Acctim 74313 Parona, Black Radio Controlled Wall Clock

Bought the white face, bold black one. I was a bit concerned as there were no instructions included, but I put the battery in and it spun round all the way and stuck at midnight. Great, thinks me, it's broken. Took the dogs out and came back and it had set itself to the correct time and was working fine. I was just too impatient I guess.Early days yet, but it seems to work fine and does exactly what it's supposed to. Time is accurate to my Alexa dot with clock, and it's nice and quiet. No ticking sound as far as I can tell. I got it on sale at 40% off and it was good value at that price. £16 instead of £26. Up to you if you think full price is worth it, but £16 for something that works it was a no brainer for me.

## its Claimed it connects at 1am - 3am - 5am - 1pm - 5pm - 9pm - they also advice the signal is stronger at Night !!!! ## - as far as I am aware ' the signal comes from The National Physical Laboratory time signal Anthorn Radio Station near Anthorn, Cumbria so if you live in the south for better reception it would make sense if the clock is near a window facing North. I live in a Tower Block that faces East so when setting up I had it close to a window and it did correctly adjust to the correct time. The clock face is nice and very easy to read even from a distance - it will be interesting to see how it deals with BST 26 March 2023 - I suspect I will have to move it close to a North facing window ' but time will tell ' - well worth the money. ## a late update - the clock is now in the location I prefer ' which is 5 feet from a window and the other day ' it corrected itself at 5pm ' so it does look the radio signal is stronger than I expected ' ##

Firstly, the product does not come with instructions. On the one hand, what's to instruct? Insert AA battery, job done. But there are things you should know. There is a QR code on the back to link to the product instructions. This is small, so easy to miss, and doesn't link directly to the product-specific instructions, which is pretty unforgivable. The electronics are designed to enter receiving mode and then sit and wait. And wait. And wait. It took a few hours to get a signal and set the initial time for me. This is an unforgivable design decision and the main reason I docked a star. I tried with a little bedside radio controlled clock I borrowed from my mum; I inserted the battery, the hands whirred round and set to the right time. That's the user experience you should get. I'm also left wondering if it took a few hours to set initially, will it take a few hours to change between daylight savings times? If you look at 3 am, say, will it be GMT or BST? So as well as the initial friction in setting it up, you're also left with doubt for the future. You really need to locate and read the instructions online to know the useful information that it will subsequently search for a signal to check the time at 1 AM, 3 AM, 5 AM, 1 PM, 5 PM, and 9 PM. Beware of the leopard! Another slight minus for me is the curved nature of the cover. This seems more problematic for catching unwanted reflections in my kitchen. YMMV.On the plus side, it did correctly set the initial time (eventually) and the hands are nice and chunky so easy to see without my glasses on. I'll update this review if I notice any issues with the summer/GMT change. All in all, for £16 at the time, compared to other clocks available, the value seems reasonable.

Very happy with its colour and functionality

Love this.It sets itself and corrects each day too so its always spot on time. I can check it against my watch which gets a time signal from Mainflingen Germany and the weather station that gets one from Cumbria where this clock receives from too. Its always to the second accurate.Nicely made, accurate and usual Acctim standard. Recommended.

The clock arrived promptly. I inserted a battery, hooked the clock onto the bedroom wall (where my old clock had previously hung), wondered off for a while and upon return half hour or so later the clock had set itself up and was showing the time. Great! I like just about everything about it - the clear numbers (and I mean numbers not Roman numerals or dashes) the white background and the good size face.Come bedtime we jumped into bed and became suddenly aware of the loud tick. The plasterboard wall must have been acting like a drum-skin. My partner could not tolerate it and I found it a bit of a nuisance so I had to drag it off the wall and swap it with our silent kitchen clock. Both clocks have a red surround and are of similar size so there is not much difference. The kitchen has a solid wall so I sit here writing, listening to a gentle tick. Twenty four hours on, I am happy with the clock and am looking forward to not having to touch it for years until the battery dies.Alas, November 2021 and the clock has failed to make the hour adjustment for the second time since purchase - very disappointing. I go on-line to seek the manual to figure out what to do. More grief - the search on the Acctim website tells me the manual for the Acctim Parona 74314 does not exist! So again I take the clock off the wall and fiddle around with the Set, Rec and Reset buttons on the back of the clock. Pressing a toothpick into the little button named Set gets the hands moving. I watch and wait for the hands to move to the new time then remove the toothpick. With a bit of luck you've got it right, otherwise, do it again. I have reduced my star rating from 4 to 3. I still like the clock despite its shortcomings.Incidentally, the assessment of "sheerness" aspect I take to mean an assessment of the clarity of view of the clock-face, consequently the answer is "yes" there is a very clear, unobstructed view of the clock-face.Well here we are at 4th January 2022 and the clock has gone up the creek. Yesterday it was a half hour fast, today it is half an hour slow. I assumed the battery had come to its end of life, so slipped a new one in. Pressed the set button with the tooth pick and all hands moved to 1200. In theory the atomic update will occur at every odd hour (1,3,5 o'clock etc) so I waited. Alas, it did not work - not on any of the odd hours. It is possible to get the thing going by sticking the toothpick into one of the buttons on the clock back and It is now running at 20 minutes slow. I guess it is possible to time it right to get it going on time soon after 12, but I did not get it quite right, hence the 20 minutes discrepancy . I was hoping for a catchup at the next odd hour, but NO. The fact is it is now more of a challenge than setting up the time using the old cog method of rotating the hands. So much for my hopes of not having to touch the thing for years. Blimey, after just writing the end of the last sentence the clock has stopped completely - 9 minutes past 4. And suddenly it has just started up again. It's going to ba a bin job for this one and the next one is not going to be an Acctim.