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

I was looking for a high-quality alarm clock after about 12 years with an unimpressive Sony Dreammachine. This clock delivered on that front, and unlike most consumer electronics devices I've purchased in the past several years, it is clear that lots of thought was put into this device (and very little into the manual). PROS: There are tons of little nuances that the manual does not detail that I've discovered using the clock for a few weeks. For example the display can be dimmed with a dial on the bottom (which on my unit did not take effect until my alarm goes off the first time). The clock remains dimmed at your preset level, but goes to full brightness when the alarm goes off, making the clock easier to find. Combined with the pleasing blue light and the HWS (makes the alarm bell go from soft to loud) it's really nice to wake up to. Another thoughtful touch is that alarm indicators only light within 24 hours of your alarm. Either alarm can be set to go off on particular days, with any combination of Su-Sa set for each alarm (i.e. alarm1 can be set for Monday, Thursday and Sunday, no weekday/weekend restrictions like some others). The alarm indicators however only light up when your alarm will ring the next morning. Very nice. Other functions like the snooze, nap timers, etc. all work well. Like most alarms you need some time to figure out how it works, but after a few mornings most functions were intuitive. The radio functions well, and pulls in way more stations than the Dreammachine. The speaker is fine, that is to say neither exceptionally good or exceptionally poor. If I want the ultimate music experience, I have an expensive stereo for that. The clock is a true atomic time clock (not just a "preset" clock like many others). I don't know all the nuances of atomic cock synchronization, but the weather and location of the antenna seem to affect the two atomic clocks I have at home. Try moving the antenna towards the window if you have problems. CONS It is nicer than average plastic and construction, but still not going to win any design awards. I can't figure out why all alarm clock designs are frozen in 1992. The manual was clearly written by a bunch of engineers. It is no nonsense, and explains how to set/use everything, but does not mention any of the usability features I noted above. For example if it's Monday and you set an alarm for thursday, You might wonder why the alarm indicators do not all light up. No mention at all in the manual. I thought the clock was broken since the dimmer did not function until the first time an alarm went off. Again, no mention in the manual of what turned out to be a very nice feature, and one I almost returned the clock for! Another example is the unwieldly "Time Machine" antenna for the atomic clock. It is big and odd looking, but fits nicely to the back of the clock. Again, no mention in the manual save for a single line drawing. When I initially plugged the clock in, all kinds of crytic numbers flashed on the display while it synced the time, again, no mention of what was happening or why in the manual. The manual does tell you how to DO everything, but does not explain WHY certain things work the way they do, or explain the various nice features someone clearly took time to think through. Overal a great buy, especially for something you'll likely use every day for 5-15 years. I would like to see a better manual, autodimming of the display (it is BRIGHT when set to max), Sangean using a designer that is somewhat current, and perhaps a user manual rewrite, other than that, this clock works very well and will be on my nightstand for years to come. I agonized over what to put on my nightstand (everything from Bose to Timex) and am very happy with my choice.

