Review on ⏰ Sangean RCR-22 Atomic Clock Radio: FM-RDS/AM/Aux-in Digital Tuning, Silver, One Size - Ultimate Timekeeping Experience by Bill Tripi

This is the third Sangean I've bought from Revain and I've also tried the Ocean and even tried hooking up an internet connected Yamaha receiver to use as a clock radio. They sent everything back except the RCR-22. That doesn't mean I'm happy with it, it just means that my 23 year old Timex round watch eventually broke and hence my reluctant acceptance of the RCR-22. Sangean makes a very solid radio in terms of build quality. The quality is probably one of the best on the market. But they really need to go back to the drawing board and redesign their units. It's not rocket science!". How many years have we been making clock radios? It's like a bad joke, how many engineers does it take to make a really good clock radio? Answer: Probably a lot more than we have now! A few Points of interest: First, LED the embankment light is terrible, it's blue when it's on, it lights up my bedroom during the day, you can adjust it, but it's not very useful, Green is much better for the eyes, Second, when You have big hands Like most people you don't need this radio The buttons are very small and close together so if you just want to turn on the station or check the time in the middle of the night you'll have to try and press a very small button , which you can't find in the middle of the night when you're half asleep.You'll probably hit the 'Light' button, which sends a huge dose of blue LED light into your cornea shoots up and blinds you for at least the next 10 minutes.If you're lucky you might accidentally toggle whether you're going from AM to FM or into the menu, it's just hard to tell as the buttons are so close together and sooooo small. Third, the AM radio reception is worse than my old Timex and that came built in. I used to be able to hear the Dallas station from Pueblo Colorado at night. Not with Sangean anymore. The detachable AM antenna doesn't work well wherever I put it. Can't even get Denver AM so zero stars for radio reception. Fourth, you can set an alarm, which I rarely use. It seems simple and works well. Just don't accidentally hit the wrong button in the middle of the night because you'll find yourself waking up in the middle of the night when you really didn't mean to. I have done this several times. Fifth, there are too many buttons at the top to figure out which station you want to listen to while you're half asleep. I don't know how many times I've woken up in the middle of the night just wanting to listen to a certain station. Oh god, trying to find the right button at the top triggers a wake-up call, and I really don't need that when I'm half asleep. (I might as well get up to pee) I just want to press one big button and end the night. My old Timex only had one button you could press, scroll through my 5 stations and find the one you wanted without thinking twice, or wake up completely at 2am. Sixth: The radio is not heavy enough. I have to use 2 hands to keep the radio from sliding back when I try to use any of the buttons. When I press the button with a finger it just pushes the radio off the table and doesn't press the button. It really sucks because at 2am you have to turn around completely to raise your other hand to push the button. and hold the radio when you find the right button to press. The only solution is to stick it on the table, but then you can't move it to improve radio reception. Sixth: no internet connection. It would be nice, but probably not in this price range for the money. Very disappointing from Sangean. I think they are trying to build a good device, they just need to work more on the functionality of their radios. Maybe I should apply for a job. When I retire from home building, I'm going to sit down and design an actual clock radio that everyone will love and that doesn't cost $500 like Bose does. There has to be a way to make this possible in my life. If we can solve the problem of global warming, I mean global cooling, I mean climate change, then we can make great clock radios that work. copy their technology and functionality. It was the best design in the 90's and it's still the best today. I miss my old Timex very much. Updated February 1, 2021. Radio Am is dead. It's really just a watch.