Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-up Light HF3519/01

I've been putting off writing a review because I wanted to be sure of my opinion. My previous alarm clock was a bog standard £25 Philips one. It was a no frills item and did the job. However I HATE getting out of bed on a morning. I'm one of these people that has 8 alarms set on my mobile phone (that is hidden across the bedroom so I have to physically get out of bed to silence it) along with alarms set on my alarm clock. I'd recently managed to kill my old alarm clock when vacuuming behind the bed (the vacuum ate the wire) so figured I'd check out amazon since I'm a prime member and get the free delivery. I'd set out with a £30 budget but once browsing amazon I discovered the wonders and promises of these wake up light alarm clocks and the £30 budget went out of the window. So. First impressions. It is nicely constructed and has a reasonable weight to it. As another reviewer has said it wouldn't look out of place in an Apple showroom. In terms of build quality I don't see any issues. For me (I'm 28 and quite into tech) it is very easy to use and operate. Although I did have to sit for 10 minutes with the user manual to figure out how to change the alarm sound effects, alarm volume and wake up light brightness. When it comes to the wake up light alarm feature. It really does work! I don't spring out of bed on a morning full of beans. But I no longer need multiple alarms and I no longer fall back asleep after the alarm has sounded. There have been a few days where I wasn't quite sure if the wakeup light had woken me up before the alarm had sounded or if I'd been woken by family members clattering about the house. I have mine set so that the gradual sunrise effect starts 30 mins before the alarm sounds... by the time the 30 minutes is up the sunrise has completed, the sound effects start and the light is burning a hole in your eyelids if you have it set to its brightest setting and on a bedside unit. There was one day where the wake up light feature didn't really work because I'd slept facing away from it... however once the alarm itself started to sound I woke up and stayed awake because the bedroom was light from the wake up light feature. This morning confirmed it for me. At first I thought I was dreaming. It was one of those weird half dreams where you're half asleep and half awake. I was dreaming I was stood on a hill watching the sun rise, but then I mentally woke up a bit more and realised it wasn't a dream and what I was seeing was the light from the alarm clock, through my eyelids, nearing its brightest setting prior to the alarm sounding. I opened my eyes and woke up properly just as the alarm started with the sound of birds tweeting. I felt refreshed and properly awake.... something that never usually happens for me at 5am! In a nutshell.... For me it does work and I'm very happy with it. Yes it is expensive at £120 but it makes waking up on a dark winters morning much easier. It is nicely constructed and knowing what I know now, if I was to go back in time I'd have no hesitations in buying this item again.

I love my wake up light!! It took a long time for me to choose which one to get and to finally purchase one due to the price. Very glad I did!!!! I now wake up before the alarm and have been able to put a stop to the 5 alarms I used to use. Admittedly I still struggle to get out of bed though I am now wide awake and in a much better mood. I did read some reviews about the sound quality of the radio which did give me some concerns, though having had the unit for a couple of weeks I now find myself using it as just a radio. If you are expecting the type of sound quality you'd get from a stand alone stereo then yes you may be disappointed. It is by no means has a "tinny" sound or "echos". I was also pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to change the settings as many reviews make it seem really complicated. Setting times for the alarm is really easy to do and if you are using the same time each day you just press the alarm button on the side and select twice. The snooze is a little too long at 9 minutes thought I do tend to use the touch snooze to just turn off the birds and not actually as a snooze function. I particularly like the sunset feature and have found it really does help you drift off into a good sleep. The digital display does stay lit up all the time though the brightness of this changes with the light i.e it dims in the dark. It is not a harsh light and have not had any issues with it keeping me awake or waking me up and I am highly sensitive to outside lights.

