Customer Ratings & Reviews

OVERVIEW: Here we have an “Old School” designed clock radio, with a few updated digital setup options, that has zero dependencies for mobile phones, Bluetooth, or WiFi technologies. Don’t need a username, don’t need a password, don’t need an online account, don’t need to download an app to use! Simply plug in the AC adapter, set the current time, set a wake-up time, pick a radio station, then just go to bed. (Life is good living off the grid…) HIGHLIGHTS: LARGE DISPLAY: Readable digits, about 1-3/8” tall, that are dimmable with four intensities. I can now finally wake up and see the time without searching for my glasses. BATTERY BACKUP: Uses two AAA batteries (included) to maintain time and user setup options, if/when AC power is temporarily lost until power is restored. RADIO PRESET: Program up to 20 radio channel presets. (10 AM & 10 FM). DUAL ALARMS: Can program two wake-up times. Plus, you can program to wake up to either an “alarm” or “music”. SLEEP SETTING: Fall asleep listing to music that will automatically turn off at user selectable times. CONTROLS: Although the control scripts are small, they and the button are easily accessible. LO-FI: Recognize this is not a Hi-Fi fully immersive music machine. But an economy alarm clock that includes a radio option in the event you choose not to wake up to a buzzer in your ear. INEXPENSIVE: The price of admission is just a double-sawbuck ($20 bill). RATING: This Insignia Alarm Clock Radio earned itself a solid 4-Star rating primarily for its large digital clock, dual alarm features, and economy pricing. Add another Star if you are able to purchase while on sale. .

Returning it. Very cheap. Difficult to set up, sound quality poor.

Took it back couldn't set the volume of the alarm only the radio part of it

This clock/radio was defective. I don't recommend it.

I only had it a week and it stopped working. Had together my money back

Very cheaply made. Buttons feel flimsy. The alarm is nearly hearable in a quiet room!

We returned the item, the clock wasn’t easy to set up.

Clocked worked one night and stopped working such a disappointment

There is not much to set up involved so it was very simple to get started. Put in the backup batteries and plug in the power adapter. I really like how the LED display brightness can be adjusted between 4 levels. I find that the lowest or next level up is sufficiently bright for a dark room. The numbers are large and easy to read from across the room. Indicator dots for PM and alarm also are easy to identify. This might be a big subjective, but the buttons have kind of a mushy soft feel. People often associate quality with crisp, tactile feel for buttons and switches and these may give the opposite opinion. I can’t speak to the quality or durability of the controls as they work fine and do the job. Setting the clock and alarm times was easy and intuitive. For simple devices if they can pass the test of being able to figure out how to use without referring to the guide, they have been well designed. This one passes the test for setting times. I didn’t find the setting of the radio presets to pass the ease-of-use test though. While easy I did have read the instructions to fully understand the process. That’s not really a big deal though because I don’t really plan on using the radio feature that much anyway. The sound is really tinny, and I am more of a alarm buzzer wake-up type than radio. The other strange design choice was to disable setting the clock and alarm times when the radio is being used. Overall, I found the Insignia alarm clock to be a solid product with a great display that does the job well.

Insigna dubs this clock radio "a simple solution to getting up on time." And I guess that would be true if this were 1980, instead of, well, a good number of years later than that. But in the 40 or so years since then, something called the internet was invented and technology advanced quite a bit. You don't need to manually set the time any more, which is required for this device. The internet can grab that for you and make sure it is right no matter what. Ditto for setting the alarm. Insigna's idea of "simple" is to push a bunch of buttons on top of this little black plastic box until you get the right time to wake up and then manually tune in your favorite radio station (AM or FM! unless you would rather wake up to a buzzer). But in this century, you can buy a device that you can simply talk to -- and tell it when want to wake you up, what time you want an alarm and even what music (or sound effects) you want to wake up to, down to the individual genre, artist or song. But hey, this Insignia clock radio does give you the "advanced" option of not just one, but two different alarms, always handy for working couples. And yes, you can even manually dim the LED display (4 different levels!) should you decide it is too bright (I guess the auto-dimming technology, which has been around for decades, was too advanced to consider). And for the ultimate in hi-tech: battery backup in case the power goes off! Two no-name AAA batteries included! You get the point. This device is very definition of retro. Insignia seemed to go out of its way not to include any technology developed in the last three or four decades. It is just an unremarkable black box with lots of control buttons and a time display. And a built-in radio that sounds just as thin and scratchy as you would expect -- from a 1960s-era transistor radio. Something like this clock radio was probably found in every home in America in the latter part of the last century. I am not sure how many people need one today. But if this is your preference, the Insignia clock radio does everything it promises, in a very 1980s way. There also may be a market among technophobes, privacy advocates and those living off the grid (as long as they have AC power, which is required) . One thing is for sure, you don't have to worry about any tricky surveillance going on with this thing. With no internet connection, no microphones and no cameras, your private life is very safe with this Insignia clock radio. The price tag is pretty economical too. And I have to admit, I really do like that bright green 2-inch LED display. If you just need a clock somewhere in your house that is easy to see across a big room in any lighting, this is just the ticket.

While I've used many radio alarm clocks over the decades I've not really liked any of them since the old school GE one from many decades ago. That one lasted almost twenty years an this is the first one that feels like it might last longer because of how well constructed it feels. First, it's not heavy at all. For me this is more important than it sounds as on occasion I have a bad habit of throwing a blaring alarm clock across the room. Not often but when I do it's not pretty. That's why construction is important to me. Other good things include the display which has multiple brightness. Very handy if you prefer not having a bright light shining at you while you sleep. The built in radio is nice as having it playing softly is handy as I cannot fall asleep to total silence. I especially appreciate having AM built in as I sleep to a local all news station. Programming the clock couldn't be easier. It takes all of a minute to set the time and the alarm. Once set you could walk away and feel confident you'll be awake when you need to be. You can't go wrong with this clock.

