iHome iPL8BN Stereo FM Clock Radio with Lightning Dock for iPhone/iPod - Black

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Ships from and sold by Amazon.com 160 new or used available from $26.24 Average customer review:  (1078 customer reviews)

Product Description

Charge and play Lightning-capable iPhone and iPod models via fl exible Lightning dock. The iPL8BN is a great looking, space-saving speaker system for listening to all your music. Wake or sleep to your favorite iPhone or iPod tunes or FM radio stations through high fi delity drivers in a specially designed Reson8 speaker chamber with EXB expanded bass circuitry. Auto sync feature instantly sets clock to iPhone or iPod time.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1894 in Speakers
• Size: charging
• Color: Black
• Brand: Sound Design
• Model: iPL8BN
• Fabric type: plastic,metal
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 4.49" h x 5.00" w x 5.00" l, 1.48 pounds
• Display size: 3

Features

• Start or end your day with your favorite sounds
• Enjoy your music while keeping your Lightning-capable iPhone/iPod fully charged
• Syncs clock time to always-current iPhone time settings in seconds
• Program up to 6 favorite FM stations
• Stereo high-fi delity drivers in specially designed Reson8 speaker chambers deliver full, rich sound
• Get extra bass boost with expanded bass circuitry

---

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
117 of 122 people found the following review helpful.
I really like the product but....
By Lori
I really like this product, but if you have a case, you will need the cable jive adapter because it will not fit. The lighting cable isn't tall enough with a case. I bought the adapter, and life is great!!
119 of 122 people found the following review helpful.
Display brightness was important to me
By Gavin Scott
For the past 10 years or so I've had this little Timex Indiglo alarm clock that ran for a year or two on one AA, and had a button to light up the display to check the time at night, and it was all I ever needed in a bedside clock. Well, unfortunately it suffered an unfortunate accident and I was forced to go looking for a replacement of some sort.

It's actually surprising how few really nice clocks or clock radios there are out there. I spent some time searching Amazon but eventually ran across this iHome model at Costco. It seemed to have a good combination of features, is big but still smaller than the iHome iPad compatible models, and it looks and sounds good.

One thing I hate is unnecessary light while sleeping, so I prefer a clock with a VERY dim backlight setting. This iHome does not *quite* meet that requirement but it's close. Pressing the snooze bar will cycle through High/Medium/Low/Off for the backlight. The Low level is barely detectable in daylight and I can probably get used to it at night though it still manages to add a faint glow to the room. I found that what works best for me is to start out on Low and then click it once to Off once I'm really ready to fall asleep.

It feels very solid and the stereo sound is good for something this size. The user interface is pretty good, though it takes a little while to get used to the process of adjusting the alarm time and arming the alarm. This model has a single alarm (most of their larger models have two).

In order to play music from an iOS device, you seem to need to have the music player already playing or paused. Once that's the case, you can use the buttons on the iHome to pause/play, volume up/down, and the + and - buttons work for next track/previous track, and can be held down for fast skipping.

The FM radio has digital tuning (there's no AM so if you're wanting something for late-night AM talk radio stuff then you'll have to look elsewhere). and works great. The +/- buttons tune in .2MHz steps (you can configure it for different international FM band plans also) and can be held down to scan for the next station. You can use either play/pause button to cycle through six settable FM station presets when in FM mode.

When you have it set to wake on Buzz, you get a choice between Lo and High volume. When you're set to wake to iOS music or FM, then you get a separate volume setting that's saved with the alarm so it's independent from the last volume setting you happened to be listening with, and you can set the alarm volume as low or high as you like.

There's a long wire antenna for FM that dangles behind it. This comes out of a hole in the case and is permanently connected.

It comes with an installed CR2450 battery that can run the clock (without backlight) and the alarm (maybe buzzer only, I'm not sure) if the power goes out or gets unplugged. Power comes from a comparatively large wall-wart transformer with a non-polarized plug. It can be unplugged from the clock. Neither the wall-wart nor the clock get detectably warm in normal operation.

You can hook up two iOS devices for charging and music playback at the same time, one via the top lightning dock and one via the USB A jack on the back (no USB cable is included). I have not played with the external USB port yet. I don't know what the charging capacity in terms of amps is and the manual does not specify.

It works great with an iPhone 5 so far. The first time the phone was attached it set the time on the clock. If you don't have an iPhone then you'll have to set the time manually as it doesn't have the "SmartSet" or whatever it is that other similar devices have these days.

So, overall I am really happy with it. 4 3/4 stars.

G.
173 of 179 people found the following review helpful.
Great Clock Radio w/ Lightning Dock
By Melcat
I am very pleased with this product. The sound quality is very good. I have had no problems with docking my IPhone 5 with a case on. Although my case doesn't enclose the bottom of the phone, so that might be why. At first I didn't think the alarm, even on high was loud enough while I was testing it. Then I noticed after listening to it for a minute that it starts out quiet, then gets progressively louder. So, that's kinda nice. I like the size, it doesn't take up much space. It charges your IPhone quit fast. I also noticed that if you shut the ringer off, so that you don't have to hear calls or notifications while your sleeping, the phone still plays your music out of the radio just for listening or for the alarm. That's nice because I don't like to hear noises from the phone while sleeping. Everything seems to work perfectly. The only thing that I would have liked if anything, is for it to have a small remote control. Just so I could change songs while listening. But it is easy enough to reach over and change with one accessible button. So all in all I think it's a great purchase and I would recommend it. Very pleased :-)
See all 1078 customer reviews...