Soleil Sun Alarm Clock Radio SA-3

I was shopping around for a sunrise alarm clock for a while and finally settled on this one because it was cheaper than the popular Phillips models while still having most of their more appealing features. I tried it out last night after it came in the mail, and so far I'm more or less happy with my purchase. It functions as I expected it would, and the features are nice if not top-notch. Here's a run-down of the pros and cons:

Pros:

1. Sunrise AND sunset option (but so far I'm not sure if you can do both in one night)

2. Option for 4 nature sounds, a regular alarm noise, or FM radio to wake you up after the light has finished lighting up. You can adjust the volume of any of them to suit your waking up needs.

3. White light! I am a big fan of white light, and that was the biggest factor in why I chose this specific clock over the many other yellow light options.

4. The LED bulb seems to be fairly easy to replace, will last for quite a while (according to the packaging at least), and a replacement can be purchased for a reasonable price.

5. You can adjust the sunrise duration from 15 to 90 minutes at 15 minute intervals

6. Nice compact size; fits nicely on my tiny nightstand

7. Backup battery as well as wall plug

8. The light can be used separately as a night light or lamp if you want, but I haven't been able to determine if leaving it on will interfere with your sunrise in the morning.

9. There are 10 separate light levels, with the lowest being like a really dim night light, and the brightest being about the same as a 60 Watt-equivalent compact fluorescent.

Cons:

1. The light is not bright enough to light up my 10x11 foot bedroom; at full brightness, the room looks like it would during that dim pre-dawn stage. Nevertheless, if you are facing the light with your eyes closed and the light on at full blast, it will be bright enough to convince you that it's light out. With that said, I think it would be unreasonable to expect this level of light to wake you up without some additional noise in the background, so I still set a backup alarm and turn the wake-up nature sound up really loud to make sure I get up.

2. The controls are definitely NOT intuitive. I read the instruction manual four times and still couldn't be sure that I was setting things correctly until I tried a few test runs.

3. The whole thing feels a bit rinky-dink for a $70 gadget, but that's a purely cosmetic complaint. Functionality is fine.

4. I have not figured out yet whether or not you can adjust the brightness of your sunrise. So far it seems like the default is to go from level 1 to level 10 over the amount of time you set.

5. Although the waves nature sound is convincing enough, my preferred wake-up sound (birds) sounds like an alarm clock with a chirpy beep.

6. The snooze button will be impossible to find if you are genuinely just waking up and trying to hit the snooze. It's the same size and shape as all the other buttons on the face, and it's not set apart from them at all. However, the light at its brightest is not obnoxious and you can adjust the alarm sound to a tolerable volume, so I don't anticipate ever needing to use the snooze function.

7. The LCD display can only be clearly read when the light is not on and when you look at it from a certain angle. I'm keeping my other alarm clock around to tell the time.

8. I noticed when I was testing out the sunrise function that the light comes on incrementally instead of smoothly. For example, it will stay on at level 1 for a while and then jump noticeably to the next level. My sleepy brain definitely doesn't notice this during actual use, though, so it's not a huge con.

This little clock/sun alarm is wonderful, really. Having been diagnosed with PTSD a year ago, my sleep pattern(s) well, were anything but normal. Things have shifted for the better, and I am happy to share that after some serious consideration I added this sunrise alarm clock and am pleased to say that something so simple as adding "natural progression sunrise" has helped me to sleep more solidly and steadily through the night and feel more refreshed when waking. Speaking for myself only, waking to the gradual progression of light, sorry I wont say 'natural sunlight' has a very calming and natural feel to it.

The only draw back I have to say is the "LED effect"; the lighting is gradual yes, however it (in my opinion) could be softer; this may be the LED technology. The lights are blue not a soft yellow. This makes it more noticeable, incrementally, as the clock/light awakens you. Perhaps I am more sensitive to this due to the PTSD, however I feel it's an 'LED-thing'.. Maybe the Mfg could make a yellow dome for the clock? or perhaps use a yellow LED? In any event I *do* recommend this product.

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az287's very detailed review basically says all you need to know, I just wanted to add: The light is bright enough to wake me before the alarm, but I am a very light sleeper. It also seems to be having a noticeable effect on my heavy-sleeping boyfriend, but maybe that's just because I start to stir when it comes on. It is really, really poorly made, so some of the features don't work right, and programming is definitely not intuitive, but the light and alarm come on when they're supposed to, and that's kind of all I would ask from the cheapest clock of this type.

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I'd recommend this for someone that's looking for the sunrise function & nature sounds that only has around $50 to spend. If you have more, go for the higher priced items, b/c, like other reviews, this is very cheaply made.

Other notes:

1. You can't use the sunset/sunrise function on same day (unless you want to reprogram, which isn't hard, just a pain, and who wants to reset their alarm everyday).

2. The nature sounds are just sounds on repeat (ex. for the birds alarm, there's a few chirps for about 5 sec., than it pauses and repeats). It's not the soothing, continuous sounds that I was expecting, but my akin to an alarm but a tad more pleasant (I can't deal w the typical alarm beat anymore).

3. One button serves multi-functions, which makes it a little unsure if you're alarm will actually go off.

Overall, I'm keeping this b/c I couldn't find a sunrise simulated alarm that also had nature sounds that was in my budget. This was not worth the money I paid b/c of how cheap it is, but I ease into waking up now, so I'm keeping it. If you can spend more, can the more expensive brands. Otherwise, this will serve it's purpose.

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This was a gift, and from the start I was a little worried about the quality. It seemed like one of those cheap made in a foreign country bad translation type of gadgets. The radio doesn't have an indicator dial, so you don't know what station you are listening to. The LED light generates really bad feedback, so you can't use the light and the radio at the same time anyway. the nature sounds are hokey, and the display can only be read from a really weird angle. But, it was cheaper than all of the other ones, and the basic functions worked ok at first.

But about 3 months after I received it and started using it, it started to malfunction. I woke up to it doing a slow strobe, where it would flash on and off at long intervals. Then it started strobing faster til I thought I was going to have a seizure so I shut it off. Then it worked ok for two days, and then this morning it started making this weird clicking sound and not turning on. I was afraid it was going to short out and start a fire or something, so I unplugged it and slept in.

So that's it, it's going to Goodwill, and I'm going to buy a more expensive one that will hopefully not turn my morning into a bad techno club flashback.