Sylvania SCR4986 Alarm Clock Radio with CD Player and USB Charging, Black

I've had this unit for 3 years and 8 months. In that time, it has performed spectacularly. Previous to this, I had purchased several bluetooth alarm clocks only to find each time that they were not able to play my music to wake me up (only alarm or radio). Alarm sirens are harsh and radio has too many commercials. In desperation, I finally turned to an older technology, the CD player. This does exactly what I wanted, it wakes me up with my own music.The way to program the unit is not the most intuitive but it's not complicated and once you got it, it becomes easy. I love that it has two alarms, you can have one alarm for each spouse or a backup alarm for yourself. You can set the two alarms to do different things at different volumes, any combination of CD, radio, and alarm-sound. I would never listen to music on this but it's perfectly acceptable for what it needs to do. It sounds exactly how I expected it to, given its size and price. There is distortion at high volumes but you shouldn't be turning this up that loud anyway. It would have been nice to be able to choose which CD track the alarm plays, it always starts on the first track, but that's probably asking for too much. Overall, I'm very happy with this unit and it's still working at 100% after nearly 4 years.Pros:+ Wake up to your own music+ Backup alarm+ Backup batteryCons:- Initially unintuitive- Distortion at high volumes

Instructions very difficult to follow, but beyond that, the "Set Alarm" function did not work at all. When I tried to set, a strange "U00" appeared instead of the time which was supposed to be flashing. I called the number on the instructions, they didn't call back for 2 days, and when they did, said they couldn't help. Since it was too late to return, I just had to throw it in the trash.

OK, I didnt give up, as i wanted this thing to work, and now it works and it is what i wanted for alarm-clock exactly :)Time will show how reliable it is.The links given in other reviews didnt work for me, but i found the manual and discovered that only 1 most important page was missing (It was downloading for ages, so i copied it and pasted below in my review)Here it goes, the missing page of the manual:"Clock SettingThe clock can be only set while the unit is in standby mode1. While the unit is in standby mode, press the TIME_SET button into clock setting. The LEDdisplay will start flashing, press REV/DOWN or FF/UP to select 12h display or 24h display.Confirm your setting by press TIME_SET again2. While the unit is in standby mode, press and hold the TIME_SET button for 2-3 seconds, thehours will start flashing, press REV/DOWN or FF/UP to set the current hour, press the TIME_SET button to confirm the setting, then the minutes will start flashing, press REV/DOWN or FF/UP to set the current minutes, press the TIME_SET again to confirm all setting. The time is now setAlarm Setting1. While the unit is in standby mode, press ALARM1/2 to open and close the alarm function2. While the unit is in standby mode, press and hold ALARM1/2 for 2-3 seconds, the alarm hour will start flashing, press REW/TUN- or FF/TUN+ to set your desired hour, press the ALARM 1/2 again, then the alarm minutes will start flashing, press REW/TUN- or FF/TUN+ to set your desired minutes, press the ALARM 1/2 again to set alarm mode, you can press REW/TUN- or FF/TUN+ to set alarm buzzer or alarm radio or alarm CD, press the ALARM1/2 to confirm the setting3. When the current time is same as the alarm set time, ALARM 1/2 will start flashing, the alarmwill be activated (the alarm will be closed 1 hour later if without any operation). Press SNOOZE button into sleep mode, the alarm will activated again 9 minutes later, press any buttons (except the SNOOZE button) to close the alarm todayRemark: If can’t read the CD information, the alarm CD will change to alarm buzzer automaticSleep functionAuto power-off functionWhen the unit is powered on, press SLEEP button to set the sleep time to “90-60-30-15-OFF”, the unit will power off thenUSB Charging mobile BatteryPlease be noted that unit only go with USB charge while Stand-By mode , Not CD playing mode.1. Connect to your mobile phone to USB socket when unit is in Stand-By mode.2. At this moment,your mobile will start charging and battery charge icon will show onmobile phone display."

I previously had a Sony clock radio thing, and in order to switch from AM to FM you had to first throw a switch, and then turn an analog dial. That same analog dial was used for both AM and FM. So you always had to retune it to the stations you habitually listened to. Worse than that, the dial was on the bottom of the side!And the Sony had no presets. And in a power outage you had to reset the clock. Sylvania uses batteries to hold up the clock and the presets during power failures.This Sylvania has the controls ALL on top and in front --very accessible! THANK YOU for that! It also has presets. No matter what the other reviews say, those are easy to set and easy to use, once set. Just READ the instructions! The reception I get is slightly weaker on AM than the old Sony was, because this Sylvania is quite positional for AM. The CD side is not a good player. Mine skips periodically during playback, so that for example, one long musical note may break into two parts. So I f you're buying it for the CD forget it. But if that is of lesser importance, the user convenience is the best I've seen anywhere. By the way, I've never seen any clock/radio combination whose CD player did not fail in a few weeks or months. They just are not the best. You have to have a dedicated CD player for longevity and quality.

Nice size. Easy to set up

el producto llegó en el tiempo acordado y funciona como debe ser. buen tamaño y buen sonido

Me gustó el tamaño, tiene buen volumen y la calidad del sonido es bueno.

Bought this to replace similar radio. Works fine, good sound. Found the alarm complicated to set. Also time was difficult to read at night without my glasses. Sold it to a young fellow at work and he just loves it!

The 24hr time option is an excellent feature especially for those who don't work 9 to 5. At certain times of the year, 7am and 7pm can look about the same. The wake to CD option is also a great feature. If you have trouble getting up, put in a CD with something loud like Crazy Train. That'll get you up no problem. The USB charging port does what it's supposed to. It's at the back of the unit so in my case I just strung a USB extension cord out on the dresser. Works like a charm. The display has 2 brightness settings and in my case I require a totally dark room. The lower setting is just right to be able to read the time while not being overly bright.