Philips SmartSleep Wake-up Light, Colored Sunrise and Sunset Simulation, 5 Natural Sounds, FM Radio & Reading Lamp, Tap Snooze, HF3520/60

Read this if you are NOT a morning person. Disclaimer: ahead is an unnecessarily lengthy and entirely over exaggerated description of a mediocre moment in my life. Enjoy! This week I decided I needed a change. I began my search for something refreshing to kick start my mornings. So, I bought a new alarm clock called the Wake Up Light. If you don't know what I'm talking about, prepare to be amazed, dear friend. It's an orb shaped apparatus that you set to the desired wake up time just like a regular alarm clock. However, unlike the traditional concept of inducing a mild heart attack with harsh blaring or ringing, this one will gently wake you by emitting light. This starts 30 minutes before you need to get out of bed and take charge of your life. At the beginning, it starts out as a soft red glow, and gradually increases over those 30 minutes into a bright white light. The idea is for this to simulate a sunrise. Pretty fancy, right? In the words of the great Billy Mays (may he Rest In Peace) "BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!" This fantastically designed sphere of happiness gives you 5 peaceful alarm options to choose from as well. I chose the birds chirping, because who doesn't want to wake up feeling like Snow White surrounded by her fuzzy critter friends? I am 100% serious when I say that I felt just like that this morning. I wanted to go outside and dance in the puddles while wearing a dress made of rose petals hand stitched by fairies, meanwhile spinning around in circles and singing to all of the cute little forest dwellers. Side note: I don't actually live anywhere near the forest, but you get the point. Before this wonderful ball of light entered my life in an Amazon Prime box by the front door, I was absolutely appalled by my iPhone alarm sounding off every morning. Why? Well, I'm so glad you asked! Simply because every evening, I would beg my iPhone to wake me at 6:30 the following morning. I would open my clock app and politely slide the small grey buttons, revealing a green bubble that indicated my request had been processed and approved. However, despite my nightly requests, the iPhone failed me time after time. (I hate to break it to you Apple, but your alarms are ineffective and no match for a heavy sleeper like me.) Eventually, the amount of green lights illuminating from my cellular device became excessive and quite frankly, annoying. In order for me to wake up at 6:30, my alarms began going off at 5:00 and continued in 5-10 minute increments. I know what you're thinking, and yes, it was absolutely necessary to set that many alarms. Even so, my mornings usually began with my barely open eyes searching for the small rectangle of malevolence called "Audrey's iPhone". My sleepy eyes along with my sheet creased arms would move in unison on the bedside table to try and locate the device. My finger eagerly detected and pressed the side button demanding it cease production of the vile screeches overflowing into my bedroom and filling my ears. Once I had triumphantly silenced the alarms, I would squint at the clock with my tangled hair obstructing my already blurred vision. With hopes of seeing the screen display 6:30, I would be crushed by the reality that I had once again overslept. 7:00 would begin mocking me on the screen, as I fumbled through the dark reciting my traditional panicked morning chant, "Oh, no I'm going to be so late!" This every morning routine was beginning to have a negative impact on my poor husband as well. I am sure he was losing sleep because of this, even though he would never admit it. Not to mention, the funky intro to Brass Monkey on repeat can bring even the biggest Beastie Boys fan to the point of nearing a psychotic break, but I digress. Today was different. Even though I went to sleep at the ungodly hour of 2:00, this morning was an awakening accompanied by true peace and serenity. The light began its ascent to full illumination at 6:00. Although I did not stir at this point, I sat up fully awake at exactly 6:16. This glorious clock had not even fully completed the process of gently pulling me away from my dream, yet there I was, awake, baffled, and overwhelmed with joy. I attempted to fall back asleep and indulge in the remaining 14 minutes of sleep, but, alas, I could not. This clock had defeated me. Without a single shred of resentment toward my new favorite device, I left the comfort of my bed, and let the dogs outside with a smile on my face. I was ready to conquer this Friday, and I had my new alarm to thank for it. No longer are my days of sleeping past the time I should have already been on my way to work. No longer are my days of distaste for the iPhone. No longer are the days I wake up startled and confused. Thank you, Philips for your wonderful, life changing creation. If you are anything like me, please do yourself a favor and purchase one of these immediately. Seriously, you will (obviously) not regret it.

