How to change time on philips wake up light

1.0 out of 5 stars Beware. Quality problems.
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2019

I love the clock but it has a serious flaw. Randomly started behaving odd (not working, light turning off when alarm sounded).Upon inspection of the circuit boards, it's obvious that some corrosion is happening beneath many of the device's capacitors.

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Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2013

Update: I got around to testing the radio. It works, but it's really hard to "hit" the station as you push the button and it starts scanning... the scanning goes pretty fast, so you may have to fiddle with it to get the station you want. There are volume controls, along the edge and hard to find by feel. The volume controls also work on the bird sound settings, so that's nice. It's impossible to read the edge button labels without bright sunlight, or something close to that.

Original review starts here:
The primary reason I bought this is because one of my children bought one and loves it. It helped that I caught it on a "daily deal", so the price was pretty good. I didn't actually buy it for the purpose of getting up on time, rather I bought it for the purpose of trying to regulate my sleep patterns which have gotten somewhat whacky since I am no longer working. I cannot yet attest to that this will be a solution for that problem. But, after a few months have gone by, I will go back and update this review in that regard.

So, at this point, I'm reviewing the product based on how well it functions, and ignoring the fact that it's pretty cool looking.

The most interesting aspect of the clock is getting it set up correctly. The manual it comes with has picture by picture instructions, which off hand, should make it simple to program. In fact though, I found those instructions somewhat confusing as there was little or no verbal commentary with the pictures. But, suffice to say, the pictures as you whiz through the set up, give you the intuitive knowledge that you need to be able to program it without the book. It took me all of about 5 minutes at most to get it set up. Now that I know how it functions, I could easily go back and reprogram it with no reference to the manual.

Good Points: First, the light setting is from 1-20. By default, it's on 18. That's pretty bright, and when the light wakes me up in the morning, it's too bright for me to look directly at it for a few minutes. I set the secondary alarm to "3", which plays the second set of bird sounds, which I thought were slightly more pleasant that the ones on "2". Setting "1" plays a gurgling brook sounds with some soft piano music. That's nice but I prefer the bird sounds as they are more varied than hearing the same music every day. Setting "4" plays the FM radio. I did not bother to even test that, as I'm not a fan of radio as way too often there are people speaking, and that's the last thing I want to hear first thing in the morning. The first morning, it came on right when I set it, however the light did not wake me up... rather, it was the bird sounds that woke me up. (the light is on for 30 minutes before the bird sounds start... the light starts at setting of "1" and slowly ramps up to the maximum you programmed, which was "18" this time) So I woke up to the birds, and found that exceedingly pleasant. It does get repetitive, but so far that has not bothered me. I then reached over to turn off the clock and that's when things went a little downhill, so I'll now go to the Not So Good Points.

Not So Good Points: All the controls for the clock are finger activated, just like with almost any alarm. The problem is there are numerous control buttons located around the outer circle's edge. You can almost see them in the picture of the unit. It turned out that once I learned where the important buttons were, it's not too bad, but fumbling for them when you're still half awake is a little disturbing. In this case, I wish they had a remote control for the entire unit, as that would be so much more obvious. Anyway, I quickly learned that the left most sets of buttons contained what I needed and now I can find the correct button easily. There is also a "snooze" button on the top of that circle in the most likely and obvious location. There are buttons you might want to mess with when you wake up in the morning, besides the Snooze and On/Off button. You can change the intensity of the light. I suspect that once you have it where you want it, that you will probably not mess with them again. One thing I learned the hard way is that once you turn the thing off, it's NOT set for the next day, as the next morning, it did not wake me up. The answer is simple though... all you have to do is push the off button twice. The second time re-arms the alarm for the next day.

Bottom line: I like it a lot. In particular, I like the fact that you can set it as a 24 hour clock instead of a 2x12 hour clock. I have never understood why most clocks in the world are 12 hour. It just doesn't make an logical sense. Suffice to say, it does not bother me in the least that when I look at the clock at 3:30 PM, it says 15:30. I find that FAR less confusing. What would make this clock a 5 star rating for me is one of two things. (1) have a remote control for turning it on/off; or (2) have a raised dot in front of the button that functions as the on/off, so it's easy to find when reaching over with a groping hand and a sleepy head.

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2013

If you are not delighted with the way that you wake up each morning, then just go ahead and buy this thing. Wow! It works great!

I was waking up to music on my iPad, but now I just wake up to this light. I still keep the iPad alarm on, but I don't really need it anymore. The light comes on very gradually over a 30 minute time frame. I have set the max intensity such that I wake up at the end of that period. It takes a few days of trial and error with the 20 increments of adjustment to get it right where you want it, but it's not very difficult. One other note -- our bedroom windows are covered with thick drapes so that we sleep in a very dark room. If you're having trouble sleeping, that makes a huge difference.

