Quick Version: The $99.99 Pure-Fi Anytime is a good choice as an alarm clock and single-room speaker system. If you’ve got your life on your iPhone, you’ll appreciate this gadget as it pulls double duty as a bedside phone charger and music player.
Overview and Features
- Universal iPod/iPhone dock and alarm clock
- Motion activated backlight and snooze – just waving your hand over the top of the alarm clock acts as the snooze function
- AM/FM radio
- Audio input for non-iPod devices
- Remote control
- MSRP of $99.99
It’s good for…
…people who live and die by their iPhone or iPod. If your iPhone is a major part of your life – contacts, appointments, phone, mobile internet, music, and all that good stuff – then you might as well integrate it into how you wake up in the morning, right?
If you’re the type that has trouble getting going in the wee hours, you may appreciate the ability to flail your arms about wildly when your alarm starts up with the off-chance of activating the snooze. A simple Obi Wan Kenobi-style hand wave within a few inches of the top of the Pure-Fi Anytime is just as good as physically tapping the actual snooze button. The same goes for the backlit buttons on top of the device. They’ll remain dark until your hand gets close to them, at which point they’ll illuminate.
At under a hundred bucks, too, the Pure-Fi Anytime isn’t outrageously expensive. If you have a small apartment/dorm or spend a lot of time in your bedroom, it’s a nice do-it-all alarm clock and speaker dock if you’re low on space.
Not so good for…
…audiophiles, party people, those seeking block rocking beats and/or who wish to be taken to FunkyTown, etc. The sound quality is above average for an alarm clock but a little tinny once you crank it up. It’d also be a little too low-volume for a party, as it doesn’t get all that loud. If you’re from the Midwest like I am, you might be able to throw a successful party because everyone in the Midwest is polite and refrains from talking over one another in social situations. If you’re one of the 900 girls on the East Coast who are each somehow part of my wife’s side of the family, though, forget it.
Also, the remote isn’t really a selling point if you ask me. It’s one of those credit card remotes that seem to ship with every inexpensive audio device on the market. I find myself having to point the remote directly at the Pure-Fi, giving it a nice, hard, deliberate press. Even then, it still doesn’t register sometimes. Not really a direct Logitech issue – none of those tiny remotes seem to work well.
Conclusion
A good choice, especially if you have most of your music on your iPhone/iPod and want to listen while you’re getting ready in the morning. Many people sleep with their phones charging right next to their beds anyway, so you might as well kill two birds with one stone and cut down on the cords to boot.
The price is nice, the motion sensing stuff is pretty cool (if a bit gimmicky), and the unit itself is a handsome piano black which should go well with most bedroom motifs.
Pure-Fi Anytime [Logitech.com]
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Hey Doug, I’m actually thinking about picking this up for my bathroom. I know about all the horrible horrible things about putting electronics in your bathroom, but I have a 80gb iPod classic I don’t give a crap about that I use when I take showers. How would you say the over all clarity and volume would be over the noise level of a shower? I know thats weird but the iPod dock I have in there now just doesn’t really cut it.
Hmmm. Now THAT is a good question. I’ll actually try that out tomorrow and report back.
Yes, it’s plenty loud. You should be fine.
Alright, mayhaps I pick this up.
Oh yeah great review by the way, it made me “lol”.
Hey, thanks!
This is great to have for when I am doing the chores at home. It would be a great place to keep my ipod and listen to all my favorite tunes so I can motivate to actually clean better.
Dose it have a USB or network port so it can sync (must have updated news pod cast in morning).
No, unfortunately it doesn’t. You’ll have to actually hook your iPod up to your computer the old fashioned way. So the “dock” part is basically for charging and playback only.
Hi ya, quite tempted to get this thing, but does the light of the Iphone or Ipod switch off during the charging at night? And how is the sound for classical music?
O one more question. i live in a big stone building (old with think walls) and our appartment is very much in the center of the building so reception is quite bad, but how good is it on this logitech machine?
Would this work with the fourth generation ipod nano?
OK first of all… can you get 12 hour time or are you stuck with horrible 24 hour time? and secondly, did the power adapter on yours make a horrible irritating buzz? Terrible when your lying in bed at night. Its all i can hear!
I have a question:
Can you change the wake-up volume of the device?
Nice review though! Go on with this kind of reviews, it is very helpful!!
Hi.
I got one of these yesterday. Like Chris my power adapter makes a highly irritating buzz. An alarm clock is kind of redundant when you can’t go to sleep! While the clock seems great otherwise the buzz makes this clock useless to me. Wish I’d seen Chris’s comment before I bought. :( Anyione else have that problem?
I own this. I really enjoy this. BUT as stupid as it sounds, my cat keeps activating that stupid hand wave snooze thing. She gets to it before I wake up. Do you know if you can disable that feature? lol
oh @ wilco – yes you can select a volume for you alarm!
hey
i want to get one of these but my old charger/speakers had a plug where i could plug my surrond sound system into it
do these logitech have a jack in the back where i can plug my surround sound system into?