I purchased this sunrise simulator alarm clock almost 5 and a half years ago (September 2016). I am happy to see it is still available on Amazon. The price doesn't appear to have changed much, but perhaps that's just because this thing is so great!! I use this every day. This gives you the option for two alarm settings, so I have one set for weekdays and another set for weekends. My wake-up sound of choice? Birds chirping. There are a few other serene sounds you can choose as well. About a half hour before your alarm is set to go off, the sunrise simulator starts up. It starts with a dull, deep red and gradually gets brighter, then goes orange and gradually gets brighter and more golden, then it starts going white the brighter it gets until your alarm goes off. When the alarm goes off, it starts off quiet and gradually gets louder. You can choose how loud you want the alarm to get. You have three options at this point. You can either press the alarm button to reset it for the next day, press the alarm button twice to shut off the alarm completely until you press it again to turn it back on, or you can tap the clock (or the table it's sitting on, which is what I do) for it to snooze for 9 minutes. It will snooze for up to an hour before resetting itself for the next day. You will have to turn the light off yourself regardless of which option you choose. I do wish the alarm didn't auto shut off after an hour though, but I think the reason behind it is in case you forget to hit the alarm button to reset it or shut it off. I've done this on occasion and came back into my room after a shower with the alarm going off, but it will shut itself off eventually. This is not a smart device, in that it doesn't connect to wifi or bluetooth. You will have to change the clock twice a year for daylight saving time. I don't usually use the radio, but I have bumped the button a few times to know it works. It does come with an attached antenna as well, which is just a thin rubber coated wire. I don't typically use the sunset/sleep setting to really have anything to say about it other than it works. One thing I like about the clock display is it auto brightens and auto dims according to the room's light setting. The clock is dull enough when the lights are out that it won't bother you if you're trying to sleep and the clock will brighten in sunlight or when the lights are on so you can see it better. Also, you're able to choose the clock to display a 24 hour clock or 12 hour clock (00:01 to 23:59 or 12:00-11:59am to 12:00-11:59pm). I also use this as a bedside lamp as well, if I've got the TV on or if I'm reading a book. I like that there are 20 brightness settings. It can also be used as a night light. One con is trying to navigate the buttons. It's tougher when the light is at full brightness because you can't see the buttons very well. There are three buttons together at the top left for brightness down, light on/off, and brightness up. There is a small brail-type dot on the on/off button but it's not noticeable enough not to accidently change the brightness when you're trying to turn it off. You more or less need to close your eyes and let your sense of touch figure it out for you. It's really not that big of a deal though, just a little annoying. The only time I've bumped the radio button or the sunset button is because I don't always use the second alarm and I'm trying to figure out which button is which. Overall, I love this thing! It really works, though nothing will ever be as good as actually waking up to the sun coming in. This is a particularly important tool to have if you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or have blackout curtains because you work midnight shifts, or maybe you're just not a morning person. Waking up to a nature sound is a nice touch too. I want to make note that some reviews have mentioned not being able to replace the light bulb or the light stops working in 2-3 years... again, I have had this for 5 years and 4 months now and I have never had the light stop working. It's still going strong. And I use this 5-7 days per week and have since I purchased it. The only things about it I wish were different are making the buttons easier to navigate when the light is bright (best way I can do this now is turning the brightness down before trying to discover the on/off button) and I wish the clock changed automatically in accordance to Daylight Saving Time. If anything does happen to this one, though, I will most definitely be purchasing another. Update January 2026: 7 months shy of 10 years... it died. I got up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, turned on the light on the sunrise simulator which I keep set low like a nightlight, took a few steps towards my bedroom door, and it turned off. No clock either. I had been noticing the past maybe 2 weeks that it had been making the clicking sound it makes when you press the menu buttons. I heard it maybe twice when I was in bed and they were lit up like they'd been touched. Perhaps that was my warning that it was about to go. I've come back here to purchase another - either an upgraded one or the same one. I don't really see any upgraded ones... and this one has increased in price by 50%!! Although I don't want anything but another of these, I will be looking at other brands and weigh my options. Breaks my heart to say that, actually.... but a replacement is a MUST.

