Philips SmartSleep Wake-up Light, Colored Sunrise and Sunset Simulation, 5 Natural Sounds, FM Radio & Reading Lamp, Tap Snooze, HF3520/60

I use the Wake Up light for two reasons: waking up in the morning and winding down at night. It’s really helpful during gray months and the winter time when the sun isn’t shining bright in the morning. I also use it at night when I’m getting ready for bed. It has different light settings that I can control the brightness in the room. I usually put a low glow on in the room to help my brain wind down rather than have the overhead light on. I really like the ocean noise for my alarm sound!

Love waking up to some light and music in the morning.

works well. fairly easy to program. light brightness good. sundown feature nice. sound for going to sleep good. ascending alarm sound with a few choices. easy snooze feature. Significant negative for me is they design with the buttons for the alarm, lights, sound...they are difficult to find when reaching over from bed and difficult to press without moving the whole lightweight device. Wish this was better from phillips-especially for price. Have to depress alarm button(s) to turn it off; so have to depress it again each day in order for it to alarm for the next morning/time. Does default to previous set time, so that's good. Have been using a much older phillips model...prob over 10 years. Continues to work well but was larger, less modern looking and had less features than current model so decided to replace it.

Originally purchased my Philips SmartSleep, years ago, in order to awaken with light and it does a great job of this. However, the true bonus turned out to be the pleasant efficacy of its sunset simulator go-to-sleep feature. Imagine a light that not only dims over time but also reddens as it dims, and goes through the sort of pinkish-orangish red reminiscent of beautiful sunsets, providing a pre-sleep ambience whose gradually diminishing intensity and simultaneously increasingly red hue does indeed physiologically prepare you to go to sleep. Another Philips SmartSleep plus is that it has intuitive integral controls, ideal for simply winding down without needing to use a screen and/or app in order to set it. While app-based products may offer more proverbial bells and whistles, they also inevitably lengthen the time required to get to sleep... sometimes even defeating the purpose via temptation for just one more text/email message, just one more social.media refresh, just one more news scroll-through, and so on, for however many minutes or hours. The only thing that could be better about the Philips SmartSleep would be if it had a touch-to-activitate nightlight mode, whereby touching anywhere (or, at least, a very large and centrally located button) would either provide a dim reddish light or turn it off. Although easy enough to turn on and off using small buttons while one is awake, this isn't necessarily ideal human factors engineering for the semi-awake, semi-coordinated. Finally, other than this potential improvement, the Philips SmartSleep is well-designed, effective, well-made, and well worth the nightstand real estate it elegantly occupies. While initially shopping, opted for this based on its features, design, and manufacturer -- a decision that has thus far resulted in several years of reliable usage. And, as mentioned, purchased to enable waking-to-light, and soon found that its *sunset* simulation sleep feature was just as pleasant, if not perhaps more so, than the sunrise simulation wake-up. Dividing its cost by the number of days in use, and considering the value of waking up to light, plus being able to add sunset simulation as a pre-sleep cue, Originally purchased my Philips SmartSleep, years ago, in order to awaken with light and it does a great job of this. However, the true bonus turned out to be the pleasant efficacy of its sunset simulator go-to-sleep feature. Imagine a light that not only dims over time but also reddens as it dims, and goes through the sort of pinkish-orangish red reminiscent of beautiful sunsets, providing perfect ambiance for one's journey into restful sleep. Another Philips SmartSleep plus is that it has integral controls, ideal for just winding down without having to use a screen and/or app in order to set it. The only thing that could be better about the Philips SmartSleep would be if it had a touch-to-activitate nightlight mode, whereby touching anywhere (or, at least, a very large and centrally located button) would either provide a dim reddish light or turn it off. Although easy enough to turn on and off using small buttons while one is awake, this isn't ideal human factors engineering for the semi-awake. Other than this potential improvement, the Philips SmartSleep is well-designed, effective, well-made, and well worth the nightstand real estate it elegantly occupies. Since it's used daily, this product's cost became rather negligible over time (price divided by number of days over however many years), and its reliability has proved positively priceless.

