Slick Projector Alarm Clocks from Oregon Scientific
Both of these retro-modern alarm clocks from Oregon Scientific feature a projector that shines the current time on the ceiling of your austere sleeping chamber. The $30 RRA320 is just a regular clock/radio alarm, while for $20 more the RRM320PA brings in atomic-clock synchronization and a temperature display with a wireless thermometer that works from up to 300 feet away. It's a good thing the RRM320PA is out of stock at the moment as I'd probably buy it just because it looks nifty, despite the fact that I wake up every morning just fine with my phone's built-in alarm. (I think bring the phone into bed while I hit snooze two or three times.)
RRA320P Product Page [OregonScientific.com]
RRM320PA Product Page [OregonScientific.com]
[via Technabob]
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Ooh, they do look cool. I want one. I'd put it in the bathroom, I swear my wife gets LOST in there sometimes. And she always claims she had no clue what the time was.
My mother turned ninety last month. Sometimes at night she gets confused about what time it is, as she lies in bed at night. A clock that projects the time up onto the ceiling would be an ideal fix. So, a few years ago, I acquired such a clock. This is why it did not work: In order for the time to be right-side-up (readable) on the ceiling above the bed, the clock on the bed’s headboard had to face the wall. Each time I set the clock to project correctly, someone would turn the clock around to face outward, which would put the projected readout up-side-down on the ceiling. Lying in bed, looking up at the clock on the headboard, the clock face is, of course, also up-side-down. My elderly mother can not read things that are up-side-down. This is to say, it is rendered useless. I could put the clock on the other side of the room where it could both face out and project right-side-up, but where it is too far away for my elderly mother to read the clock face, and too far away for her to read the time readout that is projected on the ceiling. This is to say, it would be rendered useless.
These clocks are big with the 50+ crowd, partly because you don't have to put on your glasses in the middle of the night to see what time it is. I have heard complaints just like what #2 experienced: Clock makers should build in the ability to rotate the projection to their desired angle.
One thing I don't see here, is a nice big lovable snooze bar.
#2: there is a button to reverse the direction. RTFM!
This being said, I have and hate this device for a different reason: the radio absolutely sucks: the tuning is analog, totally impossible to regulate properly and the bandwidth is too large (you catch 2 or 3 frequencies at the same time) leading to horrible sound and constant static. Yup, pretty effective at getting me wide awake instantly: I just want it OFF !
What #2 said. It's like they put the thing together without trying it in a bedroom test environment.
If this particular model has a flip feature, amen, but it's just the type of not-thinking-it-through you find in these gimmicky gadgets all the time.
I have a similar Oregon Scientific product I received as a gift - an atomic clock-synchronized "weather station" that projects time and temperature on the ceiling above my bed. I really sort of love the thing -- though it has a few major design flaws that would make me consider ever buying an Oregon Scientific device again.
The biggest problem is its battery consumption. 4-AA Alkaline batteries power the clock for about 3 months at a spell -- despite that the heavy lifting (electrically speaking) of powering the always-on red projector light is handled by an AC adapter (power from which is, apparently, not shared by the rest of the clock). So whether it's listening for the atomic clock sync signal, or communicating with the wireless remote transmitter, the thing uses far more juice than an ordinary LCD display clock. (The device through which the projector light shines is on the same circuit, but with the power making the elements transparent rather than opaque -- which means the numbers on the ceiling ultimately fade away as the batteries run down. Poetic, but also annoying.)
Assuming Oregon Scientific used a similar design approach with these clock radios, expect to start burning through those Costco 24-packs of Duracells.
#6: Interesting. If the whole thing was powered via AC adapter, I'd be stoked on it. But it sounds as if Oregon Scientific cut some corners to make their product a little cheaper.
I already have one alarm clock that is in the perfect spot for me to hit the snooze button with my foot, and now you're telling me that i wouldn't have to lift my head to find out what time it is? You're singing my song, buddy :)
I have a Batman alarm clock (seriously, a BATMAN clock) that my best friend gave me for Christmas three years ago.
It is in all seriousness the most well-designed alarm clock I've ever seen.
Not only does it have a projector that puts the time on the ceiling (with the proper orientation to avoid the problem that #2 ran into), but the snooze button is built into the bottom of the clock. Push down on the clock and release == snooze activated, so essentially the entire clock is the snooze bar.
I have one of the Phillipe Starck Oregon Scientific alarm clocks (http://redirx.com/?05n9) and while the feature set is nifty the radio time sync basically never works. I live not terribly far from the top of the Rockies where the signal supposedly is broadcast from, and on a fairly flat area rather than in some valley or urban canyon. Also, unless they've upgraded the projector to some laser-based thing, it's impossible to see the projected image in anything but near-total darkness. And it has a hard-coded 9 minute snooze, which drives me nuts. Who snoozes for nine minutes?! I can just barely fall back asleep in that interval. Still, the gently progressive alarm chime has improved my life greatly over the cardiac arrest inducing klaxon that preceded it.