Customer Reviews:
 RCA RP5430 September 26, 2008
This seemed like a good clock radio for the price. I wanted FM reception, a large display, small footprint, and battery backup. No need for I-Pod connection.
The radio is not very sensitive and cannot pick up a weak station near in frequency to a strong station. After a while, I noticed that the display would switch from time to an FM frequency even though the radio portion was turned off.
Eventually, one segment of the display failed.
I sent it to Texas as per the instructions for warranty repair. They received it ten days ago. Today I tried to call about it. No telephone number for the service center. I found one on the Internet (on a "complaint" site). So far I've been given the run around by several people who seemed to have some difficulty with the English language. The only person who would actually talk to me told me that once they are received in Texas, they are shipped to Canada and I should have it back in 40 days! What am I supposed to do, buy another one to use in the meantime? He gave me a wrong number (not toll free) to check on it.
Apparently, RCA was bought out by Thompson, who has now sold part of the product line to Audiovox. There are no humans available to advise on service problems.
As for the two star rating, if it worked like it was supposed to, it would have a higher rating. If I ever get mine (or a replacement) back and it works for a few years, it's two stars. If it comes back in a couple months or not at all, no stars or a negative number.
I won't likely be buying any RCA products in the near future.
 Easy to use clock radio! September 24, 2008
I needed an easy to use AM/FM clock radio and this is it! It is easy to set one OR two alarms to music or an alarm. All I have to do is hit a button to switch from DST to CST. The snooze button is huge and right on top so I know I'm hitting the snooze and NOT turning the alarm off. The numbers are BRIGHT but you can turn down the brightness if you need to. I already had one of these but my African Grey found it and chewed off all the buttons. I wanted another one just like it.
 I thought I was crazy until... September 20, 2008
I read some of the reviews talking about the buzzing noise that comes intermittenly from the clock. I love this clock! I love the blue numbers, I love that they're big because I'm slowly going blind. I love the nap feature and the fact that the alarm slowly gets louder and louder. But what's up with the buzzing? How do I make that go away so I can use this clock?
 Only Alarm Clock Ever Owned That I had to throw out September 2, 2008
Do not buy this! In my opinion the positive reviews were written when the product was new. It is a nice looking clock however I had major problems with it and I had to toss it. Sending it for warranty is too much of a hassle and the shipping would outweigh the cost.
So the two problems:
1. It has a nap function which is very easy to turn on by mistake, especially when you are trying to set the alarm. Once you turn it on you cannot disable it. So the alarm will go off in 20 minutes no matter what. Think about that, you are ready to go to sleep and your alarm clock is going to go off in 20 minutes regardless. You cant unplug because then you have no alarm and that defeats the purpose in having a clock in the first place.
2. The button to turn on alarm 2 gpt stuck so it became impossible to disable it. So basically the alarm clock now became useless because you cant turn off the alarm - so it goes off everyday when I am not even here. I had to throw it out and call it a day.
Won't work long, poor build, marginal design September 2, 2008
This clock has always felt 'flimsy.' Now, after only 1 year of service, some of the LED segments indicating the time have completely burnt out. It has been gradual, too: first some segments, then a few more, etc. I can't even tell if the alarm is on anymore.
Also, I hear a faint sparking sound when the radio and alarms are totally off, which turned out to be the transformer when the clock was disassembled. Who knows? Maybe voltage/current transients associated with this problem caused the LED segments to burn out.
In any case, there is no excuse for the clock breaking down after 1 year of mild service. I won't be replacing it with an RCA.
PS The price suggested here for the clock is outrageous.
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