Sony ICF-C218 Clock Radio
- Music playback: CD
- Snooze Alarm: Yes
- Tuner Type: Analog Tuner
- Display: LED
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Easy operation and a great value
Pros
Inexpensive. Decent sound for it's size and price. Gently ramping alarm. Radio works well.
Cons
Display doesn't have adjustable brightness. May be too bright at night for some.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The Sony ICF-C218 clock radio is a great bargain that provides basic but satisfactory performance and functionality. The factory preset time makes it a "plug in and go" affair.
The Sony ICF-C218 FM/AM Clock Radio is a simple to operate, inexpensive clock radio without a lot of feature bloat. It wakes you up to music or a buzzer. It lacks some functionality such as a dimmable display but its ease of operation, decent sounding radio and overall ease of operation make up for any shortcomings.
The clock radio has a battery backup (CR2032.) The clock is preset with the correct EST time at the factory and the battery retains the time (hopefully) until you plug it in at home. Just plug it in and you're good to go. If you live in another time zone, it's a simple matter to adjust the time zone to your zone by using the time zone button on the top of the unit.
Have you ever noticed that many clock radios have a power cord and then another thin wire coming out of the back. The second wire is the antenna for the radio and is usually a nuisance. This radio incorporates the FM antenna within the power cord. Having the antenna this way is a much neater arrangement.
Sound quality is about as good as you could hope for in an about $10 clock radio. It has plenty of volume and sounds OK. The analog tuning was good and I did not have any problems finding and locking in stations to listen to.
What I really liked is how the alarm gently ramps up in urgency. If you are an "easy waker" then the gentle first stage of the alarm won't jolt you awake. But if you sleep thru the first 15 seconds or so of the alarm, it starts getting more urgent. The frequency of beeps increases as time goes on giving you plenty of time to turn it off before it reaches "full speed."
It's a great value and I like it. The only thing I would wish for is a display that has a setting to adjust the brightness.
The clock radio has a battery backup (CR2032.) The clock is preset with the correct EST time at the factory and the battery retains the time (hopefully) until you plug it in at home. Just plug it in and you're good to go. If you live in another time zone, it's a simple matter to adjust the time zone to your zone by using the time zone button on the top of the unit.
Have you ever noticed that many clock radios have a power cord and then another thin wire coming out of the back. The second wire is the antenna for the radio and is usually a nuisance. This radio incorporates the FM antenna within the power cord. Having the antenna this way is a much neater arrangement.
Sound quality is about as good as you could hope for in an about $10 clock radio. It has plenty of volume and sounds OK. The analog tuning was good and I did not have any problems finding and locking in stations to listen to.
What I really liked is how the alarm gently ramps up in urgency. If you are an "easy waker" then the gentle first stage of the alarm won't jolt you awake. But if you sleep thru the first 15 seconds or so of the alarm, it starts getting more urgent. The frequency of beeps increases as time goes on giving you plenty of time to turn it off before it reaches "full speed."
It's a great value and I like it. The only thing I would wish for is a display that has a setting to adjust the brightness.