I purchased this light in 2015 upon moving to Boston. I've never been a morning person and noticed that it was much easier for me to wake up on days when the sun was up early than long winter days in New England. A friend stated she used this light to "become a morning person" so I decided to give it a try. HOW IT WORKS This unit requires a cord--batteries are not an option. You have custom settings for the duration of the "sunrise" (20-40 minutes), as well as options for no actual alarm noise, a radio station, or five nature sounds (birds, forest sounds, piano, water, and garden noises). You can adjust the volume of the sound you've selected, and when it's time for the alarm, it starts off quieter then builds quickly to that volume. If you set that you want the sunrise option to take 20 minutes, the SUNRISE WILL BEGIN 20 minutes PRIOR to when you've set your alarm to sound, so you will be up at the time you've selected. SNOOZE is an option, which if activated, you can initiate by touching the reactive face of the lamp (the light portion). The light stays on after pressing the snooze option, which will sound again after 9 minutes (this time is NOT adjustable) until you turn off the alarm or reset it for the next day. A gentle touch anywhere on the face of the light puts the alarm in snooze mode. You have the option of two preset alarm times, and can also adjust the brightness of the clock face (which is red on mine, not the yellow-orange shown in the photos). Once set, you can preview what your choices will be like in a much quicker timeline using "demonstrate" mode. This is a nice feature to make sure you've set the sounds options to a high enough setting you'll be able to hear, and that the light is neither too light or too dark. When you've set up your profile for alarm A and alarm B, all you have to do to initiate all the choices you've made is press a single button on either the left or right side of the light to turn them on. SETTING THE ALARM FOR THE NEXT DAY There seems to be confusion in the comments about having to set the sunrise features above every night before use, but once your personal preferences are entered it's as easy as any normal alarm: 1) Press the option you've set up (A and/or B), 2) Sleep, 3) Turn alarm off and get up. You don't have to re-set the "sunrise" timing and brightness every night before you use the alarm. TURNING OFF THE ALARM When you are ready to get up, you can press the alarm button, the FM button, or the Menu button to deactivate the alarm. I personally use the alarm button because it's the easiest for me to tap quickly. If you chose the alarm button, you'll need to reset it again that night (or just press it twice so it deactivates then resets). The light stays on when pressing the alarm button as well, so I leave it on while gathering my things during the morning, and then turn it off as I leave the room by pressing the sun symbol on the top of the alarm. I've read that the other two buttons turn it off without deactivating it, but I've gotten into the habit of using the alarm button and don't see myself changing that. ADDITIONAL FEATURES The alarm can be used as a normal room lamp, and on the brightest setting is light enough to illuminate the entire room (the brightness is adjustable, if you like it dimmer at night). There is a "sleep" option which allows you to select a time you'd like for the light to turn itself off. If you're prone to reading before bed and falling asleep while doing so, like me, this is a nice option. LIGHT COLOR The sunrise feature does cycle through the colors mentioned in the description (red, orange, yellow). The lightest color is a little softer than the harsh white they show in the photos and is more a very slightly off-white. WAKING SPOUSE While my husband was still working in a nearby town the time it takes for the "sunrise' to happen and the alarm to finally sound wasn't an issue at all, but he's an extremely light sleeper and that means he always gets woken up 20 minutes prior to whenever I need to get up because he's awake the moment the light starts to come on (I have the duration set at 20 minutes). He has used the alarm in the morning too though, and it didn't wake me up from his side of the bed, but I'm both not a morning person and a heavy sleeper. He doesn't mind it because he's naturally a morning person and an early riser. If your husband isn't, or if they get to bed much later than you do, I don't know how they'd like this. If they aren't a light sleeper, like I am, they might still be okay, but I'd keep the box that first night just to make sure it works out. BECOMING A MORNING PERSON I do think this light has made the transition to an earlier morning much easier than when I did so with a normal alarm. I don't awake as groggy as before, and actually get up MUCH earlier than my earliest wake time prior to getting this alarm. I feel more rested when it finally sounds so I'm less likely to hit snooze a bunch of times, as the light in the room is also already on, which further pushes me into getting out of bed. I slowly dialed back the alarm in 15-20 minute intervals every 2-3 days to and managed to go from a 7AM alarm (rolling out of bed at 7:30AM) to a wake time of 4:50AM without any real difficulty and without going to sleep any earlier than before. This was particularly helpful during the dark mornings from November to March. This isn't really a comment on the light, but I like having the extra time in the morning. I do laundry in a busy building without having to wait, I prep for coming home so I don't have more obligation waiting for me after a long day at work, and I get to spend a little extra time with my husband, who has always been a morning person. CONS Because this alarm works best when it's relatively close to the sleeper, and level with the bed, one person is going to get a better experience using the sunrise feature than the other, even with the two alarms set. Having the option to set the days of the week, not just two time options would be nice. I still get up pretty early on the weekends, but it would be nice for it to automatically transition from "A" to "B" based on the day of the week. This is pretty minor, considering it's just a second button, but if that is already set for a spouse's wake time, it means resetting one of the two preset options. A cordless/ battery powered option would also be nice, considering not everyone has convenient plugs right next to their bed. A slightly longer cord would also accomplish the same thing. These few things are what dropped it from a five star product, to a four star for me. RECOMMEND? If you're looking for something to make getting up a smoother transition, I'd recommend this product, and if given the chance, it's something I would repurchase.

