Great for an office desk!
Written: Mar 30 '04
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Pros: Small size, easy to read display, good sound.
Cons: Bad placement of volume control and tuner dial. No 'reverse' for setting the clock.
The Bottom Line: I like it. It's small, relatively inexpensive and does what it is supposed to do.
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| barefooted's Full Review: Philips MCR230 Clock Radio |
I was wondering the aisles of Wal-Mart with my kids last weekend in an attempt to #1. Let them spend their allowance and #2. Maybe teach them something about SAVING their money. My daughter had her heart set on a radio for her room.
‘Ok, how much money do you have?’ I asked my daughter.
‘I have $16 with me and $12 at home.’
‘How much do you want to spend on a radio?’
‘Well, I have $28.’
‘No, you have $16’
‘Mom, $16 plus $12 equals $28.’
‘Ok, tell you what, you pick out a radio that cost $28 and tell the cashier you have the other $12 at home—and if she lets you keep--’
‘Oh, sorry. Mom, can I borrow $12 until we get home.’
‘Of course dear.’
When I asked she said that she wasn’t looking for any particular feature and instead was looking for the one that looked ‘the coolest’ for the price. Great. I walked a few paces away and turned to see what they had to offer in alarm clocks as my hubby and I have been using the same old tired alarm clock for over 13 years now and even though it still works, I was feeling a little itch to spend some money too.
That’s when I saw the Magnavox MCR230SL and thought to myself, ‘hey, that would fit on my desk at work.’ It didn’t take much more then that to convince myself to buy it other then I did check to make sure it had a AM/FM radio, a CD player and that it was reasonably priced. And at $35 I thought that is was reasonable. So I bought it took it home and then brought it to work on Monday.
I unboxed the radio and sat it on my desk, at 4.4” tall, 7” long and only 5” wide it took up a lot less room then the one it was replacing. The display is much larger… the numbers are a full inch tall and they look bolder which makes it a lot easier to read. And I like the way the speakers are built into the sides instead of the top—the manufacturer will probably tell you that the speakers are like this for that ‘wide angle stereo’ sound, but I think it’s cool because now when I put papers on top of the radio, I wont muffle the sound.
The CD player is on top of the unit which might be a problem if I can’t train myself to toss my paperwork some place else—but it isn’t spring released, you actually have to lift the lid from the side so there is no chance of it accidentally popping open. And there are two alarms so, if I was using this at home—that would make me very happy since Hubby and I don’t get up at the same time.
The buttons seem to be large and well marked and I can pretty much figure how to set everything by looking at it… but where is the volume and tuner selectors? Oh, wait, they are on the sides near the back? Yuck—that isn’t convenient at all. But, I’m at work, and how often am I going to change the channel or adjust the volume? I have to admit that I had no idea what the rather large button marked ‘REPEAT ALARM’ was for and I had to pull out the instructions… turns out this is what we used to call the ‘snooze’ button—it gives you another 6 minutes of rest before the alarm sounds again. Time to plug in the polarized plug … Nothing blew up… so far so good.
Setting the clock wasn’t a huge problem, but it was a little tricky because you have to press in the ‘set time’ button and at the same time press the hour or minute button which has never been a problem on a clock radio before now. See, now the buttons are on the top of the unit and not the face of the unit. Why is this a problem? Because unless you already have your alarm clock backed up against a wall it is going to try to run away from you. There is a 9volt battery back up (battery not included) so if I lose power I don’t have to worry about having to reset it.
There is no external antenna and I work in a cement building so the reception being spotty isn’t necessarily the sign of a bad receiver in this case. And I do get in all but one channel that I would like to get. The CD player works great and the sound quality isn’t bad at all. Keep in mind that I am not trying to fill a room with music either and I haven’t tried turning the volume up very high so as not to disturb my co-workers.
There are only a few things that I would have changed or that I don’t like. I really don’t like the volume and tuner adjusters to be on the sides. It makes them hard to get to and if everything else in on the front, why put these on the sides? I can’t help but wish that there was a ‘reverse’ button for setting the time. Twice I passed the time up and it would have been so much easier to have just gone backwards to get to the correct time.
I can’t imagine needing to use it, there is a 90 Day Free Exchange Limited Warranty if the need arises.
All in all, as clock radio for my desk for $35, I am happy with it.
My daughter also found what she was looking for and yes, she did point out that I wasn’t very good at saving money either. Kids.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 35
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Epinions.com ID:
barefooted
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Reviews written: 4
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