Some folks were unhappy with the controls. I can understand that, but it really isn't an issue after using the device for a few days. The fact is that there are a lot of adjustments available, including nature sounds, radio, sleep mode (dims the light gradually as you doze off), and the wake up mode. So, you end up with a lot of buttons. The bird sounds are very good, but let's face it -- birds really are kind of annoying when they wake you up too early in the morning. The sound comes on at the end of the 30 minute wakeup cycle, which works well enough, but I can set my iPad to do that and choose whatever sound I want (I actually have my iPad set to the 35 minute point -- five minutes after the light is full on). Now that I have the light setting right, I am peacefully awake by the time the iPad comes on.

With all the light/sleep technology that goes into this thing, you'd think you'd be able to completely black it out. But, you can't. The time display has four settings, none of which is off. So, I have mine pointed at the wall near the bed with an old cassette tape blocking the time display. Works just fine, even in my blacked out room. Even with the light pointed away from the bed, it still wakes me up just fine at setting 17. Setting #20 is really bright -- almost like staring at the sun.

Up until now, I've always had a problem with hitting the snooze button for about 20 to 30 minutes after my alarm first goes off. I always realized that this was a waste of good sleep time, but I never found a solution that really worked for me. Waking up with the light only is almost like a reverse snooze. At the end of the 30 minutes, even on a week when I haven't gotten enough sleep (like this week), I'm still ready to get up and get going. That's a huge and beneficial change for me.

Some tips:

* After you set everything up, make sure you remember to actually turn the alarm function on. I forgot that the first night. Man, I was so disappointed when I woke up with my regular alarm the next morning!
* Set the alarm time for the actual time you want to wake up. The cycle will automatically begin 30 minutes before that time, but it probably won't wake you up until close to the end of the cycle.
* The light does not have a continuous dimmer circuit -- it adjusts in 20 distinct increments. If you watch closely, you will see the changes. I think I might have found my setting with less experimentation if I had just set it to 19 or 20 the first night and then counted how many more increments it increased after I woke up.

Last thoughts:
* The nature sounds are very good and you can adjust the volume to whatever you prefer. I really thought they would work well for me. But, I found out that I like the light by itself much better. Years ago, I had a bird in my yard that would start chirping at my window right around sunrise and wake me up. I really hated that bird!
* It's pretty darned expensive for an alarm clock. It's worth twice as much to me now that I've tried it.
* The light itself is not bright white -- it is slightly yellowish -- more like sunlight. The color tone is very pleasant and natural. I wouldn't bother getting the more expensive model that does a red light at first to simulate the sunrise. You're going to sleep through that anyway, if you set everything up correctly.
* I really like this alarm light, but it's not a magic genie or anything. You still have to wake up in the morning and that still is what it is. That said, if you have to wake up to some form of alarm clock, this is likely the best one short of the sunrise on the beach at Cape Hatteras.

Feel free to check out my website -- just do a search for The Engineer's Guide To God. Or just remove the spaces, the "The" and the apostrophe, add the www and the dot com, and you'll be there.

Ya'll have a great day!

Top reviews from other countries

2.0 out of 5 stars Design over function

Reviewed in Canada on May 6, 2021

Just to start, the wake up light function itself works great. 5 stars for that. If you’ve never experienced a wake up light, it’s life changing. My original Philips wake up light broke so I replaced it with this, and in the 1 week it took to arrive I realized just how much worse it is waking up with a standard alarm.

With that out of the way, here is why I’m giving this specific model of Philip wake up lights a poor rating. It has two major flaws:

1) The controls are not easy to use without paying close attention, because they tried to make this sleek rather than functional. This would be mitigated with a connected app to control it, but it’s entirely manual so that -1 star from me. The original model made it really easy to find the alarm set, alarm snooze, and light on/off switches. All the buttons on this version feel the same and are so close together it’s hard to know exactly what’s you’re pressing.

2) The time is bright and can’t be dimmed. Again, in an effort to make it look as pretty as possible, they ignored the function of it. I really don’t know what they were thinking with this one. It’s not the worse I’ve seen since it’s a red light and isn’t terribly distracting when your eye are closed, but it’s still really bright. They also continued the frosted glass the main light uses all the way down over the clock, but it has the effect of defusing and spreading out the clock light. It doesn’t look premium in the dark, and honestly I’m really surprised this wasn’t fixed prior to production. They could have mitigated the issue by adding a brightness toggle in the menu, but for some reason it’s completely absent. -2 stars.

Those are the main reasons I’m giving this a 2/5, but I’d also like to see a few more features in a alarm this expensive.
1) App controls, or at the very least the option to have alarm presets (e.g. weekdays vs. weekends)
2) Ambient light sensor for the clock. When the room is bright it should be easy to see the time, but when the room is dark the time should dim down.
3) Integrated with or acting as a Philips Hue Hub. It would be cool to have this connected to other lights, and since it’s big enough to house all the smart components why not make it into a functional Hue Hub?

TL;DR buy a wake up light it makes waking up wayyy easier. However this model has a bunch of design flaws, and is over priced considering the lack of features.

2.0 out of 5 stars Design over function
Reviewed in Canada on May 6, 2021

Just to start, the wake up light function itself works great. 5 stars for that. If you’ve never experienced a wake up light, it’s life changing. My original Philips wake up light broke so I replaced it with this, and in the 1 week it took to arrive I realized just how much worse it is waking up with a standard alarm.

