Timex T617S Nature Sounds Auto Set CD Clock Radio with Smart Knob Tuning and MP3 Line In (Silver) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I bought this clock fairly recently and am satisfied with it. It has a very small footprint for a clock with a cd-player, which is great for keeping space for a glass of water and a book on one's nightstand. Also, the alarm beeps are not horribly grating but definitely get the job done. The nap-timer is great, allowing me to take quick naps without changing the alarm, as I often did before. I'm also happy that it has the capability to repeat a disc or just one track, which is great if you've a certain piece of music to which you like to listen as you fall asleep but don't want to hear other tracks on your cd. These are the main reasons that I bought this product, just so that you know the perspective from which I'm rating it.The controls are pretty straight-forward and shouldn't take terribly much time to get used to. Some buttons may be harder to find in the dark than others, though. Also, the alarm off and the alarm reset buttons are the same shape and right next to each other, making it very easy to turn the alarm completely off rather than just reseting it for the next day. This can be a problem if you want to set the alarms to go off one after another, like a manually set snooze, though I suspect that given time one will figure out where the buttons are by touch.The sound is decent for it's size. Out of the box it sounds kind of distant and the bass end sounds strange, but after playing it a while the speakers break in and it sounds much better. There aren't any adjustments for he sound along the lines of a graphic equalizer or even a bass boost button, but, although it might be nice, I personally don't expect that out of a clock-radio.The nature sounds are mostly rather annoying (I'm from the coast with lots of seagulls and I know for a fact that their squawking isn't that overpowering), though the fourth one, which is a sort of wind-chime thing, is kind of relaxing, though not quite natural.The radio doesn't get particularly good reception. It helps a lot if you unroll the antenna and it helped me even more when I tied it to the metal headboard of my bed. If you are on the edge of the area of decent reception for a particular station then you will probably not want to listen to that station on this radio. In a metro area with decent signals, though, I doubt that you'll find it to be particularly frustrating.As many have mentioned, this can be a very bright device. The clockface itself isn't bad; it's a cool blue color and on it's dimmest setting is not particularly obtrusive. The problem is with the extremely bright blue LED that lights up the disc window when you play a cd. I suppose that it's supposed to make it so that you can find the buttons easier, but it is effectively a bright nightlight that can be very disturbing. I ended up taking the back panel off of the door to reveal the circuit board underneath and just pulling out the offending LED. You might not want to do this if you are worried about negating the warranty, but it worked for me.Overall I'd say that this is a good product but it seems to be a bit overpriced. At $70 I'd expect better sound and better radio reception, at least. The shortcomings weren't worth returning the item, but I'd likely not make this purchase again. I gave it the 4 stars for the product itself, though I'd probably reduce it by at least a star for the value for the money.

I just received this unit yesterday, so this is my initial review of the product. I purchased it to replace a working, but obsolete alarm clock radio with cassette player (I'll let you all just guess at how long I've had that). I wanted a similar alarm clock radio, but with a CD player. My overall assessment of this unit is that it is very nice and would meet all of my basic criteria...if the CD player had worked. Tech support was quit helpful, but the unit needs to be replaced.My evaluation criteria:*Clock: easy to set/change, auto daylight savings*Alarm: dual set, wake to alarm/radio/CD/etc.*Battery back-up that keeps alarm function without power*Radio: good sound quality, digital tuner, preset buttons, can pick up 6 local stations (my old radio picks up 3/6 stations, while my car picks up all six in the driveway)*CD player: good sound quality, track skip*Appearance: space-saving/vertical, classic color(s)*Bonuses: multiple CD, MP3 line-in, etc.*CostReview of Timex T617:The clock feature is quite nice on this unit. It comes auto set to Eastern Standard Time, and you can easily switch to another North American time zone. I did find it to be a few minutes off my cell phone's time (auto set to network), but it was pretty easy to adjust the time. You could easily set this clock manually to be a few minutes fast if you wanted to make sure you're on time to appointments.This unit comes with two alarms that you can independently set to play an alarm, the radio, a CD, or one of four nature sounds. My only issue with the alarms is that you can only adjust by the minute. Even my old clock radio allowed me to adjust the hour and minutes separately. But, the "smart" dial and scan buttons make adjusting go fairly quickly. I would have liked to see an AM indicator on the display, instead of only a PM indicator. I do like that there is a battery back-up on the clock, so it will remember your alarm settings even if there is a power outage.The sound quality on the radio is pretty good. It picks up 4 out of the 6 local stations with great quality. The other two stations have a lot of static, but come through. The scan feature on the digital tuner is a bit flaky. It will skip over a station, and then pick it up fine when I go back. I do like that there are six preset buttons that are easy to set, so you won't have to mess with the scan and tuner after the initial set-up.The vertical CD player is a nice idea for conserving space. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on the unit I was sent. The person I spoke with at Timex tech support was very competent and helpful. In a few minutes, she determined that it could not be easily repaired and would need to be returned or sent in for repairs/replacement. She also said that this model has not been produced for several years now, so my unit has likely been sitting on a shelf somewhere for awhile and that is something to keep in mind if you are looking at buying one of these. I also wasn't fond of there being no stop feature for the CD. You pause it, open the player, and have to stop of spinning CD with your fingertips.I really like the look of this unit. It is vertical, so saves space. But, it doesn't seem cheap or flimsy. The black/silver color scheme is classic. The display is also quite big and the messages are very readable. As a bonus, this model has a line-in for an MP3 player, so you aren't limited to what you have on CD and what is playing on the radio. Cost-wise, $50 was a bit more than I wanted to spend on a clock radio, but was less than most of the other well-reviewed models I saw. Overall, if the CD player had worked, it would have been worth the money. As is, it is too expensive for a simple clock radio. I'll be returning it for a replacement and will update my review upon receiving the replacement unit.