Product Reviews for Homedics SS-4500 SoundSpa Classic Clock Radio, Silver

Homedics SS-4500 SoundSpa Classic Clock Radio, Silver

	List Price: ~~$34.99~~ Category: Health Care See more product details

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Product Reviews of Homedics SS-4500 SoundSpa Classic Clock Radio, Silver

Product Review: Great for Daytime Naps
Summary: 3 Stars

Pros - The sound of rain lulls me quickly to a pleasant sleep. I bought it on sale for less than $20. Good nightlight for kid's room.

Cons - Light's too bright. Can't feel the buttons by touch to change sounds. Thunder sounds really fake. If they could just improve on one feature it should be more realistic sound.

I love the ceiling projection but already had a clock that does that. I use this device just for the sounds.

I've now been using this product for four months and have to say it has really grown on me. The grandkids love the rain sound and it really promotes good naps. I'll buy another one when they put it on sale again.

Product Review: Great for Getting Baby to Sleep!!!
Summary: 5 Stars

We have 3 of these in our house. We have used it every night for the last 16 months to help our son sleep. It is a life saver!!!

Product Review: Great for Sleeping
Summary: 5 Stars

Very happy with the SoundSpa. Drowns out my husband's snoring. I also love the time projected on the ceiling. Great features! Would not hesitate to recommend it.

Product Review: Great in the store, bad in the bedroom!
Summary: 1 Stars

This clock was an impulse buy after playing with it on the shelf in Frys and falling in love with the sleek design, the pretty blue display and the fun nature sounds... and after one night of use I'm already packing the darned thing back into its box ready to return to Frys, and wishing I'd read all these reviews before I bought it!

Answer this question if you're thinking of buying this - are you able to sleep with a side-light on in your room, or a streetlight burning outside your window and no curtains? If yes, get this clock. If you need to to be at least semi-dark in the room when you go to sleep, save yourself the effort of shipping this thing back and do not get it.

Yes, this alarm clock's fantastically bright blue LED display has a dimmer switch. What this merely succeeds in doing is turning the time display light setting from 'Big Lighthouse' to 'Small Lighthouse'. Whoever designed this did not test it properly in a real-life bedroom. If they did so I cannot imagine why they did not dial back the brightness of both displays by at least 80%. Even with the dimmest setting on I still have to cover the display up completely with a towel if I am to get to sleep. It makes the whole bedroom blue. If any part of it is uncovered, so much blue LED light fills the room I can see it even with my eyes shut.

This pretty much defeats the whole point of having an alarm clock with a display.

The projection display is very slightly better, but not much. The display must have been designed so it shows up fine in the bright lights of a display store, but at home, once again it's almost obnoxiously bright. Every time you open your eyes, your ceiling screams '11:52!' or '2:09!!' at you in bright blue. It's kind of creepy. You can almost feel it watch you as you try in vain to fall asleep. It's not as bright as the front display (which by now let me assure you that you will have covered up), but it's not much better.

I agree with previous reviews about the Nature Sounds - Thunder sounds a bit fake, loops are far too short... but I'll add to that by mentioning that the relaxing effect of being woken by those sounds is somewhat spoiled by the fact that they do not subtly fade in when the alarm triggers to wake you gradually (as I had expected from reading the package) but rather they are turned on full blast as though you had just pushed the button, leading to almost as big a jump in the morning as with a beep or alarm. There is a manual volume dial at the side to control volume, so you are left with the dilemma: if you turn the Nature Sounds up loud enough to wake you, you will be hit with a full-fledged monsoon in your face first thing in morning rather than the gentle trickle of rain.

I am returning this product to the store to try the next model up, the SS-5010. Hopefully this one will be an improvement.