Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update: Two years later…still have it, still indispensable to my morning routine. I am about to go into rotating shifts and I know this device will be key to having any semblance of a sleep schedule. I also changed internet providers last year and it was easy to get it set up again - just “forget” the device and re-add it from your app. It took about 3 minutes to get it fully functional again. Short story: if this would quit working tomorrow, I would pay the full-price amount again to buy it without hesitation. Original review: I have had this for about a month, enough time to provide a fair assessment. Like the title says, I love this thing. And I should, for the price. Apologies in advance for a lengthy review... A bit of background, I am a bit of a sleep geek after having worked as a sleep technologist for nearly two decades. To be clear none of my review constitutes medical advice - and I am no longer a sleep tech. If you are really having sleep issues, you likely need a physician’s personalized input/assistance. That said, I am very keen on improving my sleep hygiene and also dig data, and this does that for me. I have loathed alarm clocks, but desperately needed them, since I was a teenager. The annoying sound doesn’t really start my day off right. Now I have gradual light and then pleasant bells if the alarm even gets that far. I have never had to listen to the last ditch “power wake” that is a setting - so I can’t comment on that, but I consider that a positive. How it works: the time you set is the time the light is at optimal brightness and your chosen sound plays...30 minutes before that, the light starts off low and increases. Not sure that is explained well in the item description. I also love the sunset feature with the additional sound. Sometimes it is difficult to fall asleep due to outside noise in my neighborhood. The underwater noise, coupled with the Caribbean island light setting puts me right to sleep. I have never been awake when it stops, even at a 15 minute setting. The regular light is definitely sufficient as a bedroom light. I turn it on, then turn off my light switch. Then when I am in bed, start my sunset feature. It has made my bedtime routine very convenient. Some of the more technical aspects: I know other reviews complained about starting and maintaining the WiFi connection since so much is done via the SleepMapper app. I had zero issues. I set it up in my living room about 10 feet from my WiFi router, then unplugged and took it about 30 feet away to my bedroom. It reconnected without any intervention from me. I have not had one quirky event with the app either, and the app is very user-friendly, in my opinion. The USB port on the back of the light is easy to use and I charge my iPhone on it every night without issue. I have the Somneo on a small-ish suspended shelf next to my bed, with enough room for it, my phone, and my glasses. My bedroom has more of an antique/boho vibe but the sleek/modern Somneo surprisingly doesn’t clash with it. Oh, almost forgot about the data - which is a big part of why I got the more expensive app-enabled one! So, I probably haven’t even fully explored all of it, but the big draw for me was analyzing my sleep environment (aka, why do I sometimes wake up at 3am for no reason!?). The app monitors light, humidity, temperature, and sound levels. The nights that I wake up - there are sound spikes around that time. So I know to investigate that more. Also, they show the desired ranges for each environmental factor. These are pretty on point with desired levels, though please be aware that not everyone needs a super cool room to sleep well - they do caveat that range (somewhere in the app or the manual), but I wanted to footstomp that temperature is what you find comfortable, and their range is probably okay for most, but not all people. Thanks for hanging in there on this long review! I just know that when I am thinking about dropping serious $ on a product, I want some details by real users that paid full price. Oh, and if something goes south - I will update this review.