Screaming Meanie Review

[Colin24]

I did an SS1000 on the way to the EOM rally this year. At around 5 in the morning I had to stop and take a 1 hour power nap. So I found a nice comfy chunk of pavement and laid down for an hour. I was very concerned that I would oversleep but fortunately woke up an hour later nicely rested.

This got me thinking again about picking up a "Screaming Meanie" that I have heard recomended in LDR circles. So a few hours later when I was getting gas at a truck stop I decided to wander throught the store and see if they had one. Sure did. Paid the $29.95, packed it away in my gear and promptly forgot about it.

A week later and I am finally home and unpacking and find it at the bottom of my gear. I hunt around the house and find a battery and try it out.

Holy Crap is that F@$#er loud! :shout: My ears actually hurt while that thing was going off. If you want a truely sure fire way of waking up after a preset amount of time this is obviously the item to have. There is a disclaimer on the box that you shouldn't use it near graveyards since it will wake the dead. I believe them!

Definitely gonna bring this little puppy along on my next SS ride!

- Colin

 

[Bounce]

They rock!

 

[Ignacio]

Testing them at home makes the cat seriously second guess whether food, water, affection, and a warm place to sleep are remotely worth the racket. Mine left for two hours after I tried it on the "Wake the Dead" level.

 

[chickey191]

my very first rally started in Beatty, NV - and the rally hotel was a sort of flea bag joint. I remember waking up for the start of the rally because some guys screaming meanie went off -

several rooms away from mine -

on the floor above mine !

I have a meanie and it sits in a drawer. The reason it sits in a drawer is because I used it a couple of times and after it went off the first time (while laying on my chest while sleeping on the ground at a truck stop) it caused my ears to bleed !

Since that time I would always set the thing and would always wake up BEFORE the timer went off because I was afraid the damned thing would ruin whats left of my hearing.

I'm a pretty heavy sleeper, but I've found that the old standby radio shack timer taken off the bike and laid down next to me while sleeping is usualy sufficient. If it isn't sufficient - then I need the sleep anyway and have no business riding any longer.

 

[etz]

This got me thinking again about picking up a "Screaming Meanie" that I have heard recomended in LDR circles. So a few hours later when I was getting gas at a truck stop I decided to wander throught the store and see if they had one. Sure did. Paid the $29.95, packed it away in my gear and promptly forgot about it.

Did you get the Screaming Meanie 110 or 220? The 220 is supposedly some 10 decibels louder, but thankfully comes with a low-medium-high switch for when you don't need full bore noise (as opposed to a 2 position volume). It's also got a bit larger screen and the ability to set a target time as opposed to just a countdown timer.

I bought a 220 some years ago, but have never actually felt the need to use and rely on it in ernest. I have used it a few times, but it was more just testing.... I could've just used a regular alarm clock or whatever.

It's a neat device, and very effective, but I was sort of disappointed in the feel of it. It feels sort of cheap and flimsy, and also it seems unnecessarily large. I also didnt like that when you use it in alarm clock mode, it forgets the target time once you reach it. If I'm on a multi-day trip and I like to get up at say 5:30, then I would like it to remember that setting so the next night I don't have to re-set it. I realize that it's because the alarm set time is linked to the countdown timer, so when the countdown reaches zero, it's done.

One more thing.... I recall that if the alarm is set to sound at 6:00, it will actually sound at 5:45 with the option to use the snooze button a few more times in 5 minute intervals. But when you reach 6:00, snooze is disabled and you'd better remember the series of buttons needed to stop it. I resorted to using the pull-the-battery method. Anyway my point is that if you intend to sleep for X hours or until Y time, you are actually going to get X-15 (Y-15). Maybe you want to purposefully set the target time to X+15, since it's entirely unlikely that you will be able to sleep after the first warning round's adrenaline kicks in.

Funny thing though was when I read one of the Ron Ayres books (Against the Clock or whichever one it was), he found that he was losing sleep worrying that the Screaming Meanie might fail during the night so he vowed to get and use a second one as a backup. Wow.

 

[Bounce]

I have the Screamin' Beekin and Beekin' Light. This was the precursor to the 220. It lets you set the alarm as a count-down timer like the Meanie but also as a regular alarm clock. It also has low/medium/high volume settings. What it has that the 220 doesn't is the ability to attach a (very bright) strobe to it. The strobe can be used for emergencies as a road marker or can be set for long-term operation when attached to the Beekin'. As a pair the strobe goes off for a while, snoozes, then goes off again (along with the sound of the Beekin'). Neat but not something I've ever had to use.

I have a 220 still in the blister pack for when the Beekin' croaks. At 8 or 9 years of age, it doesn't seem to be close at hand.

The trick to operating any of these is that, if you can't operate them you need more sleep.

 

[Colin24]

Did you get the Screaming Meanie 110 or 220? The 220 is supposedly some 10 decibels louder, but thankfully comes with a low-medium-high switch for when you don't need full bore noise (as opposed to a 2 position volume).

I got the 110. Knowing how loud the 110 is I don't think I need an extra 10 db.

The trick to operating any of these is that, if you can't operate them you need more sleep.

At first I was a bit taken aback by the non-intuitive method to turn the alarm off. Three separate buttons. I was concerned that it might go off and I wouldn't be able to turn it off. Then I realized thats the point. It forces you to _really_ wake up and turn it off, not just slap the "snooze" button and go back to sleep like I have done so many times at home.

- Colin