For years, I used one of the original iHome iPod dock alarm clocks. I only docked my iPhone a few times - when I felt like listening to an audiobook without my earphones. Otherwise, I used it as an alarm clock. At least, I attempted to use it as an alarm clock.

To set the time or set the alarm, you have to spin a wheel. A slow, loud, clicking wheel. Shortly after getting the clock, the wheel started to break. You would spin it one way and the time would start going in the opposite direction. But that wheel wasn’t even the worst part about it - nor the interference with my GSM phone. No, the worst part about it was that it wouldn’t keep time. It would lose a few minutes every month or so. I never knew what time it was and started looking at my phone to double check. I tried resetting it frequently, but gave up. Instead, I began to set my alarm for earlier and earlier to compensate.

I should have replaced it years ago.

What Do Clocks Even Cost?

Before I was given the iHome “clock” as a gift, I had a regular alarm clock. I don’t remember how or when it came into my possession. I would say a decade, at least, had gone by since I had actually purchased an alarm clock.

Not knowing what alarm clocks cost, I searched Amazon. Wow. There are clocks with big numbers, small numbers, weather reports and ceiling projectors. There are clocks that roll off your nightstand and hide. There are clocks with iPod docks. There are fold up clocks. There are wind up clocks. There are clocks with puzzles on top that, when the alarm goes off, forces you to find the pieces that were thrown into the air and put them back together on the top of the clock before the alarm shuts off. There are $5 clocks and there are $105 clocks.

Learning My Lesson

Page after page, I began to see the problem. Every clock has a gimmick. Every clock does something else. But I had that clock. I had the do something else clock and it was horrible. It was so bad, it couldn’t even keep time.

I tried to find the alarm clocks that were only alarm clocks. Weather reports? I don’t want you. Ceiling projector? Sorry, not for me. The clocks that were left ranged from $5 to $15. Each one had reviews that said something along the lines of “cheap, works well”.

Unfortunately, these all looked cheap. I started to think, what if these clocks can’t even keep time. How long would these cheap clocks last? Sure, they were just clocks which is what I wanted, but I don’t want to have to buy another clock next year.

Then I stumbled on the Neverlate Executive Alarm Clock. I am not an executive. Nor do I need 21 separate alarm “banks”. But, something seemed right about this ridiculously expensive alarm clock. It was expensive, but it didn’t do anything else. Sure, it has separate alarms for each day of the week in addition to seven daily alarms and a quick nap alarm. It also has a gradual wake setting (increasing alarm volume) and a decremental snooze interval (10 minutes first snooze, 5 minutes second snooze, etc).

It has a lot of features, but each feature is alarm clock related. If there is an alarm clock out there that is actually a good alarm clock, I thought, this must be it. Did I spend too much money on an alarm clock? Yeah, probably. But I will say that I was able to set the clock up in just a couple of minutes and I woke up on time this morning to a nice alarm sound with a gradually increasing volume.

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a piece of software or making an alarm clock. Keep your product focused and you won’t end up with a wheel you need to spin 500 times to get from 12:00AM to 7:00AM or a clock that can’t even keep time.