Philips SmartSleep Wake Up Light review: the most enjoyable way to wake up in the morning

I’m terrible at waking up in the morning. Whether I’m working from home, in the office, or simply trying to get up for an early morning workout, I struggle with actually getting out of bed. Instead, my loud alarm startles me awake, and I bury underneath the covers to avoid the early hours, but one thing that I’ve found has helped me is using a wake up light.

The best wake up lights mimic the rising of the sun by gradually brightening its light to awake you bit by bit. I’ve tried my fair share of wake up lights, but haven’t found one that I definitely want to keep and use on a regular basis… until I tried the Philips SmartSleep.

The Philips SmartSleep is slightly tricky to get your hands on, as Philips has made so many wake up lights. The Philips SmartSleep I’m trying here isn’t the most recent from the brand, but it goes to show that it doesn’t have to be the most advanced model to do a good job. Keep reading to find out why in my Philips SmartSleep review.

Philips SmartSleep review: price and availability

The Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light is available for £199.99 / $199.99 at Philips and select retailers like Amazon. There are newer versions of the Philips SmartSleep now on the market, but this specific model’s full name is the Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light with night-time function HF3651/01.

Philips SmartSleep review: unboxing and set-up

The Philips SmartSleep comes with the wake up light and its plug with an instructions booklet – nice and simple. To get started with the Philips SmartSleep, you simply plug it into an outlet and set it up via the touchscreen controls.

The set up process took hardly any time and once you’ve sorted the settings, they’re easy to adjust and change if needed. When setting up the Philips SmartSleep, I selected the time I wanted the light to come on, how long I wanted it to brighten for, and other details like the brightness level and type of sound and sound level.

While the Philips SmartSleep is predominantly a wake up light, it also has a nighttime or sunset function, so you can set the mood to help you go to sleep. Rather than an alarm like the sunrise function, the nighttime function is something you’ll want to set each night, which includes a brightness level and wind-down sound.

Philips SmartSleep review: design and features

The Philips SmartSleep measures 225 x 220 x 120 mm and has a 1.5 metre long cord. Available in white, the Philips SmartSleep has a similar circular design that most wake up lights have, except it also has a small cut out oval in the middle. It has a 315 maximum LUX level, and its touchscreen and clock is located at the bottom of the light.

As a sleep and wake up light, the Philips SmartSleep is designed to help you relax before bed and wake you up feeling refreshed. It gradually increases its light 30 minutes before your alarm, and it starts off as a soft red until it gets to a bright orange. There’s 25 different light brightness levels to choose from, but there are no colour options. For the sunset function, the Philips SmartSleep dims its light over time to help you wind down for the evening.

The Philips SmartSleep comes with eight wake-up sounds and three sleep sounds, so you can use it as a relaxation aid and additional alarm clock. The sounds vary from animal noises to nature sounds, and you can also set up the radio on the Philips SmartSleep so you can listen to music.

Alongside its brightness and sound options, the Philips SmartSleep also comes with guided breathing and relaxation exercises. It has seven rhythms of light intensity and sounds to play with, which is designed to help you unwind and fall asleep quicker.

Philips SmartSleep review: performance

Setting up the Philips SmartSleep was an absolute breeze so I was very excited to go to sleep and have it wake me up. I selected 7am as my wake up time for the Philips SmartSleep so it began to brighten from red to yellow at 6:30. The brightness was intense but not too bright that it was sore on the eyes or shocked the system.

The light felt really natural and it perfectly filled my room – it really felt like it was from the sunrise and not something artificial which I appreciated. Despite its effectiveness, I always need some kind of noise to wake me up, but the Philips SmartSleep came with plenty of sleep sounds to play with. I enjoyed the sound bowls options as it was really relaxing, and as it gradually got louder, it was great at waking me up.

Almost every morning I used the Philips SmartSleep, I woke up naturally and felt comfortable to get out of bed, rather than tired and in need of an extra few minutes. I enjoyed the ease of the controls, from selecting a sunrise routine to snoozing the alarm. As the Philips SmartSleep is an older version of this model, its wording and settings are quite blurry and not as high quality as some might like. It also doesn’t have any colour options but this still doesn’t take away from its effectiveness.

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Philips SmartSleep review: verdict

The Philips SmartSleep might not be the most advanced wake up light on the market, but that’s what I like about it – it gets the job done and doesn’t need any gimmicks. It has a great variety of light and sound cycles, and it doesn’t feel artificial. It actually woke me up and had me excited to wake up which is exactly what I was looking for.

Philips SmartSleep review: alternatives to consider

Our favourite wake up light is the Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300. It’s more advanced and expensive than the Philips SmartSleep but it has everything you could want from a wake up light, including lights, sounds and colours.

If it’s another Philips model you’re after, Philips Hue recently debuted its first ever wake up light. The Philips Hue Twilight is more of a smart light than a wake up light but if you don’t download the app, it’s a pretty simple and competent wake up light, just like the Philips SmartSleep.