Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've had the Philips Somneo for over one week now, and am pleased to say that the "teething troubles" seem to be behind us! My fairly old-fashioned travel alarm clock died some years ago, and I switched to using my smart phone alarm. The suddenness of its ring tones was getting to me, especially (but not only) in winter when our bedroom is still dark. So I bought this wake-up light. As other reviewers have noted, the menu is not the easiest to navigate and it took me a while to figure it out. After the first few mornings, I was starting to regret this not inexpensive purchase - the buttons were unresponsive half of the time, I ended up having to unplug the whole thing rather than being able to gently tap the snooze button, the radio came on instead of the chosen wake-up sound being turned off, there were sudden beeping noises... you get the picture. I persevered. When I wasn't able to figure out how to adjust the duration of the sunrise (the instruction booklet tells you that you can, but not how to) I discovered that Philips offer on-line support through a live "chat", and someone at the other end of the computer guided me through the steps. This was a turning point in the Somneo's and my relationship! I am reasonably familiar with the menu now. And for some reason the buttons have become responsive! Phew. The brightness of the display (of current time and time the alarm is set for) can be adjusted, and at its lowest setting it is still perfectly readable but doesn't even disturb my lightsource-sensitive husband. I find it easy to quickly change the time for the alarm for the next day, if needed. I like the (visual) warmth of the reading light at night, and have been enjoying waking up to the soft mooing of cows plus birdsong in a sunrise glow. It is worth noting that the snooze button silences the sound for several minutes, but the light stays on, which could be annoying if the people sharing a bedroom got up at different times.