THIS IS A WONDERFUL CLOCK RADIO. ITS MANUAL, LIKE SO MANY WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO KNOW TOO MUCH AND ASSUME THAT THE CONSUMER ALSO KNOWS PLENTY.....COULD USE SOME EXPLANATION. BUT THE LITTLE TUBE-LIKE "CARTRIDGE" THAT FITS ON THE BACK, SOMEHOW DOES AN INCREDIBLE JOB OF GETTING AN FM RADIO SIGNAL. WE LIVE OUT IN FARM COUNTRY IN THE MIDWEST. WE HAVE HAD ACCESS TO ONLY ONE CLASSICAL RADIO STATION. WITH THIS CLOCK RADIO WE NOW HAVE THREE. WHILE IT ONLY ALLOWS TWO SETTINGS FOR ALARMS (ALL WE NEED) RATHER THAN ONE OR TWO EACH OF SEVEN DAYS LIKE ANOTHER CLOCK WE RECENTLY PURCHASED, I WANT TO LIST WHAT IS WONDERFUL ABOUT THIS ONE IN ADDITION TO THE RADIO. YOU CAN ADJUST, FROM THE BOTTOM, WITH A SLOT SCREWDRIVER, THE BACKLIGHTING FROM BRIGHT TO SEVERAL GRADATIONS OF DIMMER, TO TOTALLY OFF. THIS ENABLES YOU, ONCE YOU FIGURE OUT THE BUTTONS ON THE FRONT TO: PRESS THE LOWEST ONE OF FOUR VERTICAL ONES ON THE RIGHT TO ACCOMPLISH THIS. I THEREFORE SET IT TO SAVE OUR SLEEPING EYES, AFTER READING HOW DAMAGING LIGHT CAN BE THROUGH THE EYELIDS OF SLEEPERS WITH ILLUMINATED NUMBERS OR BACKLIGHTING. LIKE MOST PEOPLE WHO BUY SUCH A CLOCK-RADIO, WE HAVE IT TWO FEET AWAY FROM OUR BED, IN ORDER TO TURN OFF THE ALARM THE NEXT MORNING. ANOTHER REALLY NICE FEATURE IS TO BE ABLE TO PRESET THE SEVEN TOP BUTTONS FOR AM OR FM STATIONS. WE NOW HAVE A CHOICE OF THREE CLASSICAL SIGNALS. JUST LAST NIGHT, ONE OF THE STATIONS HAD SORT-OF BOMBASTIC MUSIC, WITH A LOT OF DRUMMING. WITH JUST A POKE OF A BUTTON, I TRIED ANOTHER STATION AND GOT GORGEOUS, SUBTLE JAZZ GUITAR PLAYING...PERFECT FOR GOING TO SLEEP. THE TOP RIGHT VERTICAL BUTTON GIVES YOU OPTIONS FOR ON/60/45/30/15 MINUTE INCREMENTS FOR SLEEP...LIKE OLDER RADIOS USED TO DO. YOU JUST LISTEN FOR A BEEP. THE LEFT TOP TWO VERTICAL BUTTONS ARE ALREADY PRE-SET BY US TO SELECT ONE OR THE OTHER ALARMS, FOR THE TWO DIFFERENT TIMES WE NEED DURING THE WEEK. WE JUST LOVE THIS RADIO. I SELECTED IT BECAUSE I HOPED THAT IT HAD NO STRONG GREEN, RED, BLUE BACKLIGHT AND NO STRONG GREEN, RED, BLUE (THE WORST ON THE BRAIN, I HAD READ) BACKLIGHT. IF YOU DO NOT NEED A DIFFERENT ALARM TIME SETTING MORE THAN THE TWO OPTIONS, THIS IS THE FINEST CLOCK-RADIO YOU CAN GET. IT IS BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED AESTHETICALLY AND FAIRLY PRICED. IT HAS A LOVELY SOUND FOR MUSIC ALSO. THE REASON FOR THE APPRECIATION OF MORE THAN ONE STATION IS ALSO BECAUSE, WHILE NEWS MAY BE WHAT SOME PEOPLE WANT, IT IS NOT WHAT YOU ENJOY WHEN GOING TO SLEEP OR AWAKING, IN MOST CASES. I THINK IT ALSO HAS A SLOWLY-GROWING LOUDER ALARM BUT I AM NOT SURE. NM

I guess I just got tired of my 15 year old Sony Dream Machine. It worked, but, somehow, I thought maybe someone would have built something better. All clock radios seem to be pretty much the same. So I searched, and was willing to pay good money to find something that at least tackled how to make a clock radio better. Seemed like almost every clock radio was cheap and basic. The Sangean is what I came up with. Better, but could use a few improvements to be perfect. Pros: 1) Atomic clock. Finally! Accurate time! I want the radio to go off at just the time the 6:30 news starts. For one reason or another, over the course of a year, there are least a couple of periods when the clock has to get reset and the time ends up being either too early or too late. Then you get too lazy to do all the button pressing and watching your other clock, assuming it's right, to get it set to the exact time, if you can, and you end up saying to yourself every morning, I've got to set the clock right!, until you finally do it and it never seems to be exact even then. This thing has a detachable antenna thing that catches the correct time by radio waves, or something. I don't know, or care. It works. You may need to move it around, though, and it may take a long time to actually update, but you don't have to do anything once it starts. 2) Radio reception. Probably as good as it can be for me, in my bedroom. One of the main reasons I started looking for a new clock radio was the frequent "fuzzy" reception periods my Dream Machine would go through (must be because of weather conditions). No matter how much I moved it and the antenna (electrical cord) around, the radio would stay fuzzy for weeks at a time. This one has better reception and the separate cord for the radio antenna is easier to position. Also, the tuning wheel is a fine tuner, so it is easier to zero in on a station. 3) Set alarm once and forget. I am not going to complain about how difficult it may be to learn how to set up a new clock radio. They are all hard; too many things to do with too few buttons. Clock radios are something you will learn to use over time. That being said, once I did figure out how to set up my alarm schedule, I haven't had to touch it since. I don't have to turn it on or off each day. It can be set up by days of week and then works according to the schedule you set. After the alarm goes off, you can either hit one button to turn it off for that day, or do a snooze. It has a lot of customization options, too. Nice not to have to think about it. Eliminates days I forgot to set my Dream Machine alarm and got up late. (Even though I don't use it, the buzzer has a pretty cool sound and varying loudness pattern to wake you up more gently.) Cons: 1) Brightness. The face is bright, but you can turn it down. Even at the lowest setting, though, it is relatively (and I mean it is only at night it seems bright) bright. I do not consider this a deal killer, though. You get used to it. It isn't like you left a light on. I still go to sleep just fine. Still, some people may find it too bright. 2) No tone adjustment control. This is something that would make it closer to perfect. I don't know why they didn't include bass and treble adjustment control. The default radio is good, but some people like it adjusted differently, especially for waking up in the morning. Again, not a deal killer. I only use the radio to wake up to. 3) Instructions could be better. They cover the needed settings, but it doesn't talk about other things, like how long it takes for the clock to actually pick up the correct time (I called customer support, a number they don't seem to want you to find, and the guy told me it usually takes hours for it to set), and it doesn't give you much info how to contact them. Overall, I like the way it looks and works. The feet are sticky enough so that when you push a button, it doesn't slide. When you look at the face it has a bunch of information to look at: Hour, minute, second, whether the alarm is scheduled and when the next one goes off. When the alarm isn't scheduled it shows the month, date and year, something I wish was displayed all the time (and make it closer to perfect). It displays when daylight savings time is active (and you can turn that on and off depending if you follow it where you live). It shows the radio station. To me, it is at least an attempt to advance the state of clock radio design. From what I read, Sangean has been improving their offerings with each new model, so I will keep an eye on what they come out with and hope they eventually create something more perfect.

