Marpac Sleepmate 580A Sound Conditioner Single Speed
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List Price: Our Price: $42.88 You Save: $7.07 (14%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Marpac Sleepmate 580A Sound Conditioner Single Speed
Customer Review: Sanity Saver - So Good I Bought Two
Summary: 5 Stars
I love the white noise it brings to a room, day or night. To be fair, I DO also sleep with earplugs most of the time (I am a nut about sound) but even without plugs, my husband has still come and gone long after I am asleep, the dog barked or scratched in the night, and I never stirred. First time I tried to fall asleep with Marpac and without earplugs I thought "Too loud, I'll never fall...." Zzzzz... Street and people noise outside are drowned out.
It seems like it works in layers creating its own wall of white noise - if Marpac is the closest sound to me, it works best to disguise noise outside of that closest layer. I put Marpac between me and the source of the noise (side of the window or wall where bulk of noise comes from) for best results. I am sure you would still hear someone snorting right up next to you however. Someone described it as the constant rush of air sound you would hear in an airplane, and I'd agree. Some reviews say it's too loud - well, depends on your sensitivity and what you need! I want it to totally mask outdoor noise (I am in a single family home, residential area, so people noise around the yards, typical residential street noise, early birds, etc.) and I do not find it too loud at all. Can easily hold a normal conversation in a room with the machine on. I bought the 580 as the top twists and adjusts to allow more or less sound. The lowest sound (the smallest holes opened to allow sound) is not too much for me but I can see how some people would think its loudish. I move it around the room to suit and I can adjust to make louder, which is why I got the 580 vs. the other model.
An example of use not just for sleeping: I can hear the kids next door, one property over, playing (read: screaming and banging things really hard on the ground) to varying degrees in my own home and I was at my witts end, and I even have extra wall insulation for sound. Can NOT tolerate noise. Priced out sound proof windows. $$$$!!! Bought another Marpac to keep downstairs. Listening to the tv over the Marpac is not an issue and I don't have to have it blaring to hear over Marpac. The air-sound just fades in to the background.
Note - it will definitely help drown out and mask the higher pitched noises. I tried to listen for the screaming darlings next door playing basketball over Marpac and couldn't hear them. It can not however stop things like heavy drum beats, loud stereo thumping...sound with vibrations you can feel through your body. You need to physically stop the sound waves from traveling in those cases.
Customer Review: Really good Sound Appliance
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been using various sound appliances for the last 20 years because I am a very light sleeper. My children are also light sleepers and naptime, especially, is problematic because any little sound from another room wakes my little ones up. I have had 2 digital sound appliances go haywire in the last 2 years. We leave them on all the time because we are busy and we don't want to take a chance that we might forget to turn one on in the kids rooms. They start making very loud stuttering, crazy noises which woke my children up! So, I started looking for something different, better.
I seem to have found it with this appliance. I like that it is mechanical, not digital. Who needs or uses rainforest sounds? The idea is to mask outside noises, not have your baby believe he is sleeping in the rainforest! So far this appliance has been very reliable and helpful. My only complaint would be that I would like it to be just a tiny bit louder. I adjusted it to its optimal setting and we just leave it go on a table across the room from the baby's crib and it just fills the room with a soothing, soft sound. Very womb-like!
Next time I purchase another one, I will spend $10 more for the more expensive model in hopes that it will be a little louder. We like to use a sound machine inside the baby's room as well as outside the door. Right now the humidifier is running outside baby's door, but when winter is over and we won't need that anymore I will buy another Marpac for that purpose.
Customer Review: Response to EMF warning
Summary: 5 Stars
I was concerned when I read the review about the EMF rating and emailed the company. They promptly emailed me the following response that put my mind at ease:
Quote:
The person who posted that comment is placed a Gauss meter directly against the housing of a Sleep Mate and took a reading on his amateur Gauss meter. He could take that same meter and walk by his refrigerator, bathroom or kitchen exhaust fans, or any device in his home that contains an electric motor and get similar readings. If the general public had any clue how much EMF is produced by cell phones and were concern about this being a cancer risk, they would be astonished. EMF exposure to concentrated levels from high voltage power lines or other circumstances where high levels of EMF can be measured at a great distance from the source should be considered a risk...Sleep Mate is not.
I can tell you for certain that the inventor of this product is 90 years old and he and his wife have used Sleep Mate on his nightstand nearly every night since 1962 and they are both in pretty good health (he recently broke his hip). Neither of them have ever had any form of cancer.
This product is in its fourth generation design and has been in use in one form or another for over 45 years.
I hope this helps and please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Kind regards,
Marpac Corporation
Customer Review: Worth a Try.
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, I'm amazed! In the late 60s I lived in a noisy apartment and was having trouble sleeping soundly. Then I read about the Marpac Sleep-Mate white noise machine. It was somewhat expensive (over $30) at the time but seemed worth a try. It worked! I could adjust it so that all exterior sounds were blended, or at least softened, into the white noise background. It was a good product and I got a lot of use out of it. Well, in 1973, I moved into a new house in the ultra-quiet suburbs and I gradually forgot about my white noise machine except for a few times when neighborhood kids were playing outside or when I went on long car-traveling trips.
Not too long ago, I read an article about the SleepMate and I was astonished that such a product was still for sale and still in use. So I looked it up on Amazon, and sure enough! I'm amazed. Mine is model 454 and is tan with a small flange along the bottom side. Otherwise, it would appear to be almost identical to the model listed here. Well this little white noise sleep aid has proven itself to me and, for anyone who has trouble sleeping in a noisy environment, I would certainly suggest giving it a try. My wife doesn't like me to use it, I might add. She claims it screens noises out so effectively that she worries about not being able to hear dangerous noises, such as someone burglarizing the house. Well, that might be true.
Gary Peterson
Customer Review: I bought one, loved it, bought another; Update: got one for baby, too!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the first one for my wife-to-be because she said she was having trouble sleeping and the fan helped. Bingo! This simple device is in constant use and I, too, like the effect.
My mother has had trouble sleeping for years. She would use the TV to put her to sleep (which I could never understand). She was up at all hours and she never got a good night's sleep. So I bought the second one and had it shipped to her. Bingo! She's now sleeping better than ever. In fact, she recently told me that she forgot to turn it on the other night and still slept well. (I have to believe that's because she is sleeping regularly now.)
If you have trouble sleeping for whatever reason, this seems to do the trick. $40 is a small price to pay for a consistent and good night's sleep.
Hint: since the device should be across the room, I also got an extension cord that has a switch that extends off of it (it's like a T configuration) so my wife can turn it on and off from the bedside.
Update: we just had our first baby four months ago. I immediately got another one for the baby's room. Seems to help her fall and stay asleep. (She's been a good sleeper from the beginning, though, so I can't say it is some miracle cure for babies that don't sleep well.)