Originally purchased my Philips SmartSleep, years ago, in order to awaken with light and it does a great job of this. However, the true bonus turned out to be the pleasant efficacy of its sunset simulator go-to-sleep feature. Imagine a light that not only dims over time but also reddens as it dims, and goes through the sort of pinkish-orangish red reminiscent of beautiful sunsets, providing a pre-sleep ambience whose gradually diminishing intensity and simultaneously increasingly red hue does indeed physiologically prepare you to go to sleep. Another Philips SmartSleep plus is that it has intuitive integral controls, ideal for simply winding down without needing to use a screen and/or app in order to set it. While app-based products may offer more proverbial bells and whistles, they also inevitably lengthen the time required to get to sleep... sometimes even defeating the purpose via temptation for just one more text/email message, just one more social.media refresh, just one more news scroll-through, and so on, for however many minutes or hours. The only thing that could be better about the Philips SmartSleep would be if it had a touch-to-activitate nightlight mode, whereby touching anywhere (or, at least, a very large and centrally located button) would either provide a dim reddish light or turn it off. Although easy enough to turn on and off using small buttons while one is awake, this isn't necessarily ideal human factors engineering for the semi-awake, semi-coordinated. Finally, other than this potential improvement, the Philips SmartSleep is well-designed, effective, well-made, and well worth the nightstand real estate it elegantly occupies. While initially shopping, opted for this based on its features, design, and manufacturer -- a decision that has thus far resulted in several years of reliable usage. And, as mentioned, purchased to enable waking-to-light, and soon found that its *sunset* simulation sleep feature was just as pleasant, if not perhaps more so, than the sunrise simulation wake-up. Dividing its cost by the number of days in use, and considering the value of waking up to light, plus being able to add sunset simulation as a pre-sleep cue, Originally purchased my Philips SmartSleep, years ago, in order to awaken with light and it does a great job of this. However, the true bonus turned out to be the pleasant efficacy of its sunset simulator go-to-sleep feature. Imagine a light that not only dims over time but also reddens as it dims, and goes through the sort of pinkish-orangish red reminiscent of beautiful sunsets, providing perfect ambiance for one's journey into restful sleep. Another Philips SmartSleep plus is that it has integral controls, ideal for just winding down without having to use a screen and/or app in order to set it. The only thing that could be better about the Philips SmartSleep would be if it had a touch-to-activitate nightlight mode, whereby touching anywhere (or, at least, a very large and centrally located button) would either provide a dim reddish light or turn it off. Although easy enough to turn on and off using small buttons while one is awake, this isn't ideal human factors engineering for the semi-awake. Other than this potential improvement, the Philips SmartSleep is well-designed, effective, well-made, and well worth the nightstand real estate it elegantly occupies. Since it's used daily, this product's cost became rather negligible over time (price divided by number of days over however many years), and its reliability has proved positively priceless.

