Aiwa FR-CD3000 Digital Alarm Clock Radio with Am/FM Tnr, CD-R/RW, Vert CD, Slp Tmr, Dl Alrm, Stereo Spkrs, Backlit LCD and Weekend Alarm Skip

Price:
Manufacturer: Aiwa


This full-featured lifestyle combo gives you plenty of options. Tune in to your favorite radio station or pop in a CD anywhere, any time. FR-CD3000 is capable of CD-R/RW playback and features a digital synthesized tuner, a single vertical CD, a backlit LCD display, stereo speakers, a battery back-up (9V), and more.

Information

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91849 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Aiwa
• Model: FR-CD3000

Product Reviews

A mixed bag
I did a lot of research to find the best CD clock radio for my purposes. I needed one with good sound and a small footprint and this one has those. It has other very good qualities, including a quiet CD mechanism, dual alarms with weekend skip, and fairly good FM reception. However, it has a couple of issues which keep me from recommending it wholeheartedly. Most annoying is that the alarms don't work unless the CD is turned off, and it doesn't turn off when finished playing--you have to manually shut off the power. So unless you use the sleep function, you can't go to sleep to the CD and wake up with the alarm. The display is too bright, not adjustable, and hard to read on an angle. The clock/radio/alarm set sequence is not exactly intuitive. There aren't buttons for direct access to the FM presets, just forward and back. Also, the first one I got from Amazon was defective--the CD player didn't work correctly--and it took almost two months to get a replacement, although it does work. Overall, this may well be the best product of its kind for the price, but it's far from perfect.

Fatal flaw in otherwise perfect clock radio
Good sound, simpler to use than any other high-end clock radio, good control layout with decent sized buttons, amazingly quiet mechanism, good balance of features, and a small footprint. We loved it until we went to bed.
The time display is just awful in the dark. It's a green background with black letters that don't stand out well in the dark. One of us needs glasses and the display is unreadable without them at more than 6 inches. I myself don't need glasses and can read it ok from a distance. However, I hate the fact that the green background lights up the room enough to see shadows on the walls. Not what I want when going to sleep. There's no adjustment on the display.

It was apparently designed by an otherwise excellent engineer who didn't understand that people might want to use a clock radio in a dark bedroom.

High quality at a reasonable price
You might think in this day and age, consumer electronic products of a given type are pretty much alike in terms of quality. Not so! I bought a similar, stylish CD clock radio from a long-established manufacturer (woof!) and was disappointed when the sound started crackling after just one hour. I could barely hear the music from the noise of the CD player motor! Then came Aiwa's little gem. It cost a fraction more, but now I don't have to worry about a noisy mechanism keeping me up at night! And did I mention it sounds great? Thank you, Aiwa!