Sony ICF-C707 Clock Radio with AM/FM Dual Alarm and Large Easy to Read Backlit LCD Display

First off...if you want to buy this for listening to music in your room, forget it. It's an alarm clock only. If you need to check the time, just hit the snooze button twice and then look.Once more turns it back off.My main reason for liking this is because you can turn off the display light. I don't need to know what time it is at 3:30 AM...I need to be sleeping. The snooze button is nice and big too. The radio is small and fits well on my bed stand.Some people complained that it's hard to turn off because the "off" button is small and right next to the "radio" button, but you can also turn the alarm off when waking up but touching the "alarm on/off" button on the edge of the device. It's easy to do by feel. All you have to do then is touch it back on again in a minute to set it again for the next day because it's already programmed. You only need to re-program it if you are waking up at a different time and need to change it. That's why they have a weekday and weekend alarm so you rarely have to do this.I would forget about using the alarm or the nature sounds to wake up to though. They're too low to hear IMO. I have my radio set to the local pubic station that plays classical music. They never have commercials and I always wake up to pleasant, soft music. You can set the volume up to 30 I believe. I wake up at the 11 setting. 14 is pretty loud...I use that when I have to get up for work. The music seems to come on gradually so it doesn't shock you awake. Nice...You can also re-set just the volume every time to turn on the alarm with the "Alarm on/off" button. You'll see the volume number come up for a few seconds. If you let it go it stays where you last had it set.It also has a nice temperature feature. It is a little complicated to set each time, especially since it defaults to AM on the radio. Wake up Sony! (no pun intended)Backup battery: I had to replace mine right away too, but it's probably because they have it unplugged for so long in shipping.

In terms of the radio and alarm functions, this is the best clock radio I have ever owned.GOOD:RADIO: In Alexandria, VA, I get excellent reception on my two favorite classical music stations (WETA Washington and WBJC Baltimore). Only one other of the several radios in my house can do this and that one has a large antenna. The sound is good. I like it very much and it is worth the price.ALARM: It is somewhat complicated to set, but it's a step-by-step process and I learned quickly. You can have two alarms at different times, your choice of radio, buzzer, or nature sounds and volume for each alarm. This means you can use the radio's Sleep function to go to sleep with the radio set to one station or nature sounds, and then have an alarm with the radio set to another station (or buzzer or nature sounds) and yet another alarm with the same choices. With all that choice, of course setting the alarm is going to be more complicated than just "time/off/on". For me, this is another good reason to buy this radio.BAD:BLUE LIGHT: The light is too bright for me. True, you can turn it to low and to off (thank goodness!), but I'd like a lower setting. I have purchased some LightDims to tame the light. ( LightDims Original Strength® ) Also, I hate blue lights on electronics. Research has shown that they disrupt sleep. Red light is far better for clocks. If this clock radio came with a red LED display it would be much better.BUTTONS: Across the top of this clock radio, towards the back, are five buttons for the five nature sounds and radio presets (each button controls both, depending on what the radio is doing) and three buttons for OFF, RADIO, and SLEEP. The buttons are all pretty-much the same size and shape. This makes it somewhat difficult to turn the radio on or off in the dark. It would have been so easy to make the buttons slightly different to the touch (like the number 5 on most phones). Why Sony did not do so is a mystery.CORD: This is one of those electronics that has a very thin power cord connected to a transformer that plugs into the wall (instead of the traditional 110 V power cord). The problem with this arrangement is that the cord is somewhat fragile and can be damaged if it pulled or stepped on. I had another radio with this type of cord; it got knocked off its table and fell, but it fell off the side of the table that was opposite of where it was plugged in. The cord didn't reach all the way to the floor and pulled taunt with a snap. It was something like a man being hanged on a gallows. The cord was partly pulled out of the inside of the radio and also stretched to the point where the insulation was damaged and bare wire was exposed. I doubt this could have happened with a stout power cord.Bottom line: For me, I like having the good radio reception and sound. I sure wish the problems with the blue light, button arrangement, and power cord could be remedied. If Sony produced a red LED version of this clock radio, I would buy it immediately.

Finally an alarm clock which will wake me with nature sounds! I am a light sleeper; the alarm clock I previously owned had a CD player the purchase of which seemed like a good idea at the time. But, being the cheapskate that I am, I purchased the least expensive one I could find at a local discount chain store. I rarely got the chance to wake up to music, as the whirring and clicking that occurred in preparation for the CD player to turn on woke me up first. I lived with that for about a year, and then the button to set the alarm got very finicky- you had to press it a certain direction (which seemed subject to change) in order to get it to "connect" so that one could change the time of the alarm.I read many reviews and looked at a LOT of nature-sound alarm clocks before I bought this one. I disagree with the reviews that talk about its poor sound quality. For a small, inexpensive unit it sounds quite good. The nature sounds are realistic enough for waking or dozing off to; I don't feel that they were meant to be perfect characterizations. And I find that if I turn the volume of the ocean sound way down to go to sleep, it sounds a lot like it does when I would stay at a hotel near the beach and could barely hear the waves at night. I love that the radio is digital and I don't have to use an inaccurately-marked dial and roll it back and forth until i have my station tuned as well as I can get it. Additionally it picks up stations my receiver in another room can't . I've only owned it for about a week but at least at this point I can't think of a single thing I would change about it.UPDATE: it's now September 2016 and the radio works as well as it did on the first day I had it. It's still perfect for my needs. Now that I have a variable work schedule, I find the two alarms (A and B) even more helpful as I can leave each one set for my different starting times, and just activate the one I need. Plan to keep it till it dies, which doesn't seem like anytime soon!

Spent a lot of time looking for a clock radio that fit all of my "wants" - nature sounds to go to sleep and wake up to, dimmable display, fashionable, and battery back-up all at a reasonable price. Looked and looked and then found it with this - love it! Love the snooze feature (you can increase the snooze time by pressing the button!). The quality of the sound isn't too bad to boot. Bought another one for my wife and she loves the buzzer. Great product!

Muy bien, funciona perfecto! Tienes varias opciones de tono, mi hija escogió el canto de los pajaros... La luz que trae ayuda mucho en la noche para poder leer la hora.

No mention of accepted voltages. This thing works on 110V and doesnt work in India. :(Havent been able to try the device even so far.

Does exactly what i expected and what is supposed to do. Clear sound, good quality for the size. No issues in getting all the stations.Ambient sound is a nice bonus. Large and easy to read clock.Settings are not as easy as expected but not a challenge.We use it as a small radio for the kitchen.

Screen is too bright