CasioCasio TQ-140-1B Tq140 Travel Alarm Clock - Black

This is a no frills alarm clock: quiet, easy to read on a nightstand and simple to set. Use the knobs on the back to set time and alarm, topside tab to activate/deactivate alarm and insert a single AA battery on the backside. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.One reviewer mentioned the tick was annoying. However, I can’t hear the tick unless in a quiet room with the clock within a few inches of my ear. Placed a couple feet away on a nightstand it is essentially silent. Also, the alarm—a piercing and rapid beep—is loud and few could sleep through it unless drugged or drunk! However, if the battery is low, the clock keeps time well but the alarm volume drops off considerably. A single AA lasts about a year.The only slight gotcha is the luminous hands and numbers fade to nothing faster than other luminous clocks and watches I’ve owned.I actually travel with this little guy. My iPhone has every bell and whistle but this Casio is always visible at the side of my bed. No need to tap or caress just to see the time. It’s low tech but but does exactly what I need.

This is exactly what I was looking for, no frills cheap alarm clock that doesn't synch with satellites, doesn't show you forecast, doesn't have radio, and doesn't require an engineering degree to set up. I keep it in the guest bathroom. One complain that I have is "Luminous Hands and Markers" feature works for about 10 minutes. If you wake up in the night, you won't be able to read the clock in total darkness. Casio should have used a higher quality stuff for the glow in the dark feature.Other than that, perfect for guest bedrooms or bathrooms, someplace where you need to be able to tell time. Keeps accurate time, uses AA battery, cheap and light, simple to use, what's not to love?

Anyone else out there replacing a Casio travel alarm clock that's 25+ years old? If so, this review and comparison may help. My Casio clock has been a real winner... so simple, and useful, and reliable. Well, the alarm has finally become unreliable, sometimes going off near silently, even with a fresh battery. Wiggling the alarm set slide brings it to full volume, but, there's no way to predict whether it will sound high or low on next use.The same clock does not appear to be available, but the TQ-140 seems a good replacement. I ordered the light face model, but, the vendor sent the dark face version. I'll live with it. Neither version has quite the dignified appearance of my old Casio, which had a round dial set into the square case. Both old and new have the same 2.2 x 2.2 inch case size, though the new clock is 3/8 in. deeper, and is slightly less packable. The other major difference is the clock set controls. While the old clock had separate wheels to set the time and alarm, the new clock uses a single post wheel. You pull it out to set the clock, and leave it in to set the alarm. I think this change is good, as I sometimes used to start at the wrong wheel when setting the alarm. The new setup will prevent that error. The "beep beep beep beep" (pause-repeat) alarm sounds exactly like the old clock. There is no snooze button. The alarm slide on the back of the clock is visible at the top of the clock, when the alarm is activated. Hands on the new clock are larger. They glow faintly in the dark. Although the bold green numbers appear as if they might also glow in the dark, they do not.I'm not sure I'll get 25 years out of the new clock; it seems a bit less robust. But, it does seem equally capable, and still a great value, and exercise in simplicity.

Other than the color scheme, we've owned several clocks identical to this Casio. I've used them as bathroom clocks, desk clocks etc. last for 10 years or more. They work flawlessly; the time is very easy to set; the alarm is very easy to set (and turn off); they operate on cheap AA batteries---they are just about the perfect small portable clocks. If the power goes off in the night, the alarm still wakes you at the right time.EXPENSIVE ALARM CLOCKSLike many other folks, my wife bought several very expensive "atomic" clocks, which, in fact never adjusted itself for the correct time, always shifted to daylight savings on the wrong date (and couldn't be corrected) and (thankfully) died after a few years. These replaced the "simple" clocks for those few years--unfortunately she discarded the still working simple clocks.AS TRAVEL ALARM CLOCKSThese are perfect travel alarms, not only because they weigh nothing, but also because if you accidentally leave one behind, its no big deal. If you buy one specifically as a travel alarm, you might consider the bright red version (harder to leave behind)CONSIn this model there are luminescent bars on the hands, and matching blue-green numbers. However, the luminescence of the hands is weak, and the numbers are NOT luminescent. Still it works well enough to check the time in the middle of the night without turning on the lights.Being a simple manual analong clock, there's no "snooze" button, you've got to push up the alarm bar each night before you go to bed, and manually make any daylight-savings or time-zone adjustments. In my opinion, no big deal, and far easier than dealing with expensive electronic horrors which claim to do everything.Yes, it does tick (if you hold it to your ear), but from 2' away I cannot hear it.SETTING THE TIME/ALARMThere is one knob for setting the time. The normal position is for changing the alarm time. Pull the knob out a little, and you can change the current time. Push it back in when done. It used to be that all clocks and watches worked this way, so this is second nature for geezers like me, but I understand that some young folks might get confused.HOW TO GET THE LONGEST LIFEThe thing that will probably kill your Casio is a leaking battery. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, everyone knew that you had to remove the batteries from your equipment when it wasn't in use. Leaky batteries were such a problem battery companies improved their product and guaranteed to replace any electronics damaged by their leaking batteries. No surprise, the improved batteries never leaked. But now you can't remove the batteries from most equipment when not in use, the electronics are much more expensive, and a large percentage of batteries are leaking again. You can't stop batteries from leaking, but you can improve your odds by buying the best brands. In addition, you can protect your battery contacts from light leakage with silicon grease. Silicon grease will also improve and protect contacts already damaged by leakage. Permatex 22058 Dielectric Tune-Up Grease, 3 oz. Tube> Click on “Stoney” just below the product title to see my other reviews, or leave a comment to ask a question.