2 weeks Ago By Nena Farrell
Best Sunrise Alarm Clock Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light (HF3650/60) This futuristic-looking, circular sunrise alarm clock from Philips has everything. It has both sunrise and sunset routines, nine relaxing sounds to use for either bedtime or the morning, an easy setup that you won't need a manual for, a built-in FM radio (though it's best for selecting a single station to wake up to rather than surfing the channels), and a soft night-light you can easily tap on and off for a quick dash to the bathroom. Everything on the Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light is done on the touchscreen, which has deep-yellow lettering that navigates you through setting up the time and your sunrise alarm.
My only complaint about this touchscreen panel is that the lettering is a little hard to read when the light is at its full brightness. But that might be the point, since you can only turn off the sunrise alarm by touching the alarm button on the screen, requiring you to face the sunlight in order to try and stop it. You can tap the top of the device to turn off whatever music you've chosen, but the light itself will stay on—perfect for actually staying awake.
Best as a Bedside Lamp Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 700FM If you only have room for a bedside lamp or a sunrise alarm clock, get the Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 700FM. The sunrise alarm clock's light gets bright enough to fill my bedroom with plenty of light to get ready for bed and read a book, and it's easy to quickly switch on the light using one of the two dials on the Luxe 700FM's face. It also has 27 sound options, though some are a little weird—I'm not sure if anyone would want to wake up to the sound of goats or a movie projector, but the options are there if you want them.
You can set up both sunrise and sunset routines, but you'll need the manual to figure it out. The manual is plenty easy to follow, and the steps aren't complicated, but the device itself and its buttons aren't intuitive. You'll also need to switch on the alarm each night for the following day, or painstakingly set up weekly routines.
But once you get the controls down and routines set, it’s easy and enjoyable to use as a bedside lamp and an alarm clock, and I also enjoyed the sunset routine to help me wind down as I read my Kindle. The fabric finish also gives it a nice look on my bedside table. Best for App Control WiiM Wake-Up Light The WiiM Wake-Up Light is a small device, but it turns out to be surprisingly powerful.
It has a companion app where you set up the sunrise alarm and bedtime routines and can access a huge range of sounds—from the classics like white noise, thunderstorms, or a forest stream to more specific options like Healing Music for Insomnia (a gentle piano piece) or Santa Giulia Beach, which I can only assume was recorded on the French shore it's named after. There's also a big range of colors the WiiM can show, and it reminds me of a smart light bulb since it has color combinations and light shows to choose from. Even with the clock's small size, I found the reading light mode is a nice brightness to read a book by, though it didn't fill the room like the Lumie above.
It also has one of the bigger sound libraries, with nearly 70 sound options you can choose in the app to wake up or fall asleep to. I really liked the app controls for the WiiM, which made it easy to set up my routines and even turn on relaxing sounds on a timer to enjoy before bed. The WiiM requires an active Wi-Fi connection to work, though, so if your Wi-Fi isn't stable, you could miss your alarm.
It also offers Alexa integration and has a built-in microphone so that it can double as a smart home assistant (which, again, needs that stable Wi-Fi). I also don't love that when I go to quiet the alarm, both the sound and the light turn off. You can easily hit the light button to switch it back on, which I do to stay awake, but if you're a chronic snoozer you might want to set up backup alarms.
Best for the Price Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light (HF3520) The Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light might sound similar to the lamp we recommend above, but it has a different shape and is missing the word “Sleep” from the name because it doesn't offer a nighttime routine like our top pick. But it still works great as a morning sunrise lamp, and similar to the other Philips model, it's easy to set up without any instructions on hand. There's an LED clock and four buttons below it—one for the menu, one for select, and two for volume.
This menu is where you set up the time and your alarm choices. There's also a series of discreet buttons on the top rim of the device where you can turn on the alarm for the next day (there's a button for Alarm 1 and Alarm 2) and a button to get to the FM radio; you can snooze an alarm with a tap to the top, too. It's nice and bright if you want to use it as a bedside lamp—plenty bright for reading a book but didn't fill the rest of my room with as much light as the Lumie Bodyclock Luxe did.
This one's great for the price, though, especially if you aren't looking for any nighttime routine or special sounds. If You Mostly Want a Sound Machine Hatch Restore 2 The Hatch Restore 2 looks beautiful and is certainly the prettiest sunrise alarm in this guide. The half-moon device has a fabric cover that comes in three neutral shades, a nice-looking LED clock on the front, and two large buttons—one with an open eye, one with a closed eye—on the top.
The device is fully set up and controlled in the Hatch app, so you only use those two buttons to activate or deactivate the wake-up and sleep routines you set up for yourself. The Hatch calls its routines Rise and Rest instead of sunrise or sunset, but it's the same method. What's different is that you can choose to skip a classic white color and fall asleep to, say, a deep red or even purple instead of a warm white.
There's also a nice range of sounds to choose from: 13 wake-up sounds, and 24 sleep sounds you can fall asleep to and play all night long (or set a timer in your nighttime routine for when the sound should switch off). The sounds are mostly relaxing nature sounds, from forest symphonies and owl calls to relaxing rivers, but you can also fall asleep to the sound of a hair dryer or Green Noise for Dogs if your pup sleeps in your room. There are a few more sound options, like sleep stories and partnership content, that require Hatch's membership, Hatch+ ($5 a month) , but I didn't find I needed any of these for a pleasant wake-up.
Try Some Smart Bulbs Philips Hue Starter Kits If you don't want to get another device and wish your existing bedroom light would just gradually turn on (or suddenly blast you in the face with light, up to you), consider investing in a couple of smart bulbs. Smart bulbs can be controlled via apps to turn on and off on a schedule, and some brands like Philips Hue offer options at sunrise and sunset, too. The downside is that these routines are very set at specific times.
This is great for waking up in the morning but not as handy if your bedtime isn't at a specific time. You also won't have a connected sound machine or alarm option, though you could set up a different device to sound off at the same time the lights go on. It's a better investment to use anywhere in your house, since smart lights are handy in any room, but doesn't have all the same capabilities and convenience of one device that a true sunrise alarm clock can offer.
Honorable Mentions How We Test Sunrise Alarms I tested each recommended sunrise alarm clock on my bedside in a room with black-out curtains to see how much it could really brighten a room over the course of its sunrise routine. I slept with each sunrise alarm for anywhere between one and seven nights, depending on its performance. I also tried out the various sound options each machine had to offer to both test the speakers and see how pleasant the sounds were to wake up or fall asleep to.
If there was a nighttime routine option, I tested that too..