It's an alright alarm clock, I guess. I'll start off with what's included. You get an AC adapter, a pair of batteries, an instruction manual, and the clock itself. Setup for the clock is fairly straightforward. All you have to do is put in the current time. I do think it would've been better if they had given it the ability to get the exact time using the radio. Nonetheless, the display is nice. It's a nice alternative to checking your phone at night for the time since that can make it more difficult to fall asleep. The dimmer also goes down pretty low. My main complaint with this clock is how quiet the sound of the alarm is. I'm a pretty deep sleeper and this clock is not capable of waking me up. Even if it were to wake me up, it's quiet enough that I would just turn it off and go back to sleep. For an alarm clock, you need something loud enough that it can make a person wide-awake rather than just barely awake enough to turn off the alarm. Overall, it's a good clock if you just want to check the time at night, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend this.

This is a fine basic clock-radio alarm. Setup is straightforward, and with 2 memory settings it is easy to recall your most common alarm times. The display is large and easy to read in the dark ((without having to put on my glasses!) My wife appreciates the fact that I can set the display level down so that she is not distracted by the light. As one can imagine with a device in this price range, the audio quality is good but not exceptional. Waking up to music is always better than a shocking alarm, however, and this alarm is very serviceable in that regard. I will be using this alarm in our guest room, and as a backup for our present clock-radio. I feel secure in knowing that we would not be without an alarm in case of failure of our present device. Having used the alarm for about a week, it seems to be holding up well. However, I cannot comment on how durable it will be in the future. I have no reason to doubt that it will continue to function properly for a long time as most solid-state electronic devices do these days.

This is a “traditional” alarm clock. The idea is simply that it tells time, sitting in your bedroom, and you set the alarm to wake you up at a certain time. There have been thousands of different ones through the years that do different things, have different displays, more alarms, CD players, etc. The Insignia alarm clock has a great display. It’s NOT BLUE!!!! The letters are about 2 ½” tall, and can be rather bright, fully readable in a bright room. The point of mentioning the green rather than the blue is there is a school of research in sleep that has found that the blue light coming from all of these LEDs trigger our brain into thinking it’s the sun (yeah, even though your eyes are closed). Anyway, almost every alarm clock out there has blazing blue LED numbers that light up your bedroom. The display is pretty much the only impressive part of the clock. The buttons feel fragile, like one could just push it right into the device if one was a bit careless. The idea of having an alarm clock next to your bed is also being able to operate it in the dark. Without a lot of practice, I can’t see how one would be able to hit the teeny snooze button or shut off the alarm without looking. The volume knob doesn’t feel as chintzy, and it controls the volume from what basically sounds like an old AM transistor radio speaker. This is fine, as it can get loud and distorted, all the better to wake me up! I would not normally listen to this radio for any kind of pleasure, but it’s an alarm clock and it does it’s job. Kudos to BB and the others for putting out this little tribute to the Dream Machine. While it fails to exude quality, it does it’s job and it’s cheap enough to say – that’ll do.

So I'll preface this by noting that this is an alarm clock and as such the alarm clock functions work just like an alarm clock should. However, beyond that, this feels cheap and flimsy. It's very light - it has no heft to it and it just feels plasticky, flimsy, cheap and hollow. I was hoping for something a bit more solid at this price point. Setting the time and alarm is not entirely intuitive though it's not overly complicated either. You need to read through the directions once and then you'll probably be fine to trash them and change time and alarm from memory whenever you need to. The radio functions normally and gives you 10 presets for FM and 10 for AM for a total of 20 presets. I'm not sure who would need that many AM presets but they're there if you find that you listen to a lot of AM stations. The display is green and gives you 4 levels of brightness so that you don't bother both yourself or your sleeping partner by unnecessary light. In summary, the alarm functions work fine but I'd look for something of higher quality.

It fits nicely on the shelf & green digital display is very good in all lighting. Radio also works well.

I really like this alarm clock its easy to set up and the instructions are clear. When you set the alarms put the volume up all the way and when it goes off it gradually gets louder. The numbers are easy to see and the dimmer is nice. I would recommend!

Good for the price. Complicated to set as buttons have multiple functions. This is O.K. for 1 person with one alarm setting. Display is very good. Sound is just fair. Wish this was a full battery backup, I would not give this to someone for a gift.

This old school alarm clock is great for those who just want to tell time or maybe use it as a backup alarm. Most of us have a smart phone and use it as an alarm and clock, but there's nothing wrong with having a backup. Software updates tend to happen over night and there have been a couple times my alarm wouldn't go off on my smart phone. Also, its nice to just have the clock always on. At first glance you'd think, it's just an alarm clock. And...well...You'd be right. No frills here obviously. You get a radio with the ability to set a few preset stations. Power cord to plug it in and a battery slot for backup power. I really like the green color LED. My previous clock was a bright blue that wouldn't dim and was a bit harsh on the eyes. The green is nice. You also get the ability to set 2 alarms. The volume knob is actually nice. Normally you get a clicky small button for volume but this knob is decent sized and easy to find. Other than that, what else can be said about an alarm clock.... Seems good quality and if you're in the market for an old school alarm clock give this one a shot.

Great item which i bought from the outlet store of best buy its below 15 dollars. A great value for you buck!