Customer Reviews

Morning Sunrise System Dawn Dusk Sun Alarm Clock SRS100US

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this system about a month ago after researching a number of dawn simulators on the market. I liked the fact that it used my own lamp as the source of light -- I already have a bedside lamp that matches my decor and didn't want to replace it with a monstrosity (most of the others are really ugly); moreover, I'd read that many simulators that contain their own light source don't get bright enough to be effective. My bedroom is extremely dark, and without an alarm I just can't wake up on my own. Since I work at home and set my own hours, though, an alarm clock that jars me awake and leaves me groggy all day seemed like overkill. I was hoping a dawn simulator would allow me to wake up peacefully -- just earlier.

I was a bit skeptical when I opened the box -- it was larger and a lot lighter than I thought it would be; for $115 I expected it to feel more substantial. It has a very thick forked cord coming out of it that's too heavy for the actual clock -- it would drag it off my nightstand if I didn't anchor it around my lamp -- and also too short: I needed an extension cord even though my outlet is only a couple of feet away.

I found the system somewhat confusing to set -- it's necessary, for example, to set an alarm time for every day of the week, rather than simply setting one time that could be changed if necessary. This might be nice for people with revolving schedules, but I find it rather cumbersome. I also find it awkward that it automatically starts the sunset feature if you set the alarm when the light is on -- so unless I set my alarm with another light on in the room (or leave the alarm permanently set, which I've been doing lately), it will start to dim the light while I'm reading. Perhaps I just haven't figured this out, though -- it seems like there's a lot I'm still learning about it. I don't know, for instance, how the previous reviewer managed to set the brightness of the backlight -- I've found the control to change the contrast of the numbers (which seems sort of useless) but not the bright green backlight. The first night I slept badly, thinking that green light was too bright, but by the second night I'd already gotten used to it.

Despite all this, however, I really love this dawn simulator. I had a morning meeting the first morning I used it, so I set the buzzer as well as the simulator, but found I really didn't need it -- I woke up a few minutes before the light had reached full brightness. I waited for the buzzer, just to hear what it would sound like, and was glad to hear it wasn't obnoxious -- definitely loud enough to wake someone, but not to set their teeth on edge. What's more, I woke up refreshed! With my traditional alarm clock, I'd find myself pressing "snooze" over and over, but with this system I really did feel awake. I find that the 30 minute setting, though, is the only one that works for me -- if I set it for a longer time (the system allows 15, 30, 60 or 90 minute settings) I wake up too early and then fall back asleep again, and it's harder to wake up the second time. However, on the 30-minute setting I think it's wonderful.

I am not a morning person. When our old alarm would go off in morning, I would always get startled, and could not believe it is time to get up again. I would feel awfully drowsy and could go back to sleep in a second if I wanted to. It doesn't help that it is still pretty dark at 6:30 in the morning.

We used to have a Remington sunrise alarm about 4-5 years ago, which is just like those sunrise alarms with a light attach to it. We stopped using it after a short while because of 3 reasons. You could not control the time of sunrise. The light was a tiny light bulb and it would be too bright as soon as the sunrise turned on causing you to wake up almost right way/too early, and finally, the location and the features of all the buttons were poorly designed. After years of miserable mornings, I did some research and decided on this clock; there were 4 features I really liked (and now like since I now own it):

1. You can use your own light, not some week tiny little bulb attach to the clock. That means that you can use a full spectrum light if you want to (one that is close to actual sunlight) 2. You can set the sunrise time to suit you, from a 15 minute sunrise to a 90 minute sunrise. 3. You can change the brightness and the contrast of the display. I personally severely dislike bright displays because our room is very dark and the bright displays seem to shine right in my eyes making it even harder for me to fall asleep (I have insomnia) 4. I love that I can set the alarm for a different time every day of the week. Another reviewer did not like it, but I do. There is no way I am getting up early on the weekend if I don't have to. If you need to get up the same time every day, you can just set all days the same time once and that's it.

I thought the set up was easy and intuitive. You press the set button once, and set the time; you press it again and set the something else, press again and set the 3rd feature. Simple. Basically, the very first time you set it up, you will go through 15 features (7 of them being the alarm time for each day). After everything is set, you only need to do it once, there is an alarm on/off bottom that you need to use to turn the alarm on (or off). There is also a snooze button, but I have never used snooze in my life, so I have no idea if it is a good feature or not. There are other features such as sunset, night light, reading light etc. but we have not used them. There is also a backup alarm (sound) to make sure you are awake, but we have not needed it. I tested the sunrise the night before and was pleased to find out that the light was very, very, faint when the sunrise started. That was a big issue with the old sunrise alarm clock (it would be to bright at the beginning of the cycle) and the main reason why we quit using it.

