Philips SmartSleep Wake-up Light 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.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A great way to wake up more naturally I really like this Philips alarm clock! The sunrise feature is probably my favorite because the light gradually gets brighter before the alarm, so waking up feels much less abrupt than being jolted awake by a loud alarm. I also like that you can choose between different nature sounds, and the clock has two separate alarm settings, which is really convenient. The snooze feature is easy to use, and the light gets surprisingly bright if you want to use it as a bedside light. The overall design is clean and easy to use, and I really like having all of these features in one clock instead of relying on my phone. It feels like a much nicer way to start the morning, especially if you're not a fan of harsh alarms. Definitely happy with this purchase!

I've had this wake-up light for about 2 months, and my overall impression is that it's great. With that being said, there are definitely some things to note if you plan on purchasing this item. 1. Why is it so much more expensive than the other wake-up lights out there? As far as I can tell, what you're paying for is the fact that the light starts a deep orange, and fades into a brighter white. The cheaper versions of this light (by Philips and others) only have the white light. The orange does create more of a "sunrise" feeling that the other lamps likely do not. I would guess the technology to have this lamp make the seamless transition from orange to white is why the cost is so much higher. Otherwise, the features seem to be mostly the same from model to model. 2. Are the controls really as confusing as everyone says in the reviews? YES. I am pretty tech savvy, and have all kinds of complex gadgets around the house. However, this one tested my patience. The interface and all of the controls are not very user friendly. There is no way you would successfully set this lamp up without the user manual. (and even then, the manual can be a bit confusing) There are bunch of settings that require tedious menu scrolling to figure out. Including the time the alarm goes off, the length of time it takes for the light to get to full brightness, and how bright you want the light to be (on a scale that you have no frame of reference for... how bright is level 20? How dim is level 1? Will it be bright enough to wake you up? You won't know until you try). After you've figured out all of that, you'll need to decide which sound you want to wake up to after the light has reached full brightness. There are five options, and once you choose one, you'll have to pick a sound level (Again, on a weird scale. Seems like 1-10 is pretty universal, but no...they've gone with 1-20 on this one as well) There are other options you can adjust as well, like the fall asleep timer, which dims the light from full brightness to off in a pre-determined time you've chosen in the menu. (again, lots of scrolling and confusing levels) With all of that being said... once you have figured out your preferred "wake up profile," turning the alarms on or off, or changing the time on the alarm is pretty simple. It's all of the steps leading up to that point that are tricky. Once I settled on my particular wake-up profile, it's been pretty easy to use, and I love not being startled awake by a loud sound. I always wake up before the sound starts playing, which is nice. Another thing to note is the snooze function. There is no snooze button to press. It says to just tap on the front of the light. However, you'll need to figure out the right amount of force to make it snooze. Too light, and nothing happens. It must be based on some sort of vibration, because I've found that even if I smack the table that the lamp is on, that also activates the snooze. Something to know about the snooze: It only snoozes the sound, not the light. You can turn off the light, and the sound portion of the alarm will still work in snooze mode. They are separate functions, and don't really impact one another. You can set the time it takes the lamp to get to full brightness between 20 and 40 minutes. Which means that your lamp will be at full brightness by the time you have the alarm set for. If you have the length at 30 minutes, and your alarm is set for 7am... the lamp will start to turn on at 6:30am, and slowly light up until 7am, at which point, the sound will begin playing. You may also find that you are waking up at a certain point in the lamp's brightness, and it may be earlier or later than you want. If your lamp is set to be at full brightness at 7am, you'll likely be awake before that. Which, you might not want. This is a personal preference thing, and takes some time to adjust and get used to. Overall, this wake-up lamp has really made getting up in the morning easier. The gradual light fading from orange to white has never startled me awake, and I find the slow process of being gently awoken to be refreshing. The choice of sounds that play at the end of the alarm are nice, and soothing, and not jarring at all. (you can also use the radio, but I haven't done that). This light was expensive, but I'm glad I bought. Yes the controls are a pain to navigate and figure out. But, once you've got that all set it's pretty easy to use. I have no idea what would happen if the power went out... if I had to re-learn how to set this all up again, I may go mad. I recommend this lamp, but know that you'll be in for some complicated set up.

