How long have you had your current alarm clock?

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I've had the same GE clock radio for 20+ years! I got it as a youngin'. I don't smack it too hard and the radio still sounds pretty good.

My GF's looks like it's from the 80's too.

How long have you had yours?

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Oh shit. At least 8 years, now that you mention it.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

at least five years, for the main one. the other one, lost somewhere in my apartment, even longer.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

A long time. But we're getting a new one because I'm going to be going to work like 1 1/2 hours before my gf, so we need dual alarms.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

i use the hifi which i bought the first christmas after starting work - christmas 1999.

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

Just got a new one in August but that was because my old one finally died after having had it for almost thirty years.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

i got this yesterday as a graduation present:

http://www.questodesign.com/shop/images/watches/mondaine/A992.TRAL.16SBB_m.jpg

before that i had this:

http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/29235_PE116290_S3.jpg

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

hmmmmmmm - 4 years - it was a (really unexpectedly lasting) christmas gift from my sister-in-law or her family (why would they get me a gift, though?).

― petesmith (plsmith), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

alarm clock threads never get very far

― kephm (kephm), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

I got it for my 16th birthday (it came with a cd player), so going on 10 years.

― Roxymuzak, Mrs. Carbohydrate (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

like 18 years. rock on, sony.

― nein Socken (nein Socken), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

My old one I had since like 4th grade. I got it as a prize for one of those sell preserved meats and cookies for your school type deals. it wuz a beige sony clockradio "dream machine" and it lasted me well. finally i decided to treat myself and got a new-make dream machine that is round and yellow (not boxy like the last one at all) and has dual alarms and a slightly difft. sound (so it is better, sorta, at waking me up than the one that i had grown so used to over the years) and has a built in CD player too! this was purchased maybe 6-8 mos ago now.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

They seem to have a longer lifespan than alot of home electronics. I sure don't have my old Yorx stereo from 8th grade.

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

So you DID sell preserved meats in 4th grade! We've all been speculating behind your back for some time.

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

MINE IS ALSO A SONY DREAM MACHINE

― nein Socken (nein Socken), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

ack, i meant christmas 1989 = 16 years

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

wow. i've had my alarm clock for quite a while. i can remember having it on my desk when i was in fifth grade and drawing various logos and writing various novellas on typing paper. that was 1991, so i've had it for just about 15 years now.

the one i had before that had a battery compartment AND an a/c cord. when i was little and first noticed the battery compartment "door" on the underside of the clock, i decided i would put up with the clock being tethered to the wall by the inconvenient cord no longer, and immediately went to go find batteries to install into the clock. after having done so, the fact there was still a cord attached bothered me, so i decided to snip it off with a pair of scissors while it was still plugged in. of course, there was a small explosion at the point of shearing which knocked me off my chair and sent concerned family members in to my room. i was ok. the scissors' finger holes were coated in orange plastic which prevented the wall socket's conduit from frying me. the scissors, however, were now scarred with little bb-shaped crater in the side of the blade -- damage sufficient to impair their shearing power and render them useless. that next christmas i got the alarm clock i have now, an am/fm G&E with digital time and analog radio, two seperate alarm settings, and a HI or LO brightness setting for the LCD!

― ath (ath), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

i too have had the same little alarm clock for at least 20 years. i can def recall taking it to college (18 yrs ago) and sure i had it for a good two years before that. it strikes me as odd from time to time. the oldest thing i still own is prob my copies of Narnia tho - i got that when i must have been ~10. I refound a load of old stuff recently including my MERLIN - but that's not working :-(

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

"the alarm clock i have now, an am/fm G&E with digital time and analog radio, two seperate alarm settings, and a HI or LO brightness setting for the LCD!.."

Sounds like the model I have too... Blue LCD, with hi/lo... is your snooze bar on the top left?

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

I got mine when I ruined the previous one by waking up in the middle of a dream in which gangsta rappers were trying to kill me, picking up my table lamp to use as a weapon, and spilling a pint of water all over the electric clock radio. So, 10 years.

