Oregon Scientific Projection Clock
Sleep-deprived nursing mothers need to be aware of time, specifically when a middle-of-the-night feeding begins and how long it lasts. Projection clocks make keeping track of time easier. Another mother told me about these clocks, and I bought one for each of the rooms I spent late-night/early-morning dazed hours with my newborn daughter.
Like the previously reviewed Analog Atomic Wall Clock, this is an atomic self-setting timekeeper, so Daylight Saving changes occur automatically. While the clock’s face is visible from a fair distance, the unobtrusive projected red readout measures about 10 inches across when the clock’s placed at a distance of about 6 feet from the ceiling, so it’s legible from any point in a small- to medium-sized room. It doesn’t, however, show up at all in a bright room. Oregon Scientific makes a projection clock that’s bright enough to read during daylight hours, but it costs significantly more.
Projection aside, Oregon Scientific’s Projection Clock functions reliably as a user-friendly and intuitively simple alarm clock. It also displays room temperature. My daughter’s older now and I’m no longer nursing, but I still enjoy being able to just open my eyes in bed and see the time displayed on the ceiling, without having to roll over or contort my neck or body in any way to check the clock.
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Oregon Scientific
Favorite (15)
Steven
I love my Oregon Scientific clock! Mine broke, and I bought a jWIN version (the main display is easier to read). But it isn't atomic time setting.
Love the clock!
JQFrederick
Back when my sister was the quintessential road warrior, one of those people who would have an early morning meeting in Atlanta, an afternoon meeting in LA, followed by a next day morning meeting in Chicago, her opinion, since after a while all hotel rooms look the same, was that the invention that the world needed (and would likely allow the inventor to retire a millionaire) was a portable clock that would project the following onto the wall or ceiling:
Good Morning! It's 6:38 AM, 62 degrees, AND YOU'RE IN CHICAGO (or boston, or LA, or St. Louis, or whatever)
tudza
Daylight Saving, not Savings. No "s"
Phil
I have one of these. Easy to figure out, set, and change the alarm. Two problems. The dial isn't lighted and the contrast is not nearly as good as that clear plastic overlay shown in the photo - I can't read it during the day from any distance. The light projected onto the ceiling is very visible in the dark, but not during the day. Result: I can't tell the time during the day unless I'm close enough to press it and turn on the backlight.
elon
@ tudza: Noted and corrected. Thanks for the tip.--es
Tetsubo
Does anyone know of one of these that has a built-in radio? I hate alarms but the other features sound cool.
Toby
I have an Oregon for about 7 years, different style but same functions as this.
Atomic setting is great but I noticed another flaw in the projection design apart from brightness.
The projector is aligned with the clock face, so if you tilt the clock toward you in bed then the projection is perpendicular to you But worse...there is no option to invert the projected display like I've seen on other projector clocks.
If there is any slope on the ceiling above the bed( this actually happens a lot in dormer style construction) then the display will need to be projected "backwards" and it becomes essential to flip the projection or you're trying to read it upsidedown.
The reason I held onto the Oregon...the dual alarm was better than any other alarm I'd ever used.
Paul Renault
Sigh... Let me quote from the melatonin entry in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin#Roles_in_humans
"Light dependence
Production of melatonin by the pineal gland is inhibited by light and permitted by darkness." and further "and it has been shown that women with the brightest bedrooms have an increased risk for breast cancer."
Enough with illuminated clocks, especially by blue lights, in bedrooms! Look for audio clock or some other solution. Get heavy light blocking curtains. Make it dark in there!
colin
I love my Oregon Scientific clocks i have several in my house and they all work great. i also have a weather one that tells wind and rainfall.
ET
I have dealt directly with Oregon S by phone. A nightmare - wrong product sent, they can't figure it out etc...
Next time I will shop elsewhere.
@Paul Renault wouldn't that mean that the further away from the equator the more light in bedrooms during summer leading to more cancer?
John
Something to consider with these "atomic" clocks - in some areas the signal from the atomic clock (WWVB) is too weak to work reliably. If the clock can't be set manually and you are in an area with a weak signal, it may be useless. I have a Proton clock radio with the "atomic" clock feature. I live in Albany NY and there is aluminum siding on my house. The clock has not been able to receive the signal for the past 8+ months, and now is off by a half an hour. There is no way to set it. I can receive the signal if I put it in a west-facing window, but then I have to unplug it to move it back to the bedroom and it loses its setting. I also have one of the Oregon Scientific thermometer/clocks, and also have to move that to a west-facing window to get it to reset. At least that one is battery operated, so once it sets itself I can move it back to where I want it.
Paul Renault
ET @11, yes, but not really.
Even on the shortest night, June 21st, at the latitude roughly of the Canadian southern border, there's still 8 hours of darkness (therefore some four hours of melatonin production). In Stirling, Scotland, (even farther North) there's six hours of darkness, still some melatonin production. In the Winter, you catch up...
A better comparison is to look at areas with lots artificial lighting - say, Las Vegas, New York City, Tokyo - and compare cancer rates with areas with little artificial lighting. While you're at it, compare the rates of breast cancer in night-shift workers with the rest of the population...
See here from 1999:
Artificial light `may cause breast cancer'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/artificial-light-may-cause-breast-cancer-1109948.html
FTA:
They have also been struck by findings that breast cancer rates are five times higher in nations where artificial light has led to the creation of the "24-hour" society than in developing countries, where electric light is less pervasive.
and here, from 2009:
Artificial Light At Night: Higher Risk Of Prostate Cancer, Study Suggests
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090203135015.htm
.
Rudhraigh
I got one of these and I absolutely loved it. Then, about a day outside the warranty, it broke.
I hate products that do that.
Paul Renault
"Then, about a day outside the warranty, it broke."
Hmm, those atomic-clock clocks ARE precise, eh?
Owen
How about a recommendation for an equivalent projection clock that works outside of the USA? The fact that it sets itself to the US atomic clock makes it useless for me. One that you can take travelling would be nice...
bk
I have this very same clock. Have been using it for years. Love it.