Great dawn simulator alarm clock. I've used some form of dawn simulator for over 30 years and they keep me functional in Alaska in the winter. The Philips clocks are reliable, adequately bright, and they do all the essential things. Philips is a reliable company that does things like UL listing, and so it is reasonably unlikely that this clock will start a fire. The interface for the clock is fine. It's very easy to change the alarm time. I can customize the length of the sunrise. The sunset feature is very pleasant and I can customize the sunrise. The top snooze tap area is well done, and it silences the sound but does not dim the light. Please allow me to save you a small annoyance. After setting the alarm time, alarm sound, and other alarm settings, you can run a Demo/Test cycle which goes through the process in 90 seconds. At the end of that test cycle, the clock will turn on the radio. If you go back through and make sure that you have selected the nature sounds, rather than the radio, for the alarm sound, and run the test cycle again... the clock will turn on the radio at the end. However, when the alarm goes off for real (rather than a test cycle)... it will turn on the sounds that you selected. If you don't want to wait til tomorrow morning to find out if that works, just set the alarm for 30 minutes in the future. This information isn't in the manual, or I am somehow missing it. I hope this prevents you from experiencing mild frustration while trying to customize your alarm settings. Philips also cautions you against replacing the light. (The light should not die anytime soon. My last Philips clock light made it for over 13 years.) However, if you or a friend have some skills as far as repairs/builds go and are good at searching for information, you can in fact order a replacement bulb from The Internet, go through the mildly tricky process of opening the clock, and replace the bulb.

I am very frugal and don't care about fancy tech so I hemmed and hawed over this purchase for a while. I also did my research on sunrise clocks before going with the Philips, this one was very highly rated. One of the selling points for me was that it started with a natural red light that eased into orange then yellow, whereas other cheaper lamps just do a low yellow light before getting brighter. I actually have a sun lamp, tied to my Alexa, that turns on when my alarm goes off. But that's just no light to on immediately, no graduality, and it's not nearly as bright. It doesn't have anything near the effect/benefits this one did, so I think quality here matters. Initial set up isn't too complicated but it is a bit lengthy. You can set up two alarm "profiles" so you can set a weekend and weekday alarm profile. I'll also note - information is saved when unplugged, up to 8 hours. You can also use it just as a lamp when needed, which I like for reading/writing in bed. I was frustrated during set up because I set the natural sounds (as opposed to FM) as my wake up noise. When I would test the alarm (there's a 90sec preview feature) it would play FM static. I went back and checked my selections multiple times, even tried setting the noise as FM thinking they were reversed, nothing worked. I googled it to find a solution and apparently there were a lot of people with the same problem! Well, I went to bed and left the alarm set and set a back up alarm on my phone. Color me pleasantly surprised, but when the alarm went off it did in fact use the natural noises I had selected. Must just be a bug with the preview alarm feature. I also woke up immediately to the natural noises (bird song). Now, I am a relatively light sleeper, but I always use the harsh beeps on my alarms and often hit snooze and cycle through a couple before I'm willing to physically get up. I woke up to this alarm immediately and felt great. If you tap the top, it snoozes (light but no noise) for 10 minutes, you can press menu to stop the alarm noises without snoozing. Despite sleeping 7 1/2 hours as opposed to my preferred 9, I woke up feeling ready to go and my eyes didnt hurt the way they always do when I wake up. I am a frugal person but waking up every morning refreshed is worth the $115. I may actually be able to go back to sleeping just 8 hours. I also tried the sunset feature to fall asleep, I set it to just 10 minutes. Falling asleep for me is hit or miss, sometimes its quick sometimes I lie awake for hours. I fell asleep before the 10 minutes was up, but whether that's because of the sunset feature or because the night before had been NYE so I didn't get much sleep, I can't really say. But it doesnt hurt to have the option and I like that it's putting my body back to a more natural rhythm. Summary: The preview feature may not play the correct noise, but at least for me the regular alarm did correctly use the noise option I selected. I like that it starts with a natural red -> orange -> yellow light, as opposed to the cheap-o models that just used yellow light. Upon use- I woke up immediately to the alarm. I immediately felt awake, as opposed to super groggy and grumpy like I normally do. I had less sleep than I normally do but still felt more refreshed and awake than I usually do. Overall, I consider this a huge win and absolutely worth the $115.

