This is a 2-month retrospective look after having purchased this from John Lewis, and I’ll do what I can to skip over what the product review from the manufacturer already tells you. Lumie Bodyclock Active 250 wakes you up gradually with a simulated sunrise.
PROS
– The gradual sunrise setting is brilliant. Not having a bright flash of light bursting through makes a pleasant and noticeable difference in the morning.
– You have control over how long a period you want the light to slowly dim on, and how bright you want it to get to.
– The lamp is BRIGHT if you want it to be, it is easily comparable to a 100W bulb.
– Various different alarm clock noises, including a radio, so, on the whole, you’ll find something that suits you. I found that the radio (when put to something easy like Heart FM) is generally the best, and I have yet to put it on snooze since. This is coming from a long-time-multi-snooze person (7 am? nahhh…. 20 more minutes…).
– For all you oldies, there’s still that alarming noise (BEEP BEEP BEEP…) that will make you nostalgic for the 80s. But the aforementioned radio is still more pleasant.
– A relatively cheap replaceable bulb ($6). Now that might sound like a no-brainer, I mean aren’t all bulbs replaceable? Well, if you were to buy the Philips version of these lamps, the answer is “no”. So though it seems like such a non-issue, make sure whichever slow dimming/glowing lamp you buy, you can buy just the bulb and not have to buy the whole unit again.
– 2 Years manufacturer’s warranty included, so if your machine decides to not work, you can rest assured that someone will fix it for you. Granted you’ll be minus 1 alarm clock for that duration.
CONS
- Radio is not DAB, so it doesn’t have the crystal clear quality that some of you might be used to, but that said, it’s not a bad regular FM radio at all. The radio receiver is a cheap-looking white wire that trails from the back of the unit. It does have a digital tuner as a small compensation….
- The bird that chirps on one of the alarm settings needs to be shot. In short, I haven’t put it on that one.
- No battery option, so if there is a power outage, you can rest assured that you’ll be late for work.
- $120 price mark. As far as lamps or alarm clocks go, this is by no measurable means “cheap”. However, as that adage goes: you get what you pay for, and I have noticed that getting up in the morning is a lot less stressful lately. Can you put a price on that? Well, yes…
SUMMARY
There are a few Lumie models out there on the market at the moment, with the noticeable price difference, but the Lumie Bodyclock ACTIVE 250 Wake-up Light Alarm Clock was the one I settled for in the end because of:
- Replaceable bulb
- 2-year warranty
- Radio function
- Controllable dim/glow function over your own set time.
Is it worth $120? No, maybe more the $100 mark, but when it’s all said and done, it’s the only one I could find that satisfactorily ticked all the boxes. Am I happy with this purchase? Yeah, I guess you can say that I am