Customer Reviews:
 The RCA RP5440- Not that bad after al... Pobody's Nerfect! January 19, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Looking for a better way to wake up, I did a lot of research on every type of alarm clock out there. After chucking out the losers, I shortlisted the rest to the Zen Alarm Clock, a Nexxtech CD Clock Radio, an electronic wind chime clock, a Sunrise Dawn Simulator device, and finally, the RCA RP5440. My goal is to test them all, as what they all have in common is they try to avoid that nasty brutish emergency siren type of alarm clock; which is the worst way to wake up, for your body, mind and work day.
The RCA RP5440 is not perfect, but has a lot of endearing qualities to me. It's a pretty smart, high tech device, reasonably (or relatively) well built. Does everything but change your baby's diapers, and looks smart and good doing it....
THE RADIO: The antenna is in the cord. When I first turned it on (FM), the station was playing some type of indian-sounding mountain music, with echoey banjos and other country strings. I was startled by the quality of sound when I first heard it. You couldn't tell where the sound was coming from, and it was crystal clear, with enough presence to sound like the musicians were very tiny, but playing right there, somewhere in the vicinity of the clock. Then after a couple of seconds, I realized the reason why the sound was that good. It has nothing to do with the RCA itself, I had remembered that I have PWB devices (from PWB Electronics) installed throughout my house. They work to affect the listener's perception of sound quality, so any audio device I bring into the house sounds good, automatically. Even a lowly clock radio. So for a more objective test, I compared the RCA's radio sound quality with my Sony Dream Machine cube (both of which would be ultimately affected by the PWB devices, so both are on equal footing). Next to the Sony, the RCA had a decidedly top end bias (I believe the word is "tinny"). Probably typical for clock radio sound anyway, with the Sony being more of an exception, as its sound was richer and fuller, if somewhat less distinct than the RCA. Despite the lack of bass and richness, I reiterate that the RCA can sound good, if just used in a morning wake-up session. BTW, contrary to popular but informed opinion, the radio does not have digital tuning. It is an analog tuner but with digital readout. So much the better.
THE ALARM: It's no Zen Clock mechanically-struck buddhist chime, but it's a nice sounding electronic tone, that at least doesn't start off blaring you in the face. It's just that it ramps up a bit too quickly for my taste, and starts off a bit too loud (I wish it took a minute to progress, instead of 1/2 minute). When it gets to the loudest volume, dogs down the street will start barking. I don't think anyone could sleep through that, but then, that's probably the idea. You can't change the volume of the alarm, either. It features a "SmartSnooze" function, which is not -that- smart actually, but simply means you can press any button to effect the snooze function. The unit can take an MP3 player, but won't allow you to wake you up to it. Unfortunately.
THE DISPLAY: A lot has been said about the display on this unit, little of it good. Let me confirm it is indeed a blue electroluminescent display, with a black LCD readout. This was obviously done because there is more information here than your typical LED display, ie. the weather info, and little icons. Overall, the display is one of the things I find so attractive on this unit. If the conditions are right, it makes things easy to read and gives the whole device a high tech look and feel. You just gotta figure out how to get those conditions right! Here's a couple of clues...
The digits on the readout are only clear at the angle the clock normally rests on, if looking from above the clock. (It must the stupid engineer at Thompson Electronics that was assigned the LCD readout...). If you look at the clock at eye level (or the wrong level), the blackness of the LCD readout diminishes. Basically, turning the clock away from you greys out the digits (until they all but disappear), turning it toward you makes them darker.
What this clock really needs is to have its display on a swivel base, so you can swivel it to read clearly at the angle you normally would read it at. My night table and bed are roughly the same level, and this is not the ideal viewing angle, so the digits on the display washes out. To fix this, I simply tilt the clock toward me (enough that it almost tips over). And voila, the digits are as black as coal at mattress viewing level, and easy to read. (The trick is keeping it in that position, so it doesn't tip over while fidgeting with the buttons. One way is to tilt the side projector unit forward, so it acts as a leg and prevents the unit from tipping over. It also can prevent the projection from being above the bed, but hey, pothing's nerfect). Of course, if the digits are easy to read in bed, they won't be so easy to read when you lift your head up off the pillow, and vice versa.
Brightness of the display is another common complaint I read about this clock, and for good reason. Unmodified, you can practically read a long book using just the light of the display on this thing. The clever-guy fix for that problem is chewing gum. Or fun-tak adhesive putty. Or black sticky foam -- anything that you can cover the sensor with and black it out. No, it's not enough to just cover the eye that says "sensor", you need to cover the surrounding area of the sensor to maximize the dimming. (If putting your finger on or around what you covered has no further effect on the display's brightness, then you've done the job right). You also need to put the clock on auto-dim. The result is a muted darkish blue display. Those two fixes together make the display on the RP5440 more acceptable. How acceptable, is a matter of personal taste.
