Philips HF3520/60 Light Therapy Wake Up Light LUXEON – Mood Lamp (Wake-up Light, 300 lx, LUXEON, Orange, Red, Yellow, 40 min, Bedroom)

First off, many of these reviews sound a bit fishy, as if they are `fake' reviews made by the manufacturer or whatever to sell the product. This is not, this is an actual user of the actual product and I have actually rated it 5 stars. I'll start by going over the features then list the pros and end with the cons and wrap up with a final impression. Features: All the advertised features above are present so I won't bother going over those. This is more for the `ins and outs' of it. The device itself has a `touch screen' like front bottom portion. All of the controls are there and don't show themselves unless your finger is about ¼ of an inch from the surface of the light. Once there they light up. There is a -, menu, select and + button listed horizontally across the bottom in that order. When you get near the device they light up with an intensity to match the clock face. The clock face has an intensity setting from 1-4, which will automatically adjust UP as the room becomes brighter. For example a contrast setting of 1 helps you get to sleep but doesn't help you see the clock face at, say, 2 in the afternoon, so the auto adjusting feature I consider that a bonus. The light itself has an intensity setting from 1-20. On the lower settings it is a very dim red glow similar to the red of a sunrise (or set) and as it increases it steadily goes to bright white. Not the white you'd expect from a light but the kind of white of a sunny day. Picture a piece of paper outside on a cloudless August day. You can also adjust the `wakeup time' which is the time between program start and the alarm. The default is 30 minutes so if you wake up at 6AM at 5:30 it will start at intensity 1 and `step up' in intensity until it hits your intensity setting and it spaces this `step up' out over the `wakeup time' that you select. It ranges from 20 minutes to 40. It also includes an audible alarm of 6 different types. 1 is the radio, the other 5 are various combinations ranging from light woods birds/forest sounds to nature sounds with light music overlaid. You can also adjust the volume. These sounds do not play until the alarm time is reached. In other words, it doesn't play during the `wakeup time' period. It also has a snooze function. Simply touching the face of the clock turns the sounds off for 9 minutes but leaves the light on and after the 9 minutes, the sounds start again. The light/clock includes 2 different alarms you can set as well as an FM radio (as alluded to previously). A final note is that it also includes a "dusk" function. By activating the dusk function by pressing the button on the side the exact opposite happens than what happens with the wakeup time. It starts bright and eventually fades to 1 then turns off. This very much simulates the evening. Pros: I noticed a huge change the very first morning I used it. Instead of the harsh bleating of an alarm clock your body first starts to notice the increased light then your consciousness notices the sounds and eventually you're awake. This is VERY similar to waking up while you're rustic camping, if you've ever done so. So much so that at first I thought I was back in my tent at Yellowstone. That is really the only way I can describe it. I also liked how the light changed from dim red to bright white as it got brighter. Lights I've had in the past do not do that, you just get a more intense version of the same color light. Cons: This light is NOT meant to treat SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) being that it only puts out 300 lux at 20 in. and light therapy requires at least 10,000 lux. That aside, it can be used in conjunction with a medical grade light box (such as the SAD Light Therapy Box - Alaska Northern Lights- North Star 10,000 ) as a comprehensive approach. That is what I have done and it seems to work well. You also may have problems using it if you're married and you each wake up at different times as it has a tendency to light up the entire room. As brought up by others, you can't completely turn off the clock face but the lowest setting is pretty darn dim anyway. Finally when you click the alarm off you have to immediately turn it back on again, just like with the old-school alarm clocks. Final thoughts: Overall I believe, considering the price and its effects, the purchase was a very good value. I have always struggled with the `up and at-em' routine and even went to the point of drinking energy drinks as soon as I woke up to no avail. Like I said, the very first day I used it I noticed a difference. Within 10 minutes of waking up I was wrestling with the dog. No joke. I have combined it with the use of a light box (see above for which type) and it has done wonders for my mood and energy level. The minor inconveniences I noted above are just that, minor, and I enjoy the features and ability to have a sunrise and sunset `on demand' as I work very long days and during the winter months I am usually up before the sun and down after the sun as the saying goes. The first week I set a `regular' alarm clock as a backup to click off 15 minutes after this one in case it didn't work and not once did I have to rely on it, nor have I had to use the snooze feature. Like I said, entirely different waking experience and if I had the $$ I would buy one for each of my family as a present this Christmas. Hopefully this review helped you sort things out with this model as to what exactly it does, it's pros and cons.

