La Crosse Technology Curved Blue LED Atomic Dual Alarm Clock, 1.8 Inch (617-249)

The media could not be loaded. I own other atomic clocks and watches. They are nice for people who care about the exact time.All clocks and watches begin losing the correct time by a few seconds within a day or two. Atomic clocks automatically reset their time every day, so the most they ever get off by is one second. In several months, an ordinary clock may be off by a few minutes.What makes this atomic clock very rare, is that it is LED (Light Emitting Diode) instead of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or analog (uses hands to tell the time.)All LED clocks require that they are plugged into the wall to display the time.LCD clocks often just run on batteries that you must replace each year. In addition, you cannot see them in the dark unless they are back lit. If they are back lit all the time, these clocks must also be plugged in to house current.LEDs are much easier to see, day or night.Unlike LEDS, LCDs are dependent on the light in the room and their visibility varies depending on the viewing angle.I bought this LED clock to sit below my 85” TV. The dimmer setting prevents this clock from distracting me while watching TV (or taking a nap.) I found the two light settings to be perfect - bright works even in the most sunny location and Dim is low enough to sleep.I did not need to read the simple instructions to start using the clock. As soon as I plugged the clock in, it set itself to the atomic time. It was off by 3 hours, so I changed the Time Zone to correct it. (just choose a number between 1-4, representing the number of US Time Zones.) The controls on the top of the clock are simple, which is welcome.Another setting is Daylight-Savings-Time (DST), which you set to ON if your area uses DST. A little dot lights up on the front of the clock to indicates this setting is ON.I was surprised to find the clock is thin enough so that the legs rest comfortably on my sound bar in another room - even with the power cord plugged into the rear! So I ordered a second one for that location. This is in a very sunny room and while the LED is bright enough on the high setting, glare from the windows can interfere at certain angles. See video as I walk about the clock on a sunny day.I use my Casio analog atomic watch to check the accuracy of my other atomic wall clocks. It's cool to see them all set to the exact second. After a week, I noticed one new LED clock was off by a few seconds. After experimenting, I found neither of these LED clocks can connect to the Atomic Time when facing South, and my second clock faces south. They must face West - toward Colorado. (I'm in Indianapolis.)So, the clock that will be facing south, I'll have to manually turn it towards the west and press the Time Set button whenever I want it to be accurate to the second.I did not test the alarms or the USB charger features.Note: Internet and mobile devices rely on GPS for the time. GPS uses the atomic clock time indirectly so they are very accurate too, though they may be off by a few seconds.

This clock does everything I wanted it to do and nothing I didnt, except it has one weakness. Like all other atomic clocks it receives a short wave radio signal from the National Institute of Standards to set the clock. I have others that do thiis fine, but this ones receiver is so weak it wont work anywhere in my house or my kid's houses. It does work if I take it out on the porch and let it set, then take it back up to the bedroom. So yes, it works. But the radio receiver could be a lot more sensitive.

Great concept: a clock that keeps time accurately. I like this clock because it is pretty simple, it has large numerals, they are blue and they can be set to 3 levels of brightness, and it is relatively inexpensive. I unboxed the clock and manually set it to the approximate time. A few hours later I noticed that it had adjusted to the exact time. And the next morning, it was off by an hour, which was my error because I had set the wrong time zone. My only quibble is that the instructions do not show a table of the correct setting for each USA time zone. I am replacing another "auto set" clock that runs fast and needs regular manual resetting to show the correct time. This one is slightly more expensive, but is accurate. And this atomic clock is the same price as the least expensive "WiFi" clock that I could find on Amazon, and I like the display on this clock better than the competition WiFi clock. I plan to buy another one of this model.

No matter what features an alarm clock has, it is imperative that it do two things without fail: Keep accurate time and wake me reliably at a predetermined time. This clock, unfortunately failed at the former.Upon plugging in the clock, it took three attempts to find the radio signal and set itself, which is not unusual for an atomic clock. The alarm got set and life was wonderful for exactly six days. At that point, for reasons unknown to me, the clock reset itself in the middle of the night to be exactly 20 minutes fast. What?! I should note that I have two other atomic clocks in the house, and they did not suffer from this malady. That failure was annoying, but it would have been angering had it reset to be 20 minutes slow. Could that be next? Needless to say, I cannot trust this time piece and it is on its way back to Amazon.Beyond the clock’s failure to be a clock, here are some other observations for those still considering this purchase.Pros: The clock looks good and has a small footprint. You can adjust the length of the snooze, which is cool feature, it has a battery backup and a USB charging port. You can also dim or turn off the display altogether. Some have complained that even the dimmest setting was too bright, but I found that closing my eyes fixed that issue.Cons: The clock is VERY lightweight and the buttons are stiff. When trying to manipulate the buttons, the clock wants to wander around the nightstand.The snooze button is the same height as its neighboring buttons. As a result, it can be hard to find when you are half awake. More than once, I turned the alarm off when I just wanted hit snooze.The USB port is only 1 amp. Don’t count on your phone being charged quickly.It takes multiple clicks to turn the alarm off or on, instead of having a function specific button or slider.The battery backup only maintains your settings. The clock does not otherwise function if the power is out. So if the power fails when the alarm is supposed to go off, you’re late to work buddy.So in the end, I really wanted to like this product, but it just wouldn’t let me.