In my completely blacked out room, I find the muted display still gives off more light than I would like to see. Fact is, electroluminescent displays really have no business in a night table clock of any kind. It creates "light pollution", and if you're trying to maintain a dark room to sleep in, its impossible with an EL device like the RP5440. I did manage to sleep with the clock inches from my head, but I found didn't like the initial brightness (which closed eyes are nevertheless sensitive to), before slumber arrived. If you don't have a very dark room or place the clock further away than a bedside table, it may be acceptable (with the above fixes). But don't count on it! So make sure wherever you buy this from, you can return it. If its not returnable and you had to live with it, you could always place (removable) cardboard in front of the display, and just use the projection function to see the time. But this is really bending over backwards to like the clock.
THE WEATHER FUNCTION: One of the best reasons to own this clock, is an easy way of knowing what the weather is. I stuck the outdoor temp sensor out the window of a room down the hall (not my bedroom where the clock was located!), closed the window, and the darn thing actually worked. It even comes with a seperate LCD display unit to show the outside temperature from a location elsewhere than the clock itself. This alone is worth paying $10 extra over the cheaper RP5430 model.
THE PROJECTOR: If I had to nitpick, I'd like to have a choice of colours (ie. blue), than the red color projected. Otherwise, this is a dandy feature. You can change the angle of projection and the location of the image, to put the time on your ceiling exactly where you need it to be. This way you can be on your back in bed, and have only to squint in the darkness to see the time (it disappears when the room lights are turned on).
SETTINGS: I learned how almost everything on the clock works in minutes, without looking at the instructions. Can't say that for all clocks (cough NEXXTECH cough), so that's my little ease-of-use test, and the RCA passes. (About the only thing I didn't know what it did, was the "ID" button. It synchronizes the outside thermo unit with the clock base, in case there are problems). The 2 alarms and time are easy to set. Actually, I didn't need to set the time, just the time zone switch. But no, as others have said, it does not appear to be an atomic clock. Still, close enough and pobody's nerfect.
I initially rated this device after testing it, but before real-world use, where I spent a night with it next to me. Since I can't officially change my 4-star rating, I am downrating it here to a 3, due to the annoying luminescense of the EL display. Sadly, it really wouldn't take much to make it the perfect alarm clock. Just smarter and more conscientious engineers, who try to keep in mind that humans are going to use their designs, and who try to learn at least the kindergarten-level basics of the concept called "ergonomics", before putting such a product to market. If you can live without the projection and get a separate indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer, check out the RP5430, which is basically the same model without the extras, including the light-polluting display.
 Poor Disply Kills the deal January 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great clock upon first glance. Loved the wall/ceiling display and digital tuning of radio stations. what i CAN NOT STAND is the ridiculous blue display. DOES NOT LOOK LIKE PICTURE. not only is this thing bright as can be (will light your whole bedroom)....but it has the most RIDICULOUSLY SMALL VIEWING ANGLE of any clock i have ever seen. if it is even a few inches higher or lower than your viewing angle you WILL NOT SEE THE TIME!! How RCA missed this is beyond me. your much better off skipping the projection feature and going with the other displays. stay away from the blue if you like seeing your clock radio's time
misrepresented display January 6, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This clock radio is shown with a black background with blue numbering. The actual item has a bright blue background with small black numbering. The blue lighting is so bright that I could not make out the numbers from the otherside of the bed. My wife likes a night light but this was even to bright for her and had to block the clock radio to sleep. We like the temperature and projection features of this radio. The setting of the alarms were somewhat difficult. Even after we unplugged it and had the alarms turned off it would go off at a previous set time. I finally had to take the back-up batteries out to silence it. We replaced this item with an Emerson projection clock radio, it has large red lettering that isn't bright at all and very easy to read even across the room.
Not whats pictured January 4, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
2 stars may not be fair and dramatic but thats what Im giving it. First off the picture above is NOT what you recieve, i submitted my own picture and thats the color display you get not Blue led with black background but blue background and black led. Whats the big deal you may ask? well a couple.
-View angles of that type of display are very poor if you arent straight ahead or above it its hard to see and impossible at some angles.
- Also is its VERY bright, I myself dont keep the clock that close to me but nor am I bothered by a light when I sleep but this thing does light up the whole room, 14 X 14. If you keep it on a night stand next to you it probably would be unbearable if it faced you.
On to functionality, it worked great as far this goes. Id like the alarm to be a little louder but it worked fine. The projection is "NEAT" but I dont think it has any REAL use, it only works well in complete darkness and since its alarm clock and you have to hit a button to turn it on for a couple of second what the real purpose.The tempature device worked great, I kept mine inside and used the supplied wire to stick throw/under my window, it was only about 10 feet away and never clitched.
I eventually return my clock because of the display but mainly because i also bought the model right under it and that DOES have the blue LED display which is better and made them not match. Now I have two clocks that match and you can see from anywhere in the room.
 Great features for price December 31, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love the outside temperature display on the clock and that you can keep the time projection on all the time. The clock display is quite bright, but not the type of light I can see even with my eyes closed, so it doesn't bother my husband or I. We also love being able to save two different alarm settings.
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