These days it feels like everything is designed to be disposable. Cheap plastics, glued seams, and a “just buy another one” mentality. Finding something built to last feels almost impossible.

That’s why GE’s line of digital clock radios has been making waves again in the Buy It For Life community. People swear by their durability and simplicity, so I went looking on eBay. Forty bucks later, a fully functional unit arrived on my doorstep.

I’ve always loved tearing apart electronics. As a kid, if something stopped working, I had to know why. And if one of these had been lying around back then, I would’ve been all over it. Today, with so many products sealed shut and unrepairable, cracking open this GE clock felt like I was a kid again. I couldn’t wait to see what was inside, and whether its reputation for reliability came down to the way it was built.

Even before opening it up, I was impressed. The retro design has real charm: chunky buttons, a bold display, and a weight that feels purposeful in your hands. Most cheap clocks, by comparison, feel feather-light and flimsy. Almost like you could knock them off the nightstand with a sneeze. And unlike some other devices that fake their weight with a random hunk of rusty metal in the base, this GE feels genuinely solid.

I powered it up, tuned in to a classical station, and was honestly surprised. The speaker sounds warm and clear at lower volumes, though it starts to distort if you push it too high. Still, not bad at all for a clock radio that’s been around longer than I have.