SINOIDEAS CHRONODAB DAB/FM Digital Alarm Clock Radio with Instant Time Set

I wouldn't have bought this if I had seen it in a shop and I wouldn't buy it again, but it's ok, it's just not what I was looking for. It is bigger than my previous clock radios and takes up a lot of space on the bedside cabinet. The digits are also way bigger than anybody would need to see the time. My previous clocks would automatically dim when you turned the lights out, with this one you have to do it manually using a switch on the side and you have to do it every night as, if you leave it dimmed during the day, you can't see the time on it. Furthermore, I have the radio set to come on in the mornings and it is far too loud (though it rises gently over a minute or two) so I always have to turn the volume down. I don't think the manual was very good either and it took me a couple of days even after reading it to find everything and get it working right. The first night I hadn't found the dimmer switch and the room was lit up all night!

This alarm clock has a nice big display which is what I wanted as I have it on the opposite side of the bedroom to the bed. You can have the display as bright as you like as there are 3 different settings. It picked up the digital radio channels straight away and is nice and clear. Everything about this item is great apart from one thing...you can't set the alarm volume! Unbelievable that Sony have failed to include this function! When the alarm comes on, it starts off nice and quiet which is its only saving grace because if it came on at full volume it would scare the life out of me every morning! The alarm volume has a default setting of 'really loud' and this can not be changed. Once the alarm is going you can turn the volume down but for me that means getting out of bed and walking to the other side of the room. If you could set it to be a little quieter it would be perfect.

When it worked it was good. Two alarms that could be set for every day, weekdays or weekends only is a nice feature. Display nice and bright, although a little too bright at night unless set to the lowest dimming level. Good sound quality and a nice heavy feeling radio, not easy to knock off the bed side table in the dark. Minor niggles but the aerial is just a short bit of wire hanging from the back, I had to hang mine over the edge of a bed side lamp shade to get it to tune. Also, the menu system takes a bit of getting used to. What completely lets it down for me though is that the internal amplifier failed after 4 years of very light use. When I say light, I mean this was used as an alarm barely once or twice a week and as a radio barely once or twice a month as we have another radio in the room. I can't remember any other electrical product I have bought failing like this. They either fail very quickly and are replaced or they go on for years and years. Had I only paid a few pounds for it there would be no issue but to pay over £70 expecting years of reliable use, well let's just say I am underwhelmed.

Reasonably easy to set up, not intuitive, you have to go step by step on the instructions. An odd combination of function specific switches and multi-function buttons. As a radio its great, although you have to page through the presets, not put in a number. Tone is fine, range of stations good. As a clock it is good. Very large display, changeable content.As a bedside alarm clock a few irritations arise. One is the display brilliance. There are three settings, hard wired. The brightest is fine in the day, but lights up the whole bedroom at night, so no use. The dimmest is just about legible at night but can hardly be seen in the day, so no use. The middle one is OK in the day, but still really too bright at night. Could do with a swich to turn down the brilliance a bit, otherwise you have to manually change it when the sun rises and sets! The second iritations is the radio volume when the alarm clock brings it on. It starts very soft and gets louder, which is fine. But it rises to higher than I listen to the radio with. I normally listen at level 9, as it is right beside my bed. The alarm takes me up to 12 and as far as I can see this cannot be changed. OK I can turn it down manually each morning but it is nice just to lie there and listen without stirring. Jon Humphrys and multi-decibel is not good to wake up to.it strikes me a good radio and a good clock have been welded together with too little thought. Still, I will probably get used to it and it is good in most other ways.

Good points - nicely designed, looks good, large display, sound more than acceptable on FM.Bad points - controls hard to identify especially in the dark, display goes too bright when you alter a setting, no auto dimming only three levels of brightness, could not get hardly any DAD stations here due to poor reception in this area so using FM only, setting pre-sets could be easier, no auto tuning for FM. Worst fault occurred on last Sunday when the clocks changed. It only resets the clock if you are using DAB, not on FM, hence I over slept as not aware of this - hidden away in instructions. Can't think why as I have another FM radio that does re set it time automatically.