Tags: Eulogize
Review: Dawn Simulator
August 26th, 2005, by Rich.
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The basic idea behind the Lumie Bodyclock is that it combines a timer, a dimmer switch and a Neodymium light-bulb; it can thus simulate a summer sunrise on the coldest darkest winter mornings, thereby giving a more gentle and holistic wakeup than that which is afforded by a shrieking buzzer in the dark. We’ve had one for about 12 months so we thought we’d give it the once over.
Lumie make several versions of the Bodyclock; we chose the Advanced model because we thought it looked nicer than the other models and the spec’s showed that it did all we needed.
Overall Performance
To be blunt, it’s a gem. It really does make waking up a better experience, akin to being gently welcomed by a nice warm day (even if it’s blowing a gale outside).
The first feature that’s worth a special mention (because its already proved it’s worth on more than one occasion) is that if you pull the power cable out, the time and alarm settings survive, so if there’s a power cut in the night you avoid waking up late for work. Never again will you see the flashing alarm clock displaying the exact time since power came back on. Top marks to Lumie for this.
During the summer months (and if you don’t have blackout curtains) the benefits of the Lumie are significantly reduced, because dawn often arrives long before you’d want to wake up, totally scuppering the dawn simulation. If you have blackout curtains, then this is the perfect clock for all seasons.
In Use
Lumie clocks tend to feature four controls: P, Up, Down and A. P is used to program the clock: pressing it cycles through a straightforward on-screen menu, whilst Up and Down can be used to adjust the values that are displayed for each menu item. A nice touch is that each button is a different shape, so they are easy to use in the dark.
A quirk of the interface is that the menu readout is set below the time display, and the surrounding plastic moulding conspires with this fact to render the display unreadable from a level position, so it’s not possible to adjust the Lumie whilst lying in bed, you have to sit up. This is a small issue but one which we’ve noticed surprisingly often.
The A button is a depressible toggle-switch (rather than simple button) and it is used to enable and disable the sunrise alarm. Contrary to common practice, depressing the button switches the alarm off. This can take a little getting used to depending on your mental model.
When you’ve left the P, Up & Down alone for five seconds it reverts to “clock mode”, during which time the Up and Down buttons make the light brighter and dimmer.
Room for Minor Improvement
The only real omission from the interface is short-cuts: for example, it’s not possible to instantly turn the light fully on or off, you have to hold the Up or Down buttons and wait for 3 seconds while the dimmer does its thing. If the software could recognize a double tap on the Up for full brightness and a double tap on Down for off, that would solve the apparent delay.
Another short-cut related improvement: Currently pressing and holding the Up or Down button when setting the time will accelerate the rate of change: a useful addition would be the inclusion of some two-button combinations. e.g. pressing and holding down a button change the time in increments of 5 minutes, but then also pressing the opposite direction button at the same time could accelerate the time shift to 15 minute segments. We’ve used such an arrangement on a Zeon travel clock before now and it was surprisingly intuitive.
Summary
Ultimately the Lumie Bodyclock is a fantastic bedside gadget. It’s a simple combination of basic features that just makes life better, and therefore, deserves it’s place in the Eulogize category.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
We have the Lumie advanced bodyclock as well and we quite like it except for two gripes
the transformer inside it makes an irritating little buzzing noise so in order to sleep we have had to put it on the other side of the room which makes it harder to use its ‘bedside’ features; and
the clock seems to gain a minute or so every couple of days so we are always having to reset it
For these reasons, we keep looking at other manufacturer’s models but are hesitant to buy in case they also buzz.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Hi Clare, neither of ours have buzzed at all, so perhaps you have a dodgy transformer. It’s probably worth giving Lumie a call, they were exceptionally quick to ship us a replacement when we reported a fault with ours.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:28 am
I was just wondering if Lumie had a travel clock version. I use the mid-priced Lumie light and love it, so would like something portable that I could take when I travel on business or holiday.
The only problem I have is that the alarm setting sneaks up about 5 or 10 minutes over the course of the day, so I have to make sure the alarm is set to the right time before I go to sleep. It only started doing that in the last year. I’ve had it for 3 years and it works fine. I use the light with the radio because I like to wake up to classical music.