Waking up sucks. Unless you’re one of those rare, enviable unicorns who pops up from your cozy pillow in the morning as fresh as a daisy, then you know what it’s like to groan, moan, and snooze your way through six alarms before lurching out of bed like a bowl of Jell-O sliding down the garbage disposal.
Sunrise alarms play a wonderful trick on your body, taking a cue from nature. Scientifically speaking, we feel best when we wake up to the gradually brightening, intensifying sunlight as it rises and shifts from a mellow orange to an intense blue-white. Nearly every sunrise alarm also has a sunset feature meant to lull you to sleep at night, too. Quit fighting the blaring, air-raid-siren alarms. Instead, ease along your mornings and evenings with a bit of good ol’ not-so-genuine sunlight.
Quick Look at the Best Sunrise Alarms
- Best Overall – Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light (HF3520)
- Slickest Design – Casper Glow Light
- Easiest to Use – WiiM Wake-Up Light
- Most Beautiful – Hatch Restore 2
- A Soft Touch – Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300
- For Audio Ambiance – Lumie Bodyclock Glow 150
- A Solid Budget Alarm – Jall Wake Up Light
- Sunsets Over Sunrises – Dekala Sunrise
- Too Much for Too Little – Lumie Bodyclock Rise 100
How We Evaluated
Light quality was the main attribute I was on the lookout for. That means not just how bright the lamps got in my test bedroom in New York City, which was equipped with blackout curtains, but also how realistically the shifting light mimicked actual sunrises and sunsets.
Good lamps had to be intuitive to use; nobody has the brainpower to figure out a complicated alarm first thing in the morning or when they’re climbing, exhausted, into bed. And finally, extra features scored points with us. Most often, that meant soothing, ambient soundtracks to lull you asleep or rustle you awake.
Best Overall – Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light (HF3520)
Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light (HF3520)
Light spills out of this lamp beautifully in diffused abundance, so that none of it feels glaring when you open your eyes in the morning. That’s important for something designed to sit on a nightstand just a few inches from your face.
Out of all the lamps tested, this one cast more light than most, making a solid choice for small and large bedrooms alike. The five wake-up soundtracks (plus standard alarm noise and FM radio) were nothing outstanding, but adequate bonus features. Philips markets several models of sunrise alarm, which makes selecting the right one a bit of a head scratcher. The HF3520 is the one you want if you’re after the best overall experience.
Slickest Design – Casper Glow Light
This wireless sunrise alarm was just plain fun to use, and unique looking enough to be a conversation piece. Just flip it over to start the sunrise program. Hit the button on top to pause and restart it. When it’s on its charging pad, spin it to adjust brightness. Everything else, such as lengthening the sunrise and sunset countdowns, is done through an app. You can’t change the color of the light, though, and there are no sleep sounds
It’s also sold in a two-pack, although you won’t save money by buying them together. They’ll pair, though, so you can set a single routine that’ll activate in sync on both lamps, which comes in handy in large bedrooms, for which any single lamp wouldn’t throw enough light, or if you want to put one lamp in two different rooms. I enjoyed beginning to wind down at night in the living room next to one lamp and then moseying into the bedroom with the other when I got sleepy.
Easiest to Use – WiiM Wake-Up Light
No alarm was as easy to set up and customize as the WiiM Wake-Up Light. I just downloaded the Light app to a smartphone or tablet, and the lamp nearby automatically discovered and paired with the app. That was it.
Extraordinarily intuitive tutorial screens explained how to set the brightness (which can go quite high), set wake-up and nighttime routines, use sleep sounds, and change light modes. It also has Amazon Alexa voice assistant built in, but you can turn it off if it creeps you out.
Most Beautiful – Hatch Restore 2
Of all the sunrise alarms I tested, the Hatch Restore 2 is the adult in the room. None of the other models could match the modernist beauty of this well-made lamp.
Take your pick of three earth tones. That fabric covering on the front, the blend of edges and curves—we think we’re in love. It was the library of sleep sounds that also stood out. All the tracks—from thunderstorms to birds singing—sounded of high quality.
Downsides?The Hatch+ membership that unlocks curated sleep music, bedtime stories (really), guided rest exercises, and sound routines costs $5 per month. But you don’t really need it. All the important stuff, such as the sunrises, sunsets, and sleep sounds are available for free, so skip the membership.
A Soft Touch – Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300
This is one expensive alarm. While the amount of light was so-so, it performed OK when set on a nightstand close to my face. Unlike the other Lumies, you can customize the length of the sunrises and sunsets from 15 to 90 minutes. I liked being able to set the sunset for 90 minutes when I good about going to bed on time, and then also set for a quick 15 when I was slipping back home after being out way too late.
The cloth covering on the speaker at the base of the alarm was a nice aesthetic touch that helps justify at least some of the Shine 300’s premium price, even though the plastic lens feels thick, yet cheap. The display also looks dated, as if taken from a TI-83 calculator. There are 15 included sleep sounds to help lull you to bed, which is more than most sunrise alarms, and they sound adequate enough.
For Audio Ambiance – Lumie Bodyclock Glow 150
The Glow 150 just couldn’t get bright enough to fill larger bedrooms with sufficient light. Forget about reading as you wind down with this one. I could only set the sunrise and sunset programs for 20, 30, or 45 minutes. We’d have preferred a longer option.
The 10 included sleep sounds were adequate; café ambiance was a nice touch for a soundtrack, in addition to the standard array of nature sounds. At full price, you can find our top picks for less, though.
A Solid Budget Alarm – Jall Wake Up Light
This budget lamp is light on features—it doesn’t even have a sunset function—but is a fair entry point into the sunrise alarm world for those who remain unconvinced of shelling out big money for a new-to-them technology.
The seven built-in sleep sounds, such as birds chirping, sound cheap and thin through the Jall’s speaker, but the 20 selectable brightness levels offer an acceptable level of light for an average-sized bedroom.
Sunsets Over Sunrises – Dekala Sunrise
For a Big Mac’s worth of cash more than the budget Jall, the Dekala Sunrise offered the sunset function missing in the Jall at the trade-off of not offering much brightness.
For rooms that aren’t particularly large, it can wake up a single sleeper when it’s positioned close enough to their sleeping face, but in my (admittedly small) test bedroom with blackout curtains, it was anemic. Aesthetically, its build quality was a cut above what we’d expect for the price.
Too Much for Too Little – Lumie Bodyclock Rise 100
Like its big sibling, the Glow 150, the Rise 100 wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box. Must run in the family. You’re stuck with a 30-minute setting for the sunrise program on this one, too.
There’s no good reason we can think of for not including customizable length, except to convince buyers to step up to the only slightly more expensive Glow 150. Wrapped up in an inexpensive-feeling case, $100 is too much to ask for this one. Skip it.
The post The 9 Best Sunrise Alarms to Wake Your Lazy Ass Up, Gently appeared first on VICE.
The post The 9 Best Sunrise Alarms to Wake Your Lazy Ass Up, Gently appeared first on VICE.
