Home > Consumer Reviews > Oregon Scientific RM313PNA Self-Setting Projection Alarm Clock with Indoor Thermometer, Blue

Most of my life I've had early shifts for my occupation (i.e. being into work at 6:00 am or earlier). I used to have a clock that didn't have a battery backup nor did it keep the correct time. I saw this model clock that had both plus the time projection on the ceiling so my wife didn't have to try to roll me over to see the clock, so I decided to give it a try. The clock looks a bit futuristic, but that is its function. The exact time feature is great. I set the houses clocks to it whenever the power goes out, which is regularly (where in a rural town). The battery backup is another great feature that I've never had prior to this. The only drawbacks that I have with the clock is that in order to project the time on the ceiling so that you can read it on a decent angle, is to turn the clock so that you can't the time on its face. You either get to see the one on the ceiling or you get the face of the clock, not both. Another drawback is the buttons on the clock don't make much sense when you need to program the alarm. Once you know the buttons to push, its easy, but they aren't marked well. Hope this review is helpful for you.

This clock is great! I bought it for my 11 year old son for a Christmas gift. He loves it. It supposedly takes 2 to 10 minutes to automatically set itself. Ours took twelve (our kids were in a small panick) but was worth the extra wait. The time shines in red on your ceiling in nice, large numbers... probably 6 inches by 15 inches and is very clear and easy to see, even when it is not completely dark in the room. I only wish that the blue back-light would stay lit. When you press the the button, it only stays lit for 5 seconds. I have to say that the red numbers on the ceiling scare our 5 year old son, but he doesn't mind it when we position the clock to shine on the wall. All in all, I wish I had thought to buy a second one for my room. It is a real bargain and definitely worth buying.

I've had four of these clocks so far and only two have survived. Don't get me wrong... it's a GREAT clock with easy and logical buttons and features, but one was dead on arrival and another one lost half of its print on the screen after only two months. BUY ONE LOCALLY if possible and definately save your receipt and packaging so that you can return or exchange it if it acts up. When we bought our first one several years ago, it was REALLY expensive. Recently, I found one at my local Target and it was much more reasonable. This clock is great for me as an adult and two of my children use it as well. The time projection on the ceiling is a nice feature for children that sleep in a top bunk bed. It's easy for a young child to turn the alarm on at night and off in the morning. My six year old uses his faithfully. The time is dead-on accurate and doesn't have to be re-set after a power failure. All busy moms should appreciate that feature. From now on, I will always buy an atomic clock for my kids!

Besides the projection clock, Atomic setting, it shows the indoor temperature. It also displays the date + weekday (Mon~Sun) with 3 languages settings (English, French and Spanish). Another feature I love, even it includes the 3V adapter, it works fine with only battery operated so that it becomes portable. The alarm has the special beeping which it beeps in the first 20 seconds, then 2 beeps between 20~50seconds,3 beeps between 50~1 minute, then it continues beeps after 1 minute. It's good since simetimes you don't want the clock interrupt your wife's sleep. I think it's a good buy with $19.99 (but I saw somewhere selling it at $18.50 :-()

I received this clock as a Christmas present from my grandmother the Christmas before last, and it's served its purpose well. But, I think I'm going to buy another clock to supplement it.

The Good stuff:
The clock is battery powered, so I've only had to wait for it to set itself two or three times when the batteries were taken out. (It's still running on the batteries it came with over two years ago, by the way.) The projection feature is really cool, at night when you can see it. It is pretty small, so it can fit just about anywhere - I have mine on a windowsill. The projector makes for a display much larger than a normal digital clock. And of course, not ever having to manually set the clock, even after the power goes out, is really nice.

The Bad stuff:
A minor annoyance with this clock is that the official US observatory time is consistently two to three minutes slower than everyone else's time. Rather than the usual digital clock makings - LED segment display and real speaker for the alarm, this clock is made of supersized digital watch material. The face is an oversized LCD panel (think digital watch LCD, not laptop LCD), and is impossible to read except when it's illuminated (either by the backlight or daylight), and you're looking at it straight on from a couple of feet. The projector is (understandably) underpowered such that any ambient light at all washes it out to the point that it can't be seen. So, unless you carry it around with you or keep your windows covered by black curtains, it's almost completely useless during the day. Worse, though, than the display, is the alarm. Rather than a speaker, the clock has an oversized piezzo buzzer. (Once again, think oversized digital watch.) The crescendo alarm doesn't crescendo, it subdivides - "chirp........ chirp........ chirpchirp...... chirpchirp...... chirpchirpchirp.... chirpchirpchirp.... chirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirp....." ad nauseum. The lack of real crescendo means that light sleepers like me can literally have hit the snooze button before the second chirp. Which brings up another complaint - the snooze is only eight minutes, so you really don't get much of a snooze.

In short:
This is a good clock to have around, but not as a main wakeup alarm. The battery power and automatic setting are very convenient, and combined with its relatively small size, would make it a good travel alarm clock. However, unless the thought of waking up to a glorified digital watch everymorning appeals to you, I would recommend buying it as a second clock, to set your other clocks by, use as backup during power outages, and just if you want another clock in the house. I like having this clock around, but I think I'm going to have to supplement it with another, one with a better alarm.