So it appears I am the first reviewer to have actually paid for this ;)
There's a lot of cheaper, unbranded and fairly tacky looking wake-up lights out there and I was happy to see this recently released budget model from Lumie, who have been making quality sunrise and SAD lights for years.
Out of the box this is a nice looking unit and feels well made. No nasty looking plasticky fake chrome effects to be found - just a smooth white (with a bit of grey) matte finish all over.
I only really bought it for the wake-up light, and particularly the option to have no sound on the alarm which seems absent on some of the cheapo models - I still wanted to use my phone for my final 'get-up' alarm.
On this model, the light starts half an hour before your programmed alarm time and starts low, brightening up in small increments. My biggest issue with it is that the light is too bright after only 10-15 mins, and I've been having to try out later alarm times so that the light is still a nice level when my phone alarm finally goes off. I've now also covered it with a bit of muslin cloth to soften it further, and I face it away from my bed to it's not glaring at me when I get up.
I wish there was a way that you could programme the maximum brightness on the wakeup light but as this is the budget model I assume they had to reduce the amount of customisations you can make. Perhaps this is something that's available on one of their more expensive models?
Other than the wake-up light, there is the choice of 5 alarm sounds which will sound (if the volume is set) at the programmed alarm time. Some of them are a bit weird (goats and purring kittens?!) but I'm content to use my phone alarm for sound anyway.
There is a sunset feature which is effectively the opposite of the wake-up light for when you are reading at night or whatever.
It can also be used as a bedside light - the standard light is warm white (as is the wake-up light). There is the option to have a coloured light or mood lighting (cycles through colours) on the standard light function. Nice for a kid perhaps but I can't see myself using it that much. The standard light is dimmable. The coloured lights can't be used as the wake-up light unfortunately.
You can dim the clock time - bright, medium or off. Which is a nice feature, although the medium is still fairly bright. If you have the clock light set to off it will come on when your wake-up light comes on so you know what time it is. Only problem is you have to look into the bright light of the wake-up light to see the time.
One other very minor bugbear is that the wake up light doesn't switch itself off after a period of time. You have to manually switch it off. I only realised this after I went away for a weekend and forgot to switch the alarm off beforehand. The light must have been on all weekend...
Instructions are minimal but give enough info and are well written. There is a removable labelled plastic film on the front of the unit to get you started on which each button does. I still needed to read the instruction booklet though.
Overall it's a good unit and I'm going to stick with it. Light is definitely gentler to wake up to than noise, and it's making getting up a little easier now the mornings are so dark again. I'm glad I paid a little more for a Lumie model over one of the cheaper ones, but I wasn't prepared to pay silly money for one of their more expensive models. So I guess like most things - you get what you pay for.
| Units | 1 count |
|---|---|
| Brand | Lumie |
| Country of origin | China |