I'm really happy with this product. I found setting the clock and alarm quite intuitive. I like the feature of a 30-minute sunset, as it gives me time to get into bed and sort myself while still having light but I don't have to get up to switch my bedroom light off and turn my room into instant blackness. Love the peaceful descent into slumber. The light can get as bright as you want it - to me it simulates the sun. They say there are 3 colours to choose from but you can't choose. The light is more red and orange at low light and slowly becomes yellow as the light gets brighter. At first I was disappointed that there wen't any colour options but now I'm not sure I would use multiple options, as I would want to simulate natural light as much as possible. Some have commented there is no battery in case the power goes out. While this is true in a sense, I can say that when the power returns, the clock doesn't need to be reset - it keeps the time and alarms that were stored before it lost power. I'm not sure how long it keeps the settings before it needs to be reset. I unplugged it for an hour and everything was as before when I plugged it back in. So I'm happy with that. The radio is a decent quality. Not powerful but also not like listening to something in a tin can. Can also deliver a little bit of bass, so no complaints there. Very happy with this purchase.

Muy buen producto, si ayuda a despertar, pero es necesario tenerlo cerca de la cama. Buenos sonidos, buen nivel de luminosidad, y buena calidad. Tiene dos alarmas, yo una la uso para días laborales y la segunda para fines de semana. Las rayas en el video no se ven en persona.

Horribly expensive here in India. But cheaper than an air fare. I bought my original, glass, model (this one is plastic) in UK, but, after some years its buttons are failing. It is part of my wake-up life. Don't know how I could live without it. And, as I said, cheaper than an air fare. Is it worth it to YOU? At this price, probably not.

I'm not a morning person and I love to sleep, so waking up and getting out of bed has always been a challenge for me. Plus I hate to wake up when it's still dark outside. It just feels cold, lonely and depressing. And when the alarm starts blasting it always feels as if I'm being jarred awake and jerked out of something pleasant and wonderful and I have hated that for 45 years, so when I saw something that could potentially make waking up less traumatic I was intrigued. I had to try it. I am happy to report and pleased to say that this light has changed how disconcerting and difficult waking up is. It has significantly reduced the trauma level that goes with being dynamited out of a wonderful and pleasant sleep. Dare I say, it is at times - amazingly enough - actually (gasp) PLEASANT to wake up! When I now wake up, it's light in my room, and because of the light I can set my iPhone alarm to half the volume I used to need. So no more waking up in the dark. No more being jerked from a pleasant sleep in a terribly unpleasant way. Now I seem to be close to the surface when my iPhone alarm goes off, and I drift upwards into wakefulness, rested and un-traumatized from the waking process. I actually find it pleasant to wake up and have the light shining in my bedroom. All in all, I will say that the trauma factor of waking up is now about a third or less of what it was before my new Wake-Up Light. I no longer dread the screaming morning alarm because now there isn't one. I no longer have to wake up in the dark. I have a much easier time waking up. If you need to reduce the volume level of your alarm due to family member considerations this may also be a good answer to that problem. People in other rooms can't hear a light, and if you need to use an alarm clock in conjunction with the light the volume can be significantly reduced while still being effective. I find the combination of a light alarm and a sound based alarm to be both effective and significantly more pleasant than a sound based alarm only. The light is relatively easy to set up, the documentation on how to do so is correct and easy to follow, and once you set the alarm once or twice the process on how to do it easily remembered. There is an alarm #1 which I use during the week and an alarm #2 which I use for the weekend. The clock face brightness can be dimmed so that it's not intrusive in the dark. In the dark I have to look directly at the clock to even notice that the clock is lit. The light that you wake up to can be varied in intensity, and the hue of the light changes also. The light begins to illuminate weakly about 30 minutes before the alarm time that you have set and increases in intensity over the next 30 minutes, so it very gently and unobtrusively begins the process of waking you up in plenty of time to have a gentle ramp-up to wakefulness. I have it set at the halfway point for final brightness, which in daylight doesn't seem bright at all, however at 5:00 AM it's bright enough without being overpowering, and the shade of the light is like a nice morning sunrise. The shape is a nice round-ish shape with a flat section on the bottom to hold it upright, and it leans slightly back to keep it from tipping over. It feels very solid. I would take care not to drop it, but if it were dropped on carpet or a heavy rug it would almost certainly survive I would think. I would not want to drop it on a harder surface though. The cord is long enough so that the electrical outlet doesn't need to be directly behind the nightstand. Mine is about 3 feet away approximately and the cord is long enough that it connects. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a more pleasant (or just less traumatic) way of waking up. Good luck, and happy sleeping!