Sharper Image Sound Soother White Noise Machine

I was dealing with bad insomnia for the past few months, and my efforts to wake earlier (so I'd be tired enough to sleep earlier) were not helped by me constantly sleeping through my alarm. I was looking for a clock with a few specific functions: 1. It had to have a gradual wake feature, as the shock from normal alarm clocks always left me groggy in the morning, 2. It had to be able to use some kind of nature sound as the alarm, simply because it's more pleasant to wake up to those than it is to a beep, and 3. It had to be lit with cool blue LED lights, because this is less jarring to look at at night, and the blue is more soothing to look at than the normal red LEDs, which just look ugly to me. It was really impressed with how many sounds there were on the clock (20), I didn't expect it to have that many. I've never heard the earlier model so I can't comment if the clarity was better with those, but the sounds are fine to use as an alarm. They are definitely not clear enough to use as a sound machine or sound soother; there is a lot of noise, like the sounds were recorded through a cheap microphone, or possibly the speakers are cheap. But since I did not buy the alarm clock to listen to, and just use it as an alarm, it personally did not matter to me. Some of the sounds are also pretty clear. I like to use the wind chimes sound as my alarm, since it's a gentle way to wake up, and the sound clarity is better than some of the other sounds like the ocean or the brook. It's very easy and straightforward to navigate the clock menus and set up the alarm. You can also program 2 alarms, which is a nice bonus! And you can set each alarm to go off everyday, every weekday, or every weekend day. I was impressed with how many features the clock was programmed with. My insomnia is also a lot better now, and this clock looks great on my blue desk! It had an unobtrusive yet slick and modern design, and the numbers have 3 levels of brightness that are all aesthetically pleasing. There is also a daylight savings time button on the back of the clock, so you can adjust that with the flick of a finger instead of programming it through the clock buttons manually. I am happy with my purchase and glad I bought it despite the negative reviews. :) There really wasn't any other alarm clock on Amazon that fit my criteria, and if they did they cost over $100 and there was no way I was paying that much for an alarm clock, so I'm relieved that the one clock that is reasonably priced turned out to be better than what I had been expecting.

I am really enjoying this purchase. It is easy to program with clear instructions. The speakers are good quality so the radio and nature sounds sound good. There are 20 nature sounds - most of which I like, but I guess that means there is something for everyone! I like being able to fall asleep and wake up to them. So much better than a traditional buzz from the alarm clock. I have not heard the traditional buzz on this clock sounds like, however - just using the nature sounds. You can dim the display, but I find the dimmest setting a little too bright, but I just face the clock away from me. No problem. Like others have commented, when setting the alarm, the nature sounds you choose is really loud, but is only loud when setting the alarm. The sound starts off nice and quiet for the actual alarm. Nice design too. This was a great buy. I'm happy to have my smart phone out of the bedroom.

June 16 edit: After owning and using this machine for 3 months, the backlight LOW setting no longer works, and I don't like the MEDIUM because I find the brightness disruptive to my sleep. I am still debating on whether or not it is worth my time and energy to send it back for replacement for this small defect. I guess it might be a comfort to keep in mind that small electronics aren't built to last these days. I was looking for a sound machine and an alarm clock, and this fits the bill perfectly! I also bought the Marpac Dohm sound therapy, which I use as often as this one. But unfortunately the Marpac Dohm does not have a timer. I understand that the sound speakers are not top of the line, and therefore the sound is not crisp and as realistic as I would like, but for the price, I am very happy with it. There are certain sound selections that I like more than the other, but overall, considering the variety and choices present, it is a very good machine. Depending on the angle you place the machine in relation to your head and wall, sometimes the sound is better. I especially like waking up to gentle sounds of bell tolling. I can understand how some reviews might say that it is hard to get to the buttons when you are half-asleep. They are placed very closed to one another. The fact that you cannot adjust the setting that makes the alarm gets louder and louder could be troublesome for some people. For me, I just make sure I turn it off or snooze it before it gets too irritatingly loud. Overall, a very good buy.

I gave a 5 star rating because the unit performs exactly as advertized, is very easy to use, has good sound,it has the 2-5-7 alarm setting, and my wife and I both like the nature sounds to fall asleep by. The only drawbacks are you can not fall asleep to nature sounds and wake to a different mode - radio or buzzer. So we use the nature sounds on the weekends. The gradual increase in volume for the alarm is the only thing I am not too excited about. Yes it is gradual, but not a linear increase. The radio comes on at a low volume, but then it jumps up a few notches, plays at that plateau for a few seconds, then jumps up a few notches, and so on until it becomes quite loud instead of a gradual linear increase in volume. It's a good clock radio for the money, and I would recommend it.

