Sunrise / Sunset / Daylight Alarm Lamps?

[Cadder]

I use the smart alarm on my phone to more gradually wake me up than a sudden alarm blaring out - definitely better than being suddenly jerked out of sleep.

I'm trying out this feature on my new phone but it's not as effective as the dedicated smart alarm.

Hue bulb in bedside light

I like this idea. As I have Hive it would be easy enough for me to try and configure it that way. Even if they don't have a dedicated feature, I could probably set it to different brightness levels on a schedule.
The drawback with Hive is that it has carried out system updates at any time between 00:00-03:00 and when complete the bulbs would come on 100%. This was bad enough with the landing light outside our bedroom but by the bedside, I'm not sure.
Hopefully Hue doesn't do this but I'm cautious with this approach.

We use Lifx bulbs in the bedrooms with custom wake-up automations which change brightness and colour.

Never heard of Lifx. Any good?

I tried a Lumie but it was trash-tier build quality

The Beurer was the same. Absolutely no chance it warranted its £80 price tag.

 

[mushtafa]

Never heard of Lifx. Any good?

Yeah, I like them. Reliable, bright, good colours. The app works OK, and have them integrated into Home Assistant nicely.
They're always included in big sales on Amazon, and always discounted every Black Friday/Cyber Monday so would be worth waiting

 

[The_Arbiter]

.
The drawback with Hive is that it has carried out system updates at any time between 00:00-03:00 and when complete the bulbs would come on 100%. This was bad enough with the landing light outside our bedroom but by the bedside, I'm not sure.

Wow, that would seriously wind me up. If the update time was configurable then all fine, but seems like a major oversight.

 

[Cadder]

Wow, that would seriously wind me up. If the update time was configurable then all fine, but seems like a major oversight.

Yeah, waking suddenly to a beam of bright light under the door is no fun.

 

[The_Arbiter]

Appears to be lots of discounts on these for black friday. Sill not convinced i'm happy with spending the cash as i've got to pick up a new phone so will give the smart alarm or smart bulb thing a go instead, my current phone can't do such things.

 

[Cadder]

Appears to be lots of discounts on these for black friday. Sill not convinced i'm happy with spending the cash as i've got to pick up a new phone so will give the smart alarm or smart bulb thing a go instead, my current phone can't do such things.

The sunrise setting on my phone is OK but not as effective as the sunrise lamp we had. Think we'll persevere unless some really good deals land. The trouble is they are well overpriced for what they are so they'd need to be 75% off to be actually worth it.

 

[jpaul]

good podcast last week

Wake Up Lights & SAD Lamps​

for smart bulbs I'm a bit more in favour of (new) Ikeas that seem more economic and better light quality

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[The_Arbiter]

The sunrise setting on my phone is OK but not as effective as the sunrise lamp we had. Think we'll persevere unless some really good deals land. The trouble is they are well overpriced for what they are so they'd need to be 75% off to be actually worth it.

Is that because the phone uses the led/flash to wake which is pure white(?), whereas the alarms are a warm colour?

 

[Cadder]

Is that because the phone uses the led/flash to wake which is pure white(?), whereas the alarms are a warm colour?

No it's the screen that lights up slowly but never gets as bright as one of those lamps.

 

[The_Arbiter]

I'm gonna pick up one of those cheapo Chinese "sunrise alarm clock" from Amazon. I don't like the shop, but it's the only place where i can get a return without hassle,plus i had a cashback voucher for them so it free.

Reviews on YT seem favourable and they appear to have more functions than some of the more expensive ones which put me off even more with those ones.

 

[Cadder]

I'm gonna pick up one of those cheapo Chinese "sunrise alarm clock" from Amazon. I don't like the shop, but it's the only place where i can get a return without hassle,plus i had a cashback voucher for them so it free.

Reviews on YT seem favourable and they appear to have more functions than some of the more expensive ones which put me off even more with those ones.

Let me know how you get on. Amazon is too much of a minefield for me, especially with stuff like this.

 

[The_Arbiter]

Let me know how you get on. Amazon is too much of a minefield for me, especially with stuff like this.

Yeah, will do. I don't like amazon, especially for electronics, but these hopefully should all be out of the same reasonable factory.

 

[The_Arbiter]

Let me know how you get on. Amazon is too much of a minefield for me, especially with stuff like this.

I just remembered to get back to you

No new alarm clock here, and generally can't be bothered to pay more than the £27.99 i initially paid to 'demo' one.

I have no idea what the seller's game was on amazon, but i had to go through amazon's awful chat service to claim a refund. Amazon prompt'd a "claim a refund" after about a week of ordering as item may be lost, i waited a couple of weeks just in case it turned up as there was a DPD email saying the alarm was being collected.

There's loads of the same alarm on amazon, i went for the cheapest. Looking through reviews on the various priced alarms there are a few good ones buried. Basically the alarm is likely to malfunction in some form before a year of use, and sellers are refunding or giving money away to keep reviews positive. This is nothing new as most of us know, but would have liked to try an alarm with a gradual light to test the water.

So for now i'm just using a touch LED battery lamp i got from Argos ages ago. I smash it on when i smash snooze on my phone alarm.