Roberts Ortus FM Dual Alarm FM Clock Radio

A straightforward FM clock radio with five one-touch presets, a large LED display that dims itself and a dual alarm with weekday and weekend options.

At a Glance

• Digital tuner: FM
• Preset buttons: 5
• Alarms: Dual
• Weight: 293 g

The Ortus FM does one job well: it tells the time and it plays FM radio. There is no DAB, no Bluetooth and no menu system to work through. Five preset buttons, one station each, put your listening a single press away, and a digital tuner keeps those stations exactly where you put them.

The LED display is large, clear and dims automatically as the room darkens, so it is readable from across the room in the day and not glaring at three in the morning. A CR2032 backup battery is included and keeps the clock and alarm settings through a power cut, which is the detail most people only appreciate afterwards.

Not every bedside radio needs a colour screen and a streaming stack; some just need to be right about the time and easy to silence.

Ideal For

• Simple bedsides: For anyone who wants a clock and a station, not a device. Set the time by hand once, store five stations and the radio never asks anything else of you.
• Spare rooms: Small at 134 by 52 by 137 mm and light at 293 g, it fits a guest room, a study or a holiday let where a straightforward alarm is all that is wanted.
• Weekday routines: The dual alarm can be set for every day, weekdays only or weekends only, so the working week wakes you and Saturday is left alone. Both alarms can sound as radio or buzzer.

Key Features

• 5 preset buttons: Five FM stations, each on its own dedicated button. No scrolling, no holding a key down and counting: press one and the station plays.
• Automatic display dimmer: The LED display adjusts its own brightness, so it stays readable in daylight and settles down at night without anyone having to change a setting.
• Dual alarm: Two alarms, each waking you to radio or buzzer, with Day, Weekday and Weekend options so the alarm follows your week rather than the other way round.
• CR2032 backup included: A CR2032 cell is supplied for clock and alarm backup, so a power cut does not leave you resetting the time or missing an alarm.
• Large snooze button: The snooze button is big and obvious, which is the only design brief that matters at six in the morning. A sleep timer handles the other end of the day.
• 293 g footprint: At 134 by 52 by 137 mm and 293 g, it takes up very little of a bedside table and is easy to move to another room.

• FM, five buttons, nothing else: The Ortus FM is an FM radio and a clock, and that is the whole proposition. Tuning is digital, so a station stored on one of the five preset buttons is exactly where you left it, without the drift of an analogue dial. There is no DAB, no Bluetooth and no aux input, which means nothing to pair, nothing to scan and nothing to go wrong. For a lot of bedrooms that is the right answer.
• Alarms that fit your week: There are two alarms, and each can be set to Day, Weekday or Weekend. That covers the ordinary situations: an early start Monday to Friday, a later one at the weekend, or two people in the same room on different schedules. Each alarm can wake you with the radio or a buzzer, the snooze button is large enough to find in the dark, and an alarm indicator on the display tells you at a glance that it is armed.
• A display that behaves itself: The LED display is large, high in contrast and fitted with an automatic dimmer that adjusts as the room changes. In daylight it is legible from the far side of a bedroom; at night it settles to something that will not keep you awake. Indicators show alarm status, PM and low battery, so you know when the backup cell needs replacing. That CR2032 is included and holds the clock and alarm settings through a power cut, so a brief outage does not leave you an hour late.

How It Compares

The Verdict

Strengths

• Five FM presets on dedicated buttons
• Large clear LED display with automatic dimmer
• Dual alarm with Day, Weekday and Weekend options
• Large snooze button and adjustable sleep timer
• CR2032 clock and alarm backup battery included
• Digital tuner holds stations without drift
• 293 g and 134 mm wide

Considerations

• FM only. There is no DAB, DAB+, MW or internet radio, so digital-only stations are out of reach.
• No Bluetooth and no aux input, so the Ortus FM cannot play music from a phone or another source.
• Mains powered only. The CR2032 backs up the clock and alarm settings but does not run the radio itself.

What's in the Box

• Ortus FM clock radio x1
• AC adaptor x1
• CR2032 backup battery x1
• Manual x1