Introduction

If there's one thing about me that I have figured out over the years its that I could never be described as a 'morning' person, it takes a cup of coffee and a couple of cigarettes for me to fully wake up and tackle the day ahead and more than anything else I hate being woken up if I'm in the middle of a deep sleep. I'm a bit of a funny sleeper in all honesty, it usually takes me ages to drop off once I go to bed, it's rare for me to have a sleep in past 9 o'clock in the morning even on a weekend and once I'm awake I'm not one of those people who can turn over and drift back off instead I'll just get up whatever the time it is once my eyes are open.

There are occasions though where I have to be up before a certain time to make sure I can get myself dressed and ready for appointments or if I have a busy day planned and so I've always had an alarm clock in my bedroom. The last one I bought is the subject of this review, Tesco's value CR-106 clock radio as shown in Dooyoo's supplied picture and this one cost me less than £5.00 a couple of years ago.

CR-106 Clock Radio

The clock radio is made from plastic, doesn't weigh very much and is quite small measuring around 12cm in width, 11cm in depth and 5cm in height so doesn't take up much space on the bedside cabinet where I have mine sat. It's black in colour and features a red digital display which isn't too bright to be a distraction but clear enough to be seen in the dark and although cheap in price it's been quite a sturdy little purchase which has withstood a fair few knocks in the time I've owned it. The buttons across the top are well marked and responsive to the touch and control the various functions the clock radio offers, you can set both the actual time and the alarm time with these and the large central button controls the snooze function. It's straight forward enough to set the time on the clock and anyone should be able to figure out the controls, it's not rocket science after all.

There is a tuning wheel on the side of the clock radio which allows you to scroll through the frequencies to find a radio station you either want to listen to or be woken up to and a simple sliding switch gives you the option to have the alarm on or off. Once you have set the alarm and indicated that you want it to be 'on' a small red light on the face of the clock illuminates and lets you know that the alarm has been set and a volume control wheel lets you decide how loud you want the radio to be. You don't have to be woken up by the sounds of the radio, there is a buzzer sound that can be played instead but I seldom bother with the buzzer as I find it to be too annoying as I'll cover in the next section of this review. It's mains run although there is a compartment to fit 4 AA batteries should you want a battery back-up and its cable is quite long allowing good manoeuvrability of the clock radio itself.

Thoughts

So that's the basics covered and to be honest the CR-106 clock radio is as easy to operate as any other clock radio's that are available to buy and for something that cost under £5.00 you may consider this to be a bit of a bargain and you'd be right, however...

It's not without it's faults though I must admit and the main problem I have with this clock radio comes down to the radio itself. Simply put it will not hold onto *any* radio station signal and ends up crackling and distorting whenever I try to play it. It's always been the same so I can't blame mine on its age or any problems with my reception as I've had this clock radio at both my caravan and my home and it's been the same in both places. Simply put the radio is terrible and if anyone is considering buying this model to have a radio in their bedroom then I would advise them to look elsewhere as wont fail to disappoint. As a clock this model is fine and is the reason I've kept mine for as a long as I have and on the odd times where I do have to set the alarm I'll find the best radio station I can but usually end up being woken up to White Noise or a distorted music track.

The buzzer alarm is no better to be honest, Tesco have managed to find the most annoying tone to the buzzer which I can only describe as 'harsh'. It does its job though, I defy anyone to sleep through the alarm if the buzzer has been selected as it's set at just the right pitch to be extra-annoying and for me personally I'd rather settle for a radio station that crackles than an buzzing alarm that sets my teeth on edge.

All in all this clock radio from Tesco is pretty useless I must admit and I realise that I haven't painted the most positive picture of it in this review. For anyone who needs to use an alarm clock on a daily basis to be woken up for work then I would strongly suggest you look elsewhere especially if you want to be woken up to the sounds of the radio. In the CR-106's defence though it is cheap and it does display the time and for me and the odd occasion where I do need to be woken up at a specific time I can put up with its limitations even if I wouldn't recommend this model to other people. My 2 star rating of this is for the clock part of the CR-106 and looking on Tesco's website this morning I noticed that it's now available to buy for the cheap price of £3.97 so it has reduced in price from when I bought mine but I wouldn't buy another one!

Overall it's a typical 'value' product from Tesco and in the case of the CR-106 it's one to avoid. Sorry Tesco, a nice idea in principal and a cheap price but not so great in everyday use.

Thanks for reading my review.