Since this product has already been reviewed over sixteen hundred times and some quite thoroughly (thank you!), I'll keep this review short (for me). This has been one of our favorite purchases we own here from Amazon! I'll mention a few things that I think vary from what I remember reading (and I read a TON or reviews, lol) and am uploading some photos so you can get a closer look and see what I mean... First, I read some frustrations about not being able to set the time or alarms without accessing the buttons from above. I'm able to set the time and alarm times via the touch buttons on the front, below the time (see photo where buttons are lit). You can also use the upper buttons but don't have to for everything. The only thing you have to use the upper buttons for (in relation to setting alarms) is to turn an alarm off or on. For us, this isn't a daily event since we usually get up at the same times so no big deal. Second, I was under the impression from the reviews that this thing would be kind of huge but I guess that depends on what you consider large, lol. I posted a photo with it next to some small alarm clocks and a bill to give you an idea of it's size. For us, it replaces both an alarm clock and a lamp on a nightstand so it's not too large. Other than that, my wishes are few. I wish it included AM radio and didn't remember reading that it didn't (but I wasn't likely thinking I'd miss it). Sometimes I miss a little talk radio but other technology obviously suffices. Like others mention, the buttons above are out of sight from the front. Call me crazy, lol, I used a Sharpie to mark lines where the buttons are. (There's no reason for my using different colors except that I added the red lines later and that's what I had handy.) Feeling around for the buttons when you want to turn the light or radio on, off, up or down, is just annoying. When I finally buy a yellow or orange Sharpie it'll look more like sun rays, haha... And rubbing alcohol rubs it right off anyway. The last two photos show all of the upper buttons, all the way around. Lastly, the snooze sensitivity is too high for my preference. If I set down a cup of coffee near it, during the alarm time, it snoozes the radio off. I could change the settings for no snooze but I like waking up to radio and having the option of touching it for more quiet time. If I softly close a drawer below it, same thing, it snoozes. I'm generally not this generous with 5 star ratings but overall I think the good heavily outweighs the bad and I definitely love this product. We've had ours for 5 months without problems but I'll update this review if anything changes. We live in the grey Seattle area and the sunshine this thing brings us makes it the best alarm we've owned. Smile. Buy with confidence. Hope this is helpful!

After reading all the reviews about poor design and an extremely complicated set-up, I was a little worried about getting this (because it's so much money to just throw away on something). Now that I've gotten mine, it seems that either Phillips has completely redesigned the directions or everyone was being extremely sarcastic and I didn't realize it. They honestly couldn't make it any easier. It comes with a instruction manual and every page is a different component (i.e how to set an alarm, how to use the light, how to change the brightness) all with written step-by-step instructions as well as pictures. All you have to do is follow along. The only (and I mean ONLY) thing that could slightly screw someone up is that instructions on changing from a 24-hour clock to a 12-hour clock comes after "how to set an alarm" in the manual and should come before, that way you don't have to go back and re-set your alarm. In total, set-up probably took me about 10 minutes tops. The argument about design is also extremely over exaggerated. Yes, the buttons are around the outside of the "circle". None are below the lower half, so the comment on having to pick it up to reach a button doesn't make sense, they are all easily accessible. They are also in my opinion extremely intuitive as to what they do. The alarm button has a picture of an alarm clock. The light button has a picture of a sun with +/- buttons next to it to change brightness. The sound button is a music note with +/- buttons next to it to change volume. And the sunset timer has a little sleeping person on it. Those are the only buttons, so I'm not sure why there is so much confusion. To turn it on, click the alarm button. It will ask you to either confirm or change the time it has in the system and then it's set. To turn it off, click the alarm button. The light will stay on until you hit the light button. Why? Because this is a "sunlight simulator". To all of the people complaining that they can't snooze the light, that would kind of defeat the entire purpose of this product, wouldn't it? You can't snooze the sun in the morning. I bought this product because regular alarm clocks just were not working for me. My old pattern of trying to wake up was setting 3 randomly timed alarms over the course of an hour. When the first one would go off, I would naturally turn it off without even waking up (I wouldn't remember it going off later). When the second one would go off, I would be in that completely disoriented stage of sleep and turn off and go right back to sleep. When the third one would go off, I'm be slightly more awake and would turn it off. Then tell myself "I'll just close my eyes for a couple more minutes" and end up sleeping for another half hour before jolting awake because my body goes "wait, weren't we supposed to go to work today?" This was not a flawless plan. Then I tried setting an alarm across the room. I would wake up, get up and turn the alarm off and turn my lights on at the same time. With my eyes burning, I'd return to bed to "close my eyes while they adjust" only to fall back asleep for another half or whole hour. I've had the Phillips Wake-up light HF3520 for about a month now. My wake-up plan has definitely changed. I can now set the alarm for when I actually need to get up (not 1 hour before for cushion time) meaning that I get more sleep. The light itself wakes me up not fully, but to the point where I'm in that drowsy-half asleep state and fully aware that the day is about to start. I do still need sound to get me fully awake, so I use the radio function. When I open my eyes, they are already adjusted so I don't have that painful piercing burn that I used to get when I'd turn the lights on (and honestly it was worth the $115 just for that function). I turn off the alarm and keep the light on. If I went to bed really late the night before, I sometimes get the urge to lay there for a couple minutes. Unlike when I used to do this, this time I'm fully awake so I can't fall back asleep and just get to chill for a couple minutes. Most days I don't even need to do this, I'm ready to go as soon as I turn the alarm off. We'll see how long it lasts, it has a pretty good warranty so I'm not that worried. Honestly, after 5 years if it breaks I would 100% pay another $115 to replace it. Being able to wake up and not immediately fall back asleep is wonderful.

