Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light, Simulated Sunrise and Sunset, Multiple Lights and Sounds, RelaxBreathe to Sleep, HF3651/01

The Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light has genuinely improved my mornings. Waking up to gradual light instead of a sudden alarm makes a noticeable difference. Wake-Up Experience The light slowly increases in brightness, which feels far more natural than a harsh alarm sound. I wake up feeling calmer and less stressed. Light Quality The light is soft and pleasant, not blinding. It fills the room gradually and makes waking up feel more relaxed. Daily Use It’s easy to set up and becomes part of your routine very quickly. Ideal if you struggle with dark mornings or abrupt alarms. Final Thoughts A great product for improving sleep routines and mornings. Once you get used to waking up this way, it’s hard to go back.

I’ve used a Phillips wake up light for the past 12 years or so, and finally that old one gave out. Not the light, but the sound. So I figured I’d get a new one. First I bought a cheap non-Phillips one that turned out to be a disaster, so I decided on a proper Phillips one instead. I’m happy to see the new features added in comparison to my old one. Features I especially like: - the midnight function: if you need to get up in the middle of the night simply tap the top of the light and it will give a tiny amount of red light. Just enough to find your way and not stumble over clutter and breaking your neck. Very much appreciated. - ULTIMATE BRIGHTNESS!! The highest brightness level is seriously bright. No way you won’t notice that. - very dim clock light. I need my bedroom to be as dark as possible. Most electric alarm clocks have a clock light that is annoyingly bright, making it difficult to sleep. Luckily this light has a very dim setting, making the clock just visible at night. During the day it will not be very visible probably, but that’s fine. You can also turn it off if they want. - snoozing only stops the sound. The cheapo light I bought also stopped the light during snoozing which is just stupid. - the touchscreen can be quiet. By default it make a small sound, but you can turn it off. Using the menu is easy and straightforward. No idea why it is designed to look like a ceramic sink drain, but you can’t win them all I guess. All in all this light is just about perfect, sink drain look and all.

An intriguing device from Philips that should be thought of as a clever light which offers sleep, wake-up, and relaxation modes and sounds. There’s also an FM radio. What it does best is a light. It feels like a quality luminaire and can go very bright but as a larger light-source it’s not as intense on the eyes as a point like bulb. And it’s party trick is the midnight light. In a dark room it’s like red sunset and easy on the eyes. This night light is simply activated by just tapping the top rear of the unit. These things aren’t easy to photograph as the camera picks up the LED refreshing so apologies for the quality with the light activated. Other things to note are that functions are accessed by touching icons around the clock area and the clock auto dims and brightens depending on lighting conditions. As for the sound quality, as a rear firing speaking it’s not going to set an amazing standard in audio but it’s acceptable. It also doesn’t go too loud and isn’t the cleanest sound - not great for the hard of hearing - but if not too far from a wall this helps to improve the volume. Overall this is primarily a light with audio bolted on.

It's relatively expensive. It's also one of those 'healthy lifestyle' gadgets that you buy, use once or twice then shove it to the back of a cupboard. So why would I buy it again? My partner isn't an early riser. She also suffers from SAD. I was stuck for a Christmas present for her and time was running out. I happened to be talking to my daughter, a team GB athlete and health guru. I mentioned about buying a SAD light to try and help my partner through the depressing winter months but was sceptical they even worked. She spoke positively about the theory behind them. Don't get me wrong, SAD definitely exists and can cause severe depression. However, reading reviews of the plethora of SAD lamps available it looked like a lottery. Prices ranged from almost free to stupidly expensive, like this one. But bear with me. I read and read and read again and again and again. It was a nightmare. Choose between a quack gadget or known name. The real problem is there didn't appear to be any recognised standards to conform to. So I put this Phiips offering in my basket and left it there for a few days. Eventually I pressed the Buy Now button. I had now paid about £160 for for what is basically a clock radio! Except I didn't. Christmas came and went. The lamp remained in its box, unused. We needed a new bed so decided to decorate the bedroom as well. Fast forward a month, deep into the misery that is January. My partner, buoyant through the bedroom remodelling, was now struggling. We took the lamp out, set it up according to the instructions and placed it on the chest of drawers. At this point I'm not going to describe the ins and outs of its workings, Philips explain that very well through Amazon. Suffice to say this is the first winter my partner has gone through without the effects of SAD. She wakes up in a much more relaxed state. This lamp does that, a gentle wake up call spread over your predetermined time frame. I was sceptical but no longer. On those days I have laid in (I'm usually an early riser) I awake refreshed. Don't ask me to explain the science, I can't. I just know it works for my partner and I. Although I'm lucky enough not to need it, even I benefit from waking to it. I'm no longer a sceptic and I would even pay double if I ever needed to replace it. Expensive clock radio? No, it's a vital tool to ensure my partners wellbeing. I would never have believed the difference such a simple but well engineered and well presented device could make to someone's life.