With that out of the way, here is why I’m giving this specific model of Philip wake up lights a poor rating. It has two major flaws:

1) The controls are not easy to use without paying close attention, because they tried to make this sleek rather than functional. This would be mitigated with a connected app to control it, but it’s entirely manual so that -1 star from me. The original model made it really easy to find the alarm set, alarm snooze, and light on/off switches. All the buttons on this version feel the same and are so close together it’s hard to know exactly what’s you’re pressing.

2) The time is bright and can’t be dimmed. Again, in an effort to make it look as pretty as possible, they ignored the function of it. I really don’t know what they were thinking with this one. It’s not the worse I’ve seen since it’s a red light and isn’t terribly distracting when your eye are closed, but it’s still really bright. They also continued the frosted glass the main light uses all the way down over the clock, but it has the effect of defusing and spreading out the clock light. It doesn’t look premium in the dark, and honestly I’m really surprised this wasn’t fixed prior to production. They could have mitigated the issue by adding a brightness toggle in the menu, but for some reason it’s completely absent. -2 stars.

Those are the main reasons I’m giving this a 2/5, but I’d also like to see a few more features in a alarm this expensive.
1) App controls, or at the very least the option to have alarm presets (e.g. weekdays vs. weekends)
2) Ambient light sensor for the clock. When the room is bright it should be easy to see the time, but when the room is dark the time should dim down.
3) Integrated with or acting as a Philips Hue Hub. It would be cool to have this connected to other lights, and since it’s big enough to house all the smart components why not make it into a functional Hue Hub?

TL;DR buy a wake up light it makes waking up wayyy easier. However this model has a bunch of design flaws, and is over priced considering the lack of features.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Check other 1 star reviews first!

Reviewed in Canada on November 27, 2020

The concept of a wake up light is lifechanging, but I would save my money and purchase a cheaper brand. Mine died (stopped turning on completely) after 3 years of semi-regular use and warranty only covers 2 years. I feel like Philips high end electronics are designed to crap out soon after the warranty - do you really want to pay $40/year for an alarm clock that will ultimately end up in the landfill? Philips offers no repairs (by design) and customer service was unhelpful and said, "things sometimes just stop working". A little suspicious and disappointing to say the least!

Other major design issues:
1) You have to manually set your alarm daily. This was a pain because you can easily forget.
2) The buttons are located on the rim of the alarm clock and are tiny. In the morning, it's incredibly hard to decipher which is which. I actually had to put colored sticker tabs on my buttons to help distinguish. This ruined the aesthetic of the clock for me but I couldn't function without them!
3) No backup battery so with a power outage, you have to reset all your functions. It's not intuitive so you have to pull up the manual to remember how to code things to exactly how you like it (i.e. how bright, which sound, what time etc.)

Pros:
1) It's a soothing way to wake up. I really enjoyed the warm light and subtle bird chirping sounds
2) Given that it's angled, I enjoyed using it as an expensive morning lamp/light source (facing away from your sleeping partner) if you have different morning schedules.

Overall, save your money and find a cheaper alternative. The brand name isn't worth it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this lamp/clock

Reviewed in Canada on March 11, 2022

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 This has helped me so much especially during the winter. Placed it on my window sill which faces south east. While at times I'm intellectually aware it's only a simulation. Overtime it feels more natural that every morning I have a sunrise with birds chirping, starting at 6:30am till 8am. It improves my mornings immensely especially on the grey dreary days. So it really does help on a fundamentally emotional level on a longterm basis. I'm a morning person so I really need this from Sept-April.

It's a bit fiddly figuring out the settings in the beginning, but once I did I don’t need to change the time it turns on. If you are someone who will want to have your sunrise at different times on different days that will be a bit more challenging but doable reseting it.

I do know there's the next model up in this brand around $200-$250 which has an added sunset feature to help regulate sleep That model the light does have the change in colours which are a more natural sunrise and sunset. I'm personally fine with only the sunrise feature with only the white light. It does what's needed.

5.0 out of 5 stars Pricey but worth it!

Reviewed in Canada on July 9, 2020

For years I've had problems getting up in the morning. Every night I would need to set 6 phone alarms and an old school bell alarm, and still sleep through them. I've been using this for a few weeks now and have been very surprised at how consistently it wakes me and how gentle the wake up is. It definitely doubles as a lamp as well, which may help with the price point. I'm a bit younger and somewhat tech savvy, and never opened the instructions to understand the settings. I live in the city and radio works great. Give it a try if you struggle waking up!

4.0 out of 5 stars Fiddly process, great result

Reviewed in Canada on September 12, 2021

As others have mentioned, the buttons are fiddly. You will get used to that, but if you're like me you will be mildly annoyed every time the power goes out and you have to fiddle with all the settings again. I also thought that having a constantly-illuminated time display missed the point of supporting healthy sleep, but on the dimmest setting it's actually fine. In the end, I can overlook these quibbles, because waking up to a gentle light and birdsong is far superior to being jolted out of sleep by a harsh alarm. The whole process of waking up and getting out of bed is easier when it's not pitch black in the room. Now if only we didn't have to pay good money to mimic what the Earth does naturally for us...

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