Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Easy Alarm Clock Radio ICF-C180

I looked for ages to find a bedside alarm that had to be dual alarm, battery back up, 12 hour (AM/PM) display and a radio. Not hard to find you'd think - very wrong!
I searched for ages - Comet, Currys, Argos & Amazon. I bought a DAB radio clock alarm - but it had no battery back-up so it went back. I bought a CD radio alarm but it made a terrible buzzing noise - all night - it went back too.
At last I found this - initially I thought "don't like the cube design with ears - a bit eighties retro in an uncool way"
BUT the features are great - better than great!
Excellent battery back-up - the real deal - even if the power doesn't come back on again it will still wake you up.
Cooler still this has 4 alarms ! 2 for weekday and at the press of a button 2 for the weekend - press it on Sunday night and fantastically the weekday settings return. Even the "ears" are very convenient knobs for setting the alarms.
The screen shows the time & both alarm times you have set simultaneously - so if you wake up in the middle of the night in a panic that you forgot to set it or got the alarm time wrong - one glance puts your mind at rest - and even if you need to change it - easy with the "ears"! and no need to turn the light on to do it. The dual colour screen even helps - orange for weekday alarm settings and green for the weekend settings.
Not enough - OK then.
The snooze button is big, on the top and easy to hit when you are half asleep AND you can set the length of time you want to snooze for when you hit it - from a few minutes up to an hour. There is even a nap setting so you can catch 45 winks in the afternoon and use the alarm to wake you without resetting your normal alarm times.
It doesn't buzz all night! I've read this is a common fault with alarm clock radios but Sony have cracked it.
Radio tunes well and sound is good for a small mono speaker - would you expect anything else from Sony ?!
Price is fair enough - I can't fault it
I've been a bit mean about the design - I quite like it now - even the ears - it has character !
But someone has really thought this one through - the features are outstanding in a functional and unfussy way - that is the real trick to pull off!
Buy it - you won't be disappointed

I came across the Sony ICFC180 in my seach to find a simple radio alarm clock with 2 alarms that was reliable and easy to use. The first Sony that seems to meet this criteria is the more traditional looking 2731 but that doesn't have a battery backup. So then I found this one and gave it a go.

The spec looked good, but it is actually even better than it appears. I assumed battery backup meant it would keep a memory (e.g. a 'backup') of the time and alarm settings. What is actually does is runs entirely off 1 cell battery so in the event of a power failure, this alarm clock would continue to display the time (without the backlight) and would most importantly wake you up in the morning as the alarm still works. That makes this a really reliable choice.

The other pleasent suprise is that Sony advertise this as a 2 alarm clock. This is due to the fact that you can only 'use' 2 alarms at once, however a weekend button gives you another 2 alarm settings, so you can actually have 4 alarm times programmed in, although you can only use 2 at a time.

It is a good design, well laid out, very quick and easy to set the alarms with the dials on the side. It picks up every radio station in the area clearly (my old alarm struggled to pick up anything in my room) and has a buzz or melody option.

All in all, if you're looking for a reliable alarm clock that's easy to set up, this is a good choice.

I had a Sony radio alarm clock very similar to this which I bought over fifteen years ago. I reluctantly got rid of it because the green light was too bright - it penetrated my eyelids when I was trying to sleep! But this little beauty has a DIMMER! You can have the clock backlight as very bright, or just turn it to 'low' when you need to sleep - perfect! Dead easy to set up - I did it in five minutes without reading the instructions [I rarely do anyway]. For under £[...] this is excellent value. Handy to have two alarm setings and a weekend setting for those all important lie-ins. The sound is top notch - especially on FM. OK it isn't DAB [which in my opinion is over-rated anyway] and it doesn't have flashy lights or add-on gadgets - but who cares? If it gets me up in the morning to the sound of my favourite breakfast show then I think my little buddy and I will have many years ahead together - esp. with the dimmmer light on!

In search of a new clock radio I ventured onto Amazon to read the reviews of featured products, this Sony model already had excellent feedback and now I know why ... My purchase arrived speedily from the retailer and within 5 minutes of unpacking I understand and can remember all it's features. The 4 separate alarms are a great feature, no more fiddling around to set the alarm for differing shifts !! The radio reception and sound quality are both very very good, I am able to receive plenty of stations even without the micro aerial being on display. The back up battery is a Lithium Cell, so will be long life and should hold all the info and keep the clock working in event of a power failure. All this and it's not the size of a breeze block !!! It is is fact smaller than the size of a square box of tissues ! Well done Sony for thinking up and packing SO many advantageous features into a small neat unit ... Love it "well chuffed" :)

I bought this alarm clock radio on the strength of the rave reviews it has received (see below). It is indeed as if someone at Sony has sat down and said 'Right, what do you need an alarm clock radio to do?'.

The radio is pretty standard analogue AM/FM, the sound quality is reasonably good considering it is a mono speaker and is certainly loud enough to wake you up.
The display has high and low brightness settings (so it doesn't keep you awake) and the numbers are big enough to read from across the room.
Under the large time display you have the alarm times. The fact that there are two alarms is great because I don't have to reset it for my later-shift working wife. During the week the alarm times show in red, and at the weekend they are green and they are always displayed, so if you wake up in a panic during the night, you can tell at a glance if the alarm is set. On each alarm you have the choice of radio, buzzer or a melody to wake you up.
The controls are very simple to use, and the clock is quite small so it doesn't take up too much space on the bedside table. There is a battery backup (battery is included) which is a must on a mains-powered alarm clock. I have had several power cuts in the middle of the night, and if not for the neighbour's burglar alarm going off, I might have slept in. :-)

So what's wrong with it? Not very much at all. I suppose if it had a calendar it could automatically adjust for daylight saving and switch to weekend alarms automatically, but as it is, either function is just a single button press. Besides, some people have their 'weekends' in the middle of the week and this clock radio is cheaper than others that have a lot less functionality.

I heartily recommend this if you are looking for an alarm clock radio.