Ambient Weather RC-8401 Projection Clock with Forecast, Barometer, Atomic Clock and Indoor/Outdoor Temperature Color Changing Display

This is an awesome clock! The projection on the ceiling is very large and clear, and readable to me without my glasses at night, even though I have quite poor eyesight without the spectacles. I love the beautiful color changing display, which is easy to read day or night. And even though there's a wealth of information on the screen at the same time, it's arranged logically and all easy to read at a glance. The outdoor temperature sensor is within half a degree of another wireless outdoor digital thermometer I'm using, so seems accurate, and so far has no problem staying connected (did have that issue with the other wireless thermometer).I do have a few minor quibbles:1.While I love the color changing display, it only stays on the red and orange colors for a fraction of a second each, then on the blue, green, turquoise, purple, and yellow for several seconds each. Not sure why this is. However, I've seen this same behavior on multiple other devices with color changing LEDs, so must be something in the design of the circuits. Not a biggie - can always fix the color to red or orange if I wanted to, but then I'd lose all the rest.2. While you can flip the projected image 180 degrees to compensate for the clock being behind you or in front of you, there's no flexibility to rotate the image by any other figure - it's always in line with the front of the clock. For a normal clock on a nightstand, the clock is typically facing you on the bed, or perhaps at a 45 degree angle. This means that the projected image is going to always be on it's side or maybe at 45 degree angle from the perspective of someone laying in the bed - not ideal. I can see why this is done - it would require a much more flexible and complex projection emitter to be able to turn in more directions than the existing unit. All that said, having both the clock and indoor/outdoor temperature projected on the ceiling means if you didn't need to see the other information readily, such as the date/day/barometer, you could put the clock on a little shelf on the wall behind your bed, facing the foot of the bed. In that manner, the image would be upright.3. The snooze on the alarm is far too short at only 5 minutes. However, that is by no means unique to this clock - most alarm clocks are in a similar range for unknown reasons, being 6 minutes or less typically. Seems like they always used to give you at least 10 minute snoozes.March 4th Update: I did decide to mount the clock on a shelf behind the head of the bed, facing the foot of the bed, so now the projection is properly upright when looking up at the ceiling! It's kind of a bummer not being able to just open my eyes and see the beautiful colors (I sleep on my side facing the nightstand), but admittedly the clock LCD was a little bright anyway, even in dim mode. And, since I'm not using it for an alarm, no big deal to not have it right in front of me. Both temperature sensors continue to be accurate and have no issues.

I received this Ambient Weather RC-8401 clock about 1 week ago and I am 100% satisfied! More than satisfied! It exceeds all my expectations in a projection clock. I like: 1) it's atomic, thus i don't have to change the time when the time changes! It automatically set itself after a few hours. Ha! 2) It was easy to set up and I am no brainiac! I just followed the instructions on what to do 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Too easy! 3) The projection of time and alternating temperature is perfect and I am nearsighted, I wear glasses! While in bed at night, the projection is VERY VERY clear! It measures about 13" tall from bottom to top. 4) the setting buttons are all in easy to find places, no confusion; the flip button is right on top rather than in back. 5) I enjoy the screen on the clock changing colors depending on the temperature. 6) I've had a previous projection clock from another company and it was a smaller clock but had no temperature projection. This one by far is better than that one and projection is much larger as well.Note: all projection clocks basically rotate 180 degrees, meaning you can flip it in reverse on the ceiling or wall. So I place mine on a shelf away from the foot of my bed and shoot the projection above my bed. The red numbers are extremely easy to see at night and I enjoy watching the temperature, knowing how cold it's getting outdoors as well as how hot my husband has the heater cranked up to. The face of the clock is not that bright and I have it on low setting, but then it's not right next to my face either. BTW, it also gives a general forecast! Shows iconic clouds, sunny skies & rain.I will not comment on the alarm function as I don't use that function. I bought it for the rest of the features that I mentioned above. I am very very content I bought this clock! Excellent product! And I'd buy again!

Ambient Weather RC-8401 Projection Clock with Forecast, Barometer, Atomic Clock. Great product if you are looking for a night light to light up the room! This would be a great for your living room but not so great for the bedroom (unless you don't mind the room being lit up or leave the lights on when you sleep). The display backlight is incredibly bright and will illuminate the entire room (forward of the display). I ended up disassembling (and probably voiding the warranty) it to blacken out the illumination LEDs to dim the display to a much more reasonable level. It would appear that there was little thought in the final details of this design. Don't these company ever test their products?. The projection display was also incredibly bright (unless you like a bright red screen on the ceiling which also helps to fully illuminate the entire room). With no controls or ability to dim the projected image. I ended up using the plastic polarizing lenses of a pair of 3D movie glasses (cut and rotate the pieces to block 85% of the light) to dim the projection display to give a nice dull red display of the time and temp on the bedroom ceiling (that you can easily read but is not so bright as to wake you up). This truly is a great product but as an engineer it amazes me how often times a little bit of detail is missed which results in a mediocre product when it hit the shelves for sale.Another annoying feature that could have been nice- is the backlighting of the display. The display changes to a variety of colors but you can't just select one color. You have the choice of an ever changing (annoying in brightness) rainbow of colors or the color will change depending on the outside temperature. The layout and size of the time and temperature features as well as the barometric pressure on the face of the display are all very well laid out and are easy to read from across the room. The outdoor temperature sensor works great (in the 433 mhz band) with a tested range of over 100 feet through several walls.