Roberts Radio CR9971 Chronologic Vi Dual Alarm Clock Radio with Instant Time Set, Silver

This unlit is compact and well built, the display does not flood the room at night with light and causes no sleep disturbance even when you are quite close to the unit lying in bed. The time display is quite small however and may be a consideration for those with very poor eyesight.The alarm options are good and I was able to find a mode that suited me perfectly (e.g. alarm every morning except Sunday). This is a step forward for me personally since my old alarm would just go off every morning regardless and you had to remember to switch it off on Sundays but now I have an alarm that does this for me.Rubber feet keep the device stationary on the bedside cabinet and its footprint is surprisingly small. I had to consult the user manual for 5 minutes initially but after that have never needed the manual again. The instructions are easy to use and the majority of people will have no trouble understanding the controls & settings. The control buttons are quite small but spaced apart so those with dexterity issues should be OK.The radio tuning dial and volume are positioned at the side and are out of the way so that they stay set how you leave them - which should prevent the radio either getting too quiet to wake you up or blast you right out of bed ( tachycardia / hyperventilation is not the best way to start the day!).To turn the alarm right off you have to find the correct button and this takes a few mornings to get used to since it looks exactly the same as all the others. What you end up doing until familiar with the device is to press the snooze button when you first wake since this is large and positioned front and centre and is easily found in the dark / while still groggy.You then have the snooze period to work out which button kills the alarm for the day! After a few days I find that I feel for the right button straight away now and don't bother with the snooze function at all.My previous alarm did have a larger kill button and you could touch this by mistake instead of the snooze and then over-sleep - so thinking this through, Roberts may have made the correct design decision to keep the button small...if you are awake you WILL find it OK and that's the point, really.All in all, I think for the price and ease of use and the range of options available this device is very good value for money and would recommend it to others.

Great alarm clock. Easy to set up if your not stupid like me. I merrily went through the set up process and thought I would set the alarm to go off in a few minutes time just to test. I waited and waited and thought ....well it doesn't work.!!! Started to look up the returns procedure when it dawned on me. I had set the alarm for the days of the week only, Monday to Friday & this was a Saturday. I soon rectified this with a slightly red face & lo and behold it worked beautifully. Great feature to have as you do not have to keep setting your alarm as it will automatically sound on the days you set & then at the weekend it will not sound, unless you want it to. Magic.! There are various settings for the days you need an alarm and also a dual alarm function if you and your other half get up at different times. The clock itself is very neat and the light automatically dims in the dark so it is quite unobtrusive but still easy to see the time if needed. As soon as you plug it in for the first time it will automatically set the right time and date & will also adjust automatically when the clocks change. It is not radio controlled however so if and when the back up battery runs low, you will need to make sure you leave it plugged into the electricity supply whilst changing the battery to keep this function going. Very impressed with this clock and the value is great. Highly recommend.

This small Radio/Alarm clock is fairly basic and it didn't cost a fortune so I shouldn't have expected a lot more than I got. I thought that I had checked its functions carefully but obviously i didn't. I was expecting the radio to wake me gradually, it didn't and that it would have pre-select buttons so I could set more than one waveband and I couldn't. I hasten to say that this was no fault of the alarm and it's a warning to me to remember to check my requirements carefully and ensure I buy accordingly. Having said all that the alarm is attractive, well made (as it should be as it carries the Roberts name) and is small enough to sit comfortably on an average bedside table, quality of sound is reasonable and it has the advantage of battery backup and stores the setting in the event of a loss of power. Was I satisfied and would I recommend it? if you want a reasonably priced, well made and fairly basic clock/radio alarm then yes, I would.

I've had some really bad experiences with alarm clocks in recent years so when the last one failed I read all the reviews very carefully before choosing this one. I agree it is not immediately clear clear from its description that this is not a radio controlled clock. It also doesn't produce hi-fi standard radio output - but it doesn't claim to. However, it is very sturdily made, easy to read in all lighting conditions, keeps good time and can easily be adjusted if necessary, has two alarms (though I only use one), a choice of buzzer or radio to wake you up (I only use the buzzer), a large snooze button which even in my half-awake state cannot be missed, and requires the activation of one of my brain cells to turn off the alarm by counting 3 buttons from the right. I can do it! The audio output is perfectly adequate for me to listen to Radio 4 as I get dressed/undressed; if I want to hear a concert I use the hi-fi in our sitting room. The radio aerial is an insignificnt length of wire which I tuck under a box of bedside tissues. Although I have only had a couple of weeks experience of it so far, I vote this little clock excellent value for money.