutes.If I try to write all my thoughts of this product, I never will get this review in. I will just say in conclusion that I am very satisfied with this Sangean clock radio. Instead of warming over a product to compete with everything else, they innovated and put thought into a product that rises above the rest. Of course, it's too early to discover how long it will last. I do know that my previous Timex atomic clock radio lasted 13 years until the function buttons lost their conductive film inside.UPDATE 2016-11-06: The clock does NOT automatically reset for changes between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time. It has an add or subtract an hour setting. Some people prefer this, some don't. I have other radio controlled clocks that automatically reset. I would prefer the option instead, to choose between automatic DST setting or not automatic. The DST/ST code is already sent along the radio signal from Boulder Colorado and if the dates change, the radio signal contains the change.