I purchased this sunrise simulator alarm clock almost 5 and a half years ago (September 2016). I am happy to see it is still available on Amazon. The price doesn't appear to have changed much, but perhaps that's just because this thing is so great!! I use this every day. This gives you the option for two alarm settings, so I have one set for weekdays and another set for weekends. My wake-up sound of choice? Birds chirping. There are a few other serene sounds you can choose as well. About a half hour before your alarm is set to go off, the sunrise simulator starts up. It starts with a dull, deep red and gradually gets brighter, then goes orange and gradually gets brighter and more golden, then it starts going white the brighter it gets until your alarm goes off. When the alarm goes off, it starts off quiet and gradually gets louder. You can choose how loud you want the alarm to get. You have three options at this point. You can either press the alarm button to reset it for the next day, press the alarm button twice to shut off the alarm completely until you press it again to turn it back on, or you can tap the clock (or the table it's sitting on, which is what I do) for it to snooze for 9 minutes. It will snooze for up to an hour before resetting itself for the next day. You will have to turn the light off yourself regardless of which option you choose. I do wish the alarm didn't auto shut off after an hour though, but I think the reason behind it is in case you forget to hit the alarm button to reset it or shut it off. I've done this on occasion and came back into my room after a shower with the alarm going off, but it will shut itself off eventually. This is not a smart device, in that it doesn't connect to wifi or bluetooth. You will have to change the clock twice a year for daylight saving time. I don't usually use the radio, but I have bumped the button a few times to know it works. It does come with an attached antenna as well, which is just a thin rubber coated wire. I don't typically use the sunset/sleep setting to really have anything to say about it other than it works. One thing I like about the clock display is it auto brightens and auto dims according to the room's light setting. The clock is dull enough when the lights are out that it won't bother you if you're trying to sleep and the clock will brighten in sunlight or when the lights are on so you can see it better. Also, you're able to choose the clock to display a 24 hour clock or 12 hour clock (00:01 to 23:59 or 12:00-11:59am to 12:00-11:59pm). I also use this as a bedside lamp as well, if I've got the TV on or if I'm reading a book. I like that there are 20 brightness settings. It can also be used as a night light. One con is trying to navigate the buttons. It's tougher when the light is at full brightness because you can't see the buttons very well. There are three buttons together at the top left for brightness down, light on/off, and brightness up. There is a small brail-type dot on the on/off button but it's not noticeable enough not to accidently change the brightness when you're trying to turn it off. You more or less need to close your eyes and let your sense of touch figure it out for you. It's really not that big of a deal though, just a little annoying. The only time I've bumped the radio button or the sunset button is because I don't always use the second alarm and I'm trying to figure out which button is which. Overall, I love this thing! It really works, though nothing will ever be as good as actually waking up to the sun coming in. This is a particularly important tool to have if you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or have blackout curtains because you work midnight shifts, or maybe you're just not a morning person. Waking up to a nature sound is a nice touch too. I want to make note that some reviews have mentioned not being able to replace the light bulb or the light stops working in 2-3 years... again, I have had this for 5 years and 4 months now and I have never had the light stop working. It's still going strong. And I use this 5-7 days per week and have since I purchased it. The only things about it I wish were different are making the buttons easier to navigate when the light is bright (best way I can do this now is turning the brightness down before trying to discover the on/off button) and I wish the clock changed automatically in accordance to Daylight Saving Time. If anything does happen to this one, though, I will most definitely be purchasing another. Update January 2026: 7 months shy of 10 years... it died. I got up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, turned on the light on the sunrise simulator which I keep set low like a nightlight, took a few steps towards my bedroom door, and it turned off. No clock either. I had been noticing the past maybe 2 weeks that it had been making the clicking sound it makes when you press the menu buttons. I heard it maybe twice when I was in bed and they were lit up like they'd been touched. Perhaps that was my warning that it was about to go. I've come back here to purchase another - either an upgraded one or the same one. I don't really see any upgraded ones... and this one has increased in price by 50%!! Although I don't want anything but another of these, I will be looking at other brands and weigh my options. Breaks my heart to say that, actually.... but a replacement is a MUST.

