SDI iHome iH5 user reviews (white)

Pros Sound Quality

Cons Alarm functions

Summary This Ipod docking speaker system slash alarm clock is pretty darn good. The sound is great. The radio reception is strong, but the antenna is just a long trailing wire that works best when strung out through the middle of the room without touching anything. In fact, the antenna picks up any stong signal within a few ticks on the dial, so even strong FM signals overlap each other. I don't like the alarm clock. I was late to work for a whole week thinking that I needed to adjust to the new alarm clock. You cannot adjust the wakeup volume. You can only set one alarm. Although you can set the alarm to play the radio, a selected playlist from your Ipod, or a buzzer, you cannot set more than one of them and it's not very loud when it goes off. I need more out of an alarm clock, so I will use this as a wonderful Ipod speaker or radio in the kitchen.

Updated on Jul 20, 2009

After using this unit for a few years, I hate it. The sound quality is not nearly as good as I thought when it was new and I was excited. The radio control functions are awful. There are no radio presets. The scroll wheel for tuning the radio is reminiscent of a 1970 Cheverolet. Some of these issues may have been fixed in more recent models, so I'm just writing this to apologize to the people who had found my positive review useful. In retrospect, this unit is awful.

Pros Good sound for listening to iPod or radio. Small footprint fits almost anywhere.

Cons Absolutely terrible as alarm clock. The alarm volume rachets up to level 19 (extremely LOUD) in about three seconds. No way to set alarm volume. The remote lacks menu button for full iPod control.

Summary This is one of those products that just makes you mad. What could have been a break-out product turns out to be riddled with unbelievable design flaws.

1) Remote lacks Menu button for full iPod control. If you want to select specific albums, genres, playlists, you've got to do it from your iPod. Dumb!

2) The product jokingly promotes what it calls a "gentle wake-up" feature, wherein the alarm volume slowly increases to "gently wake you up." Well, the volume rachets up to level 19 in about three seconds. It's alarming alright! Absolutely terrible design.

3) An ear-piercing beep, reminiscent of a smoke detector alarm, sounds off each time to press a settings button. This is another incredibly stupid design flaw, not to mention that it is painful to listen to.

All in all, this product has been nothing but frustration from the moment I set it up. It teases you with what it could have been, an outstanding product, then terribly disappoints you with idiotic design impairments that anyone with a brain would nix in the testing phase.

If you're looking for an iPod enabled clock radio, the iH5r is NOT FOR YOU.

Pros Good for your iPod.

Cons Bad for your mornings.

Summary WARNING... if you use the alarm feature of this product it has a very bad bug.

They advertise this as having a "gradual" wake up. Sort of. When your alarm goes off, the volume starts off very low... and then rises.

The problem is, that it rises to the very loudest setting, with no way to change that. So within moments of the alarm going off, you have screamingly loud music or radio jolting you out of bed. It does not simply rise to the last volume setting you left it on. It goes all the way to the top.

I called the company and they say "that's the way it was designed".

BAD DESIGN.

Had I known, I likely would not have purchased.

Pros great idea

Cons wake-up loud and jarring

Summary The iHome has one fatal flaw: you can't adjust the wake-up volume.

The manual, the website, and the help line remind you to "set the alarm to a comfortable volume." But there is no way to do that. I called customer support and finally got confirmation that you can't adjust the volume, and the default is VERY loud.

I tried moving the clock radio across the room so that the volume would be less jarring, but is was still too loud.

This does no seem to difficult, and even their manual admits it would be a good thing.

I am on my way to return my iHome now.