The clock looks nice, the radio works well and the sounds are nice, the loops are long enough that it doesn't sound like a broken record. My problems are: 1) no tone control for the radio, it's kinda tinny. 2) speakers are on the back, so if you have it in the corner, it muffles the sound 3) NO ALARM LOUDNESS CONTROL this is the real annoying thing, it gradually wakes you,no matter what setting ( beep, radio or sound) but you can't control how loud it gets, the manual makes no mention of this, so until you try it, you are not sure. For example if you go to sleep with white noise at 1, you are worried that the alarm itself is also set at level 1. So yes the alarm does gradually wake you , but it would be nice to make it louder for people who can sleep through an explosion :) . On the whole it's a nice alarm clock, 2 desperate alarms, nice sounds, nice looks and batter back up. There are nicer ones out there but they are at least double this price. *** Jim

Have had this unit for a number of years now. My audiologist directed me to get a digital sound machine (random) over an analog (recurring loop with resulting rhythm) to mask tinnitus at night. She was right - I fall asleep every night to a thunderstorm. Very high quality, durable machine.

Loved this machine for approximately 4 weeks before it "froze"; just stopped working. None of the buttons would work correctly. Couldn't reset the time. Managed to get the sounds to play but they sounded like they were on on fast speed. Amazon, being wonderful, shipped me a new one immediately. Opened that package, plugged it in, pressed the buttons for sounds and same thing...every sound was in fast mode. The Aviary sounded like the movie, "The Birds". The seagulls sounded like they were laughing hyenas and about to attack the prey. I'm very disappointed. The unit was not moved, didn't lose power...have no idea why it would suddenly stop. Also, why would the sounds go so fast? I wish there had been something to indicate it could be reset or something. No such button. I love the size, the display, the FM got great reception-better than the Bose even. There isn't anything I wasn't happy with until this happened. :-( I don't know how to rate it...if it had continued working it would be a 5 star. But for my experience it really doesn't deserve one star. 5 stars for Amazon, tho'. The Sharper Image EC-B150 Premium Sound Soother UPDATE 5/07/2013 After purchasing two other sleep machines, I decided that one was superior but didn't have a clock. The other one was even a cheaper version and sound was horrible. So, trusting that lightning can't strike 3 times, I took a chance and purchased another EC-B150. SHORT VERSION: DON'T BUY THIS PIECE OF CRAP!!!! 5th week into having this thing the clock suddenly went blank. Checked the cord in the back, even tho' I knew I used a battery. Nothing. Not a single button would work. Tried putting the cord back in, changing to another wall outlet...dead. This is truly the crappiest quality out there. But now I'm really angry. For the privilege of having purchased 3 of these and not one lasting more than 5 weeks, I find myself owing Amazon for a restocking fee!!! What a joke!! I think I've probably purchased the same defective piece of crap three times. Now it's going back on the shelf and YOU will be the next person to get this junk. Good luck!!!! UPDATE 05/08/2013: Amazon is going to give me a full refund instead of taking out a restocking fee. They say they will not restock a defective item. I will never recommend this item. Very disappointed.

Sharper Image EC-B150 Premium Sound Soother, Serial Nr. of this unit appears to be #2912. Although the stock item photo appears to show the top buttons surrounded by brushed silver backgound, the one I received is actually glossy black background with flat black selection buttons...just for what it's worth, it looks great either way. The unit as received has a tight, professional appearance, and looks very nice when installed. The display is a backlit liquid crystal, visible by day but not overly obtrusive at nite. The intensity of the display is adjustable by a rear mounted 4 position slide switch (Off, L, M, H). Medium works great for me. Rear mounted as well is a slide switch that enables or disables onboard automatic time adjustment for Daylight savings time. The items displayed when the unit is done being set up make real sense; very large Time of Day, a very small icon showing alarm(s) that are set (along with an icon showing what will be the alarm type sounded), also the actually day name, and the date (short month name and day number)are shown. This unit allows the user to listen to one sound by timer to go to sleep by, and a DIFFERENT sound (or FM radio or alarm) to wake up to. From what I have read, the previous models did not offer this. The unit is fairly lightweight, but has non-skid feet that stop is from sliding around. There are a pair of small speakers mounted rear facing that provide the sound. I find if I position the unit a little ways away from the wall behind the headboard, the Sound Soother does a good job of filling the corner of the room with sound. Better yet would be to position the unit as you would a white noise generator, (across the room, not so close to the head of the bed). Some of the sounds on this are better than others to me. Certain sounds are cyclical by nature and lend themselves to the fairly short loop that the unit uses (Surf's up, Ebb tide, Dockside,ect). Several sounds are very nice just because of their content; I like the distant rooster in Everglades for example, and Rainforest is nice as well. The wake up sounds come on low volume at first, and then becomes louder over several minutes which is another nice feature. The box mentions clock "AutoSet", and I do not know what they mean by this. I was required, as part of setup, to tell the unit the month, day, year, hour and minute, AM or PM; I didn't see anything automatic about the clock setup. The clock has options in it for setting the alarm to only operate during the week (M,T,W,Th,F) with one single toggle setting, a nice little option. I'm happy with this purchase, and I think this model is a improvement over some of the earlier models. I have not used the digital FM radio included in this model, so I have no opinion on the radio portion of the machine.