We are quite pleased with this clock radio/CD player!

We'd had our old alarm radio for many years, and the sound faded out badly. My husband wanted a new alarm radio with digital tuning. I discovered finding one we'd like, for a price we were willing to pay was frustrating. I'd read lots of Epinions reviews, and had given up hope (I don't know how I had missed this model in the research) of finding one worth a try. Then I saw the Timex model T617 on display in a store a few days before Christmas. I knew from its shape I had not read about it, so I decided to try it, figuring we'd be returning it before New Year's.

Here is what I liked at the store:
*Compact size - the CD player is vertical behind the front panel, so it takes up much less space on the nightstand than other CD models.
*Digital tuning & radio preset buttons - for us, this was a must.
*Auto-set time setting - it also auto-sets the date, though why that is needed on an alarm clock, I don't really understand. It will auto-set to your choice of 7 different time zones. There is also a clock adjust option if you need to manually set the time.
*Auto-set daylight savings time option - but will this work with the new federal DST dates? Only time will tell (no pun intended)
*Battery back-up - I was aghast that some models reviewed here didn't have this feature. This one takes 3 AA batteries (not included, of course)
*Display dimmer - the time display has 3 light levels. The brightest is best for seeing the time during daylight hours, or with light in the room. I hoped that the dimmest setting would really be dim in the dark room overnight. More about this later.
*Wake-up options - wake to radio (AM or FM), CD, nature sounds or traditional alarm buzzer (or MP3).
*Dual Alarm - and unlike other models on the market, both alarms can wake to the same sound!

Will we like it OUT of the box?
Christmas afternoon, we plugged it in, and it accomplished all that the box said it would. It displayed the correct time (and date) just about instantly (after we selected our time zone). The sound is good (OK - not as good as the stereo in the other room, but we didn't expect it to be!) The settings are not exactly intuitive (we had to read the directions), but it wasn't rocket-science, either. Within a very few minutes, we had it set up with alarm times, favorite radio stations programmed into the preset buttons, and had popped in a CD to play. So far, we were very pleased with this product.

What about really sleeping and waking up with it?
Bedtime on the first night, we set the display to the dimmest of 3 settings. Next morning, it woke us as it was programmed to do. Hey! We really like it!

Living with it - first month
A few times, I have found the display is rather brighter than I'd prefer. Part of this situation is due to the fact that, since the CD player is vertical (saving space on the nightstand), the time display is higher than other models - and therefore, the lighted time display shines more into the room. I think I would prefer the display a tiny bit more dim than we can get. That said, however, my husband, who likes a really dark room, doesn't even notice the display (the clock is on my side); he thinks it is dim enough. One additional interesting fact is that when the alarm comes on, so does a blue light, illuminating the knob and the CD window. This blue light does a good job of waking me up, also.

In short, we like it very much, and are quite pleased with this purchase.

Other nice features include:
Nap function (set it for 15 - 90 minutes, and the alarm will come on without resetting the regular alarm buttons)
Sleep button
Snooze bar
Headphone jack
MP3 Line in jack