I'm really impressed with this. I love being woken up gently. It has lots of features and is easy to navigate. I like that it has a sleep function to help you drift off naturally and is an alarm clock to help you wake up gently

I was wary about splashing out on this, but in the end it has been worth it. I researched all kinds of lamps and couldn't quite find the "perfect" one with all the features I thought I'd like. In the end I took a leap and went for this due to the reputation of the brand and taking all the other positive reviews on balance. Now, rather than being yanked out of my sleep by a blaring alarm and desperately hitting snooze, by using this lamp I'm waking up in a way that feels much more natural, and doesn't leave me startled and stressed. To begin with I gradually shifted the sunise setting earlier and earlier, and now I've actually been managing to get up at 5am ready to start the day. This means I'm getting so much more done, I feel more productive and I'm in a better mood all around for the day. It still takes me by surprise when I open my eyes feeling like I've awoken "natirally", yet I've not had a lie in at all. The wind down / sunset setting is also really useful. I set it and read while the light starts to dim, then I end up off to sleep pretty quickly. On the slight downsides, as others have mentioned, the controls are a little bit unintuitive and take some getting usd to. And I'd have loved the ability to set a weekday and weekend schedule independent of each other. Having it "auto-sunset" each day would have been handy too, But all things considered, the positives to my routine have been so beneficial that I can overlook those gripes.

For anyone who doesn't want to read my entire review, this is my summary: It is an excellent product but to me, it's not worth the £125 I paid for it hence 4* instead of 5*. I bought this Philips light to help me get into a better routine. I have always been an evening person, going to bed late and getting up as late as possible for work but I felt it was time to start transitioning into a morning person. I despise waking up in the morning, especially to the harshness of an alarm. The solution was a wake-up light to wake me up gently using a mimicked sunrise and natural bird noises. I was tied between a cheap wake-up light on Amazon, Lumie or Philips. I tried a cheap wake-up light and returned it within 2 days as it wasn't nearly bright enough and the speaker reminded me of the quality of the speakers we used to solder in Design Technology in school. I decided to go with Philips over Lumie as I preferred the modern look of the Somneo light and Philips has a great reputation for quality. This Somneo light is a completely different level to the cheaper one I purchased (though should be for 8x the price). It's genuinely made getting up in the mornings a breeze for the last 2 weeks, 8 am initially and now 7.30am. Here are the things I like and where I think there could be improvements: Pros: - Touch screen is excellent, easy to use and does everything you need. Super simple to set alarms as well as put the light on and adjust to whatever light level is necessary. - Speaker is good enough to where it's difficult to know when waking that the sounds are coming from the wake-up light rather than outside. - Somewhat premium-feeling product and looks very modern to my eye, though of course, this is a taste thing. - Great night light feature (pictured) where if you touch the top the lamp goes red and gives you some light so you can see without it being overpowering Improvements: - It's majorly overpriced in my opinion. I personally feel for its current functionality and features it should be more around the £70 mark. But, the entire wake-up light market seems to be overpriced, Lumie included. Hence why I'm content with paying the £125 as I don't believe there's much better out there for the money. - The radio is underwhelming, though that could just be my area. DAB radio would be a very nice addition, though in truth the radio is basically irrelevant to me as I won't use it much, if at all. - Having the option to set which days on the alarms would be a good feature to add, though that's not a big deal as turning off the alarm on a Friday night is super simple. I've attached some pictures so you can see how it looks on different settings. I genuinely think it's an excellent product, it's just a bit pricey and there's definitely some small improvements that could be made to make it better value for money.

Before you buy take a look where your nightstand is. If you (like me) sleep on your right side then it is possible that you will lie back against the lamp. And guess what? It makes the wake-up light totally useless. I'm using this lamp for a week and I wake up only from the sound. €200 alarm clock has a cheap speaker with awful sound quality. It's not rich, not room-filling. It has no bass at all, just mid-high frequency as in cheap €5 speakers. Trust me, the sound is very annoying. €200 alarm clock does not have Bluetooth to connect to the phone/GooglePlay/etc and use your own melodies. Only two included melodies are listenable (keeping in mind the low quality of speaker). Thus I have to use my s5e tablet (which has excellent speakers btw) for music when I go to sleep. Probably I'll try to sync time on lamp and tablet to use Sleep application on my tablet for waking up. €200 alarm clock does not have a battery. Yes, you cannot easily move it around - it has to be plugged in. It has a USB charger for the phone, but it's not powerful - only 1A charger. Imagine you have a laptop, phone, and lamp - choose any two to plug in. If you only one outlet choice is tougher. €200 alarm clock does not have Alexa/Google Home integration. I didn't try breath function yet. But going to sleep with the sunset simulation is much easier for me. That gives 1.5 stars to this product. I also like to use it as a night light when I have to wake up at night. If you touch the top of the lamp it lights up with a nice red color. The bad thing about touching the top of the lamp - if you'll touch it by accident during the Sleep program, the program will be canceled immediately. I had this experience twice so far. Last point - value of money. Price is insane even with discounts. It's just a piece of plastic with some led lights and a cheap speaker inside. No Bluetooth, no battery, no Alexa integration. €50 is a fair price for this lamp.