Customer Reviews

Sonic Alert SBP100 Sonic Boom Portable Vibrating Alarm Clock

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After reading all the reviews for this alarm, I figured that this would be the best thing for my 14 year old son. He has such a hard time waking up in the morning. We even tried holding one of those alarms that have the two bells on top that clank over his head and that did not wake him up. The first morning he used this alarm, he tossed a little and started to wake up but the vibrations stopped after only one minute. That definitely is not long enough to wake someone up. I contacted Sonic Alert and asked them about this and they said the vibration only lasts for one minute because the clock runs on batteries. I told the customer service agent that was not long enough to wake someone up and she suggested that I try one of the other models that run on electricity since the vibrations will go on until you actually get up and shut off the alarm. I am returning this one to Amazon and have ordered one of the other Sonic Alert models. I also made sure to get the extension cord for the vibrator so the alarm clock can be placed as far away from my son forcing him to get up out of bed to shut it off.

It usually does the job of waking me without disturbing my wife though the vibrator is pretty noisy. The finish is hard plastic and when attached with the pillow clasp it can be a bit uncomfortable and noisy to keep bumping into in the night. The snooze is a very short 4 minutes. The controls are a bit clumsy to use in the dark and the screen has no backlight. To see the time in the dark, the screen must be raised (again a bit clumsy in the dark) and the overly bright light illuminates it from the front when the snooze/light button is pressed. All that said, I would still make the purchase again. It performs as advertised and I wouldn't want to be without it. It's the best travel alarm I've used.

I brought this alarm not knowing how effective it would be. I set it to wake me up yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to find out the vibration is so powerful it very nearly blew my chode off. 5 stars.

A vibrating alarm clock is a pretty great thing, particularly if you have difficultly getting up in the morning. I also sleep with earplugs in because I'm such a light sleeper, and I needed an alternative to the loud audio alarms that I ended up just sleeping through (earplugs or not!). Anyway, I bought this clock because it seemed to have a powerful vibration, and I liked how the clock LCD lay flush and popped up so you could use it on your night stand, if you were so inclined. All seemingly great features, until I started using it. First of all, the backlight on the LCD is nothing more than a teeny green bulb that shines light on the screen. It's hard to see, sometimes impossible in the dark, which completely defeats the purpose. Secondly, while the vibrations are strong, and the snooze function great, the damn thing just STOPPED WORKING CONSISTANTLY after a few weeks of use, and has been heading steadily downhill since. A few times, it did not alarm, snooze stopped working (it would turn off and never come back on), and just this morning (after waking up LATE) I tested it out, and the vibration burped on and off a second later. Furthermore, the audible alarm (which I don't use) is not that loud at all. My 1980's digital alarm was louder than that thing. Absolute garbage. A sonic bust. I'm severely disappointed in this. Wasted my money, and now I'm shopping for another alarm clock. Oh, I also hear customer service sucks with this maker, so I don't know if it's worth it to fight for a refund. So if you're looking for an alarm... keep looking...

It was great when it worked. The vibration was slightly too mild but it was enough to wake me. I purchased this more for the purpose of not waking my roommates and less for my sleep problems. For anyone with a genuine sleeping disorder, I would not at all recommend this clock for the reason that it's simply too weak to really grab your attention.

Even if the clock were powerful enough, the stupid thing died after only four months of use. I put in new batteries, took out the batteries that were fresh, put in different ones... nothing. The clock worked just fine, but neither the alarm or vibrator would go off when it was supposed to. If I hit "test," both would work just fine. So there was something wrong with the connection between the set alarm and the actual execution of the command.

All in all, just spend the extra money to get a quality vibrating alarm clock that will actually last. Four months is just not worth a solid spend.

I bought this because I run marathons and can't fall asleep worrying I will sleep through the start of the race! It is everything that is promised.

First of all, someone here said it's uncomfortable to put under the pillow. So, don't put it there! I sometimes leave it under the pillow and other times just throw it in the bed near me. Trust me, no matter where it is it will wake you up!

As for the snooze, I don't know how long the snooze is exactly, but I'm glad it has a short snooze. This alarm is for people that have to wake up - not people that are going to keep hitting the snooze button.

The alarm is loud and the vibration is well let's say PALPABLE. It's very hard to miss!

With that said, due to overwhelming anxiety, I still have 2 other alarms set, but I set them to go off after this alarm clock and I never really need them. This alarm does the trick.

P.S. I use this alarm both at home and when I'm traveling. I'll probably buy the one you can plug in and just use this one for travel so I can stop stressing that the batteries will die on me someday! Where's that psychiatrist when you need him? :)

I purchased the clock while deployed to Iraq as a back up to my audible alarm. For those who sleep with a lot of "white noise" (generators, ECUs, helicopters, etc.) standard audible alarms aren't loud enough to wake you up.

The Sonic Shaker SBP100 has the shaking setting that works well either under your pillow, or clipped to the bed frame. It shakes enough to wake you without being loud enough to wake your CHU-mate or anyone sleeping two rooms over. And it's small enough to be portable and comes with a padded neoprene case for travel.

The first problem that I had is that the company wouldn't ship to APOs so I had to ship it to my home address and have my wife forward it to me.

Once I got it, I noticed that when I put the batteries in the clock it didn't work until I got the batteries inserted "just right". Either mine was defective or it's a bad design. I found that the batteries would shift either while I was sleeping or for no apparent reason and the clock would either reset or die. There were a couple of mornings that I awoke late. I lost confidence in the clock and found a louder alarm clock (much to the ire of my roomie).

Bottom line, the clock wasn't dependable enough for me to rely on to consistently wake me. It's a great idea for someone with a lot of ambient noise or with consideration for a roomie, but the Sonic Shaker didn't prove dependable enough.

I purchased this item because I wanted a small and portable alarm that could wake me when I travel, yet not be so loud and annoying that it would wake others around me. To that extent, this item does very well. The vibration is strong enough that you can place this under your standard pillow and you will definitely feel it vibrate. Much stronger than a cell phone vibration, but not as strong as one of those small battery powered handheld massagers...close though.

The buzz setting is another option, but it's your typical travel alarm buzz setting. Loud enough to wake light sleepers, but most people will probably sleep through it.

A simple yet nice feature is the included clip. You can clip this alarm to your pillow case, clothing, or another similarly thin item to prevent the alarm from moving around too much. Very useful for those that tend to move a lot in their sleep.

Operation is very simple...
-1 switch on one side to choose between vibrate, buzz, or vibrate & buzz
-1 switch on the other side to choose between alarm on or off
-buttons on top of the flip-up clock to set time and alarm

That's pretty much it. Simple yet effective.

****After using this at home on a consistent basis I learned to turn off the alarm without even waking up. To prevent this, I now place this alarm on my desk instead of under my pillow so the loud noise created from the hard plastic vibrating against my wooden desk wakes me up.****

Bought this clock for my mom, who has a very severe hearing loss. It is relatively flat, so it doesn't bulge out from under her pillow. It vibrates very strongly! No more missing the wake-up call for her!

I'm deaf in one ear, so if I'm turned the wrong way on a pillow, I will not always hear a regular alarm. I'm in an apartment and I have to get up really early, so I don't want to just get a super-loud alarm. I use this alarm on vibrate, and it works wonderfully! There's no way I can help but wake up to it. I received the product quickly; so far the batteries have been fine; and it has already saved me once when I brought it traveling, and the power went out in the middle of the night in the hotel room. If I hadn't been using this alarm and had been relying on the hotel clock, I'd have overslept and had some very mad customers! I definitely recommend it; small enough to fit easily under the pillow, and easy to check the time on in the middle of the night.