Just curious. I’ve been thinking about getting one - I know that it makes waking up a lot more pleasant for some people. If you have one and like it, what’s the brand and model? And can you use the ‘sunlight’ feature without using an actual alarm? I don’t mind continuing to use my phone alarm - I just want it to feel a little less jarring when it actually goes off.
I like the concept but I never found one that suits me very well. Seems like the lighting mechanism adds enough expense that they skimp on the settings mechanism, which ends up being a pain in the ass.
The #1 problem for me was figuring out how to time the correct light level for awakening. There were settings for light coming up 30, 60, and 90 minutes prior to “wake time”. I had to work out that my correct light level was like 11 minutes into the 90-minute light curve, and set the clock for 79 minutes before I had to wake up.
The other problem was manipulating the light out of cycle. Like “ok, I’m awake now, turn yourself off without screwing up tomorrow’s timing”. Or “ok, I need a reading light now, turn yourself on without screwing up tomorrow’s timing.” Or “I’d like to sleep 5 minutes late tomorrow.”
All this stuff is easy with a regular alarm clock; couldn’t find a sunrise clock that ever made this easy.
I’ve been using this one for over a year and really like it: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Simulation-Headspace-Subscription-HF3520/dp/B0093162RM/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=sunrise+alarm+clock&qid=1571409669&sr=8-7
I don’t have all the issues that HMS Irruncible listed, but then I don’t use it for anything other than morning light. My only complaint is that the controls are hard to find (white labels on a white device, derp!) and some of the “buttons” are touch controls on it’s face so I occasionally mess things up just by picking it up. But for the most part I set it and forget it and try not to pick it up! LOL!
I find that the light makes me gradually wake up so that by the time the actual alarm happens, I’m ready to get up. It’s SO much better than being forced to wake up in the dark (in the winter) and how awful that feels.
I’ve used one with my kids for a long time. The actual clock is something like this one. I’ve also used Hue lighting to mimic the same effect.
I started this thread nearly 10 years ago asking for recommendations for one. The one that I ended up buying (I think it was the Hammacher-Schlemmer one) turned out to be a real piece of crap. IIRC, when I hit the snooze button, the light would turn off again, which kind of defeated the purpose of the whole thing. There were also a couple instances where I activated the alarm using an incorrect sequence of steps, resulting in the clock not waking me up at all the next morning. I returned it within a month or so. Fortunately I have a different job now and rarely need to wake up in the darkness now.
I’m using an Echo Show5 as my bedside alarm/music player. It has the ability to slowly brighten starting 15 minutes prior to alarm time.
I tried it for about three weeks, but have turned off the feature as I found it annoying.
I’ve been using a Philips HF3506 for several years. I believe that’s an older model, but similar to the one JcWoman posted. It is definitely less jarring than just waking up to a loud alarm. Besides the light, the alarm sound gradually fades in rather than just coming on at full volume. I used to use the “bird song” alarm, but lately what I do is wake up to the radio tuned to NPR (the radio also gradually fades in, BTW). The NPR reporters voices are rather soothing themselves, and if I don’t get up right away I’ll lie in bed listening to Morning Edition with the light on, which prevents me from just falling back asleep (which was a problem I had with my old alarm clock when I just turned off the alarm and didn’t hit snooze).
Couldn’t you just buy a smart bulb and program it with a sunrise effect? e.g. at 7am 10% light, at 7:05 20% light, etc etc. Obviously this only works well if you want to wake up the same time every day.
We have a LED strip which is programmed to do reddish (sunrise colored) light, then somewhat brighter with more yellow and then a more of a WAKE UP NOW white light.
Darn server hasn’t forgetten the initial programming, so there’s a light coming on at 6:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. Since it’s not visible in the app, we are having a problem to stop it.
Anyway. I wake up to gentle waves (that’s how it’s described) and the sunrise->mid->WAKE UP is for my husband’s waking up process. Much gentler than a BEEP alarm, and even less jarring than me telling him it’s time to get up.
Plus it’s nice for evening light, for when we want some light in the bedroom, but not for reading.
This is in fact what I do. Most of the house is on LED bulbs hooked into a management hub via wifi. The hub has an app already pre-programmed with this concept. I just create a wake up routine, tell it the time I want it to hit max brightness, give it a time period ahead of that in which I want it to fade in from 0 to 100 brightness (I choose 30 minutes), and tell it which lights to do it with (obviously all the lights in the bedroom). I no longer use a sound alarm and wake up at the same time every day without a heart attack. It’s great. Easy to toggle on/off with a single tap, or program for different times on different days, or on some days off other days. So I have it set to wake me up monday through friday, not do anything saturday or sunday, and if I have an off day I just toggle it off the night before. Easy. It’s worked flawlessly for years.
For reference, I use Philips bulbs and the Philips Hue App.
I have it too. It’s great, with the above caveats. The aural alarm probably isn’t enough to wake you if you’re a heavy sleeper. The sunrise bit usually gets me awake though.
Me, too. 
I’ve had mine for four years now, and used an earlier model before this one. I can’t imagine going back to a regular alarm clock.
I have it set so that the alarm sound is the radio, and it gets pretty loud. The noise is what wakes me up, but the light helps me stay awake (eventually). It’s *definitely *nicer than waking up in a dark room, as **JcWoman **said. And it makes a really good bedside lamp: I like that I can adjust how bright it is without affecting how bright the “alarm” is. I’m pretty used to the controls at this point, so they don’t bother me. I like that there are two alarms, and I also like the radio sleep timer (the volume and station settings also don’t affect the “alarm” settings).
Probably - I have an Alexa but not any kind of hub for smart bulbs. Don’t know if I want to set all that up.
Thanks for all the input - it’s about what I figured: the good ones are also the expensive ones.