Best Sunrise Alarm Clocks From Consumer Reports' Tests
If you’re tired of being jolted out of bed by your current alarm, a dawnlike wake-up light just might brighten your morning in more ways than one. Here’s Consumer Reports' take on six popular models.
Whether you struggle to get a good night’s sleep or are simply not a morning person, a sunrise alarm clock may be your new best friend.
These clocks wake you up with a faux sunrise, and many give you the option of replacing the jarring sounds of a typical alarm clock with pleasant wake-up tones, such as chirping birds or wind bells, or even glorious silence.
“Light is responsible for regulating our sleep-wake cycles,” explains Nilong Vyas, MD, owner of Sleepless in NOLA, a sleep consultancy in New Orleans, and a medical review expert at SleepFoundation.org. “The type of light and the amount of lux [a measure of illuminance an object produces] can stimulate the retina of the eye and give signals to the body that it is time to wake up or go to sleep.”
Bright light signals the brain that it’s time to wake, even when your eyes are closed; dim or no light has the opposite effect. That’s why sleep doctors suggest that if you feel sleepy at wake-up time, you should pull up your shades, or even better, get outside and reap the benefits of daylight.
Sunshine triggers your circadian rhythm to start off on the right foot, and syncs your brain to a 24-hour cycle—one in which you feel alert and energized to start your day in the morning, and ready to wind down by bedtime. You can, of course, leave your shades up and wake up with the sun (though not everyone has sufficient light streaming into their bedroom). Depending on the time of year, relying on the sun might mean you’ll wake up earlier or later than you want to.
How Consumer Reports Assessed Sunrise Alarm Clocks
To better understand consumer needs in this area, Consumer Reports reached out to 15 sunrise-alarm-clock users to find out what they value in the products they own. Dana Keester, an engineer on CR’s Consumer Experience and Usability Research team, then used their responses to help organize a set of criteria with which to compare the popular models we chose to review. Each model was then scored according to:
Ease of setup: The clock should come with clear, simple instructions. The process should be easy to navigate and fairly intuitive. You should also be able to preview the settings (such as the alarm sounds and the brightness of the light).
Ease of use: Buttons and switches should be accessible and easy to maneuver. The time on the clock, alarm indications, and other markings should be easy to read and understand. You should also have the freedom to customize the alarm settings (such as with light and sound).
Available features: Clocks that scored well in this category include the three features that the users we interviewed found most desirable. Interestingly, two of those three features are sleep-related—namely, having a “wind-down” sunset mode and the option of white noise. The third feature is the ability to preset multiple alarms. This comes in handy if you wake up at different times on weekdays and weekends.
Six CR-Tested Sunrise Alarm Clocks
To make a fair comparison, we limited our roundup to standalone devices with a clock interface. Ultimately we landed on popular models from six brands: JALL, Philips, Lumie, iHome, La Crosse, and hOmelabs. All have backup-battery capabilities (though a battery may or may not be included) that saves the clock’s time and alarm settings in case of a power outage, or if the clock is accidentally unplugged.
Here, we list the clocks in order of how they fared in our evaluation, from most to least user-friendly. (This test did not assess brightness or color of the light or quality of the audio.) Prices below are approximate and may change.