Customer Reviews

NatureBright PER3 Deluxe Light Therapy Lamp

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am an academic psychiatrist, and have reviewed the scientific articles on Dawn Simulation and Light Therapy, both of which are promising treatments for Seasonal Affective Disorder and also helpful for people who need to get up before the sun. I recently purchased this device and will be returning it today. As another reviewer described, when set for "Dawn Simulation" it starts at 10% for 29min then increases to 100% in the last minute. Real dawn simulators start with a nearly imperceptable amount of light and increase gradually to a modest (300lux)amount of light at awakening time with a goal of broad illumination of the sleeping area. This lamp is very directional and would not provide even illumination of a pillow from a bedside table. The traditional intensity for Light Therapy is 10,000 lux. This lamp does not reveal its intensity, but it is much less bright than a real 10,000 lux light I have. It would likely require much longer exposure times for the same effect. Their online literature references the importance of blue wavelengths, which appears to be true, but does not reveal output in that range. The clock display is not visible unless the lamp is on.

In summary, It is NOT a dawn simulator, and NOT a Light Therapy Device.
It is a poor desk lamp and a miserable clock.

I identified myself as suffering from SAD over 15 years ago. After consultation with a psychopharmacologist and use of antidepressants for a period of time he suggested I try light therapy during the winter. That was the answer for me. I have used the large light boxes one must sit in front of for 30-60 minutes each morning for years but still wished it was easier to get up in the morning during the dark winter months. I bought this lamp solely for its dawn simulation aspect. It took me a few attempts to understand the directions for the dawn simulation but have been using it since October and it has been wonderful. I have it sitting in front of my east facing bedroom window about 5 feet from my bed with the light pointed directly at the bed-- not the typical lamp stance. It bathes my room with light gradually over a 30 minute period. As reaches its full intensity it has a gentle 'tweet' sound for the alarm. Several mornings I awoke thinking truly the sun was coming in the window -- but alas, no, it is still winter! It is easy to adjust the time of day the simulation occurs, or turn it off completely, as I like to sleep later than 6am on the weekends. I give this a 5 star rating. It is an EXCELLENT dawn simulator doing for me exactly what I had hoped it would. Take it from someone who has dealt with SAD for years and used a variety of products to help alleviate the symptoms.

I bought the lamp a couple weeks ago as it was the only one listed that has both a dawn simulator and light therapy function. I came pretty close to returning it due to a few issues with the unit (and I had found another product online - Morning Sunrise SRS320 - that has both dawn simulator and light therapy features). First of all, it looks ugly and feels flimsy - lightweight plastic, garish LED lights, and buttons that beep each time you press them. I can accept that; the lamp is significantly cheaper than most of the single-purpose light therapy boxes, none of which are especially beautiful either.
The most frustrating flaw was the difficulty of setting up and testing the sunrise feature; the first morning the "sun" rose quite a bit earlier than I thought I had set it for. Attempts at testing the feature by setting the wake time for 32 minutes in the future and the sunrise time for 30 minutes did not result in dawn glimmerings in two minutes. I'm not sure if this was a problem with the clock or with the directions...I subsequently seem to have gotten it working, but you should be aware than a 30-minute dawn consists of 29 minutes of light at 10% brightness (which is still rather harsh first thing in the morning) and then a 1-minute ramp up to 100% brightness. The clock does not allow a sunrise of less than 30 minutes. The sunset feature does seem to ramp down more evenly from 100% to dark in the set time.

I'm on my second unit; I returned the first for an even exchange. During the three or so weeks I had the first unit, it behaved very strangely.

Sometimes when using the timer, the entire clock would reset itself at the end of the cycle, and I would have to re-set the date, time, and everything else.

The clock would randomly change time from AM to PM. In other words, I would hear the alarm go off at 5:00 PM, and discover that the time displayed on the clock was now 5:00 AM, instead of the correct time of 5:00 PM.

When using the lamp as a reading lamp (i.e., just turning it on) the light would turn itself off at random for no reason.

When using the lamp on the timer, the timer would occasionally end the cycle after a few minutes. I'd set it for 30 minutes and it would turn either turn itself off short of the thirty minutes, or I'd look over at the display and it would now say 54 minutes remaining.

So I returned that unit and got another one.

This new one randomly loses 1 hour every couple of weeks. By that I mean that every couple of weeks, I will look over at the clock and find that it says 9:00 PM instead of the correct time of 10:00 PM and I will have to reset it.

When using it as a reading lamp, this one also turns itself off occasionally for no reason.

This is a great lamp; I love reading by it, and I love being awakened by the dawn simulation feature instead of a jarring audio alarm, but as I said, this clock is haunted. I've decided to live with this one's idiosyncrasies, but for $160, the lamp should work reliably.

So if you decide to buy this, it's a great lamp when it works properly, but expect some surprises. (I set a backup alarm on my Palm device just in case the clock has a hiccup during the night...)

P.S. As I am typing this with the lamp switched on, it just shut itself off again for no reason. Haunted.

I'm surprised at the recent reviews that this light isn't very bright. Mine is blindingly bright and works great for waking me up in the morning and as light therapy. I set it for a fairly short "dawn" of just a few minutes, and then lie under it for awhile at full brightness. Much much better than a traditional alarm clock. I position it so the light falls directly onto my pillow. Since it's such a bright white light I don't usually use it to read by in the evening.

Mine is over a year old. I wonder if they have changed their design since I originally bought it. I would say my one issue with it is that it's top heavy. They should have weighted the base. My preschool daughter likes to move the light arm into different positions, and the lamp topples easily if head is not almost directly over the base.

I've had this lamp for about a year. I like it because of the dawn simulator, which really makes it easier to get up in the morning. But a few months ago about 6 of the LEDs started blinking. Sometimes it flashes like a strobe light and is very annoying. Because of this, I already need to replace it. I'm thinking of buying a regular dawn simulator that I can plug my own lamp into, to avoid further problems with bad quality bulbs/LEDs. Also, I find the LED lighting too harsh.

I bought this product about 4 months ago before the SAD season. As a dawn simulator it is virtually useless since it does not gradually increase light but jumps from 10% to 100% at once.

For light therapy, it is painful to use because the LED's are so harsh on my eyes. I borrowed a light meter to check the LUX and it was under 2,000 LUX at about a foot, not 10,000 LUX unless the unit is about 4" from the meter.

I wish I had looked into what doctors recommend for light therapy before buying this product. It is an expensive desk lamp.

I loved this lamp at first. It took me a couple of days to figure out how to set it right but once I did it was very refreshing to wake up to in the morning. Unfortunately after about 3 or 4 weeks the sunrise feature broke and it would not increase beyond 10% lighting. I still used it but it was not nearly as effective. It was now more of a reading lamp. After about 7 months the lamp died completely. One day it worked fine (except of the sunrise feature) and the next day none of the LEDs would turn on anymore. Based one the reviews by others I must have gotten a dud but I think I'll consider getting something a little brighter next time around.

I purchased this product some time back and had stored it away because of disatisfaction with the LED lights. Some lights had burned out while others pulsed like strobe lights before they too burned out. I liked the concept but the performances leaves a lot to be desired.

This lamp is multi-fuctional and easy to operate. It supplements waning sunlight during the winter months and also provides an excellent light source for studying, etc. The lamp is equipped with a timer and various light intensity setting. I thought it may be bulky, but the design is sleek. It has really helped with my seasonal blues. The sunrise waking function is FANTASTIC. Initially I was hesitant to purchase the lamp because of the price, but it has been worth every penny.