Marpac SleepMate 980A Electro-Mechanical Sound Conditioner
|
List Price: Our Price: $54.00 You Save: $5.95 (10%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Health Care See more product details |
|---|
Customer Reviews of Marpac SleepMate 980A Electro-Mechanical Sound Conditioner
Customer Review: Small, yet functional
Summary: 5 Stars
Good day. I am a huge fan of the SleepMate 980A. For about as long as I can remember (started back in college), I have been using a small fan to make white noise. In college it started out as a device to cover up loud dorm mates so I could sleep or study -- and then just kept using one after I graduated. Now 20 (cough) years later, I was still using a fan -- but even the smallest fans were bulky and packing one in a suitcase just wasn't happening.
I came across this little device when I was in a doctor's office. The office was small with patient rooms very close to the waiting room. Apparently there was a problem with waiting room patients overhearing doctor-patient conversations -- so they bought one of these, put it in the waiting room near the patient rooms, and used it to cover up the conversations -- and it worked very well. I figured if it could be good for that, why not sleeping.
Until then I had tried digital sound machines -- but babbling brooks, crickets, waterfalls, rain, etc. just did't work for me -- and the white noise sounds were awful. I liked the sound of a fan...period.
The SleepMate, for the most part, is a fan -- but it has a plastic case all around it. Inside is a motor and fan blad -- so it sounds like a fan because it generates sound the same way. I loved it...and was hooked. The 2 speeds are nice, but find speed 1 is all I ever use. You can vary the volume and pitch a bit by rotating the outer cover as well as the top until you find a volume you like. Just twist it with your hand -- takes but a second to alter. It has a foam pad on the bototm so it won't vibrate anything on your nightstand. And here's the kicker -- it's small enough with an easy to pack shape so I take it with me everywhere and fits nicely in my suitcase.
My wife got used to this as well so I bought a second one for when I travel. I recently purchased two more for my kids. They currently use fans -- but will be replaced by these SleepMates in the very near future.
I have been using mine for about 1.5 years and just love the thing. I do think it is a bit pricey for what the unit really is -- but it produces a sound just like a fan without the bulk and does not blow any air on you so you don't have to adjust it away from you like you would a fan.
Customer Review: Noisy neighbor? Here is your solution
Summary: 5 Stars
This product is amazing. I am so pleased. I live in a highrise on the 15th floor in Boston. I can deal with the outside noise but my neighbor above? OMG !! Rude, inconsiderate. He is one of those people who has no common courteousy with apartment living. He scrapes chairs, slams and drops things, paces heavily and worst of all is his television. He plays it at such a loud volume that the noise resonates down through the vent and walls into my apartment. I can often hear it word for word. I have dealt with management in my building etc. but this guy won't cooperate.
I have tried cds of rain and waterfalls but as others have stated, these don't work well. I sleep with a fan on me at night and that helps but I can't have it on all the time. My dear neighbors clock is reversed and noise runs from about 4 pm till 3 am. It was recommended that I get a white noise machine and I didn't really believe it would help but I knew if there was a place to do my research it was with Amazon. I know the styles that play soothing sounds like rain etc. would not work for me.
But this machine does exactly what it says it does. It provides a constant, steady rush of air. It sounds better than my fan and provides a constant background noise that has removed my neighbors nuisances by 95%. Some have complained about the price but I think this item is an amazing deal. The unit is of high quality, has two settings of high and low and further adjustment can be done by rotating the round collar. The directions explain how it works and it says to place the unit away from you so that the sound will fill the room. I have done that in my apartment and the sound resonates very comfortably. It is a sound that it took only a couple of days to get used to. Now I can play my own music, listen to my own tv, be on the computer in silence and sleep with no disturbances. Before, any time at night I had silence I could hear noise resonating from my neighbor.
I am so grateful and shockingly pleased at how well this machine works and easily becomes a comfortable part of your life. I love my apartment but my neighbor has had me thinking of moving. Not anymore. For $50 my peace and sanity has been returned to me.
Highly recommend this product.
Customer Review: tips and pointers
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading many of the reviews here, i've come up with some tips and pointers for other owners of this device, and those considering acquiring one.
For those who think it's too loud:
-Make sure you have it on the lower setting. Click the power switch up from the 'off' position.
-Try turning the side and top of the device to modulate the quality of the sound produced
-Review the instruction manual on proper placement of the device within the room
-Realize that white noise machines don't magically cancel noise, but in fact cover it, so this device must make a fair bit of noise of its own to mask offensive noises. Review the line in the instruction manual which suggests it may take you up to a week to habituate to using this device.
For those who think it's too quiet:
-Make sure you have in on the higher setting. Click the power switch down from the 'off' position.
