Natural Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock Lamp Attachment

Comments about Sunrise System Natural Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock Lamp Attachment:

This is a solid dawn simulator. Find the ability to set a different time for each day of the week kind of annoying rather than helpful--it isn't that hard to change it on any given day. The buzzer is gentle but could be more pleasing. It is solidly built, not too big, sits quietly on a bedside table without being garish. Should really be priced less than[$], but is a good product nonetheless. Much nicer to be able to connect to any lamp, rather than rely on a built-in light.

Comments about Sunrise System Natural Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock Lamp Attachment:

I started searching for a new alarm clock when I got a "real" job, in which I would really have to be up by a certain time or be late for work. (Getting the kids to school a little late was not a big deal). With my prior alarm system, waking to a very loud and annoying noise (the phone alarm), I tended to snooze it a lot, really because it scared me to death and I wanted it to just be quiet, and the other reason is that I'm really not a morning person. I hate getting up in the morning. If it were up to me I wouldn't open one eyelid til 10am. Of course this isn't an option anymore.

So I looked at "zen" alarms, that had a gentle chime; this appealed to me, as I've been taking yoga lately and I thought this would be a nicer way to wake up than the loud phone-ring type alarm. Then I read about sunrise alarms, how they wake you up with light, and I thought that might be a good idea, since my 10am wakeup time that I prefer usually happens when you can't keep the sun out of the bedroom anymore on weekends. Of course there was technical and neurological research as to why this was better for you, but really, what I wanted was to be able to wake up without feeling like I had been run over by a mack truck. And that is exactly what I feel like every weekday morning, even if I wasn't woken up with my phone alarm. (by a kid or cat knocking over something they shouldn't, or other some such thing.)

Also, I can't sleep well if there is any light in the room. I generally sleep with an eye pillow or mask to shut out all light... so, since I had to be able to see the light to wake me up, I had to nix the eye pillow and make sure everything in my room was dark. Fortunately for this model, you can totally turn off the backlight. I chose the option of totally turning off the backlight unless a button was pushed. I was very happy with this option.

So after I purchased and received this clock, I set it up. It wasn't hard if you read the manual. It is a bit annoying that the date is displayed like Europe does (date/month/year), and then it wasn't intuitive that you can't get to the settings to change them while the alarm is set (I struggled with that for all of 1 minute before I found it in the manual). The shortness of the cord is also a bit annoying. I considered the plug to be pretty close to the nightstand but the cord is currently stretched to its limit. I also took out our energy saving bulb and put a regular 100W one that was laying around the house in it... you can't use energy saving bulbs in it when using it for your sunrise clock. I really also would rather have had a traditional face clock instead of a digital looking one as well.

So that was setup - all in all not too bad. now for the real test - waking up.

My first morning I couldn't believe it. Mind you, I still didn't want to get out of bed... but I didn't feel like I had been hit by a mack truck. That night I put on the chime option, and it worked like a charm to remind me that I'd better get up.

The only feature of this clock that I can complain about as far as its ability to do the job of waking you up, is that the light will shut off automatically without any user input. If you roll over and put the covers over your head, you WILL oversleep. Also if I am extremely tired the light will not totally bring me out of sleep (again, I need the chime alarm to bring me out of my stupor).

Despite this drawback I am keeping this alarm clock. Feeling like a normal person instead of like road pizza in the morning, to me, is priceless. I will probably still oversleep with this alarm clock, at some point; let's face it, I am not and will never be a morning person, and I have overslept *many* times before with regular alarm clocks. I do believe that I will oversleep much less with this one.

I hope whoever thought up this "waking up to light" thing is making a lot of money and is having a cushy life. It is making a huge difference to me in mine.

Comments about Sunrise System Natural Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock Lamp Attachment:

After some initial difficulties in -learning- how to set the alarm clock (instructions from web and manual were different in some places), I am finding this very easy to set. I wake up a few minutes before the alarm, and even on early mornings feel refreshed. I love that it has only few buttons for setting all options.

Would have given it five stars but reduced it to four because of the initial setup.

Service and delivery comments:

Product arrived faster than promised and in good condition - thank you CSN Lighting!

