Avoid Viral Hatch 2 Restore for This Brighter, Cheaper Clock

Every time someone finds out that I write about waking up at sunriseThey ask me if I've tried the Hatch. More precisely, the Hatch Restoration 2 ($170)that I saw on gift guides left and right this holiday season. It's a good device, but personally, I think we can do better.

The restoration of hatches is ideal for fall asleepand great if you want one sound machine. But if you really want to wake up more easily, this is not the one I recommend. My favorite sunrise wake-ups both retail for over $200, which might be a bit more than you want to spend. But if you're looking for something a little cheaper (and cheaper than the Hatch's $170 price tag!) that can do the same things, look no further than the Lumie Bodyclock Shine 300.

Bedtime

The way sunrise alarm clocks work is that they slowly light up over a set period of time. Lumie and Hatch start at around 20 minutes by default, and you can customize it to be longer or shorter to wake you up slowly. It simulates a sunrise, but right next to your face and at the time you prefer rather than when the sun actually rises. This is especially handy during those dark winter months and if you need blackout curtains to fall asleep (or if you have a windowless room, like I once did in college).

A sunrise alarm clock is meant to replicate the sunrise, which makes life possible. The ability to become beautiful and luminous is therefore an obvious necessity. That's my problem with the Hatch: it doesn't get bright enough to wake me up in the morning. I don't have this problem with the Shine 300, which gets bright enough not only to wake me up, but also to serve as a bedside lamp in the evening.

It only has a single range of shades of yellow and white similar to sunrise, while the Hatch can create a full rainbow of lights like a smart bulb, but I found that I don't I really didn't need green or purple ambient lights on a daily basis. What I needed was something bright enough to wake me up, especially as a non-morning person.

It also features a Relaxation Routine, allowing you to customize a routine with sounds and dim the lights to your preferred duration to help you fall asleep and fall asleep. This is one of my favorite features as someone who has as much trouble falling asleep as waking up. I also like that I can click a button and activate the routine on the Shine 300 when I'm ready.

Little quirks

Photography: Lumie; Getty Images

The main downside to not getting a Hatch is losing out on Hatch's larger library of sounds. The Hatch Restore 2 gives you access to 13 wake sounds and 24 sleep sounds, and you can get additional content if you subscribe to Hatch+ ($5 per month). With Hatch, everything is configured via its easy-to-use app.