Yostyle Alarm Clock Power Station Review

Yostyle Alarm Clock Power Station Review

Buy it at Amazon: Yostyle Alarm Clock Power Station [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: A basic alarm clock with surge protected power sockets and USB ports for your nightstand.

You'll receive the alarm clock and a brief instruction manual. The clock measures 4.5" square with a height of about 1.5". The finish on the outside of the clock is a glossy black with a stainless steel metal inlay on the top. On top of the clock are two grounded outlets, three 5V 2.4A output USB ports, and the clock controls: time/alarm setting key, daylight savings time toggle, dimmer/snooze button, and up and down keys for changing the settings. On the back of the clock is the power switch and heavy duty 18 gauge 6.5' power cord. This charging station has built-in surge protection to protect your devices, however, there is no stated Joules rating for the product. On the bottom of the clock is a battery bay where you can install 2 AAA batteries for backup power to keep the clock's time in case the power goes out. Note, however, that the backup batteries won't keep the outlets or USB ports running, and the batteries are not included. There is also the alarm speaker on the bottom and 4 rubber feet to keep the clock from sliding.

When plugged in and switched on, the 2.5" diagonal LCD on the front of the clock will light up. The large numbers are the current time and the small numbers show the alarm setting time. To set the clock, press and hold the 'clock' key for 2 seconds. Then use the up and down keys to change the values; you can long press the up and down keys to make the adjustments faster. You'll first enter the year, month, day. These are used only to calculate the daylight savings time adjustment and do not display anywhere else on the LCD. When 'DST' mode is activated while daylight savings is in effect, the time will move forward 1 hr and DST will appear on the LCD. If activated outside of these dates, the time will remain unchanged. This clock is displayed in 12-hr format only and does not have the option to change to 24-hr or military time.

You can enter 1 alarm on this clock and it has only a single choice for alarm tone, a standard beeping. By default the alarm is set to 6 AM. Short press the alarm key to switch the alarm off. Then short press it again to turn the alarm on and enter the setting mode and adjust with the up and down keys; press alarm to accept the value. When the alarm time is showing and the bell icon is present on the LCD, the alarm is on. Each time you turn off and on the alarm, it will enter setup mode, but if you don't change the value of the alarm within 10 seconds, it will remember the previous alarm that was set, so you don't have to re-enter your alarm each time.

The alarm tone is pretty loud, though there's no way to adjust its volume. To temporarily silence the alarm when it goes off, press the snooze button. In snooze mode, the bell icon will be flashing, and the alarm will ring again after 9 minutes. Snooze can be activated twice in a row, after which the alarm will exit until it is time to go off the next day. To shut off the alarm while it is ringing the first time, or to exit snooze mode, short press the alarm button. This will not turn the alarm setting to off, but it will silence the alarm until it goes off the next day. If neither the snooze nor alarm button are pressed, the alarm will continue to ring for 1 hour, after which it will shut off until the following day.

By default, the LCD brightness is set at 100%, but you can dim the LCD by pressing the dimmer key to these increments: 66% brightness, 33% brightness, and off. Subsequent presses of the dimmer key will ramp the brightness back up in the same increments. Overall, this alarm clock charger is easy to use and functional as a basic alarm clock and power station. The grounded outlets on the top mean I don't have to go searching behind the nightstand for an outlet and the USB ports allow me to conveniently charge my devices all in one place without taking up any wall outlets. The alarm is loud but not excessively so and the LCD is bright enough to see from across the room, and can be dimmed or shut off if need be.

Buy it at Amazon: Yostyle Alarm Clock Power Station [Affiliate Link]