To further complicate your choice, apart from different workings and sounds, there are loads of other features to choose from.

7-Day Alarm - These neat things mean you can set your alarm for a different time every day to suit your schedule. For example, if you're a student who starts lectures at 9am some days and 10am on others, you don't need to lose any precious sleep or waste time resetting your alarm each day.

Lighted Dials and Hands - There are quite a variety of alarm clocks which include lights of some kind. Some have a backlit face which glows very slightly either all the time, or at the touch of a button. Some have an actual light to one side which you can switch on when you need to. Some have luminous hands, numbers or hour dots. These glow for a period of time after having been subjected to light. That period depends on the intensity of the light to which they have been exposed. There are also some advanced technologies which make the clock dial glow for night viewing but which do not incorporate a light bulb. LCD displays will show the time in red or green glowing numbers which can usually be dimmed.

Snooze Button - If you're often tempted to have just five more minutes' doze before getting out of bed but are worried about falling deeply asleep and missing half the day, then you need an alarm clock with a snooze button. Just hit this and your alarm will go off again in another five or ten minutes. Be careful though, there may be a limit to the number of times that you can do this.

Dual Alarms - This clever idea means that if two of you need to get up at two different times, you can set the alarm to go off twice in one day.

Travel Clocks - These are small compact clocks which either fold into an integral case or have a separate case. They are generally lightweight and the more sophisticated models will show the time in more than one Time Zone.

Pill Box Alarm Clock - This is a really useful item if you are in the unfortunate position of having to take a lot of medication daily. The clock incorporates a compartmentalised pill box and the ability set multiple alarms.

In the next article, our final one on the subject of alarm clocks, we will look at the different styles which are available, should you need to buy one of these infernal things.