I'll try to make this helpful, as there are already sooo many reviews. The '3519' model is the one Amazon calls '5 natural alarm sounds', it is the cheapest of this type and it also has FM radio - poor as it may be. After lots of reading and deliberation, I chose this model because it has all the features I particularly wanted: *Clinically proven/medical grade *Customisable settings *Two separate alarms *Battery backup (up to 8 hours) *Birdsong wakeup sound *Sunset (also customisable) *Option to turn the display completely OFF *Doubles up as a bedside lamp Other pros: It doesn't lose time [UPDATE: after 8 months and two power cuts, it lost 1 minute; I'm happy with that]; You can change the time of the alarm quickly without going through all the other settings; The light graduation is pleasant (both sunrise and sunset); and It's intuitive to use, which I hadn't expected from the negative reviews. In fact, the only functions I wouldn't have figured out without the instructions were how to demo the alarm/s, which buttons turn the alarm off whilst leaving it set for the next day (for me, tapping Menu is easiest - if the display is off, it lights up again when your hand gets near); and toggling the feedback beep on or off. Everything else was easy to figure out straight out of the box. It may go without saying, but most importantly, it is a much more pleasant way to wake up than an alarm jolting you from your slumber. I have the light and sound set to well below max and it always wakes me up gently without the need for a backup alarm. I am also trying to train myself to fall asleep with the sunset - that's still a work in progress, but at worst it is a lovely soothing fading light. There are of course some cons, the main one being: It is VERY expensive for what it is. I've wanted/needed something like this for decades, but couldn't afford a decent Philips/Lumie until now (and very much expect the cheap versions are false economy). I also can't see any sense in paying more for the similar Philips options, unless the extra wakeup sounds are very important to you. Which brings me to my next con: The birdsong is AWFUL! Not pleasant sounding at all, with a short loop and some unintelligible background noise. It's really not difficult to find a lovely morning chorus, and for the very premium price, this was so disappointing. The radio is also pants, as others have said, so if that's important to you, you'll be very disappointed. I actually thought mine was faulty because when I demo'd the alarms, it only ever played the radio, rather than the wakeup sound I'd set. I decided to just tune the radio to nothing and have it play quiet white noise, but it did then play the wakeup sound in the morning. Unlike some other reviewers, I do not find the buttons difficult to find or use when sleepy at all. Pressing the sunset button can move the whole unit, though, as it's situated at 3 o'clock - Philips could have added a weight inside to counter this, which would also have made it feel more premium! In summary, a good quality wakeup light is a truly wonderful gadget that many of us need and most of us would greatly benefit from. But the price is prohibitive, and much too high for what it is.

Love this light/alarm. I find it really easy to use, unlike some others who've complained about it's small buttons, etc. It was simple to set up, I never had to look at the user guide twice. The light is nice and bright if you want it to be, or cosy and warm if you like that. I usually have it set around 13 - 14. I'm a big fan of the cute woodland birds chirping me into wakefulness. I use this in conjunction with the Sleep Cycle app and so over a half hour period I find a have been pleasantly woken and have noticed a difference in my day - mostly that I'm less tired. But it is definitely easier to wake up to light and gentle sounds in the darkness of winter. If only if could turn on my central heating before I get up. I'm in Australia and Phillips do not sell this light here as they obviously think its constant sunshine & laughter, and I found it almost impossible to find a seller who would ship here. I finally found one seller in Germany and so it was easy enough to buy a Euro to AUS adapter. All in all I'm super happy with this light, it's costly, but I absolutely dread cold dark mornings.

Light is for my wife, she loves it. Is working as advertised, helping during the shorter days of winter. Was easy to set-up and program. Great buy.

Funziona benissimo, lo uso tutti le notti/giorni. Ha due sveglie impostabili separatamente, io ne uso una per la mattina e una che modifico raramente per altre occasioni di sonnellini pomeridiani. Il risveglio risulta effettivamente più piacevole in quanto simula l'alba in un arco di tempo che prestabilisci tu, fino a 45 minuti di possibilità, con i colori che iniziano col rosso caldo e piano piano cambiano fino al bianco giallo luce forte. Alla fine del ciclo di luce parte la suoneria, selezionabile tra 5 tipi diversi. Io personalmente ho scelto di svegliarmi con la radio sul canale preferito. E' incredibile come nel 80-90 per centro delle volte io venga svegliato dalla luce ancora prima che la suoneria parta. funziona davvero bene sotto questo punto di vista. Infine l'opzione della simulazione del tramonto è geniale, io la uso ogni notte appena percepisco che posso dormire schiaccio il bottone e parte il count down (io imposto 35 miniui) in cui piano piano la luce diventa sempre più flebile e io in genere mi addormento prima che diventi tutto buio. Il touch screen è molto reattivo basta toccarlo per far partire lo snooze quando parte la sveglia. I tasti per sveglia e tramonto sono posti sul lato del prodotto e vanno schiacciati, ma è molto semplice. Mentre sullo schermino sono presenti alcuni tasti touch molto reattivi e funzionali. Io lo uso anche come lampadina, puoi regolare la luminosità in ogni momento. E' una figata ve lo assicuro! Insomma ottimo prodotto, vale i soldi spesi, lo consiglio soprattutto per chi è costretto a svegliarsi presto quando ancora il sole non è sbucato o che è solito tirare giù sempre le tapparelle! Unica nota dolente non ha un sistema a batteria quindi se salta la luce in genere perdi i settaggi dell'orario e devi reimpostarli. Per il resto lo consiglio vivamente!

