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Arc Alarm Clock
An Analog Twist to the Morning Chime
Disclaimer: All reviews contain subjective opinions of the NANZA team.
[Funding Status]
Pledges: $100,879 (as of Mar 7, 2023)
Live until: April 22, 2023
@ 06:56 PM (PDT)
[Reward Price]
Early Bird: $180 (20% off retail)
SOLD OUT Super Early Bird: $169
* Shipping fee FREE for U.S.
[Estimated Shipping Time]
January 2024
NANZA Tl;dr
An analog charm to help our phone addiction. Beautifully designed and beautiful branding. But if you’re not in the U.S., Canada, or the U.K, you can forget about it.
Summary
Sound Mechanism
Unlike digital clocks, Arc uses a “real chime bar and strike mechanism” for a gradual yet impactful start to your day.
Controls
The clock has discreet buttons and dials that allow you to control brightness and volume. You can also use the frontal round dial to set your desired alarm time.
Material
The hardware is made of cast zinc and hard mineral glass. They claim your Arc will last up to 10 years.
Colors
You can choose between Black or White in the reward survey.
Battery
Needs to stay plugged in (USB-C) but does contain a 24-hour backup battery in case it accidentally gets unplugged overnight.
Reward Price
Since Super Early Birds are sold out, the best next deal is $180, which is $45 less than the retail price of $225. It doesn’t seem like they’ll be adding more Super Early Birds, so grab this Early Bird deal while it’s still available!
Shipping Fees & Countries
Surprisingly, shipping is $0 for US backers. For those based in Canada or the U.K, you can expect an additional shipping fee of $10+ and $30+ respectively. (Yes, they’re only shipping to these three countries…)
What We Love
1. The analog twist is refreshing
The simplicity of bringing back a non-digital chime is sweet genius. Let’s face it – we’re all dulled to the harsh digital beeps. Some, you could even say, are traumatized by the default Apple alarm sound.
2. Long-lasting design
It seems like sustainability was on the forefront of their minds when designing this clock. Who knows if this will actually last 10 years, like they claim, but it’s good to know that they’re doing their part to cut down on consumer product waste.
What We Don't
1. Too many buttons and dials
The simplistic design on this is great. But also, that’s a lot of buttons to memorize (and not hit accidentally when trying to snooze) without any labels or visual aids. Design slightly compromised functionality with this one.
2. The shipping countries, price, and delivery time…YIKES
So…let’s talk about the large elephant in the room. This product is only available for US, Canada, or U.K. backers. The fact that this campaign is doing so well while only shipping to these three countries is quite impressive. Nonetheless, this is very sad news for backers based anywhere else.
The price also…is quite steep, not gonna lie. For a single-function alarm clock, it’s an investment, for sure. To top it off, the product is estimated to deliver in January of NEXT YEAR. It’s only March, right now. We appreciate that they’re being realistic with their delivery but also, you’ll have to bear using your regular-schmegular phone alarm until then – which by that point – you might as well just find a different alarm clock that you can start using earlier.