iHome iH5 iPod Clock Radio

After purchasing an iPod, I decided I wanted a dock so I could listen to it at home as well as charge it without needing my computer. Being that I run my day fairly time-regulated, I decided a clock radio dock would be perfect for me. So, after checking out several models, I decided on the iHome iH5 Clock Radio, and I love it!

The radio is well designed, very sleek and while there are a lot of buttons, they are well organised and labelled so it's easy to use. I really like that the radio station, volume, and time dials can go both forwards and backwards, eliminating the need to go all the way through 24 hours of time if you accidentally go by the alarm time you want. You can have two different saved radio settings as well as a wake to iPod setting, which I particularly like. There is also a "sleep to" setting in which you can set a separate volume and time and the music will play and turn off after the specified time, so you can doze off to music without having it disturb your sleep all night - this is really great if you're wound up or hand a tough day, you can relax and fall asleep easily. The sound on the wake and sleep settings can be set to fade in or fade out gradually, so you wake or fall sleep more gradually without the jarring of a loud alarm. However, if you need a loud alarm, the volume is always adjustable, and it comes with a standard buzzer.

The clock is also very good - it has an LED backlight that can be adjusted, so you can adjust the brightness to your needs. It also has a very good battery backup - if the power goes out, all extra features are shut down but the clock remains running, and alarms will automatically switch to buzzer to save power. This has already been a huge plus for us, as we live in an area that is prone to blackouts during bad weather.

I LOVE this device, we use it every day and appreciate that we can set it just the way we want it, even changing it every day. It looks great, sounds great, is easy to use and is compatible with all iPods. If you need or want a new clock radio and have an iPod, definitely go with the iH5 - it really is better than the knockoffs!