NatureBright Inspiration 3 in 1 LED Light Therapy Lamp
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List Price: Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of NatureBright Inspiration 3 in 1 LED Light Therapy Lamp
Customer Review: A nice way to wake up in the morning, but bogus as a light therapy device.
Summary: 2 Stars
This light is pretty useless for light therapy. The standard for light therapy is 10,000 lux. This is a measure of brightness that varies as you get further from the light. If you look directly into this light right up close then you might get 10,000 lux, but who has an hour a day to put their face right up to such a small light??! If you want light therapy you're much better off with something like an apollo britelite. The britelite IV I have is about 2 feet by 3 feet, and you can set it on a table and do actual work in front of it.
That being said, the light is pretty nice for waking you up in the morning, but only if you have a place to put it over your bet so that you can shine it down on your face. A regular alarm clock is really jarring in the morning, and I'm liable to just turn a regular alarm off and go back to sleep. The little nature-bright wakes me up gradually and I don't oversleep any more, even when I have to get up after 3 or 4 hour's sleep. I think I also feel more alert in the morning when my brain has at least 15 minutes to wake up gradually as the light turns on.
The other beef I have with this light is that they appear to put excess voltage on the LED's, so pixels started burning out a few months after I bought it. The pixels are powered in strings of three, so three will go out at once when only one goes bad. After about three years it hasn't gotten to the point that I'm ready to find some LED's to replace the bad ones, though. But about 30% of them aren't lit any more.
The other small beef is that they claim that the alarm sounds like a chirping bird. This is bogus, it sounds like a pizo-electric speaker and is slightly annoying. But I really almost never get to the point of hearing the alarm sound, because the light wakes me up with light before that point.
Customer Review: Wake up this way, you won't want a normal alarm.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've wanted a "dawn simulator" for a long time, but since I didn't know they went by that name, I didn't know they existed. Finally I discovered the name and the genre. DS's come in two basic types, those with the timer and lamp integrated, and with just a timer that you plug your own lamp into.
All DS's have one thing in common: they're expensive! I guess that's because they haven't hit the mainstream yet. Why the manufacturers don't market beyond the narrow SAD market I don't understand.
Oh yeah, the review.
Pros:
- white LEDs are whiter than incandescent and presumably better for chasing away SAD.
- LEDs are low power and the lamp gets only warm, not hot.
- has weekday and weekend separate alarms times, with adjustable "dawn" time and different sounds at the end of the time.
- directional, adjustable position lamp
- easy to use as bedtime reading lamp (you can simply turn it on/off easily)
- adjustable brightness control
Cons:
- LEDs white light may not be conducive to encouraging sleep at night.
- lowest brightness may not be low enough
- clock not illuminated at night; you might need a separate clock
- directional light might be more annoying than general light
Summary: After over a year of waking up this way I can you it's way superior to a $@*!!@#! alarm clock. But would I buy this particular one again? Yes, just make sure you get the version with battery backup (a previous version without this had many other problems). A timer-only model might be good too. Whatever dawn simulator you end up buying, I don't think you will regret the much more calm way of waking up.
Customer Review: Bright - Great Dawn Simulator and Reading Lamp
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I decided to buy this dawn simulator I did some research. I didn't find anything that I liked because most of the other lamps got reviews saying that they were not bright enough. I am a heavily sleeper and get up at 5:00 so I needed a lamp that was bright.
I found this lamp and it looked promising. At the time it didn't have a single review, but I decided to get it because it had 10,000 Lumens, it was LED, it had an adjustable head, and it looked like it was made well. I was pleased that all of these assumptions were true.
The light is very bright and works great for dawn simulation and as a reading lamp. The adjustable head works great so that it wakes me and not my wife. I like that it has an alarm after the simulation period for those Monday mornings when my biological clock is off. I use the simulator every morning and have had increased mental and physical energy in the morning. It works well as a reading lamp. I like that it brightens up the pages so the text is easier to see. If you are someone who likes a soft glow, this lamp may not be good for you as a reading lamp. I have not used the lamp for light therapy yet. I live in Minnesota and we have some long nights in the winter, so I may use it during the winter to counter the lack of sun.
Customer Review: Discontinued for reason
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this light several years ago, and it was a great idea to wake up with light. The high price made me think I would get a good quality light, but it is cheaply made: The leds started going dim and flickering, the buttons lost their printed labels, the thin wire began shorting the lamp out when moved so that the whole laborious process of setting the alarm had to be re-input if the lamp was moved, and the "bird chirping" alarm is very artificial and machine-like. It's more irritating than soothing. Still, it was better than a regular alarm clock. It has been replaced by a model that has a dusk feature.
Costco has a Philips Wakeup Light that is far superior. The light is ambient, so it doesn't have to be aimed at your face (difficult to do if you happen to be on your other side in the morning). The bird chirping alarm actually sounds like birds chirping, and it is very pleasant. The price is less. Its setup directions are just as complicated and more confusing than the NatureBright, but it has a dusk feature that can play fm radio, and classical music with gradually dimming light has been shown to help SAD.
Customer Review: Unique, but low quality
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this lamp in January 2005, and after a 6 months the LED lights began to go. Almost precisely after the 1 year warrantee period was over, many more of the ligths started to go out, and now all of them are out.
For the price, this is annoying.
I also agree that the thing looks cheap, is surprisingly bulky and is hard to position. I agree with most other people's comments about the buttons, look, and volume issues.
That said, it does do a good job of waking me up pleasantly. The light is quite "white" and somehow leaves me alert (or left me alert until it broke).
Still, I am considering trying some of the alarm clocks that plug into your existing bedside table lamp. I'm just annoyed at having spent this much money on something that seems impossible to fix and is just plain ugly.