Home > Consumer Reviews > Atomix 544 - 10" Silver Anodized Aluminum Atomic Clock

I had wondered whether having one-second accuracy would make any difference, particularly since quartz watches and clocks seem to keep time to within a minute or so. But it is fun to know that there is one really precise clock in the house --- I can use it to set other time pieces, and I can now know just when to return to radio or TV. The clock has a construction typical of quartz wall clocks in this price range. Is easy to set up (though it took mine about a day to get in real sync). I'm a bit disappointed that it will lose sync with battery replacement (I'm inferring this from my reading of the instruction sheet) --- a problem they could have eliminated by providing a parallel battery connection to keep power on while a new cell was being inserted. But I haven't needed to replace the battery yet, and the loss of time sync should last only a few hours once every two years or so. Haven't yet had the chance to check the automatic daylight savings time feature.. All in all, a very attractive and satisfactory product at a remarkably reasonable price.

I never did find about the accuracy of the clock, 24 hours after I installed the battery the second hand dropped off! Since it is a sealed unit, I guess this is a problem. I did read a few bad reviews about the manufactures products prior to purchasing this unit (poor workmanship). However, I bought it anyway, and oh boy what junk.

Mine's been running for about 6 months now; no problem out of the box (except for the set-up procedure noted by a previous review, which I vaguely remember but apparently got right, and you only have to do it once). No problem getting a signal either in Washington state, and there is that undeniable thrill twice a year when you don't have to change the hour. It really looks cool, too. It's a gadget, to be sure, and arguable whether it's worth the price, but I personally like mine a lot and didn't have any of the quality problems reported by other reviewers.

Being a student I need to keep track of my time for classes and deadlines. The clock does updtae itself to the current time but I found out the hard way that you have to keep your clock near an area where the radio signal that the clock picks up can be picked up. In other words it doesn't work everywhere, only places where the time signal can be picked up. Other than difficulty with finding a good signal which can be difficult at times the clock is great. You might fumble a little at first when setting up the clock since it's not totally automatic when you first set up it, requiring you to press a button on the back at certain intervals so the clock can be set up correctly.

There is a fairly elaborate procedure for setting up this clock. First, the hands must be set at about 10 minutes earlier than the actual time. Then a button on the back of it needs to be pressed once the second hand reaches the 12:00 position and again when it is one second past the minute hand. If the signal from NIST is being received properly, the clock will then automatically adjust to the correct time within a few minutes. If you don't live in a daylight savings time area, you must press and hold down the button on the back while inserting the battery. Otherwise, the clock will automatically adjust itself for daylight savings time.

Interestingly, one can even set the clock five or ten minutes fast.

Regardless of whether or not you already own a clock or watch, I think owning an atomic one is beneficial because you know it's always going to be accurate to a fraction of a second.