Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsCheap but decent
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2014
When the temperature sensor for my LaCrosse projection alarm clock disappeared, I decided it was time for a new one. Unfortunately, this is a case of the older model being better than the newer one.
Don't get me wrong, this is a decent unit and if this is your first projection time/temp alarm clock, you'll probably be very happy with it. But here's a list of the things I didn't like about this one:
- There's not a lot of options for the orientation of the projected image. I put mine on a night stand next to the bed and there's no way to have the clock face the bed and get the projected image on the ceiling so it's easy to read when I'm in bed. It would work best on a head board or projected on the wall. My older clock didn't have this problem.
- The projected image is very bright. This is nice for viewing it during the day, but at night it can fill the room with red light which I don't like. There is no brightness adjustment, so it might be time to put some sunglasses on the clock. My older clock was almost too dim, if I can dim this one a little bit it will be better.
- The whole thing feels pretty cheap. This isn't a major deal for me but it definitely doesn't inspire confidence that it will last. When I was setting it up the backlight was coming on "randomly" which worried me, but it turned out it has a feature where noises will turn on the backlight for a bit. Ever since I've turned that feature off, it's been behaving.
The temperature sensor is working great. I've got it mounted outside about 20' from the clock and it's never given me any trouble. The atomic clock also has worked great for me so far, I hope it handles the time change. I haven't used the alarm clock feature (since the clock is in an awkward position) so I can't comment on that.
It is nice to be able to quickly check the time/temperature on the ceiling at night. My biggest complaint so far is not being able to put the clock where I want it.
The right-hand side of the projected image has gotten blurry, probably due to me messing around with the projector trying to find a position so I can read the clock face and projected image. I cleaned the surface so it's not a smudge or thumbprint, and it is now back in the original position so it's not a bad angle either. The last digit of the time can be hard to read. Nothing I've done since has had any effect on it (better or worse). Something inside must have shifted.