If you just want to know if this lamp is effective and whether I recommend it, the answer is YES!!! If you want to know why I say so, read on: For the first time in years I am able to get up on time and have energy in the mornings! My ability to sleep through alarms is legendary among my family, friends, and roommates. I generally set 8 or more alarms and manage to sleep through all of them, often for over an hour without ever waking up. I have tried music alarms, annoying buzzer alarms, phone alarms, even "never late" alarms that are supposed to be impossible to sleep through. When I did wake up I was always groggy often for over an hour and had a very hard time getting moving. I finally set my bed facing east under my big bedroom window and made myself sleep with the blinds open so the sun would help me wake up, but the city lights coming through the window at night made it difficult to fall asleep and even when I did sleep, I did not wake feeling rested. Also, if it was overcast outside I would not wake up to my alarms. I recently moved to a new city (where I do not get sun streaming through my windows in the morning) and started graduate school, and I could not afford to continue this pattern of sleeping through alarms. Since I got the Wake-up Light I have yet to sleep through my alarm. It is truly a miracle! Where before I had a hard time getting out of bed by 8 and remained groggy until I'd been at work for over an hour, I now wake up between 5am and 6am (usually waking just before the alarm goes off) and I practically bounce out of bed, even if I only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep (I have chronic insomnia, so this happens more often than not). The sunset function has also helped me with my insomnia, allowing me to make my room a calm and peaceful place as I wind down for bed. I used to use the sunrise simulator on the sunlamp that I used for seasonal depression, but the light was too intense, and I often woke with a headache. And if the head of the lamp wasn't turned just right or if I turned away from it, I did not get sufficient light to wake me up. The full-face light on Phillips lamp is gentle (no headaches), but very effective. It lights the whole room, so even if I turn away from it in the night, I still get at least some of the effect. I still set a second alarm, just in case I don't wake up to the "nature sounds" on the lamp, but I've yet to sleep past my back-up, which is still a vast improvement. Overall, if you have problems getting to sleep or problems waking p, GET THIS LAMP!

The sunrise light on the Philips HF3520 is genuinely good — smooth color transitions and a natural wake‑up effect. Unfortunately, everything surrounding that one feature feels cheap and poorly designed. The controls are confusing, the icons are tiny and unclear, and the interface feels outdated. If you stop the alarm early, it turns the alarm off for the next day, which makes no sense. Sunset mode doesn’t allow any sound at all, even though much cheaper clocks include that feature. For the price, the build quality is disappointing. The plastic feels hollow, the buttons are finicky, and nothing about the design feels “premium.” The light itself is excellent, but the user experience is frustrating. Philips clearly invested in the LEDs and ignored everything else.

purchased this unit online just to see if it would help getting up in the dark. After about a months use, can say it seems to help a little, but sleep habits are just as important if not more. Having some knowledge of sleep, I know the most important part of waking up refreshed is getting enough sleep, but the portion of the sleep cycle is important too, (at least the first 15 minutes or so). We sleep in cycles about 90 minutes in length, reaching the deep levels of sleep at various times during this cycle. If one were to be awakened during one of these deep phases, it would take longer to feel fully awake as you are coming out of a deeper level than if just naturally waking on your own, (without an alarm). So our sleep habit is the most important part of waking refreshed and alert. (i.e.: I need ~9 hours of sleep to feel refreshed. If I go to sleep at 10PM, and wake at 0700AM; I will have my 9 hours sleep and completed 6 cycles of sleep. If I stay up til 11PM, then wake at 0700AM, I will have had 8 hours sleep, but more importantly only 30 mins of the 6th cycle, and awaken during a deep phase of that cycle). So going to sleep and waking at the same times every day is the most important part of waking refreshed and ready to go. This device wakes one gently, and can be effective with the gradual increase of light as well as the audible effects. The interesting point is that the subtle stimuli of light will wake you if you are in light sleep, (also known as theta wave sleep). If you are in deep sleep, (also known as delta wave sleep), you probably won't wake until the light and audio alarms pull you out. This is an excellent way of determining your natural cycle end point given a fixed onset of sleep time. If you require the light and audio, adjust your onset of sleep time forward or back so that you are waking with just the light. When you awaken with the light alone, you know you have awakened near the end of your sleep cycle, as you naturally would on a day you do not use the alarm to wake up, (such as a day off). Of course, many people having difficulty getting to sleep to start. But with persistence, one can 'learn' to get to sleep easier by maintaining the same sleep wake cycle…everyday. (Not easily done in todays world though). Anyway… this device is effective, but only if you get the sleep you need. If I would only get 4 hours of sleep, I would still wake up tired. The gradual increase in light takes a while to adjust to your level of sensitivity, and the audible program can be set to be stimulating enough to arouse one from deep, delta wave sleep. The buttons around the edges require a bit of getting use to, but once you learn the relative positions, they are fairly easy to operate. The gradual decreasing light function when going to sleep is beneficial to me as I enjoy reading before going to sleep, and it helps remind me when I should put the book down, (as opposed to getting just another chapter in…). Long term effects and reliability yet to be determined, but I will try to report them after 6 months to a year.

