Philips HF3520 Wake Up Light Colored Sunrise Simulation Review: Is There a Better Sunrise Simulation?

Well it sounds like the functionality is outstanding (except the buttons and regulations), but it seams to do what it should do: help people wake up in a nice way. i have wondered about this wake-up light earlier, if it works… I’m glad I stumbled across your review of it, great to see that it actually is good!

This is something I could use in winter. In summer there is no problem here in Sweden as we get a lot of sunlight it is only dark a few hours a day (and in the north the sun never goes down at all) but during the long dark winter I find it very hard to wake up. I wake up extremly tired (especially after working night) and some sunlight even artificial would probably make it easier to wake up during the dark period of the year.
Do you have any suggestions of a cheaper model with easier to handle controls? My eyes are no longer as good as they used to be and I have difficulties reading small texts.

To Steve and team:
I have a few comments, and two questions for you.
First, though, I will describe my past experience in using sunrise simulation lamps:
A. In 2003, I was living in the UK and, after doing some research, I figured out that I had had life-long “delayed sleep phase” issues. I bought a Lumie to see if it would help with that. I think they just had one model available then. It had a frosted real-glass globe, a halogen bulb, and it was fantastic for me — despite the complicated buttons. I don’t think it had a radio, but I don’t remember. When I moved from the UK to the US a few years afterwards, I had to give that Lumie away (because, of course, it wouldn’t work with US electrical outlets).
B. Once in the US, I tried to find a Lumie that would work here, and the best I could do was find a Canadian company (Lumie’s North American distributor) that I could order one from. That Lumie was made more cheaply than my first Lumie, and had a plastic globe. It did have a halogen bulb. I’m not sure if it had a radio. It was fine, but the plastic globe sometimes would get very hot and give off a vile smell like burning plastic if the light was left on for a while. I think it even became discolored nearest the bulb where the plastic cover had repeatedly gotten really hot. I also had a hard time in the US finding a replacement halogen bulb for it (as specified in the manual) — I had to order an expensive one from the UK.
A few years later, I moved away from the US again. I don’t know what happened to this second Lumie — I think that it had stopped working and I couldn’t fix it, so I got rid of it when I moved. (Having read some of the old 2013-2017 Lumie reviews today on the Canadian Lumie distributor’s website, I see that the problem with my 2nd Lumie might have been a shot fuse, which we in the US are not normally used to changing ourselves inside small appliances, though I recall in the UK that it was more common for homeowners to change fuses in things, especially in electrical plug ends).
C. When I returned to the US once again, I looked to buy another Lumie, but since North American Lumies were still only available from the Canadian distributor, and I had not been so happy with the one I’d gotten from them due to the difficult-to-source type of halogen bulb and the too-hot plastic globe, instead I bought from a US retailer a new entrant (at the time) in the sunrise simulation light arena, the Philips HF3470 (the tall, round one with a halogen lightbulb that they have now stopped making). It took a halogen bulb style that was readily available to buy in the US, and it sat farther from the plastic covering so it didn’t make it too hot or cause a burning smell. This wake-up light was okay, but not as good as either of my Lumies had been. It had several negatives (awkward button controls, bad radio, and it would for some reason tip over too easily on my nightstand) but I still really appreciated it. The main thing I appreciated about it was the halogen bulb, because I get headaches from LED bulbs, which don’t put out the full wavelength spectrum like “old-fashioned” bulbs do. Sadly, my HF3470 died 2 weeks ago, at the very end of 2019. I have looked online to see if there were any repairs that I could make, and I actually found some helpful information and even a 20 minute youtube video on how to repair it, but it is not designed to be taken apart or serviced by the consumer and I ran into problems trying to get it completely open (the youtube repair video only shows how to put it back together, not exactly how to get it open).
D. I am now looking for a replacement wake-up light online, and I have discovered that there has been an explosion of cheap off-brand models that are trying to look like the newer Philips models (squat and shaped like a car headlight, rather than a tall cone like my Philips HF3470).
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I have read many reviews of many models, and so far this is what I’ve concluded:
1. There are many around the more-affordable $40-45 mark, but the circa-$45 ones seem to have a lot of negatives. It really requires jumping to the $115-120 range to get a wake-up light that has more positives than negatives (based on the features that I’m looking for).
2. I’d SO MUCH rather have one with a halogen (or, at least, incandescent bulb) than an LED bulb, but it appears that ship has already sailed in all US-wired makes and models — except for the ancient 2013-model, Canadian-distributed, US-wired Lumie.
It appears that the one Lumie model available from Canada is 7 years old, while the Lumie models currently available in the UK (they have 4 or 5 models, including a children’s model) were all introduced in the last year or two.
By the way, today I’ve read a 2018 online interview with the CEO of Lumie where he talks about how halogen bulbs put out a more natural spectrum of light and how his company doesn’t want to embrace new technology (like LED) just for the sake of being modern, but prefers to focus on the health and quality of the light itself. “Get the light right” is his motto, he says. I agree.
The problem is that buying that specific halogen bulb which the 2013 Canadian-distributor Lumie’s manual says that it takes (note that the full manual for that model is currently available to download on the US Amazon’s listing page for that Lumie) in North America is even harder now than it was when I tried and failed to find one here about 10-12 years ago.
The first QUESTION I have for you is:
The Canadian distributor says on their own website for the same model that it just takes a 60-watt candelabra incandescent bulb, and I don’t understand why they would say that incandescent bulbs can be used in their Lumie model, if the manual for that exact model says that it takes a “42 watt halogen SES” bulb. Do you know if those 2 types of bulb are actually interchangeable? Is the screw-in part of the bulb the same size? Can both types of bulb be used in the Canadian-distributor’s Bodyclock Active 250 model? I have looked up those 60-watt, incandescent, dimmable candelabra bulbs today, and they are available at some local US stores for $4-6 for a 4-pack, which is great. (I realize that 60-watt, candelabra, LED bulbs are also available in the US, but I stay away from LED bulbs when I can.)
3. Many reviewers have complained that the headlight-style Philips lights don’t have a battery backup. Your review above (which appears to have been originally written in 2017, and then updated on August 15, 2019, according to the date at the top of this page) says that this Philips HF3520 (which seems to be the most popular wake-up light sold in the US, according to reviewing websites and customer reviews on Amazon etc.) does NOT have a battery backup, which would be a deal-breaker for me.
However, on their current (January 2020) Amazon product listing for this model, Philips says that the HF3520 now DOES have an extensive battery backup: “New! PowerBackUp+ feature maintains internal clock settings and back-up alarm for at least 8 hours in the event of power failure”.
My second QUESTION to you:
Do you know if this new claim to have an 8-hour battery backup is correct?
(And, if it is, will you be adjusting your percentage score for this Philips HF3520 model higher?)
Thank you.