Customer Reviews

Bodyclock Elite 300

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this clock. It does what it says it will do. Its appearance isn't offensive, and it's not huge (though it's certainly not small). I only gave it 3 stars for 3 reasons:

(1) If you keep the light on to read, for example, the light frequently overheats after .5-1 hour and shuts off. I am able to turn back on after a couple of minutes. I wouldn't mention this except that somewhere (perhaps on the manufacturer's website) they advertise that you can use it as a bedside lamp. If it's not meant to be on for that long, then they should put that in the manual or not advertise the lamp function.
(2) Occasionally the display scrambles. The clock will still work in that the light turns off and on and I can turn on the alarm, etc., but I just can't read the display (and consequently can't change any settings). Unplugging it and doing a reset fixes the problem.
(3) Going through the entire menu to get to one setting by pressing one button over and over again is pretty tedious.

I still love this clock. A lot. But it only gets 3 stars because, given how much money I spent on it, I shouldn't have to deal with these three things.

I had an old BioBrite analog light alarm clock for 15+ years, which got damaged. So I knew I loved having one, & was willing to pay the price for the Lumie Bodyclock. This replacement is definitely an upgrade. It is a 5-star light. The price is steep, and I have had one minor issue, which is why I only give it 4 stars. It is easy to use and feature rich, and I would definitely buy it again.

Some details of this light that are not necessarily obvious, but that I would have liked to know before purchasing:

- Display. Very bright when alarm is off. When alarm is on, you have a choice of either a dim display or for the display to turn off entirely. If you have it turn off, you can press most any button to see the dim display for 12 seconds.

- Very easy to set & change the alarm time. You can either set one time for every day, or set individual times for each day. If you set individual times, if you then set the overall time it switches to that. This is useful for a vacation week. I still set the alarm in order to dim the display, but have it set to later than I wake up. After vacation, set a day (any day) & it will switch back to the individual settings.

- Sound spa feature. You need to turn on the sound and then turn on the alarm. This will keep the volume you set all night. When the light starts brightening in the morning, the sleep sound turns off. When the light reaches full intensity, whatever you selected for the alarm will sound. (If you use the 'sunset' feature, you can start the sound in advance to maintain a constant volume. Or you can use their 'auto-fade' to a low volume or off, your choice.)

- Audio options include radio, pre-recorded sounds, SD card, or external audio. I haven't tried the SD or external options. The included sounds include rain, white noise, waves, birds, and an interesting 'city noise' option. They also have, in multiple languages, a guided sleep meditation with a couple music choices. The woman (with a slight British accent) can also tell you to get up in the morning. In the 'wake up assertive' option, the very pleasant voice says 'get up now'. It's rather cute. I like the rain one for a soudspa, and the birds as the alarm. I have not tried the meditations.

I have had one minor issue. One night, with the display off option, I pressed a button so I could see the time. The display was scrambled. In the morning, I unplugged and replugged the unit, and it fixed itself. I have had the Bodyclock for about a month, so I hope that was just a fluke. It did keep all my settings through being unplugged.

Update January 2011: The unit is working well. After around 4 months, that odd display problem I mentioned above has not repeated itself. I'm still loving the light, & feel it is worth the (admittedly expensive) price.

This is the second dawn simulator alarm clock we have tried (the first was the SRS150). It makes a HUGE difference in both our moods to wake up gradually - my husband did not think it would be as significant as it is. I would recommend trying a dawn simulator, it is worth the money. It is certainly worth noting that some of us seem to need both the light and the gradual sound for it to make a real difference. This clock does not have a gradual sound increase for the sunrise.

It does work as advertised - the light goes up and down with no flickering and the sounds come on when they say they will. The radio works well and the light is certainly bright.

However, I am returning this clock and trying the SRS260 because of the following: 1. When I contacted the company with questions about function of the clock, I got no response at all and I find that to be unacceptable; 2. I need the gradual sound increase and this clock does not have it; 3. The sound and light shut off 20 mins after the alarm time (I did not think this would be a problem for me, but since the sound doesn't come on until the very end it really does mess with my wake up).

As I stated, we tried the SRS150, which uses your own lamp, it had a flickering problem with the light, but the company did have very prompt response time when I contacted them with question, so I am going to try the model with the built in light from them since I really liked all the other features.