― Markelby (Mark C), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Sounds like the model I have too... Blue LCD, with hi/lo... is your snooze bar on the top left?

hmmm, well the LCD is yellow on a black field, and the snooze bar is on the top right i think. it's a weird little stand-up wedge shaped thing with a thicker base. let me go take a picture...

― ath (ath), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

Well, okay.

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

http://tinypic.com/im7as8.jpg

i know it's not the same one, i just felt like taking a picture of my alarm clock and letting the internet see.

― ath (ath), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

1990, engaged in an arguement, an old roommate hucked a carton of oj at me as i stood in the door jamb to my bedroom. i ducked, and the carton hit the wall behind me, just above my alarm clock on the night stand. oj everywhere, all spilled into the top of the clock. after so many years, the volume and tuning dials are still sticky, but that sonofabitch has never quit working. the roommate and i made up but are no longer in touch.

― nein Socken (nein Socken), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

I've had my alarm clock since the beginning of college. It didn't go off this morning and I woke up at the exact time I was supposed to be at work to receive people for a meeting. Worst feeling ever.

― Laura H. (laurah), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

The one that's currently next to the bed is only about 5 years old. I have others in the house that are about 15 years old. I don't even use an alarm clock any more. The cable box has the time on it, and I wake up automatically every morning without that annoying fucking thing going off.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

I bought a very twee Totoro one a few months ago. Before that I used a travel clock which I still have. It's almost 10 years old.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

12 years! It is my oldest possession.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)

14 years. Tuned to local sports radio!

― ryan (ryan), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

There might be a pattern emerging here.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

Around 2 years now - I'vew got a digital radio alarm clock, and crystal clear R4 first thing is brilliant.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:33 (twenty years ago)

I deduce by the 10:17 photo above that you're in the West? Unless it's Europe?

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

yep, i'm allegiant to pacific standard time, and the dial is set to national public radio at 89.5 FM.

― ath (ath), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

I have an alarm clock, but the alarm is not set. I've had it a good few years.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

10 years. And it still wakes me up ... but only long enough for me to beat it into submission. I'm going to replace it with one of those ones that rolls off the desk and hides from you every time it goes off. They sound great.

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 19:19 (twenty years ago)

two weeks, and it's a piece of junk. I bought it from a news agent's across the road, and it has seals on, and it doesn't work.

― Cathy (Cathy), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

about ten years! sometimes I want a new one, and then I think "hell no - this radio will still work when there's only cockroaches left wandering the earth!" Bukowski had a poem about how he used to get drunk and throw his radio out a 2nd-story window, and while I'm not the world's biggest Buk fan, that poem really gets me

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

21, maybe 22 years? we just realized we need to get a new one because the button you press to tell it to change the alarm time no longer works, so we can't change the alarm away from 5:45am.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

also have a GE clock radio that I got as a kid for xmas about 20 years ago. not being able to go backwards while setting the alarm/time is annoying but not enough to warrant getting a new one.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:49 (twenty years ago)

i bought it with the money i got for my tenth birthday, so seventeen and a half years. i lent it to a friend for a year and when it came back the dial that you have to twist to change the function wasn't there any more, but turn the little plastic square thingy and it still works - just hurts your fingers a bit. it's beige and filthy.

i also got one that picks up the time from radio signals in the air and projects the time in red on the ceiling 2 years ago too, but it doesn't have an actual radio on it and because of picking up the time from the air i can't set it to be fast like the rest of my clocks, so it's the only one that ever shows the correct time.

i need 3 alarm clocks to get up in the morning.

― emsk ( emsk), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:00 (twenty years ago)

it's been since 1989, i guess -- first year of college. it's made by GE. sometimes i think, i'd like something a little slicker, more now, more happening. y'know with, like, glow in the dark buttons or something. but this one snoozes fine and pulls in the radio stations i want and what's the point of spending $50-100 to replace something that's perfectly sufficient? maybe i'm just cheap, though, too.

― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:15 (twenty years ago)

I've had the same one since 1980. A Casio that plays a Mozart tune and has only ever needed new batteries about 6 times in 25 years.

― everything, Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

I've had the same one since 1986. Her Name's Martha.

― jim wentworth (wench), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:23 (twenty years ago)

ok i was wrong -this is a good thread. my alarm clock is only a few years old, GIANT numbers. also has a super fast fast foward/reverse which is nice. i set it to static for important mornings.

― kephm (kephm), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

Christ, this thread really is mining the minutiae that we call ILX.

― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

I've also had mine an age - summer '87, I think. A fairly nasty off-white Saisho thing which lost its FM "aerial" (just a bit of wire hanging out of the back) long ago and has gotten progressively grubbier over the years. There are all manner of stickers or ghosts of stickers all over it. For a while I went with the buzzer when the reception up in Cumbria was useless; these past few years it was Danny Baker and now R4.

It was briefly supplanted by a lovely Philippe Starck thing bought Xmas '99. The batteries died after about nine months and I never investigated the AC adaptor option so out came the trusty Saisho.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:39 (twenty years ago)

I got mine as a freebie with a mixer I bought maybe 10 years ago? Its all kinda broken now. It still works as a clock but the radio volume's all fucked. Ineed a new one.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:40 (twenty years ago)

i'm gonna up the ante here.

i've had the same travel alarm clock for at least 10 years. it's a small square no frills braun number. i think i've only replaced the batteries a handful of times. it's travelled the world with me. i fall asleep without anxiety of needing a back up with this baby.

― nein Socken (nein Socken), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:49 (twenty years ago)

wow. i had never actually considered how long i've had my alarm clock, but now that you mention it, at least 10-12 years, i'm guessing.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:54 (twenty years ago)

for some reason all these stories of alarm clocks that've lasted and lasted makes me really happy - the world is so mutable, there's so little you can depend on, and you'd hardly even notice that your alarm clock has remained faithful & true through so many changes but - well, there it is! so nice.

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Thursday, 15 December 2005 02:29 (twenty years ago)

I've had my GE for about 25 years, still works though recently I can't switch it to the "on" position. The radio comes on with the alarm still, so it's usable since I rarely listen to the radio without the alarm. I was actually happy when I noticed this, now I can buy a better one! The buttons to set the time/alarm time haven't worked in probably 20 years, so I took the buttons out (fast and slow changers, re-inserted from the outside so they keep dust out but can be easily lifted off), and keep a toothpick (see pic) there to perform the button push function. I almost bought the curved-front Teac model a few years ago because it looked cool, and it's now about $100 so maybe I will now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/nickn/DSCN1249x.jpg

― nickn (nickn), Thursday, 15 December 2005 07:08 (twenty years ago)

Mine is similar to that with the nice fake wood grain and all. I think it belonged to my girlfriend's parents before we had it so who knows how long it's been around. Never use it though.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 15 December 2005 07:18 (twenty years ago)

This is the one I want though

http://www.surrounding.com/uploads/Products/OregonScientific/asset_upload_file581_2026.jpg

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 15 December 2005 07:22 (twenty years ago)

alarm clock threads never get very far

ROFL.

I've had mine for about ten years, I think. I can't remember when I bought it.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 15 December 2005 08:05 (twenty years ago)

it's beige and filthy

this is u&k! they always get so grubby.

another holla for the dream machine kru...15 years and counting.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 15 December 2005 08:16 (twenty years ago)

Uh no, mine's relatively clean. Thanks to a cleaning lady of course. Mine is faux-silvery grey.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 15 December 2005 08:24 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

the alarm clock i posted about on this thread in 2005 - when i had had it for 10 years - died a couple months ago. it started counting 40 seconds as a minute. it confused us for a long time.

