Oregon Scientific Giovannoni Wireless Projection Clock With Detachable Orb customer reviews:
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Great Clock      First off, I am a huge clock fan, I have another model from Oregon Scientific, and I think this one is even better. It's very sleek, and much smaller than I thought it would be, but fits perfectly on my bedside table. The shape of the orb means that you can project the time in any direction you want, which is a huge plus. The touchscreen controls are fabulous too.
Really slick looking clock...      First off I wan't to say that this is probably the coolest looking bedside alarm clock anyone can have. It's extremely unique and modern looking but at the same time has this retro style to it. The picture may deceive you a bit on the actual size of the unit. Its actually quite small. Around 5" side by size and just a few inches in height. The numbers on the screen are still easily read at night and it is just the right amount of brightness to read clear but not keep you up with too much light. The auto dimmer seems to work very well and the touch screen is awesome. The screen gives the time of course, indoor temp, date (or secs), alarm and signal status, and battery level of wireless ORb. Which leads me to this VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THIS PRODUCT.
If you receive this item your ORb will not charge or register on the base. This is because they ship you the clock with the battery pack already plugged into the Orb. The battery pack will most likely be dead and because of this the base will not recognize and will not charge the Orb thus failing to give you the time projection beam. I returned two units thinking they were defective until I finally decided to call Tech support which notified me of this issue. They had no fix for this they just told me to return it. The only way to get the Orb to work will be to charge the original pack somehow using an external charger. I made my own AAA pack using rechargable energizer batteries that were already charged. I just attached the connector that came with the original pack. It now works fine. This is just a heads up to anyone who buys this clock.
Other than that its a sweet clock to have at your bed side and its great to be able to project the time anywhere you like. I'm giving it 4 stars because of the battery issue and because the alarm only sounds for two minutes until it stops. Not too loud either.
Great Clock If You Are Willing to Build Your Own Battery Pack      I bought this clock because I wanted something really cool and that it is. Trying to get it to work is another issue. The clock is as easy as it gets. Just plug it in and wait for it to sync up. As for the projection orb, that is another story. I played with it, took it apart, and read the manual several times trying to make it work. It was just dead. I called Oregon Scientific and after spending 10 minutes having the tech read me the manual I told him that I would just send it back. He was no help and I am sure that he hadn't even touched one of these clocks. Then I took out the battery pack and set it on the base. Bingo the projector started to flash. So now I knew that the battery pack was not allowing it to work for some reason. I got on my computer and searched for other people with this problem and found a review on Amazon that confirmed what I thought. I called Oregon Scientific back and confronted them on this issue and they admitted that they knew that every battery pack was bad and every clock will have this problem. They told me just to return it. I wanted it didn't want to do that I also knew that I could have a batter pack made. I asked him if they knew about this and why they didn't have replacement battery packs ready to send out. His response was we just don't. He offered to find one and send it to me. He said that it would take three to four weeks to get to me!
So here is the bottom line. If you really want this clock just know that Oregon Scientific will not be in any hurry to help you with you 100+ dollar clock. You will have to go to a battery shop and have a battery pack made. Once you do that you will have a fully functioning clock.
Elegant clock meant for a desk      Same story--dead battery in the wireless projector, folks at Oregon Scientific acted as if I was the first caller with this issue, told me that they do not stock parts for their merchandise and advised we return the product to Amazon.
Having said that, we were still willing to KEEP the product had it not been for several other shortfalls that made it impractical to use as an alarm clock--poor WWVB reception (no external antenna), no battery back-up for the alarm/timezone settings, and the alarm is apparently programmed to shut off after 2min. Done. These facts are not listed at Oregon Scientific's site, nor in the product's on-line manual, but have been confirmed the Customer Service staff at Oregon Scientific following our purchase (and subsequent return).
The clock, otherwise, is probably one of the most elegant we have ever had, and would make a fine addition to any den or home office.
Price is a bit high for a clock having no radio--average seems to be $100 plus shipping.
Good luck!
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