I purchased the Elite 300 because I wanted the sunrise / sunset light with music, specifically MP3 songs via the SD card. The sunrise / sunset function worked great. I went to sleep easier and I got up in the morning much easier. I even tried getting up 1 hour earlier than normal to see if the light made a difference - and it really did. The major disappointment was that the Elite 300 only plays one MP3 song and then stops. The sound quality was that of a table top radio, not a $250 unit. I played another MP3 song and it just stopped at the end of the song. I could not get it to play more than one song before it stopped. The manufacturer is Lumie and they sent me instructions on making the SD card. Simply place only MP3 files in the root directory of the SD card - no folders of any kind are allowed. It turns out that this problem is a known issue with the Elite 300! The instructions I received from Lumie state know issues and there it is in black and white. I do not know how this unit can be advertised to play MP3 files when it really can't! I was also a bit disappointed in the quality of the buttons and the programming instructions. I had to call BioBrite twice to get clarification on the programming, which they were very nice and helpful to me on the phone. I returned the unit to BioBrite for a refund due to the MP3 problem. I ordered a BioBrite basic light because I really liked the sunrise / sunset light function. I went thru Amazon because no one could beat Amazon's shipping rates.

This little sunrise clock while a bit more pricey than others listed on Amazon, is of better quality and seems like a robust long lasting clock - time will tell on that front as I have only had it a month. However I was very impressed with it's features. The controls are good but setting the clock and other features takes a little patience the first few times - rest assured it's not by any means unfriendly and doesn't detract at all from my purchase.

The features are numerous and very flexible. One thing that impressed me was you can set the alarm for each day of the week which is great because I like to sleep in a little bit on weekends. Also turning down the lamp or hitting snooze when the alarm goes off results in a few extra minutes of sleep and a gradual increase of light again - so even the snooze feature doesn't jolt you out of bed. The form factor is nice too - it doesn't take up a lot of space.

I hope this product will last for years to come as quality sunrise clocks are very hard to come by. To that end I bought a little electrical noise and surge system device from APC to filter out drops, spikes, and otherwise normal background variances in the electric supply that often silently and slowly damage electrical products. My clock is plugged into it so I shall see how good the quality is on this clock in time.

I highly recommend this sunrise clock if you're looking for something reliable, not cheaply made and require flexible features. Waking up consistently is now SO much easier!

Let me start by saying that I love this clock and don't know how I'd live without it. With that said, it is a quirky little machine! I am on my third one. Biobrite is VERY responsive and has fantastic customer service. The first one had a problem with the white noise, which I liked to fall asleep to. It was like a little static POP would happen every 40 seconds or so. I walked around searching for a faucet drip or something, but then put my ear up to the speaker and found it was the clock. They exchanged it without delay. The second one just went haywire. One day it didn't wake me up on time, and shortly after that, the digital readout got all garbled. The one I got to replace that one has worked well. I will tell you that I have not messed with this one hardly at all - haven't messed with the sound card to put my own songs on it (which is kind of a pain anyway - and it would be great if they redesigned it to work more easily).

Okay now that I've complained a little, let me tell you that it is a joy to wake up to this. Even in the middle of winter, at 5:30 in the morning, it is really not so bad to get up anymore. I am a very light sleeper, and I am also light sensitive. So traditional alarm clocks, whether they be radio clocks or beeping or whatever - would startle me awake. I would wake up in a near panic to turn the darn thing off. Then I'd sit there, miserably contemplating getting out of bed. With the Biobrite, the light comes on gradually, and if you are a light sleeper like me, you are very gently woken up over the course of 15 minutes or 30 minutes, whatever you choose to set the clock to. I like 15 minutes. It's just enough time to wake up a little. The dawn chorus is nice to wake up to; that's the only one I use.

I would love it if the designers would improve the product a bit; make the options a little more intuitive to use, and make the product a little more reliably built. But I wouldn't give it up for a traditional alarm clock, ever!!

This is a great clock, works as advertised, very bright, and has tons of features. Here's more information from BioBrite's website:

If you have trouble sleeping as well as waking up, then Elite 300 is the one for you. Drift off to sleep listening to the radio, your own MP3s or choose a relaxing track from Meditainment, the audio well-being specialist. Or complement the sunrise with a `dawn chorus` and wake full of the joys of spring!
* 15, 30, 60 or 90 minute sunrise & sunset
* AM/FM radio with 4 memory presets
* Sounds for sleep and wake-up including: rain, waves, dawn chorus, white noise, music, spoken word and two 20-minute guided sleep meditation tracks
* SD card reader to play your own MP3s
* Dimmable bedside lighting
* 7-day alarm settings
* Snooze feature
* Glass lamp cover
* 60W (max) bulb
* Back-up beeper
* 7.9x9.5x7.1 inches
* 3.1 lbs