Timex T618T / T619T Clock Radio

Timex T618T / T619T Clock Radio

Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
This Timex clock radio offers a wide range of listening options, including CD, AM/FM radio and nature sounds. With the 7-5-2 alarm, you can set different alarms for the weekdays, weekends or all week. The clock radio also features a triple alarms, allowing you to set three different alarms, each with its own alarm sound. It comes with precise digital tuning and eighteen preset stations. The sure alarm battery backup system guards against power failures. The hundred year calender will keep you up-to-date with the year/month/day until 2099.

What's in the Box
Clock radio, owner's manual and a three month warranty.

Timex T618T / T619T Clock Radio
Average customer rating:

Best clock radio design available

This radio is a piece of cr*p!

gorgeous sound CD player

Unacceptable FM Reception, Otherwise Excellent

Nice, But Not Totally Reliable

Timex T618T / T619T Clock Radio

Manufacturer: Timex
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

CD & Cassette Clock Radios | Clock Radios | Radios | Portable Audio & Video | Audio & Video | Categories | Electronics
Radios | Portable Audio & Video | Refurbished & Used | Special Features | Electronics Features | Electronics
Audio & Video | Refurbished & Used | Special Features | Electronics Features | Electronics
Timex | Brands | Electronics Features | Electronics
Alarm Clocks & Clock Radios | Office Furnishings | Furniture | Categories | Office Depot
Clock Radios | Alarm Clocks | Clocks | Home Décor | Furniture & Décor | Categories | Home & Garden
Furniture & Décor Style (style_browse-bin) | Furniture & Décor (1057794) | Refinements | Home & Garden | Casual | Contemporary | International | Traditional
Accessories:

Rayovac NM715-8 Rechargeable NiMH AA Batteries, 8-Count Package

Memorex High Performance AA Alkaline Battery 8 Pack

Memorex High Performance AA Alkaline Batteries, 50 Pack

Memorex High Performance AA Alkaline Batteries, 12 Pack

Product Features:

Plays CD, AM/FM, nature sounds or buzzer

90 minute sleep timer and adjustable sleep volume

Triple alarm system with individual alarm sounds

18 presets stations

Bass boost, random and repeat options

ASIN: B000067R9T

Amazon.com Product Description

This Timex clock radio offers a wide range of listening options, including CD, AM/FM radio and nature sounds. With the 7-5-2 alarm, you can set different alarms for the weekdays, weekends or all week. The clock radio also features a triple alarms, allowing you to set three different alarms, each with its own alarm sound. It comes with precise digital tuning and eighteen preset stations. The sure alarm battery backup system guards against power failures. The hundred year calender will keep you up-to-date with the year/month/day until 2099.

What's in the Box
Clock radio, owner's manual and a three month warranty.

Customer Reviews:

Best clock radio design available.......2006-08-11

After doing extensive research trying to find the perfect clock radio, I've concluded that manufacturers treat them as cheap commodities and it's hard to find one that you call "high quality". But, this is a very good one compared to the competition, and I believe the best available.

I consider the following to be important for a clock radio:

1) Reliability

I live in California, where the the power going out while you sleep is a very real possibility. The t618t has a battery backup so that it will continue to function even if the power goes out. Other clock radios have a battery backup, but this one also features an alert to let you know when the batteries are low. This is an excellent feature: otherwise, how do you know if the batteries will work when the power goes out?

2) Illumination

Complaint number one about clock radios is probably: the display is so bright it keeps me awake. The t618t has a very nice display: an LCD with a backlight. This is much better than traditional LED's because a single setting can be readable during the day and dim enough to permit sleeping. And the brightness controls have an excellent range.

3) Alarm flexibility

With three alarms CD/Radio/Nature sounds, each of which can be set independently, you've got all the alarms you'd need, including the ability to set them for every day, week day, or week end. I've read complaints that each of the alarm types can only be set to a single time, but I think it is correct the way it is because allowing multiple times per alarm type would have made the interface a lot more complicated. Also, I've read that some of the nature sounds are annoying. Again, I think that's an incorrect criticism. Two of the nature sounds are very soothing and suitable for going to sleep. Two of the nature sounds,while still peaceful, are bit more strident, with bird and cricket chirps, which makes them perfect to wake you up!

But, it isn't perfect:

1) The CD player is a bit noisy and has a light. This makes it unsuitable for going to sleep. That's why there is no sleep timer for the CD. Use the radio or the nature sounds to going to sleep.

2) There is no "gradual increase in volume" feature on the alarm. But, in other clock radios which do have this feature, people complain that it increases too fast or too slowly. If you want a special alarm, the simplest thing to do just make your own CD with whatever you want to wake to.

3) The sound quality isn't great. But, get real, this is a clock radio, not a home theater system.

All in all, the best design of a clock radio that you can find.

This radio is a piece of cr*p!.......2006-05-03

I have two of these and woe is me! When the display on my 17-yr-old Sony Dream Machine quit working right, my husband and I bought two of these (one for our room and one for our son's) because they were all we could find in the local stores. Unfortunately none of us can make them work right (probably should say "work they way we want them to"). The CD alarm starts over in the same place every morning, no matter how long you allowed it to play the previous day. Yippee, your own personal GROUND HOG DAY. My husband (an engineer) can never figure out how to turn it off versus hit the snooze in the morning, so every morning we don't know whether we're going to be late for work. And the FM reception is not good. I prefer to wake up to WUOM in the morning, but this radio can't detect it, even though every other radio in the house and cars can (it's a college station located about 30 miles away and otherwise detectable for many counties around). I have HAD IT with these pieces of trash! Today I went onto Amazon and ordered a new Dream Machine.

gorgeous sound CD player.......2006-03-29

The sound coming out of the cd player is even BETTER than i expected. Being a classical music person, i place great emphasis on the sound for the cd player. In total, i probably did hours and hours research on line, AFTER noticing the TIMEX that a friend owns.