UPDATE: The radio suffers from a few setbacks: 1) Atomic clock doesn't work (won't lock onto satellites), so the clock function has to be set manually. 2) The control board has become defective to the point where some buttons don't work at all, and others seem to have randomly reassigned themselves to another function, turning the unit into a paperweight that requires e-recycling. I've noticed this problem with at least one other Sangean product, so... draw your own conclusions. I'm looking elsewhere. SUMMARY: Very good FM radio with good reception and sound quality. AM radio susceptible to 60 Hz buzz from household wiring at lower end of AM band. Alarm features not evaluated. Despite shortcomings, I'd recommend this unit, and would buy it again. DETAILS: I bought this radio for use in our master bath rather than the bedroom, so the alarm features were not important (and are not evaluated here). I was looking for a compact radio with decent AM performance (FM secondary). An automatic clock so I wouldn't have to reset the time twice a year (or more, if power outages) was considered a plus. In general, this radio satisfies our needs While I agree with other reviewers that the instruction manual is short on details, operation of the radio is relatively straight-forward once set up. DISPLAY AND CONTROLS: The white digits on blue display is quite visible and the brightness control provides a broad range for various lighting conditions. Most controls are easily accessible, with the most used (e.g., tuning) on the top of the radio, lesser controls (alarm and clock setting) on front, and least used (brightness) on the bottom. I would have expected that the power switch would be on the top of the radio, but it is easily found on the front panel, top right button. The controls exhibit a nice tactile feel -- much better than cheaper clock radios. RADIO: I was somewhat disappointed in the 60-Hz buzz that the radio exhibits at the lower end of the AM band. While this is a chronic problem with AM receivers, I was hopeful that it would be minimized. Turning the radio left or right on the counter top controlled, but did not completely eliminate the problem for stations from around 610AM and below, as well as between stations when manually tuning the radio. For stations above 610AM, orienting the radio resolves the problem (but positioning the radio on the counter so that you are staring at the side of the radio may not be esthetically pleasing for all households <gr>. The scan feature (activated by momentarily holding down the tuning button) works reasonably well, but sometimes will stop on the edge of a station's frequency band. A quick bump of the tuning button brings you to station center, and then you can store the station by pressing and holding one of the tuning buttons. ATOMIC CLOCK FEATURE: I tried the recommended clock-syncing feature when I plugged the radio in the first time. After about 5 minutes, I gave up and used the manual clock-setting method, which was very straight-forward. Some time later, the radio "found" the atomic clock signal and is locked on. POWER BACKUP: The lack of a battery backup is a serious design flaw -- the capacitive backup is helpful only during very short power "hiccups", and longer power outages will necessitate setting up the radio from scratch. I'd rate this the biggest drawback to this radio -- especially for those relying on it to get out of bed in the morning ;o{

