A nice way to wake up
I live in a ground floor apartment in Chicago, the largest city within the Arctic Circle (it dips down to cover this part of the Great Lakes area), so I bought this lamp to help me wake up in my bedroom, where the sun does not shine. For that purpose it's been pretty great. It's designed to simulate dawn over a thirty-minute period - so if you set your alarm at 7:15 it will switch on to a dim setting at 6:45 and gradually increase to full power.<br /><br />The first few weeks this was maybe over-effective - I would wake up 10 to 15 minutes into the simulated dawn. But even though I didn't get those extra 20 minutes of sleep, I did find it easier to get out of bed. It's a much more natural way to rouse than an alarm clock, and that's what I was looking for. I do think my body has started adjusting from that honeymoon period, but it's still nice to feel like I'm easing out of sleep, not jolting.<br /><br />Several reviewers have commented on the poor interface and complexity of programming the lamp, but I don't find it too bothersome. Yes, it is more complicated than it probably needs to be - and if that's going to frustrate you, you may want to go in another direction. (I'm flashing back now to the early 2000s, when I futilely wrote out instructions for my parents explaining why changing the channel on the TV set was not the same as changing the channel on the digital cable box.) More irksome have been the repeated emails soliciting a review of this product - but here I am, so I guess that (like the lamp) served its purpose.<br /><br />In the end, I award 4 stars because this really is the best tool I've found for waking up in a city whose winter rivals Westeros in length and intensity.  Oh, also the &#34;night&#34; setting makes for a nice, gentle reading lamp. It's not a perfect score because it's not perfect: as you can see it's not going to be the most attractive light fixture in your domicile. And the array of tiny LED bulbs can seem a bit institutional. But it is an incredibly useful tool, and sturdy enough that my roommate's undisciplined cats don't knock it off the window sill.
Rating: 4 stars