[time-nuts] Another "atomic" clock question

[Steve]

I have several "atomic" clocks in my home -- the consumer type which 
syncs up with WWVB. The ones I have happen to be manufactured by 
LaCrosse. They are analog clocks with hour, minute and second hands. 
They can be erratic.

Last year I had to remove the face from one of them and manually reset 
the second hand. Now another one's battery ran down and I replaced it, 
but after replacing the battery the second hand won't sync up. And once 
in a while the second hand will stop and go one second backward! And 
another clock would not run at all with a new battery, so I hooked it up 
to the bench power supply and it worked as expected. Put a battery in it 
and it took off and is still going!

I see other brands on the internet. Do other brands exhibit the 
occasional goofy behavior? Anyone have experience with these clocks to 
suggest which manufacturers produce less flaky clocks? I think I'd pay 
more money for a better clock to get away from the vagaries of LaCrosse.

Thanks.

Steve, K8JQ