I bought the BioBrite Sunrise Clock Radio. As far as the sunrise feature, it works well, except that the bulb blew after only a week. I would have given this item 4 stars except that it is a little hard to program. It only has one alarm setting so on the weekends you either have to reset the alarm time or not use it at all (or of course, get up at the same time each day).
Also, it's much bigger than I expected. It takes up all of the space on my bedside table and looks a little weird in my decor. There is no reason for it to be so big since it uses a tiny 60w lightbulb the flame shaped kind. Design wise, it could be more discreet.
I did like to awake to the sunrise simulation. It was a gentler and more natural way to wake up then the jarring beep or radio of a traditional alarm clock. I awoke refreshed and ready to start my day. I am becoming (gasp!) a morning person...
Ultimately, I ended up returning it and buying the Apollo Daybreak Duo because it is much smaller and I can plug my own lamp into it.
I bought this about a year ago. I wanted to give it a good shot before I wrote a review. I love the concept. However I am unimpressed in this items execution to say the least. Below are good and bad features.
1) Good: The light comes on and gradually rises perfectly. Add that you can set how long it takes to get to full brightness and you have a really neat feature.
2) Not so good: When the light is on, it is nearly impossible to see the clock. I have to block the light out to be able to see it. The numbers are probably 1 inch tall and green.
3) Good: If using the radio as part of the alarm, it does not come on until the light gets to its full brightness. It is almost a "backup" incase the light doesn't wake you.
4) Not so good: When using the radio as an alarm, it only stays on for about 30 minutes -as does the light. I am a slow riser and I have fallen back asleep because the light and radio went off before I had fully come to. I now use my cell phone as a backup alarm -shouldnt need to.
5) Not so good: I am used to alarm clocks resetting themselves after an hour or two. Meaning that if I don't turn off the radio, it will turn off after a while (more than 30 minutes) and be ready for the next day. In this clocks case, as I stated in item 4, it turns off after 30 minutes. It also resets itself and tomorrow it will work again; however the second day it NEVER turns off. Seems an odd feature. Either reset or don't, but to reset the first day and not the second is just damn strange.
6) Not so Good: When configuring -the first item you come across is the Alarm time. If you set that and continue throught he settings, when you get done, it doesn't save the alarm value and you have to do it again.
7) Not so good: The controls are not clear. It takes some getting used to.
8) Not so good: The radio does not have a very good volumn range. At its loudest, it is still kind of quiet. When waking from a sleep, it is enough for me. But if you are a hard sleeper, it may not wake you and if you want to use it while folding laundry or something, it is not really loud enough.
I have personally worked around the quirks because I spent so much for this thing. But I really would not buy one again. I really wish I could find one that worked well. I have actually considered making my own. Surely I can make one that works better than some of these I have read reviews about for less than 150!
I hope this helps in some way.
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I had been wanting to try one of these for about 10 years now. It finally went on sale on Amazon and I bought one.... wish I had done this 10 years ago. When you need to get up when it's still completely dark out side this is amazing.
The clock isn't magic, if you aren't getting enough sleep at night you will still be tired in the morning. What it will do is change your wake up experience from being a half asleep, nonfunctional zombie until you finish that first pot of coffee to someone who wakes up alert and ready to go despite needing a little more sleep.
The controls on the clock are not very intuitive, but extremely easy after you cave and read the instructions. There is one button you keep pushing to cycle through the options, then you use the up and down arrows to adjust each option.
The quality of the clock is very good, and the radio sounds good (compared to other alarm clocks). The glass dome is very tight fit, which probably is a good thing. Also, it is very large for an alarm clock so make sure it will fit well where you are putting it (it's fine on the small table next to my bed).
If you are a morning person that naturally is ready to go at 6am it probably isn't worth the price, but for those of us who naturally would get up at noon it's worth every penny.
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First, me: I've owned this for a year, live in Utah, am active-duty military engineer (i.e. early riser with non-standard waking times), and have slight problems with insomnia. If I don't wake up to light, I'm tired the whole day.
It's safe to say that different people wake up in different ways. I once had a roommate that would hit the snooze button 5-6 times on his RIDICULOUSLY LOUD alarm clock before he woke up (thereby waking me up the first time and pissing me off 4-5 times after that while I tried to fall back asleep)
THIS CLOCK WILL WORK FOR YOU IF:
1) You normally wake up without hitting the snooze button in the summer (i.e., the first time the buzzer goes off)
2) You don't NORMALLY need SOUND to wake you up
IT WILL NOT WORK FOR YOU IF:
1) You are a heavy sleeper
2) You easily nap during the day
I can't sleep in cars, on airplanes, or anytime it's light out. If a floorboard creaks at night, I'm wide awake. I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm a light sleeper. And I'm like Captain Planet: sunlight rejuvenates me. This light IS NOT a perfect replacement... but it's close enough that I absolutely feel better during the day for using it. I didn't buy it for the radio so my rating has nothing to do with that. I almost always wake up to the light before the backup alarm goes off. The backup alarm is nice, by the way. It starts off quiet before ramping up to full, obnoxious, guaranteed to wake you volume
ALSO:
It's a very nice looking addition to a "modern"-style room
Lots of plastic... I can understand why buttons may break for others. Mine all work after a year of heavy use
Easy to use. I only use three buttons on the whole thing and it does everything I need
Larger than your average clock, but it's that big for a reason
The globe is frosted glass (not plastic). I can't remember if it said that in the description or not...
The clock IS difficult to see when the light is on as others have said... but if you're trying to replicate the light of the sun, it makes sense that you wouldn't be able to see dimmed clock numbers placed immediately below your "sun" (remember, you were just sleeping in a dark room so you probably had the LCD clock set to "dimmed". Yes, that option is available with three or so intensity settings)
CONCLUSION: Not for everyone, but definitely delivers for those attuned to waking to sunlight
*UPDATE: After years of ownership and daily use, the bulb still works and nothing is broken. Only issue: mine gains about 10 minutes per month so I generally have to reset the clock every month or so. It's actually kind of nice since it gets me to work a little earlier as the month progresses.
Feel free to drop me a note if you have questions
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I had high hopes that this lamp would work for me. Unfortunately, after the first day I slept through the gradual lighting and would only wake up when the clock radio went off. Opening my eyes when that occurred and seeing the light did help wake me somewhat, but I guess I just like to doze too much and am not disciplined to get up. The clock radio would go off after 30 minutes which was too soon. Since it didn't work for me I have returned it.
The pros are the lamp is well made, instructions fairly easy to follow, and takes up little space on the bedside table. The lamp cover does get really hot, I don't know if this lamp would work with a fluorescent bulb which wouldn't produce so much heat.
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