We have the sunrise set for 6:30 and a 15 minute cycle. The very first morning, I (and my husband) woke up by myself around 6:25 and felt refreshed. It was a weird feeling because I am not used to feeling refreshed at 6:30 in the morning. The second day, we woke up at about 6:20. We use a lamp across the room that is pretty bright (it is actually made of 3 lights that you can adjust/tilt, and we have all 3 pointed towards the bed).

Cons:

-The plug and cord that you are supposed to plug the light in is very short (they assume you will used the light on your bed stand), but you can solve it by using an extension chord.

-The way you turn off the sunrise alarm after you get up. There is a "+" and "-" button (because you can use your lamp as a reading lamp and adjust the brightness with those buttons) but you turn also turn off the sunrise by pressing the "-" button until the light completely dims. I think there should be one simple off button for that purpose.

UPDATE 2/19/09:

2 years after using the alarm, we bought a new lamp. I tired to set the new lamp up with the clock, however, the new lamp literately fried the alarm (electric burning/smoke), and the alarm is no longer usable/dead. I don't have the original instructions anymore, but I recall reading that you have to be quite careful what type of lamp you use. Just a word of caution that the sun alarm does not work with all lights, and the wrong light can damage the alarm, so be careful when hook your light up (check wattage etc according to the instructions). Also, from experience, the alarm does not work with touch lamps.... So, unfortunately I have to buy a new one. I did my due diligence and took a look at reviews of other sunrise alarms again to if there was anything new/improved/better on the market, but could not find anything, so I am buying another one of these (plus I really like this one).

I've had this clock a few weeks and just love it. It allows you to use your own lamp (up to 100W) for the sunrise/sunset feature. I use a floor lamp with a 100W GE Reveal clear bulb (a very nice full-spectrum light). I find that I am waking up gently before the audio alarm goes off. This thing is loaded with features having been designed in the U.K. (manufactured in China). The backlight has an auto-intesity feature so that it illuminates just enough to clearly see the displayed information without being too bright at night etc. There are separate alarms for each day.

I'm a musician and have never been fond of waking up before sunrise. With each passing year, it has become harder to rouse myself out of bed to be at work on time. I spent a great deal of time searching the internet for a device that would simulate a sunrise. I wanted a product that was well engineered; connected to my existing lamp; wouldn't offend my other half's esthetic sensibilities; and most importantly... didn't offer the option of aromatherapy or Tibetan wind chimes! Having said that, I settled on this device, and although it seemed a bit pricey, took the plunge. Upon arrival, I immediately plugged my bedside lamp into it, followed its programming directions, and went to sleep.

My waking experience the next morning was nothing short of amazing.

No buzzers. No bells. No announcer starting the day with depressing headlines. No music that was either annoying or prone to stay in my mind all day. Certainly not as good as a real sunrise mind you, but "lightyears" ahead of any alarm I'd ever used. We've gone to bed and greeted the day together for six weeks now, and I must confess I love this alarm!

This product works well and is very flexible, allowing different alarm times every day of the week, and 5 different ramp-up times on the light, from 15 minutes to 90 minutes. It even has a cute demo mode where the light will ramp up over 1 minute and down over the next minute, ad infinitum.

It is a little confusing, however, to manipulate the light yourself. It can be done, but the instructions are not clear. There is a light on/off control, but it is completely independent of the light ramp up/down, and this is what the instructions do not make clear. Thus, if the light is already ramped fully up either manually or by the alarm, turning it on and off has no effect - it stays on. You must turn the alarm off, ramp the light all the way down, and then you can turn the light on and off manually, with either the alarm off or back on. If the light has ramped itself up via the alarm, and you try to make adjustments with the alarm still on, strange things will happen.

The above not withstanding, I would still recommend this product. It allows you to use your own light, gives you great flexibility, and is small and light enough to travel well. It is also one of the least expensive units on the market. Just figure on spending some time educating yourself on how it works.

I like it alot and like being able to use my own lamp. However, there's one big drawback: after the light fades up to its maximum, it begins to fade down again right away. I think this is a considerable design flaw. The first morning I used it, I saw the light at its brightest, closed my eyes for a couple minutes, and when I opened them again, the room was completely dark again. I wrote to the company and was told I need to press the alarm button once to keep it on. My clock and lamp are across the room, so this isn't too convenient for me. It would seem that since its purpose is to wake you up by simulating the sun rising, it ought to stay on like the sun.

