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

After reading all the reviews about poor design and an extremely complicated set-up, I was a little worried about getting this (because it's so much money to just throw away on something). Now that I've gotten mine, it seems that either Phillips has completely redesigned the directions or everyone was being extremely sarcastic and I didn't realize it. They honestly couldn't make it any easier. It comes with a instruction manual and every page is a different component (i.e how to set an alarm, how to use the light, how to change the brightness) all with written step-by-step instructions as well as pictures. All you have to do is follow along. The only (and I mean ONLY) thing that could slightly screw someone up is that instructions on changing from a 24-hour clock to a 12-hour clock comes after "how to set an alarm" in the manual and should come before, that way you don't have to go back and re-set your alarm. In total, set-up probably took me about 10 minutes tops. The argument about design is also extremely over exaggerated. Yes, the buttons are around the outside of the "circle". None are below the lower half, so the comment on having to pick it up to reach a button doesn't make sense, they are all easily accessible. They are also in my opinion extremely intuitive as to what they do. The alarm button has a picture of an alarm clock. The light button has a picture of a sun with +/- buttons next to it to change brightness. The sound button is a music note with +/- buttons next to it to change volume. And the sunset timer has a little sleeping person on it. Those are the only buttons, so I'm not sure why there is so much confusion. To turn it on, click the alarm button. It will ask you to either confirm or change the time it has in the system and then it's set. To turn it off, click the alarm button. The light will stay on until you hit the light button. Why? Because this is a "sunlight simulator". To all of the people complaining that they can't snooze the light, that would kind of defeat the entire purpose of this product, wouldn't it? You can't snooze the sun in the morning. I bought this product because regular alarm clocks just were not working for me. My old pattern of trying to wake up was setting 3 randomly timed alarms over the course of an hour. When the first one would go off, I would naturally turn it off without even waking up (I wouldn't remember it going off later). When the second one would go off, I would be in that completely disoriented stage of sleep and turn off and go right back to sleep. When the third one would go off, I'm be slightly more awake and would turn it off. Then tell myself "I'll just close my eyes for a couple more minutes" and end up sleeping for another half hour before jolting awake because my body goes "wait, weren't we supposed to go to work today?" This was not a flawless plan. Then I tried setting an alarm across the room. I would wake up, get up and turn the alarm off and turn my lights on at the same time. With my eyes burning, I'd return to bed to "close my eyes while they adjust" only to fall back asleep for another half or whole hour. I've had the Phillips Wake-up light HF3520 for about a month now. My wake-up plan has definitely changed. I can now set the alarm for when I actually need to get up (not 1 hour before for cushion time) meaning that I get more sleep. The light itself wakes me up not fully, but to the point where I'm in that drowsy-half asleep state and fully aware that the day is about to start. I do still need sound to get me fully awake, so I use the radio function. When I open my eyes, they are already adjusted so I don't have that painful piercing burn that I used to get when I'd turn the lights on (and honestly it was worth the $115 just for that function). I turn off the alarm and keep the light on. If I went to bed really late the night before, I sometimes get the urge to lay there for a couple minutes. Unlike when I used to do this, this time I'm fully awake so I can't fall back asleep and just get to chill for a couple minutes. Most days I don't even need to do this, I'm ready to go as soon as I turn the alarm off. We'll see how long it lasts, it has a pretty good warranty so I'm not that worried. Honestly, after 5 years if it breaks I would 100% pay another $115 to replace it. Being able to wake up and not immediately fall back asleep is wonderful.

