Homedics SS-4500 SoundSpa Classic Clock Radio, Silver
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Customer Reviews of Homedics SS-4500 SoundSpa Classic Clock Radio, Silver
Customer Review: Nice Idea but Quirky Implementation
Summary: 3 Stars
Not bad for a Gold Box special of $12 but I understand why it's getting mixed reviews.
Out of the box, the nature sounds wouldn't work. I gave the unit a little spank on the bottom, and then the speaker kicked in. Doesn't give me confidence the unit will last but again, for $12....
The time projection arm is a bit poorly designed. It only angles forward and back which seriously limits where the time can be projected. The projection arm should swivel in a 360 degree range so the time can be projected anywhere you want. The time itself can be _rotated 360 degrees but the arm itself can't be _aimed anywhere in a 360 degree plane -- again, just tilted front and back. As it is, I had to turn the whole unit over 90 degrees just to project the time where it's most visible for me. The front of the clock is completely turned away from the bed so good thing I can read the time on the ceiling!
The buttons are responsive but small and hard to read. White lettering on a silver finish isn't very user friendly. I have good eyes, yet still need to use a flashlight in addition to my wall lamp just to read the buttons. I imagine this will pass once I get used to where everything is located but not convenient at first glance. But even that won't fix the fact that I have to turn the unit around to work the buttons and then reposition it so the time projects on the ceiling where I need it. Kind of a hassle.
I really like falling asleep to the nature sounds. But I wish they would fade out at the end of the time cycle instead of just cutting out abruptly. I'm a light sleeper and this can be jarring if I haven't yet drifted into deep sleep. But still a nice feature.
Waking up to nature sounds is the top reason I bought this. Just hate those annoying beep-beep-beep sounds all clock radios have. Wanted something peaceful and this works well. Though I wish someone would come out with a unit that can be loaded with MP3 files so one could use any sound fx / music you wanted. No, not another iPod dock! eegads!! Give that darn thing a rest once in a while!! Just a simple clock radio that lets you wake up to any MP3 you want and projects the time anywhere in a 360 degree direction. That's my dream clock radio! Add to that a dual alarm, which this one doesn't have either, and I'm set.
Overall I'm happy with the unit but mostly because it only cost $12. Any more than that, and I probably would've returned it. Gotta love Amazon Gold Box!
Hopefully Homedics improves the design and function on future models. I would by again, but only if they made improvements and the price was right.
Customer Review: Here's a quick fix for the brightness problem
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the Sound Spa at Bed, Bath, & Beyond recently and really like it. I had previously purchased a similar unit from Discovery, but the nature sounds seemed to be more geared towards waking up rather than creating ambient noise to sleep by (i.e. the rain sound had an occasional shot of thunder that broke the rythym). I like the Homedics unit, but I do agree that the display is unusually bright even on the dim setting. I have a blackout shade I paid $200 for in my bedroom, so I'm used to pitch blackness even during the brightest part of the day to the point I can't even dial my phone without turning a light on. The Sound Spa on the dim setting produces enough light to read by in my room. I had read of another reviewer trying the "tint" solution, and it worked perfectly for me. I stopped by my local tint shop and picked up a scrap piece of medium tint. I made a form of the display on the Sound Spa by cutting an index card to exactly the correct shape (half moon), and then used the form to cut out an identical piece in the tint. I found that cutting a slight extension in one corner helps, as this allows you to rough up that extension to get the tint separated from the clear plastic overlay and once separated, cut the shape exact. I cleaned the display well before placing the tint on it and then smoothed it out. This darkened it up significantly, but not enough for my liking, so I cut one more piece and layered it over the first in the same fashion. Two layers did the trick. The display is nice and dim now and actually much more readable in every lighting situation. I found that the stock display brightness on the dim setting was so bright it was actually hard to read in a dark room from a distance. By smoothing out the bubbles and cutting the shape exact, you don't even notice the tint even when you're up close to the clock. Worked great, hope this helps others. Also, I really like the "rain" setting and have begun running it all night to filter out any occasional ambient noise outside.Customer Review: Bright light! Bright light!
Summary: 3 Stars
For people with heart conditions, this is your clock. No more getting scared to death when the alarm goes off. Nature sounds volume is adjustable, though some of the sounds, like the ocean waves, don't sound very realistic. If you have a cat, the bird chirping sound will probably drive it nuts. All of these are great features. Drawbacks: the projection light is fantastic for far-sighted people who, like me, cannot read the clock itself without glasses. Just remember to put your heavy-duty sun glasses on before going to bed. This light is so bright it lights up half the room. The face of the clock has a dimmer switch on the back - choice one: light up your room at night as if it were daytime, or choice two: but it on hi and watch the neighbors call 911 due to the blue light eminating from your windows. Forget about sleeping unless you wear a sleep mask, or just do what I do - throw a washcloth over the whole thing. The projection light will still be visible on the ceiling even through the cloth, but it will be a lot dimmer. So will the clock face. But there are very few nature sounds clocks out there, and most of them are for falling asleep to them, and have a regular buzzer alarm to wake up to. So your choices are limited. Mine just broke, so I am looking to replace it, and will probably buy it again as I can't find another clock with nature sounds "wake up" alarms. This is a decent price, I have seen it for $17 on E-Bay, but with shipping it comes to just about the same. Bought mine in Walmart for $25 but they no longer carry Homedics. Other places are asking up to $40 for it.Customer Review: Almost perfect...
Summary: 4 Stars
I do love this clock but it just falls short of 5 stars for me.
Pros:
- Lovely to wake up to different sounds in the morning. Gentle ocean waves make me feel like I'm on vacation!
- The projector is great & I couldn't manage without it anymore. It's so nice to be able to see the time on the wall or ceiling without having to twist round & squint in the middle of the night.
Some reviewers have said that it's very bright but I find that projecting it to a further wall, while still at a good angle, dims it a bit so I haven't had a problem with that.
If you do project it to a different wall, it has a focus knob to make the image clearer, and you can rotate it also.
Cons:
- While I don't find the projection too bright, I do find the display too bright, even on the low setting. I've had to turn the display away from the bed a bit
- The snooze button is my biggest negative. It's very small and it's too easy to hit the Power Off button instead of snooze. The Power button is located where most clocks have the snooze, so half asleep at 6am it's just too easy to turn the darn clock off by accident and fall asleep. I do have to make an effort to hit the right button every morning. This keeps it from being a 5 star for me.
Customer Review: I should have just bought a noise machine and a night light.
Summary: 1 Stars
I got this for my 11 year old, who still wants some light and has trouble sleeping when it's quiet. The projector is pretty bright, which is fine for us, but some people might not care for something that bright. It has different sounds, we like the "rain" sound the best... we think the others have too many elements to the sound (frogs croaking and birds chirping are not necessary, we just need white noise.) This is not really my issue though. I paid $30 for this, and the quality is very poor. When I adjust the volume, there is a loud static, and it's difficult to get just the right volume, always too loud or too soft. In addition, the "wheels" for volume and tuning are very wobbly, and the whole thing is flimsy plastic. In the picture, it looks very sturdy. When I received the item, I was very surprised to discover how delicate it is. You cannot get the projector to stay in place. It is easy to focus, but when you move it's position to project, it changes the focus... when you fix the focus, it moves where it's projecting. It's silly, you end up fighting with it and going back and forth just to get it how you want it. I cannot comment on the alarm feature, we have not used it for that. I do not recommend this product. I should have just bought a noise machine and a night light.