I love this alarm clock so much - I'm not a morning person and wake up groggy, especially in the winter when the sun gets up so late - this has helped me wake up naturally and feel refreshed - it also doubles as my bedside light at night which is a bonus and I set the alarm for relaxing bird sounds which is so nice.

Ich habe wegen des hohen Preises lange mit dem Kauf gezögert. Jetzt habe ich den Wecker seit einigen Wochen und bin total begeistert. Er hilft mir wirklich besser beim Wachwerden als erwartet. Man wird sehr entspannt wach, wenn das Licht es schafft, einen aus dem Schlaf zu wecken, bevor der Klingelton ansetzt. Es hat schon fast etwas von Urlaub, wenn man so geweckt wird - auch im Winter um 10 vor 6! (Wenn man allerdings das Licht gedanklich einfach in seinen Traum einbaut statt aufzuwachen - ist mir schon einmal passiert - dann wird man doch vom Weckton aus dem Schlaf gerissen ;-) Da hilft auch der sanfte Weckton nicht.) Die Sorge, dass Licht und sanfter Ton nicht ausreichen würden, mich zu wecken, hat sich als unbegründet herausgestellt. Das Design ist sehr hübsch; die Bedienung intuitiv und auch im Dunkeln superleicht durchzuführen. Die beiden Weckfunktionen sind ganz einfach ein-, an- und auszustellen. Ich weiß nicht, was manche da bemängeln, da es echt kein Aufwand ist. Der Radioklang ist in Ordnung. Besonders gefallen mir die sanften Rottöne bei der dunklen Beleuchtung. Einfach schön! So gehen wir nun jeden Abend mit 15 Minuten "Sonnenuntergang" schlafen und wachen morgens mit 20 Minuten "Sonnenaufgang" auf. Ich möchte diesen tollen Wecker nicht mehr missen! Einfach traumhaft! Man kann den Wecker sehr individuell einstellen (Helligkeit, Lautstärke, Zeitdauer). Ein paar mehr Klingeltöne wären noch schön gewesen. Auch klasse finde ich, dass man beim Sonnenuntergang das Radio hinzuschalten kann, das dann tatsächlich über den eingestellten Zeitraum immer leiser und leiser wird. Klare Kaufempfehlung für alle Morgenmuffel! Zu zwei häufig genannten Kritikpunkten möchte ich noch ergänzen: 1. Kein Batteriefach: Also ich kann mich ehrlich nicht erinnern, wann ich das letzte Mal einen längeren Stromausfall miterlebt habe. Bei den Leuten, für die das ein großes Problem ist, frage ich mich, wo die leben. Eine kurze Unterbrechung (mind. 3 Sekunden) überstehen die Einstellungen übrigens durchaus. Ich musste mal die Steckdose wechseln und das ging problemlos. 2. Die Weckfunktion: Wenn hier geschrieben wird, man müsse jeden Tag den Wecker neu einstellen, gibt das m. E. ein falsches Bild. Das läuft normalerweise so ab: Wecker wird hell, Vogelgezwitscher, man tippt ihn an für die Snooze-Funktion, ein paar Minuten später drückt man 1x auf die Wecktaste, um die Weckfunktion zu unterbrechen, und ein zweites Mal, um den Wecker neu zu aktivieren. Es wird wieder die vorige Weckzeit angezeigt, was man, wenn man sie nicht ändern möchte, einfach ignoriert. Fertig. Also ist es wirklich nicht so, als wäre da viel Aufwand involviert... Am Freitag drücke ich einmal auf Weckfunktion 1 (aus) und einmal auf Weckfunktion 2 (an), so dass ich am Wochenende erst etwas später geweckt werde. Wie gesagt, beide Weckfunktionen behalten sich die Weckzeit und können mit einem Tastendruck aktiviert oder deaktiviert werden.