This is definitely the best purchase that I have made. I was hesitant because it is quite expensive for an alarm clock, especially when I have one for free on my phone, but it was well worth the money! This is definitely the best way to wake up in the morning. I use it every day and it is much more peaceful of a wake up than other alarm clocks. Also, it is especially great when you have to wake up at a time when it is still dark out as it lights your whole room and helps to make you believe it's time to get up. I've only used the night time sunset setting a couple of times but it actually seemed to work quite well. I think it might have helped put me to sleep and it makes me want to try that setting more often as well. There are a few things that I'm not so fond of. The light is quite bright and you need to look at it in order to see where the buttons are to turn it off. It's difficult to feel for the buttons, so if that could be fixed, it would solve this problem. Also, it came with a loose wire that is the antenna for the radio and I disliked this since I wasn't going to tape it to the was because that would be ugly. So, it just sits beside it in a bundle of wrapped up wire. I would prefer to see an internal antenna that we don't see or a real antenna on the back that could be pulled out if desired or just left in place. I do recommend this alarm clock and would buy one again.

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.

It has got to be one of the best alarm clocks I've ever had. I've always had to struggle between the choice of whether to have a hard time falling asleep or a hard time waking up, but this really helps. I feel like I can completely cover up my window without having to worry about falling back asleep when the alarm comes on. The light is so bright that I can sometimes forget that it's the only light on in my room. But it's not harsh on the eyes at all. Also, even if you're just turning on the light, it turns on slowly, so that it's not killing your eyeballs from the sudden change. It also turns off slowly as well. I can turn off the light and make it to my door before it's too dark to see where I'm stepping. All in all, despite how bright it is, it's a very comfortable brightness. The display is also great too. The color is orange, so it doesn't disturb my sleep that much. Not only that, but there's the option to dim the display so that it barely offers any light, which makes it much easier to fall asleep. I also like how you can use it as a reading lamp and set it to gradually dim over a period of time so that it's almost like a sunset. The sound choices for the alarm are all wonderful. At first I was worried that bird sounds and gentle music would not be enough to wake me up. I've tried waking up to nice sounds before, but I had some issues before where I wouldn't even register that the noise wasn't coming from my dreams, but I guess the light wakes me up enough that I can register what the sound is and wake up to it. I'm still hitting the snooze, but I'm doing it much less often. If I were to put any nit picks about it, it would be nice to be able to turn off the alarm without having to reset it completely. Or at least have the alarm just turn on and off without going into the screen that edits when it will go off. As far as I can tell, there's no smooth, turn off alarm, button that also doesn't turn off the alarm for the next day. Maybe I'm just too used to using my phone as my alarm clock.

普段は朝日で目覚めるので、除雪や早朝出勤のために、冬の日の出前に起きるのが大変でした。 使った初日から、朝日で起きるのと同じ感覚で目覚めることができました。 大変いい商品です。