I am feeling generous today and giving the overall light a 3. But let me break that down for you. Light Quality - 5 Ability to wake me up - 5 Table stability - 0 Intuitiveness - 0 Industrial design - (-1) Longevity - 0 Modern features (Alexa controlled, or smartphone, etc) - 0 High-level takeaway: the 97 year old CEO of the company (just guessing here) came across his 1957 copy of Popular Mechanics in the early-80's which had an article regarding the benefits of light therapy. The CEO and design team created this light, kept it in a vault until 2013, where it was found after the demolition of an old tool shed on Philips property. The marketing team entranced by its retro design decided it was perfect and started to sell it with zero modernizations. If this is not how it happened in reality, at least it *feels* like it. I am about to embark on purchasing my 3rd one in 3 years (yes, that is one a year). I have not found other cheaper versions that have the same quality of light - they don't compare. This light has so many flaws, but I keep going back to it because the quality of the light is making the difference between a good morning or a bad one. That said, there are many, oh so many, design flaws. First, the shape of the fixture itself. Its roundness may be aesthetically pleasing (in the 1980's), but wholly impractical since it balances on a very narrow base. This lends itself to if you touch the unit wrong, it is going to roll off into your nightstand, or potentially, your floor. Second, there are buttons, oh so many buttons. I am a software research manager, and there are haptic buttons on the glass itself, and flush mount buttons scattered in a random semicircle across the top. Which button does what is a complete mystery to me. I sit with the instructions and program the light, then pray to gawd I don't accidentally touch any of the wrong buttons to trigger a second alarm (which I still haven't found out how to turn off), etc. None of this is intuitive at all. Without the instruction manual in your lap, you just aren't going to intuitively figure it out. Don't get me started on how to turn the radio off besides just turning the volume to 0. I wish Philips can get with the times, and enable this with Alexa where I can tell my light what time I want it to wake me up and it makes it so, or plug into my iPhone and allow me to use practical buttons to program what I want the light to do. Whomever did the industrial design should probably go back to school, or Philips needs to stop using interns for their design work. Despite its magnificent issues and design flaws, will I buy this again? Yep -- they got me in a box here. Because having gone though multiple "wake up lights", this, by far, produces the best light to wake up by. Its expensive, lacks intuitive controls, seems to randomly stop working once a year with no way to troubleshoot or do diagnostics. It just, ta-da, stops working. The one year lifespan is disappointing. I am about to hire the neighbor kid for $10 a morning to come and shine a flashlight in my face before he heads off for school. Costs about the same, and he would be easier to figure out. I wish Philips could capitalize on the great light they have, get with a modern design firm, and knock this light out of the park. Meanwhile, I have got to order yet *another* light, and in the interim hire a neighbor kid with his flashlight.

I love this alarm clock, but for the price it could be so much better. When I first got it I was infatuated by it. It was my favorite product ever. As the weeks went on, little things here and there started to becoming more and more unnerving. In my opinion if I'm spending upwards of a $100 on an alarm clock it really should be a damn near stellar alarm. PROS: The fact that the alarm starts at just a whisper and gradually increases until you turn it off is such an incredible change to my mornings. I always have a fear that I won't wake up to my alarm so with basic units I tend to set the volume on the higher end. It makes sure I will wake up but it also results in my jolting awake in the morning from the blaring (and sometimes frightening) sound. I love that this alarm remedies that and I get the best of both worlds... I purchased it before the iPhone alarm upgraded to this quality so it isn't a defining quality anymore, but it's still nice. I love love the natural light stimulation. I find that my body is more prepared and responsive when my alarm goes off, and my eyes don't have to adjust to the bright light when I switch on my lamp. There are times when I naturally wake up from the light before my alarm goes off. Being able to dim and brighten the light is a great bedside tool. I love dimming it down when I read a book right before bed to prepare me for sleep. CONS: It doesn't have a the feature to automatically go off every morning. There also no weekday/ weekend option. You have to manually set it each night. Because of the above fear about not getting up for my alarm I am always anxious about forgetting to set it. In the beginning I was anxiously waking up in the middle of the night to double-check it was set. Now I have settled on setting my phone to go off 10 minutes after this alarm. I hate this. If I'm already up and in the shower then my phone starts obnoxiously going off in the background to no end. ... I tried double-clicking the alarm off button each morning to reset it but then I end up with my alarm going off on the weekends at a god awful hour or forgetting to reset it each Sunday night for Monday. I find I'm better able to remember if I habitually do it each night. But i still have my phone as backup for those times I forget. For an alarm that is $130 I shouldn't need a backup alarm. The control buttons around the rim are impossible to distinguish from the front. You have to crane your neck around to try and read each button or feel around and guess. Since having it I've learned where each button generally is but I'm still frequently hitting the incorrect one. When I'm in bed and i'm reaching to turn the alarm off and I accidentally switch the light off or the volume up its an annoyance that adds up day after day. I recently put masking take where the buttons are, I hope that helps. There isn't a daylight savings switch in the back to add or subtract an hour when needed. So twice a year you have to manually go into the settings and reset the time. I don't know why but i really hate resetting clocks.

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.

Ya llevo meses desde que lo utilizo y me encanta. Siento que cada mañana despierto de forma suave y natural y por ser un despertar lento no me duelen los ojos al abrirlos. También me encanta usarlo como lámpara, su luz cálida y suave me recuerdan mucho a las velas y en las noches es una buena opción para meditar si se activa el modo de apagado automático. Una compra qué realmente vale la pena realizar.