-Try turning the side and top of the device to modulate the quality of the sound produced
-Review the instruction manual on proper placement of the device within the room
-Realize that no device of this sort will cover the sound of someone snoring in bed next to you, or a jackhammer outside your window. If you need something like that covered, invest in noise-canceling headphones, not a room-based device like this.
For those who complain that it's just a fan in a plastic housing:
-It is, but it's a very small fan that uses less energy
-Consider that for most fans, noise is a waste product, and air circulation is the goal. For this device, air circulation is the waste product, and noise is the goal. Thus it's a more efficient noise-producer than an air circulation device of equal size.
-Take your context into account. If you live in tropical climes, and would enjoy having a breeze with your white noise, then do consider a box fan as an alternative purchase. If, on the other hand, you live in a temperate region with cold winters in which a breeze would be most unwelcome, one could hardly consider a box fan to be a reasonable white-noise creation alternative.
How this could be a five-star product:
-More than two speed settings
-A little bit of aesthetic work to make it less ugly
Customer Review: Love the hissssss
Summary: 5 Stars
What can I say about the Marpac 980?
Well, I bought with several months ago so I have had a long time to test it and I am very please with its performance.
I am not what you call a light sleeper. However, it takes me a lot to "get to sleep". Once I am asleep, I am fine. The problem is getting there. I am distracted by cars, trains, people snoring, the cats and kids etc. What is my cure? Background noise. And you can adjust this background noise a number of ways, giving you a very large spectrum of noise settings.
There are 3 main ways to adjust the noise levels with this machine.
1. The High/Low/Off button on the back of the unit - The difference between the High and low setting is the Fan Speed. High seems like it is about double as fast as low. I usually do not use the high setting. It is loud enough for me to keep it at low and still soft enough to keep my wife happy.
2. The Top Ring - I think this ring allows more air to escape the top of the unit. You can adjust this ring to allow the "perfect" amount of air out of it as you see fit.
3. The Base Ring - This ring seems to allow more air into the unit. More air is lower tone and less air is a more constricted higher tone. Again, adjust the ring to your liking.
4. Placement - One of the most important things is where you put this little guy. They recommend putting it a little away from you, perhaps a dresser across the room. This seems to make the sound bounce around the room and give you a fuller feel of the sound. Of course you could put it on the nightstand right next to you and blast yourself with a loud hisss.
Using these four adjustments gives you many many different sounds (hundreds I'd say)..so you should be able to do a little dialing and adjusting to find the perfect
Is it loud enough????
Ummm....for me YES. Unless you live in a very loud city/ aircraft carrier/missile range it should be ok.
But seriously. like I said, I am usually in the low setting, across a 10 foot room, and it is plenty loud.
The only thing that I think it is missing is that I would love to have a timer on it. it would be great if it turned itself off after a few hours.
Customer Review: Love It (but I also had realistic expectations)
Summary: 5 Stars
When I began sleeping with a humidifier a few months ago during a bad cold, I grew to love the sound of white noise while I was sleeping. Well, it didn't take long to kill my humidifier by running it every night, so I went looking for a sound mahine on the internet. Now that I've been using the Marpac or over a month, I can say I'm very pleased and can't imagine sleeping without it.
To address some of the comments made in other reviews...
This machine is not a miracle worker. It's not intended to block out every noise possible. It does block a lot of noise, and the rest of it is muffled.
There are two volume settings (hi and lo), plus you can adjust the pitch. I sleep with mine on low and it's plenty loud. Those that say they have it on hi and it's not loud enough are either hard of hearing or they're crazy. (Sorry....I know it's subjective, but trust me, for the average person, the hi setting is very, very loud.)
If the sound does not seem soothing to you, try using it on low for awhile, then gradually increase the volume over a period of a few weeks. I turn mine on as I begin getting ready for bed, so that by the time I actually crawl into bed, I hardly notice it's on. The instructions also say it works best if it's not right next to the bed, so try moving it around the room too.
Bottom line...it's been very helpful for me in both getting to sleep and staying asleep. I'm purchasing a second one today to use while I'm studying in another room. Unfortunately, our backyard borders two other houses with dogs, unruly children on trampolines, and adults who like to party outside during all seasons and at all hours of the night--so my Marpac is getting good use!
Update 3/28/10: It's been nearly a year and I'm still loving my Marpac! My husband would rather not have it on, but he tolerates it. It's so great for blocking small noises that tend to otherwise keep me awake: hubby watching tv downstairs, dog moving about, chirping birds too early in the morning, barking dogs, etc. I bought a second one for another room so I could study without being distracted by other household noises. I can't imagine being without it!