Comments about Sunrise System Natural Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock Lamp Attachment:

I replaced my old alarm clock with this one after having it recommended to me by a coworker. I have it set for a 30 minute sunrise, and it usually has me awake at around the 15-20 minute mark with no jarring alarm, and none of the grogginess associated with being suddenly awakened. On the few days I've been extremely exhausted, the audible alarm has done the job. On the downside, it's a bit of a pain to set (you have to cycle through every option sequentially each time you set it), and not the most attractive ever, but it does it's job well.

Comments about Sunrise System Natural Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock Lamp Attachment:

Pros: Intuitive setup, easy to read, light weight and compact design, sturdy enough and - because it uses an external lamp for sunrise - has just one glass part (screen) so presumably not easy to break and safer around kids than similar systems with globes. The one big con - the price of around [$] is too expensive for what it (or any other similar product) does. It's just an alarm clock, after all, and it should cost less.

Service and delivery comments:

Delivery impressively prompt
Arrived in excellent condition

Comments about Sunrise System Natural Dawn Simulator Alarm Clock Lamp Attachment:

This is a great product that does everything it claims to do, and although I've only owned it for about a month the quality seems to be very good. I don't forsee this clock breaking, and with a one year warranty, it's covered if it does. That's assuming, of course, the manufacturer does a good job honoring it, as many don't these days. Also, for the money, I would have liked a two or three year warranty, but if it lasts a year, odds are it will last at least a couple more.

This clock has four flaws, three of which I consider to be pretty major. Those are the lack of a battery backup, which I consider unacceptable in an alarm clock, how you disable the alarm in the morning, and the auto-off function.

As for the battery backup, obviously if there is no power at the time the alarm is set to go off (turn the light on), a battery will not be able to power the light. But if power goes out just for a few seconds during the night, it will still be able to alarm in the morning, but it will have lost the setting to do so. I plan to resolve this by plugging it into one of my UPS's, which is something most people don't have and I shouldn't have to resort to.

My problem with how you turn off the alarm in the morning is as follows: Once the alarm activates, and the light turns on, if you wake up halfway through the "sunrise" and don't wish to let it continue since you're up and to do so would just be a waste of electricity or a bother to somebody else in the room, you have to turn the alarm off to shut it off. By doing so, you cannot reactivate the alarm for the next day until after the time the alarm would have shut off on its own. So you are left waiting for that time before you can turn it on for the next day, which leaves the possibility of forgetting and not having it to wake you the next morning.

The third and final major issue with this clock is that six minutes after the time you want to be up, it shuts the light off automatically. To me, this is very bad, because if you happen to have slept through it so far, now it's just putting you back in the dark to help you continue to sleep, whereas it should continue to shine light in your face until you awaken.

The minor flaw is the short length of the power cord. While this is not a huge deal and is easily enough dealt with by placing it close to an outlet or using an extension cord, it is a hassle that could have easily been avoided by the manufacturer simply extending it another couple feet.

Not really a complaint, because this is more my fault than the clock's, but unfortunately, it doesn't do as good a job as I had hoped in waking me up. The first couple nights I tested it, I thought it wasn't working because I didn't wake up until a couple hours after it was set to wake me. I tested it and it worked fine, and since then I have woken to a lit room, but not so much from this alarm as from my others. Still, even though the sunrise itself is not waking me up (I think it has a couple times, but it's pretty rare), it is still nice to be woken by my other alarms and open my eyes to a somewhat lit and gradually brightening room. When I wake to darkness, it makes it a lot harder to get up. Also, I'm using a medusa lamp with three 55W bulbs, so perhaps a single 175-200W bulb would be brighter and would do a better job. I don't know, but I would think my current setup should be enough, and probably would be for most people. I'm just a really heavy sleeper in the morning.

Despite all the complaints I have with it, as I stated, it does exactly what it says and for the most part does a good job of it. I do think you're paying for more than you're getting, however. After all, this thing is little more than a glorified light timer which can be purchased for less than a quarter the price. But I suppose if it's something you need, if you're as bad as I am in the mornings, then it may be worth overpaying to have its help in getting out of bed.