Review on 🌅 Lumie Bodyclock Active 250: Wake-Up Light with FM Radio & Extra Audio Options for an Energizing Start to Your Day by Tom Lantz

Pros: Pleasant light, doesn't take up much space, looks normal Cons: 1) The backlighting of the display (not just the time digits, but the entire area where the time is displayed) is very bright and illuminates the whole room. One of the reasons I ordered this model is that the display backlight can be turned off. But as far as I can tell, it can only be turned off when the alarm goes off. So the choice is either to set the alarm clock one morning for the next morning (so that the lights go out when you enter the room to go to bed that evening), or face the need to be in a super bright light to look at before falling asleep so you can set the alarm/wake up the next morning. Staring into a super bright light before bed isn't a good idea, nor is it a good idea, and god save the pain if you have a photosensitive migraine during that time. And if you want to change the alarm time, you have to look at the light even longer. 2) Seriously, why not pre-program this for each day separately, or weekdays versus weekends, or for two different wake-up times, or - not as good, but better than activating every day - once, but activate it and be done with it? I read in the FAQ that it works that way, but all the answers focused on there being only one button to turn it on, so I figured it would be ok, but that is if you forget to turn it on , there will be no alarm. and it also means solving the display backlight issue mentioned above. Since I don't use alarm tones (see below), I have to deal with the display backlight problem (above) every day due to the lack of pre-programming. 3) Alarm sounds are very bad. They are used as alarms at the end of a gradual increase in light, rather than increasing gradually with the light (e.g. the increase in birdsong at sunrise), but more importantly, they have short repetition cycles and poor quality sounds. I was looking forward to the dawn chorus, but if the dawn sounds where the engineers live, I pity them. I ended up setting it to white noise (least obnoxious) and turning the volume down. Instead, I use the same old cell phone alarm clock that has more (and better) sound options. 4) Sleep sounds are no better. 5) Backup battery is very limited/useless. This is mainly for settings, not to keep the light on despite a power outage. 6) The user interface is less intuitive than it should or could be. Not a big problem, but why isn't it so well designed that you can program it the first time without reading a manual or watching a video? I can imagine minor design changes that still maintain an elegant look. 7) It's hard to be sure about this, but I doubt there will be enough light in the dead of winter. an expensive high beam that I have to reset/reactivate every day and actually causes problems if I don't do this reset/reactivate during the day. When the wind picks up! $29.95 Uses your own lamp. I ordered through Revain works as well as I hope to return and use instead. As a side note unrelated to the product itself, I see that Revain is offering a discounted open box version of this watch. mine should have been considered an open box as it definitely was, even though I paid for a new one. All necessary parts were included, nothing broke. But no discount. Since I will most likely be returning it, I expect a full refund.