iTOMA Electronic Alarm Clock Radio-Bluetooth Stereo Speakers,FM Radio,Dual Alarm,Snooze,Brightness Dimmer,USB Charging Port,Backup Battery(CKS3501BT)

So I purchased one of these alarm clocks for my daughter so she did not have to keep her cell phone in her room at night to use as her alarm clock and we were so impressed, we bought another one for my other child! These alarm clocks are feature and function rich including but not limited to having blue tooth capabilities, a programmable radio, USB and auxiliary ports for charging and playing music as well as having two separate alarm clocks. A speaking of the alarm clocks, they have the option of being a radio station alarm or a beeping alarm, and I'll tell you what, the beeping alarm is awesome! A bonus feature I was not aware of when originally purchasing is that the beep will actually start off quiet and incrementally get louder. It is REALLY a nice feature as it prevents the alarm for simply being startling and terrifyingly loud from the get go. Furthermore, you can program the alarm clock to go off Monday thru Friday, Saturday and Sunday or seven days a week. You cannot program this alarm clock on random days of the week unfortunately, but for our purposes, that is not necessary as we use this alarm clock for school. The alarm clocks also have a nine minute snooze button. The clock radio can also get nice and loud if you want it too. The sound is clear and really nice for a compact, good looking clock of this size. Speaking of good looks, the numbers and screen have a nice cool, aqua blue color with three brightness and dimming options. The ONLY real gripe I have with this alarm clock is the battery backup. This alarm clock will NOT work during a power outage. The "battery backup" is to keep your time, alarm clock settings and programmable radio stations in the event of a power outage and when the power returns you will not need to reprogram your clock. READ: The alarm will not go off if the power is out. Although this would be a super rare event, for those of you that NEED an alarm clock to work if your power goes, this clock will not suit your needs. That being said, I can maybe think of one, maybe two times in my entire life that my power was out when I needed to get up in the morning, so again, not a deal breaker, but probably the one thing that keeps this clock from being the perfect alarm clock. Lastly, I'd like to let you know that this alarm clock is a little bit involved when programming for the first time. One really needs to follow the instructions, be a little bit patient and mess with it in order to familiarize yourself with the buttons. It's not terribly difficulty, but does take some getting used to. We spent maybe twenty minutes or so getting the alarm clock set up and are able to use all of the features now without a hitch. That being said, overall, this is a great alarm clock with lots of great bells and whistles.

All the complaints about how difficult it is to setup this clock are true. Reason? All buttons have two functions: one when the audio power is on and one when it's off. The manual says "With the power off (press power to turn the radio on)," and I'm sure that's where the confusion comes from. If the manual just said "With the power off," and then gave the instructions, it would be easier.The other problem is the buttons have two modes: long and short press. Sometimes you have to hold the button down and other times just click it. For example, to cycle through the alarm modes, one just clicks the buttons to go from off to bell to music (radio, Bluetooth, or USB) to off again. To set the alarm one must hold the button down to get the hour flashing, then a click for the minute, volume, and day (or days).Once I figured out the pattern, I got it setup and started using this clock radio, I was more pleased with it. I know use the radio alarm function and turn off my cell phone completely when going to bed. No more text message irritation while sleeping!Sound quality is great, better than expected for this price. The auto-brightness feature on the display works well: I keep it on full brightness and at night, it auto-dims to something that doesn't keep me up yet is visible in the dark. And the large digits are easy to read from across the room.Any nit-picks? Yes, two. First, Bluetooth audio: in Bluetooth mode, the volume control does not interact with Bluetooth like true Bluetooth speakers. Volume controls input to the preamp and the volume on the phone or tablet controls how loud or soft something plays. While the radio is plenty loud for background music on five, one must crank up to fifteen in Bluetooth mode for the same volume.The other nit-pick is radio volume is not logarithmic enough. Meaning one is rather loud for the minimum volume setting. I found the radio alarm to be almost too loud when I first got this. However after having lived with it, I've gotten used to the softest volume being louder than I would like.If the chief feature one wants is a great Bluetooth speaker with device integration, buy something else that's a speaker first and a clock radio second. However if the chief feature is a good clock radio so one can turn the phone off at night yet still play decent stereo music without another speaker, this model fits the bill.

Like: Well written instructions; well made - does not feel or look cheap; the clock numbers are big; the sound from the radio, as well as the auxiliary and Bluetooth connections, are fantastic. The USB port is convenient.Dislike: The clock numbers are too dim with the auto-dimming feature. I hope after re-reading the instructions I can make the numbers bright all the time.Flaws in design (personal opinion): This ITOMA clock replaced an RCA RC40-B clock which I had for many years, but sadly one of the set buttons stopped working and RCA no longer makes this clock (and the new RCA clocks I saw felt and looked cheap, especially compared to my old RCA RC40-B). The ITOMA clock puts all of its great control features on the top of the clock which is fine if you are standing and looking down at the clock. But if the clock is at your bedside and you are in bed you cannot see any controls without holding the clock in hand. If a few of the controls were placed on the face of the clock below the numbers, like for example, the radio, rev/forward, off and check wake time buttons on the old RCA RC40-B, they would be readily visible without having to rotate the clock to see the top AND the time would be slightly higher (above the buttons) and therefore more visible. In my case, the bedside table is a few inches shorter than the bed so it is difficult to read the time from across the room. I will have to elevate the ITOMA clock somehow so it is readable from a distance (as soon as I turn off the auto-dimmer...).