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The best sunrise alarm clocks and SAD lamps to help you wake up after the clocks go back
Reviewed by Simon Lewis
The Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300 is a slightly more basic version of the Luxe 750DAB Lumie alarm clock (reviewed above). It doesn’t have many of the snazzier features, but the lower price will make it a better choice for many.
It took me a while to choose all the settings I wanted (I don’t need a seven-day alarm, for example). I enjoyed choosing from the 15 different sounds, however, which included birds, waves, rain, frogs, crickets, purring kittens and, more surprisingly, goats, steam trains, café and ping pong.
Some of these are annoying at full volume, but as they gradually fade in they do a good job of waking you up. Others offer a gentler, more bucolic way to rise. They also work well when going to sleep. You can choose for the fade to take between 15 and 90 minutes. A white noise setting is useful, since it masks outside noise as well as relaxing you (or so many find).
On the negative side, the sound quality when you choose FM radio is good but not amazing and compared to other sunrise alarms, it’s quite big, so it won’t fit on all bedside tables. Meanwhile, the dim clock is designed to be unobtrusive at night, but is hard to read in practice. There is a setting to make it brighter, but that kept me awake.
Still, if you want a proper sunrise alarm, this is almost as good as its bigger Luxe counterpart and much cheaper.
Key specifications
- Light settings: 15-90 minute sunrise or sunset simulation
- Sound settings: 15 sounds plus FM radio
- Dimensions: H 18cm, W 21cm, D 12cm
- Trial period: 45 days
- Warranty: Three years