The Sangean RCR-22 is not my idea of a handsome radio. Never mind; does it work well? I would say so, although the booklet of operating instructions kept me cussing. It was quite a while before I located the "Standby" button, which the instructions in English call "Power button/Sleep button"; eventually I discovered that fact in the German language instructions (which might just be a little clearer than the English ones). The volume control is not specified on the "Controls" diagram. Setting the clock was, for me, a challenge, and I'm not sure now exactly how I managed it (the automatic atomic clock feature did not put in an appearance, but that was probably just because I bungled the procedure). Then came the change from daylight savings time, and I blundered about for the better part of a half hour before getting it right. The instructions for setting the time manually begin on page 15 and then continue on page 8. Huh? Well, should I try to set the alarm? Or how about making the gizmo wake me with the radio or the buzzer? Oh, no! I don't need either feature, so those of you that do require those tasks accomplished (it IS a clock radio) have my best wishes for good luck. I'm thoroughly humiliated and intimidated. Otherwise: the radio has a small, cheap speaker, of course, so Beethoven does not exactly evoke gooseflesh, but I knew that would be the case. No harm, no foul. From a glorified clock, I just need halfway decent reproduction of the spoken word. I like the display for its two brightness levels, and the presets are good (once you decrypt the instructions on how to set them, which is not a real challenge). Tuning is easy, thank goodness, and so is adjusting the volume...now that I know where the volume control is. I believe the alarm functions, because it started nagging me unexpectedly; it may have a mind of its own. I no longer fear it because eventually I exposed the "Standby" button's hiding place. Gotcha! Summary: pug-ugly but still pretty good clock radio; nothing wonderful. Crazy-making instruction manual. I don't know whether the atomic clock setting feature works (and I certainly could not care less). Setting it up was a chore for me, but you, with your IQ a bit above room temperature, don't have to fear the instruction booklet. Chin up, shoulders square, self-esteem on High setting, and off you go to slay the three-toed dragon! I'll hold your coat...

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.

This clock radio lived up to my expectations when I received it. It has most of the features I want. The FM receiver works well and the sound is good for a small unit with a small speaker. The "atomic" clock setting feature works better than the other two "atomic set" clocks I have in the house - so far it has never missed setting itself overnight where my other clocks that set from the National Time Station will miss a day occasionally. I suspect that it's the external antenna for the station that this unit comes supplied with. I have one complaint about this external antenna - it is hard-wired to the clock and a connector would be a big help in a lot of ways. The instruction manual could use a lot of work - it's pretty basic and is mostly a review of the clock's features. I had one technical question - not a problem but a question about how something works that was not covered in the manual. It was answered promptly and well. There are a couple of features that could be better - for example, when an alarm is active (waiting to go off) you don't have any display of the day and date. This could probably be fixed in the firmware. A signal strength display for the Time Station would be really useful for placing the external antenna, right now it's pretty much trial and error to get it in a good location. I think this would require a new display so it's not a simple firmware fix. Devices like this make me nervous without a USB port so that the firmware can be updated if necessary. This unit doesn't have anything like that so you're pretty much stuck with what it has when you get it. All-in-all it's a good clock radio with good features that work as advertised. It's biggest fault is that it's a little pricey for a clock radio.

It's a good clock, better than 98 per cent of other clock radios. It is the best ever? It's oh so close. I own both this one (RCR-22) and the RCR-5. You should really RTFM to understand the nuances to the various features on this clock radio but I managed to set up almost everything without reading the manual. (Hint: long press the alarm and menu buttons and that will put you in adjustment mode). I DID eventually end up reading the reasonably-well-written manual. My favourite things about this clock radio so far: front facing buttons are smart and intuitive so there's no hunting around the top or the back to change things, trimmable pot to adjust the display so it's not too bright as night BUT also a "backlight/nightlight" button that will temporarily allow you defeat the dim and make the face go fully bright if you're looking for something in a dark room; Nap function was a must for me, only works with the beeper and not the radio though; the sleep timer is activated by "long pressing" on the power on/off button; dual alarms with either 7-day, weekday or weekends; seven (X2 if you count AM) radio presets (RCR-5 only has five); well built volume control wheel with detents from 0 to 30; Atomic clock antenna to automatically set the time tho' YMMV with this feature depending on where you live, mine flickered a lot in it's current location so I use RDS to set the clock or do it manually; RDS (Radio Data System) which provides a little meta information ie. genre, station call letters, artist and song when you press the info button, your FM station needs to support this function, many do but not all; adjustments for Daylight savings time and time zones, "Humane" waking system gently ramps up the volume in the morning to your chosen maximum, would be nice if this were an option though as I like to hear the news at the top of the hour; internal battery backup in the event of a power outage; sound is above average for a mono speakered clock; AUX in/Headphone out; I never managed to get the "stereo" signal icon to light not even when I plugged in headphone or ran AUX stereo into it, this will remain a mystery to me, not sure why this is there on a mono clock in the first place. If you want to save a few bucks I'd recommend the RCR-5 which I also reviewed, if you want or need the extra bells and whistles pay a little more and get this one. It's a good clock for the money with a few quirks as noted. I was reviewing Rev. 3 of the firmware (not updatable BTW). UPDATE: Wow after the first few nights of use I think I'm sending it back! The problem for me is that the LCD panel they are using is a backlight design, EVEN WHEN YOU TURN DOWN THE DIMMER it's still way too bright for me. I like a pretty dark room. The secondary problem with turning down the brightness is that the screen loses contrast so you can't see the numbers very well. I really wanted to like the clock but it felt like I was in the headlights of a semi-trailer all night. So it kept me awake instead of waking me up....