I let Rob do the testing on this product. Since I work my own hours, I rarely ever need an alarm clock, but Rob needs it to get up early in the morning for work. The alarm clock he was using, prior to this, he would set to a radio station that he would get really annoyed with, and thus prompt him to get out of bed to turn it off. He looked forward to trying something that was going to gently wake him instead.
The concept behind this alarm clock is that is supposed to help you wake by using yellow light that slowly gets brighter over the 30 minutes prior to the alarm going off. It is supposed to simulate the sun rising in the morning. There are two audio choices: natural bird sounds or FM radio, which is on the model we had. The audio goes off at the end of the 30-minute light cycle.
The display shows up amber in colour: it’s a nice, warm colour vs. the harsh grey that Rob’s other alarm clock lit the room with, which made it hard to sleep. It was so bright that he needed to place it across the room, whereas this one he placed right beside him on the nightstand without any issues. Philips recommends the clock be 40 to 50 cm away from your head. It can also be used as a bedside lamp with 10 different levels of brightness.
After a stretch of use, Rob needed to add the natural bird sound along with the light to wake up. Light alone was not enough. Features he wishes it included are USB charging, Bluetooth or audio input so he could connect his phone. He also found it disappointing that there is no battery backup. If the power goes out, the clock is reset, which is bad if it happens in the middle of the night.
The clock includes a snooze feature, wherein you lightly tap the top of it. All the buttons are on the face of the clock, with an AM/PM or 24-hour switch and an alarm sound-setting switch on the back.
The model that we had tested is the HF3505/60 which came with FM radio, where the other model HF3500/60 does not. The HF3505/60 goes for about $100, where the HF3500/60 goes for about $75. Everything else is identical other than the FM radio. The top model, HF3520/60, has a little bit different face-front, where the time is displayed lower down compared to it being centered. It does have double the amount of brightness settings and five natural sounds along with the FM radio. It goes for about $170. When I asked Rob if he would go back to the old alarm clock now, he said no way.
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Contributor Steve Polyak |
Topic Philips | Product Review |