The wake up light itself is working great. Unfortunately, there are a few crucial design flaws. Overall I find the wake up light to be pleasant, well timed, and getting the job done in helping me wake up gradually. By the time the sound alarm goes off, I am either awake or very close to waking up. In that regard the light is working great and serves it primary function well. I also like the fall asleep function which gradually dims the light over whatever amount of time you set it to. Unfortunately, Philips dropped the ball some of the other design features. Display: There is no way to completely turn off the display. The brightness can be turned down but it cannot be completely turned dark. It always emits some light into the room. The clock already has a touch sensor for snoozing and a proximity sensor for lighting up the menu buttons on the front. It would have been very easy and inexpensive to let users turn off the display completely and wire either of these sensors to wake up the display on demand. Buttons: The buttons around the side are not viewable from the front. That means unless you memorize their exact location you have to turn the lamp around every time you want to turn on the light, adjust the brightness, select the alarm, turn on the radio, adjust the volume etc. It's awkward and inconvenient. Also once the alarm starts, there is no way to turn it off just for the day. You can either snooze it for 9 minutes by touching the front of the lamp or you can disable it completely by hitting the alarm button on the side. If you want the alarm to go off the next day you have to re-enable it by pressing the awkwardly located alarm button again Alarm: The alarm sounds are OK. Unfortunately, there is no way to add more so if you don't like any of the 5 preloaded ones and radio isn't your thing you're out of luck. You can pre-configure 2 alarms and switch between the two by enabling one or the other. There is no Mo-Fr option that lets you configure for what days you want which alarm to be enabled for. Radio: You cannot save more than one radio station. I like to turn on the radio after waking up and was glad this clock had a radio built in. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to switch between radio stations. You have to do it the old fashioned way and keep pressing up or down the frequency line until you get to the station you want. Automaticity: The clock does not automatically set time through it's radio connection. It also does not automatically adjust for daylight savings. I have had $10 alarm clocks before that automatically adjust for daylight savings, I don't know why this one doesn't. The clock also does not have a battery backup which means you have to reconfigure it every time it gets unplugged. I think most of the drawbacks I mentioned could have been an easy fix without adding considerably to the expense of the product. That's why I'm giving it 5 stars for it's performance as a wake up light and -2 for lack of features and design flaws.

