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

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.

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.

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.