I wanted to find a dawn simulator using my own lamp, and that's what I found. It's not too small, getting lost and knocked around, but not too big, so it doesn't take up all the room on my bedside table. The cords are very heavy duty, so I don't worry about the electrical aspects. For something this complex in what it does, it is about the easiest thing to program that I have worked through. The manual is short, concise, and covers it all. The only thing I had to work through was changing the clock from 24 hour to 12 hour. When it shows 24 hour, (after pushing the set button) you just push the alarm button (which is the select button also in the 'set' mode) The fade is very gradual. Very nice.

The cord for this is definitely too short and the user interface is much more complex than it needs to be.

Having said that, I am very glad I bought this and don't have any regrets. I had to get an extension cord and it took me about 20-30 minutes to get it all set up and programmed. However, once it was set up it's been a delight to wake up to during the dark, fall/winter mornings. The first morning I used it, it felt like luxuriously waking up during a June morning.

I received this as a gift after researching the other options on Amazon and requesting this particular clock. Many other models have reviews that complain about built in lamps not being bright enough, or breaking easily, etc. so this model, that uses any desk/bedside lamp seemed like a good idea....but I don't have personal experience with the other types. I found I needed to go through the manual once to set it up, and I think I referred back to it once or twice at the most. I'm fairly experienced with electronics and found this clock very easy to use. What might trip people up is that the clock has very few buttons - you end up pushing the same buttons many times to flip through the settings. I prefer this type of operation over having a ba-zillion buttons that I might accidentally hit while drowsy or that can break. I also LOVE the way it dims or brightens my lamp....very soothing and smooth operation, even just turning it on and off. I like the size of the clock - large enough for the numbers to be read across my room, but small enough for there to be space on my bedside table. It is a lot smaller than it looks like in the picture, so if you like a big, heavy clock or need large numbers to read, you might not like this. The cords are a bit short, but nothing that can't be solved with an extension cord (the clock is going to be next to the lamp anyway, right?).

As for using a daylight alarm at all, I have found that it does make a difference getting up. So far I've only been using it during the dark mornings of winter. What I find happening is that I'll be roused gently by the lamp getting brighter....basically I realize I'm awake and think "wait, why did i just wake up? oh, the lamp's on!" I have always had problems waking in the morning....never been a morning person and always have needed 8hrs or more of sleep. Compared to my partner, who practically bounces out of bed and runs on 7hrs of sleep comfortably, I almost feel like I've got some handicap! The alarms that scream at you and jar you awake have always bothered me and never fail to put me in a really foul mood first thing in the am....not a great way to start a day. I'm hoping that with continued use and maintaining a regular schedule, I can adjust to being more of a morning person (I've got a lot of animals and they just don't get why I'm not as bouncy as they are at 5am!). I'm also starting to use the dimming "sunset" feature to keep myself from reading too late into the night. I'll set it for 15mins and will have to give up reading in about 10 b/c the light gets so weak. If you're the type who can get sucked into a novel and find yourself reading till 3am when you've got to get up at 6am, this is a handy feature....and again, I find the smooth dimming very soothing.

My two negatives: It doesn't play any radio...a bummer if you're a morning NPR junkie. More significantly, I find that the backlight is pretty bright, even at the lowest setting. There is a setting that you can change just like all the other options (not sure why the other guy couldn't find it) but the lowest is bright enough that I shift the clock so that it's not facing directly at me at night. I can turn the backlight off totally, but then it's a bit hard to read the number in the middle of the night if you need to! For the amount of money the clock costs, this is disappointing, but for me the positives most definitely out-weigh the negatives. Speaking of the price, this little guy is pretty pricey, but a decent clock should last many years if not a decade with reasonable care (i.e. no chucking it across the room). Time will tell how the buttons and display hold up....I don't remember what the warranty was from the company. For me, rising early, rested and happy in the am is well worth the 100 bucks (and my partner agrees since we commute together!!).

I love this alarm clock! Yes, the initial setup will take you a few minutes, but its not that difficult and its totally worth it.

I was a little skeptical that this clock would wake me up at all (I'm a very heavy sleeper and NOT a morning person). But, after two weeks of use, I've not hit the snooze button once! I usually completely wake up about 5 to 10 minutes before the alarm goes off (on a 30-minute sunrise cycle). I am WIDE awake, and ready to start my day, which is a big deal to a person whose motto is "You've caught me at a bad time... I'm awake."

In the instances where I'm not completely wide-awake when the alarm goes off, I'm about half-awake because of the light coming on (does the light bring you out of REM sleep, I wonder?), and am ready to get up when the backup sound alarm goes off. The backup sound alarm is great - loud enough to wake you up, but not so loud that it startles you half to death.

The sunset feature is also great - I use it to read for a few minutes at night, and the slowly dimming light helps me fall asleep (no TV to turn off at 2 a.m. anymore).

I would buy this clock again, and I'm only sorry I didn't know of its existence sooner.