This wakeup light had been on my wishlist for at least 13 years prior to purchase. I figured it would help me but was too expensive or felt too much of a risk. I tried more general purpose solutions like automated overhead lights and lamps, even bringing in happy lights by the bed to use upon waking. I’ve had the clock for two days now and I can tell a difference. Logically the most significant change in this vs some other light is how gradual the fade in is and perhaps the hue changes as it brightens. It goes from a reddish color to an orangy white and then to less orange. I think it lands somewhere in the 3500k color temp range at full brightness. The red hue is nearly imperceptible if you run the demo mode under regular lighting. I initially thought I had been sent the wrong product. If you run the demo in a dark room it should be visible. Even with the crazy bird noise as the default, I find myself actually feeling awake by the time I hear it. All my other alarms and light automation are still in play, but this little clock/wake up light seems to have filled a real gap. If this turns out to just be placebo or to wane, I will update this review, but I can tell you from years of experience not-having-this that generally I have some sleep paralysis or lethargy that makes it really hard to get moving first thing in the morning. I haven’t had that the past two days, even without sleeping my optimal number of hours. I’m still figuring out how to use it best. The controls seem pretty straightforward to me, except for turning the alarms on and off. To turn it “off” in the morning instead of snoozing, it seems you have to fully turn off a given alarm. Then if you want it on for tomorrow you have to turn it back on. I suppose you could just let it go off for an hour and time out? I wish it had an old school toggle switch for the alarm state, but that would change the all buttons design. Or heck, maybe just put a dismiss button in it to clear the current active alarm until its next trigger time. This can’t fully replace a lamp for most uses. It’s somewhat directional. That said the sunset type light fadeout is pretty neat. I think that could be a useful part of good sleep hygiene as it acts as a cue subconsciously of time passing and hinting that It’s time to sleep. I did try to buy an older model on eBay ~13 years ago and it was DOA. Some reviews here suggest these aren’t super reliable. Time will tell there. The build quality seems decent, the buttons both physical and capacitive work, and the light quality is decent. There’s no backup battery to remember the time or make the alarm go off during a power outage, but unplugging it and moving it to another room kept the time and settings. Perhaps a capacitor is on board. This model has 5 nature sounds and an FM tuner. I listened to the radio a bit and it was acceptable quality. For the alarm I just left it at the default birds chirping. It works well! This morning I set it later than my other alarms. I dismissed those because I have a day off and slept till this alarm alone woke me up. I was awake enough to not fall back asleep. It’s feels weird that this might have been an easy solution to a real problem that has plagued me for decades now. All my other practices and methods help too, but this was noticeable above and beyond those on the first use. I’m tempted to see if it can help me wake up much earlier, as I’ve never been a morning person. The first morning I used it, it was rainy outside and that’s how I realized /this/ must have made the difference. Rain at wakeup time is basically kryptonite. Even with overhead lights/lamps/etc having tons of clouds and rain is enough to make me sleep late before a painful last minute dose of adrenaline from panic gets me to jolt up in a bid to stay employed. No such problem… I got out of bed before 7 am! Update: 26-06-15, I've had this alarm about a month now and taken it on two trips with me. It appears it can keep the time at least for 3-4 hours in a suitcase. I had a slightly longer drive for the second trip and had to set the time on arrival, but honestly this is one of the easiest clocks to set the time on. It was worth it to take it on the trips. Some notes: To dismiss the alarm, I discovered what's likely the intended method by accident. If you press the sleep timer button twice (the same button for the sunset feature) it will dismiss the alarm and turn off the light without turning off the alarm completely so it's ready for the following day. I have slept through this light alarm a few times; in one case the elevation of the light relative to where my face was was insufficient, in the other my overall sleep routine had been off for other reasons. It's still a net win though for me. This alarm can "roll" if you have cats who like to jump up places. The light diffusion plate got scuffed up thanks to one of my cats knocking it off the nightstand. It still works fine though.

This is definitely the best purchase that I have made. I was hesitant because it is quite expensive for an alarm clock, especially when I have one for free on my phone, but it was well worth the money! This is definitely the best way to wake up in the morning. I use it every day and it is much more peaceful of a wake up than other alarm clocks. Also, it is especially great when you have to wake up at a time when it is still dark out as it lights your whole room and helps to make you believe it's time to get up. I've only used the night time sunset setting a couple of times but it actually seemed to work quite well. I think it might have helped put me to sleep and it makes me want to try that setting more often as well. There are a few things that I'm not so fond of. The light is quite bright and you need to look at it in order to see where the buttons are to turn it off. It's difficult to feel for the buttons, so if that could be fixed, it would solve this problem. Also, it came with a loose wire that is the antenna for the radio and I disliked this since I wasn't going to tape it to the was because that would be ugly. So, it just sits beside it in a bundle of wrapped up wire. I would prefer to see an internal antenna that we don't see or a real antenna on the back that could be pulled out if desired or just left in place. I do recommend this alarm clock and would buy one again.

Muy buen producto, si ayuda a despertar, pero es necesario tenerlo cerca de la cama. Buenos sonidos, buen nivel de luminosidad, y buena calidad. Tiene dos alarmas, yo una la uso para días laborales y la segunda para fines de semana. Las rayas en el video no se ven en persona.

Horribly expensive here in India. But cheaper than an air fare. I bought my original, glass, model (this one is plastic) in UK, but, after some years its buttons are failing. It is part of my wake-up life. Don't know how I could live without it. And, as I said, cheaper than an air fare. Is it worth it to YOU? At this price, probably not.

普段は朝日で目覚めるので、除雪や早朝出勤のために、冬の日の出前に起きるのが大変でした。 使った初日から、朝日で起きるのと同じ感覚で目覚めることができました。 大変いい商品です。

This thing is incredible. I've been using it for the past decade and it still works as well as when I first purchased it. It was so good, I purchased a second one to gift to my Mom. I wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. In comparison, on the mornings that I forget to set this alarm, my cellphone jolts me awake and I feel groggy as I open my eyes to a pitch black room. I love the memory function for the brightness. If I wake up to the washroom in the middle of the night, I turn it on, and it brightens the room with a the dull red light that I set it to previously. I highly recommend purchasing this. It is a game changer in the winter.