Her cd player drew my attention, when i my own cd player/clock/radio and literally broke it. i borrowed hers just to tide me over that afternoon while working on a deadline. i expected very little, since it is only a TIMEX. i usually only buy SONY or PANASONIC electronics. To me, TIMEX represents a watch brand, a generic one, too. Her cd player changed my opinion about TIMEX and prompted the ensuing research. With respect to this new TIMEX i bought, it seems like my hope was not misplaced, and all the on line research work is paid off. Just hoping that nothing would go wrong later, as some folks have reported about their TIMEX.

Unacceptable FM Reception, Otherwise Excellent.......2005-08-07

I was replacing a 5 year old, nearly identically-featured Timex clock radio (Model T600) because the tuner became intermittant.

I liked the old model so much I just wanted the same thing and the Timex T618T / T619T seemed to be it.

With the new unit and its antenna in the exact location as the old, I am able to receive only 3 strong stations where the old one got about 15-20. A strong station will interfere with all nearby ones and other stations just aren't picked up at all... very poor sensitivity and selectivity.

The unit and its other features are excellent and well thought out, better than I expected even, but the tuner is atrocious.

Nice, But Not Totally Reliable.......2005-07-10

"It takes a licking and keeps on ticking!"

Old-timers will remember this slogan as a guarantee that Timex watches (and, by extension, clocks) were rugged, quality purchases. Indeed, when I was growing up in the 1970s, Timex products had that reputation. Is that still true with the Timex T618T Clock Radio? Well, kinda-sorta.

Let's start with my needs first: I bought this CD/Clock/Radio combo mainly because I want to play CDs and have something reliable to wake me up before dawn. I haven't really used the radio, but it's there if I ever need it.

Seeing the T618T on display at the local Office Depot, it definitely caught my eye. It has a very stylish, curvaceous, swept-back face in a silver-grey case, a front-loading CD door, an eye-pleasing amber backlight, and neat little buttons which can best be described as "dainty". This is in contrast with my previous Timex CD/Clock/Radio unit, the T600, which is still in use elsewhere in the house. It is top-loading and kind of squat and blocky, with a dreary bluish backlight.

The features are definitely nice, at least in theory. First, there are three alarms. One plays nature sounds, a second plays the radio, and the third either plays a CD (any track you choose) or, absent a CD, it just beeps. You can set any alarm to play Monday through Friday only, or just on the weekends, or every day of the week. Very handy. I use the day-of-week setting quite a bit.

There are four nature sounds: "Ocean Surf", "Forest Spring", "Rushing Brook" and "Summer Wind". While these are primarily intended to work in conjunction with the countdown timer in aiding someone to get to sleep, I've found them most useful as a "white noise" generator to drown out unwanted distractions, such as the TV downstairs.

A significant improvement over the T600 is the ability of the T618T to set the time either forward or backward. The old one would only go forward.

The display has three levels of brightness, controlled by the snooze alarm button.

So, why have I awarded only three stars? Well, let's start with the CD player. It just doesn't work very well. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to like any of those copy-protected monstrosities I'm stuck with, even though my antique 1989 Fisher stereo downstairs likes them just fine. Certain other CDs, though non-protected, just won't play at all on the first try; they'll spin for a bit, then the player will give up. If I remove the CD and reseat it, maybe it'll play on the third or fourth try. Maybe not. This can get a little frustrating.

The speakers: Granted, I can't expect surround-sound quality from a bedside clock radio, but these speakers tend to crackle unpleasantly at anything I would consider a reasonable volume. And I'm not one of those people who play things super-loud. Fortunately, the T618T does have a headphone jack, and the music sounds just fine on headphones. But, that leaves me tethered, a big drawback. Radio Shack sells some powered external speakers that I'm tempted to try out one of these days, so I can "cut the cord" and be free.

And then there's the little problem with the alarms. Alas, the nature sounds and the radio are out. I've discovered that the volume will spontaneously drop to the bare minimum, to where maybe I'll hear the alarm going when I wake up an hour late. There's no way to predict when this will happen.

It's noteworthy that the T600 has this very same problem. What that tells me is this: the defect is probably in the standard Timex chip set, and will be the same for any similar Timex model. Consider yourself warned.

That leaves the CD/beeper alarm. I could rely on this with the T600, but not the T618T. Every now and again, it will simply not come on. Once I caught it in the act: I was lying in bed, waiting for the inevitable wake-up call. It beeped for a few seconds, then switched off spontaneously before I could hit the snooze alarm. If I'd been sleeping soundly, I'd very easily have missed it.

So, now I'm compelled to use my made-in-England windup clock, the kind with the bells on top, as a backup. Given how I find the ticking sound soothing, this isn't a really big problem for me; the windup is there whether I use the alarm or not. But still, couldn't Timex design a clock that's a little more reliable? Granted, the problem hasn't arisen since last February, so maybe it was just a fluke. But I'm not taking any chances.

More than a little irritated, I started looking around to see what I could use as a replacement clock. The answer: not much that I really cared for, at any price. So, I'm still using the Timex, and will probably continue to for some time to come.

There is one other issue which I wouldn't qualify as a design flaw so much as a matter of physics. In my room, my bed is next to a full-height (four-drawer) dresser, with both clocks on top. With the T618T's sloped-back face and the viewing-angle limitations of basic LCD panels, there was no way I could see the time from a normal-height bed without sitting almost straight up. Now that I have one of those "captains beds" which sits on top of a cabinet, I only have to lift my head a little. Bear in mind that I have seen similar Timex clocks with a vertical face, so you might prefer one of those instead if you're in a similar predicament.

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