Lumie Bodyclock Glow 150 - Wake-up Light Alarm Clock with 10 Sounds and Sleep Sunset, White

I wasn’t sure whether to get the Lumie Bodyclock Glow 150 from a couple of the reviews but it’s brilliant! This one doesn’t have a radio so the speakers are fine for the wake up/sleep sounds, the sunrise/sunset colours are great, I like the display turns off at night and it's easy to use once you've got your head around the manual. Features/Pros: * Wake up or fall asleep to a realistic sunrise/sunset which gradually changes brightness/nicely fades over 20, 30 or 45 minutes * It really works to wake you up gently to a gradually lit room * 10 optional wake up/sleep sounds (other models have 15, 27 or 33 which seems like overkill) - Soft alarm beep - Birds (Lumie says tropical birds but sounds like tweeting and an owl) - Blackbirds (I found it the best one for waking up) - Background café chat (not great, sounds a bit like a train with the low rumbling background noise) - Bleeting goats with tweeting birds in background (a great one to use if you want to terrify yourself awake!) - Train - Thunderstorm (with background crickets, and sometimes sheep, on a loop of varying loudness) - would prefer gentle rain noise without sounds in background - Waves - Crickets (with very very quietly chirping birds in the background - wouldn’t have noticed if another reviewer hadn’t pointed it out) - White Noise * The display automatically turns off when it’s dark, which I really like and then will turn on again when a light goes on or it gets brighter (but you can set it to remain at low level via a switch on the base) * Small and stylish * To use as a bedside light, just use the plus and minus buttons to set desired light (don’t turn the sunset feature on or it will fade) * To use the fading sunset setting without the all-night night light: - When setting the alarm, choose option 0 for light setting (as that’s the night light setting not sunset setting) . - When you are ready to sleep FIRST use plus or minus to set your starting light level THEN turn the sunset alarm on - It will fade to no light over the set time duration from full brightness to nightlight/light off (will take less time if you hadn’t started at full brightness first). * You can set it to 12 or 24hr format, it’s just not in the instructions! - Whilst clock is off at the wall, press alarm, minus and sunset button simultaneously - Turn clock on at the wall and then let go of the buttons - Press plus or minus to switch between 12h and 24h - Hold centre button to choose your preferred option Things to be aware of/Possible Cons: * Is expensive for what it is * Set up can be a bit confusing, especially the sunset but it does say how to set everything up in the manual (see above too) * To use full 20/30/45 minute duration for sunset setting, you need to set it to max brightness first (which is bright for night time) - if you set it at level 3, it would take roughly half the expected duration to fade to night light/off * It’s a daily set alarm so you need to press the activate alarm button every night before bed (whereas the Shine and Luxe models also have weekly alarms) * If you get up at different times, when you set a new alarm time, you can’t just change the time, it cycles through all the settings (alarm time, light brightness, light duration, sound option, sound volume) * Snoozing is 9 minutes, which can’t be adjusted * Snoozing also turns the sounds AND light off and the light then increases again until the alarm goes off again so you can’t just turn the alarm sound off and leave the light on for 10 minutes. * It would be nice if some of the sounds could be quieter for bedtime use * I haven’t had any problem with the buttons not being backlit but others reviewers have if that bothers you Lumie Bodyclock Comparisons: Apart from the Sunrise Alarm, all the Bodyclock alarms have have varying lengths of sunrise/sunset duration with adjustable sunrise intensity, light-sensitive auto-dimming display, fully dimmable bedside light with nightlight option for fading light that stays on at low level or turns off, tap-control 9 minute snooze, integrated LED bulb with white, orange and red to mimic the colours of a real sunrise and sunset and daily alarm with optional alarm beep and 12 and 24hr clock. The differences between them are: * Luxe 750DAB - 15-90 minutes sunrise/sunset duration, also has low-blue white, blue-enriched white (low-blue light feature), also has weekly alarm, 33 sleep/wake sounds, USB-A, AUX input as well as Bluetooth speakers to play your own music or charge phone, DAB/DAB+ radio. * Luxe 700FM - 15-90 minutes of sunrise/sunset duration, also has low-blue white, blue-enriched white (low blue light feature), also has weekly alarm, 27 sleep/wake sounds, Bluetooth speakers to play your own music, FM radio. * Shine 300 - 15–90 minutes of sunrise/sunset duration, also has weekly alarm, 15 sleep/wake sounds, FM radio * Glow 150 - 20, 30 or 45 minutes of sunrise/sunset duration, 10 sleep/wake sounds * Spark 100 and Rise 100 - 30 minutes of sunrise/sunset duration (I can’t tell the difference in function except the look) * Sunrise Alarm - 30 minutes sunrise and sunset duration, 10 levels of white light for dimmable bedside lighting, 6 colours for mood lighting, manual dimmable display (high-low-off), 6 wake sounds (alarm beep, blackbird, goats, kittens, osprey, tree frogs), daily alarm, 5 minute snooze button

living in a city centre, I find I need a blackout blind in order to get any sleep. The problem arises when you have to wake up and it’s pitch black. This light/clock solves all those problems. The steady progression from deep, warm glow to bright sunlight (brighter than you want to look at) is gradual and believable. I more often than not find myself waking up before the “alarm” sounds, as the light itself wakes me up. I say “alarm” because the sounds you can set the clock to make are far from alarming, having it set to a dawn chorus myself. They simply tell you what the light already has, that it’s time to get up. Sometimes I like to leave the sounds on for a minute or two while I get my head straight; something unthinkable with a normal alarm clock. The quality of the sounds is also better than I expected from other reviews. While not quite as good as real birdsong, the sound is also far from “tinny” in my experience. The sunset mode is also really useful. Having set it to a time of 45 minutes (From the brightest setting to the light going off), I mostly find myself never being awake by the time the light does go out, falling asleep naturally along the way. It works as a good reading light too, before you click the “sunset mode” button to start the slow fade to darkness. I find the light slowly turning off in this way stops my brain rebelling against the idea of enforced sleep as soon as the lamp is switched off (in the case of a normal bedside lamp), and gives me time to wind down with my thoughts before drifting off naturally. The controls and setup are exactly what they need to be - simple and effective. The buttons are high enough quality that I don’t feel they’ll ever fail, and the interface is well designed and intuitive enough that I only had to read the instructions once. This clock has been revolutionary for me, making the horrid experience of going to bed and waking up much less stressful. If there is any stress involved in the bedtime or morning routines for you, this clock will go a long way to solving them.