― the most astonishing writer on ilx (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 01:03 (fourteen years ago)

i think ive had mine for 9 years or so

― maghrib is back (Hungry4Ass), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 01:04 (fourteen years ago)

got it for 10 bucks at a walgreens

― maghrib is back (Hungry4Ass), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 01:04 (fourteen years ago)

$10 ten years ago. These things are AMAZINGLY durable.

― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 01:05 (fourteen years ago)

I have two functional alarm clocks that I inherited from my grandparents which are at least 20-30 years old. Stalwarts!

― SNEEZED GOING DOWN STEPS, PAIN WHEN PUTTING SOCKS ON (Deric W. Haircare), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 01:08 (fourteen years ago)

Yeah I have one that's probably 8 years old but a mini travel one my dad gave me that he prob bought at least 20 years ago.

― ☆★☆彡彡 (ENBB), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 01:09 (fourteen years ago)

i am SO EXCITED to get my new alarm clock

― surm, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 01:09 (fourteen years ago)

my current alarm clock is the one on my cell phone, which i've had since '06 (it's an oldie but it still works).

― reconstituted pork offal slurry (get bent), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 01:10 (fourteen years ago)

I lent my little analogue travel clock to a 22 year-old the other day, and she had literally no idea how to work it. She tried to reset the main hands to the time she wanted to wake up.

― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 03:18 (fourteen years ago)

i got rid of the one i had since about 1984 just last year. it was a GE clock radio like in the op

― buzza, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 03:38 (fourteen years ago)

Couple of years. It comes with a stylish headband.

http://images.nonpolynomial.com/openyou.org/blog/zeo-headband.jpg

― Jeff, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 03:46 (fourteen years ago)

oh god what is this gadget?

― Je55e, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 04:00 (fourteen years ago)

Was just thinking the other day that somehow alarm clock manufacturers never got the memo about built-in obsolescence.

― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 04:02 (fourteen years ago)

I've had my current one for at least 20 years.

― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 04:02 (fourteen years ago)

Last time I had an alarm clock was over 3 years ago. It only lasted a few months. My goose neck lamp went limp and the light bulb melted the clock.

― Je55e, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 04:06 (fourteen years ago)

22 years

― mookieproof, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 04:07 (fourteen years ago)

I remembered the melting being worse than it actually was.

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/223/522104481_1f2c352fea.jpg

― Je55e, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 04:10 (fourteen years ago)

what is the headband clock?

― the most astonishing writer on ilx (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 04:55 (fourteen years ago)

http://www.myzeo.com/sleep/

I use it to track my sleeping.

― Jeff, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 05:04 (fourteen years ago)

I bought this one a few years after the original. Sounds good enough, but the iPod charging slot doesn't work with my old iPod. I still have the old one, can't bear to throw away something that's "still good."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/nickn/P1010856x.jpg

― nickn, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 05:57 (fourteen years ago)

My original post, that is (see Dec 14, 2005). This one actually keeps worse time. You just set the time zone and it figures the time, but it started at 6 minutes ahead of the real time, and is now at 15 minutes ahead.

― nickn, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 06:06 (fourteen years ago)

I'm posting from my alarm clock right now.

― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 06:09 (fourteen years ago)

Me too.

The alarm went off less than 39 seconds ago while I was reading this very thread.

― Je55e, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 13:10 (fourteen years ago)

nine years pass...

I started this thread sixteen years ago, and am happy to report that the GE clock radio mentioned in the first post is still going strong. Trying to think when I first acquired it, probably around 1983 or 84

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 15 October 2021 17:52 (four years ago)

One of my alarm clocks I bought in 1994, the other in 2015 I think?

― Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Friday, 15 October 2021 18:23 (four years ago)

My answer to this is also a GE clock radio, bought circa 1985. These particular GE devices came up repeatedly in another thread about old things people have that they still use. Apparently they’re near indestructible. What blows my mind is that mine survived all my moves since ‘85… doing the mental calculation now, I’ve had 15 different fixed residences since that time.

― Josefa, Friday, 15 October 2021 18:48 (four years ago)

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