It's an alarm clock. The alarm, with it's gentle light and optional bird sounds, is amazing. The clock, a subtle orange color that adapts to ambient brightness, is fine. But who in their right mind puts alarm clock buttons around the outer edge of a round clock??? It takes two hands to hold the clock still while you turn off the alarm, a hefty expectation from a lying position when you just woke up. AND you can't acknowledge the alarm with a single button -- silencing the sound, suppressing the light, and leaving the alarm set for the next day takes two button clicks. On the upside, the complicated process of turning off the alarm clock ensures you are completely awake.

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.

Although I had to knock off one star for the clunky controls and settings for this wake up light, I have to say that I really love using it. I got tired of waking up to annoying cell phone alarms for years, and wanted to check out this method. It really makes a huge difference using this, because you are not jolted awake with a sense of panic or urgency. You just have the light, which slowly turns on and begins brightening over the course of 30 minutes before the time you set it to wake you. Usually, this is enough to wake me up on its own and I turn it off before the auditory part of the alarm even goes off. But if you wait until it does go off, you wake to the peaceful sound of birds chirping and it feels like you are in nature. You have other options for the audio but that one is my favorite. This was $89.95 when I bought it (it's gone up since then to $108.95 at the time of writing this review), which I still consider expensive for an alarm clock with a light. But I absolutely love it and would buy it again.

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。

First a little back story. I grew up with no sleep discipline. As a kid I’d go to bed whenever I was tired and as a teen I often fell asleep past midnight and woke up much past noon. I was also drowsy all the time. With the wake-up light my energy levels are more balanced. Getting out of bed is no longer as dreadful as it used to be (I’m even a morning person now!). I find I’m generally more awake in the morning and my “wakefulness” gradually decreases until I’m in bed again. This wake-up light won’t magically allow you to run on less sleep though. I’m still tired if I sleep for 6 hours when I generally need ~7.5 hours but I won’t feel like I was just hit over the head by a hammer. I found that placing the lamp on my dresser gave me better results because it lit up my whole bed. I can’t hide from the light unless I go under the blanket. When I had the light positioned on my bedside table I found I could roll over and ignore the light. I find the light itself pleasing. I like how the color of the light changes from an orange/red to white light. I do wish it was brighter. I use the highest brightness setting (20) and my room will still “feel” dark when I wake up. This could be because I have it positioned further away. I don’t use the sound alarms. They were pleasing at first but I found my phone alarm worked better for me in terms of actually waking me up and in terms of flexibility. The side buttons can be hard to get used to since they are relatively close together and they feel similar. It took me about a month to commit to muscle memory. When unplugged the clock will forget the time and clock style (12h vs 24h) but it will remember everything else (brightness, alarm times, sound settings etc). The price is high but Amazon has sales every so often making it an easier pill to swallow. This is a great alarm clock and I recommend to everyone who has a hard time waking up in the morning. It really has changed my life for the better.

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.

Acabado elegante, cumple con todas las funciones, es fácil de usar, el despertar lo hace menos rudo que con cualquier despertador, tampoco hace milagros jajaja pero es imposible que no notes que ya empezó a funcionar. Estaba entre este y su opción más cara pero por los comentarios mencionaban que las mejoras del nuevo no eran tan prácticas, con este estoy muy satisfecha, no le he notado ningún problema y ya llevo mas de 2 meses de usarlo.