PHILIPSWake-Up Light Alarm Clock HF3500/01 with Sunrise Simulation

I LOVE IT!Ok originally I bought a 'sunrise' wake up light from another company - HORRIBLE everything people wrote (negative) proved to be right. I sent it back the next day.Then I saw this light from a name brand that I DO 'know' and I prayed HARD that it would be ok. It surpassed my prayers. It's not as 'pretty' as the 'sunrise' clock - BUT you can 'read' and understand the directions (I'm mechanically inclined, but Sunrise clock did not explain directions very well at all)...I tried this Philips wake up for two nights and I absolutely LOVE it. Directions were clear, the 'settings' were VERY easy and LOL. I don't 'need' or want Wifi, or radio..... So that also makes it absolutely perfect for me. I was going to take it with me to help wake me up in a hotel on a trip I am going to in a few weeks. BUT I'm afraid it may break if I take it soooo I may decide to buy another one for the trip before I leave.I DO know you all will be soooo much happier with this clock! No negatives (for me) that I have found on this clock - except that I DO wish it was a tad bigger as I put it on my desk a few feet away (I don't want it on my table near my bed, I want it 'facing' me)! Thank YOU.

I was initially very sceptical of this alarm clock....I thought the wake up light range of alarm clocks were nothing but a fad, and a fairly expensive one at that. How very wrong I was. I've set the light to come on half an hour before the gentle alarm goes off, and it works wonders.....my mornings seem easier and I'm sure I'm not so grumpy as I used to be!!It's very easy to set up, and the clock brightness and the morning light brightness can all be set to the desired level.My only complaint would be that it's mains charged with no battery option....so if there is a power cut, the clock resets as you'd expect. That aside, this was a fantastic purchase that is still going strong.....I may invest in the next model up very soon.

I managed to get it while it was at £30 which was an amazing deal.The light often wakes me up feeling refreshed, but often times the beeper is what actually wakes me up fully. However, I do feel it's easier to wake up now than when using normal alarm and your eyes are already mostly adjusted to the light so you are softly awakened.The fact that when you want to wake up the room is filled with light every day is great.I am very glad to have found the method of dimming the clock/display after reading a comment on here, as it was way too bright before, projecting bright orange light throughout the room at night. All you have to do is press the button on the left side on the stand, and there are 4 brightness options which you can cycle through by pressing it.Overall I would highly recommend this alarm clock but I personally would not have bought it at the full price.

I've been using this for about a month now. Overall I am happy with it. I have to use blackout curtains in my bedroom to block out headlights and other artificial light at night, which makes my room almost pitch black even during the day when the curtains are closed. The sunrise simulation is pretty good at helping me wake up and I definitely feel better when I wake up. It slowly gets brighter over the course of 30 minutes before your set alarm time, at which point an alarm does go off which starts fairly quiet and gets louder then longer you leave it. You can then choose to stop the alarm by pressing the alarm button on the front, or snooze the alarm for 9 minutes by tapping the top of the unit. An important note, there's no button on top, you just tap the clock firmly and it snoozes, there must be a sensor inside or something.Couple of things that are a bit annoying. The actual clock display is very bright at night, thankfully you can dim it and on it's dimmest setting it's okay for me to sleep next to. The only issue is now I can't read it during the day without manually adjusting the display brightness again. I'm not prepared to keep cycling through the brightness levels every day so I've just left it on the lowest setting. Another thing that really surprised me for an alarm clock that costs nearly £60 is the build quality. It's all very plastic and a bit cheap feeling, and it's VERY lightweight. This means that it's very very easy to knock of the night stand when you are trying to snooze it. I've done it once, and now I'm a lot more careful when tapping it to snooze it.I am still very happy with my purchase though. In an age of smart phones with feature rich alarm apps built in, this product offers something a bit different.

I have had several different versions of wake-up light over the years and I think this has to be one of the best. It is relatively small, very light in weight, simple to operate - two buttons on the sides, one for adjusting the clock and one for adjusting the display brightness and four buttons on the front - one for the light level, a plus button and a minus button and the alarm button. It doesn't have a conventional bulb - it is an LED and will apparently never need replacing which is big bonus.My last wake up light had all sorts of extras which I found I never used so I decided it was time to opt for something simple and this is perfect for its purpose and can be used as a bed side light as well as a wake up light. I have always found that waking up to a gently increasing light much better for me than a shrill alarm with no warning. It means I wake up gradually and am ready to face the day by the time the alarm goes off. It is rare for me to not be awake before the back up buzzer sounds. If you're looking for a new bedside light or a new alarm clock then I recommend this one.

The positive:* The whole 'wake up with light' thing: much gentler than a 'sound' alarm clock and very effective for me (I'm a light sleeper).* Lovely clean light colour, warmer than I expected from an LED* LED lamp means low power consumption* Clean, simple design* Ability to dim the light and use it as a reading lamp without disturbing husband* Change the light brightness without turning the light on* Easy to set up using the quick start guide - I didn't have the problems that some people had with it.* Simple to turn the alarm off - one button to turn it on/off, which also effectively stops the alarm in its tracks pre-beep if you don't want to wake up other people (husband).* Simpler controls than the HF3505 (next model up), and the buttons don't light up (unlike the next model).Advantages over the Lumie 250 (why I bought this instead):* Sunrise only (I didn't want the Lumie's sunset, and you can't turn it off)* You can turn the alarm and sunrise completely off, e.g. for in summer (you can't with the Lumie)* Alarm does not need re-arming every day (unlike the Lumie)Negative things I was prepared to live with:* You can't turn the display completely off at night - I put a cardboard flap over the display because even on its darkest setting it's still pretty bright. (NB the Lumie 250 *does* let you have the display totally dark at night.)* You can't choose to use either just the alarm noise or just the light to wake up by (partial workaround: turn the light brightness right down the night before, to turn the light nearly off).* Short cable; about a metre* No battery back-up, loses the time if the power goes off, starts flashing when the power comes back on. This means you can't easily carry it from room to room if you're like me and you often decamp to the sofa in the middle of the night, and if you get a small-hours power cut you're going to be woken up by the display flashing.* Easy to pick up, but not very stable if you aren't holding it. Slides around easily.* Kind of expensiveNegative things that nearly made me return the light:* Continual faint fizz from the transformer in the plug. This is not audible to everyone: my husband, who doesn't hear higher frequencies, can't hear it. But I needed to muffle the transformer.* In the time display, the : dividing hours from minutes blinks every second - it's not just light all night, it's lit up and flashing. The flash is intrusive even from behind the cardboard flap I taped on the display. I tippexed over the : , which works but doesn't do anything for the appearance of the light.Great idea, but sadly let down by easily avoidable design flaws and cheap components. Dear Philips, please:* let the display be turned completely off at night* make the foot grippier* remember the time if the device is unplugged* use a more powerful transformer that won't hiss