vilakins | Gadget lust

I first heard about our latest gadget in astrogirl2's blog, though I'm not sure if it was this one: an Austrian alarm clock that wakes you up when you're ready for it.

We pre-ordered it a while ago, and we've had it for a week now. It's a beautifully-designed thing with a semi-transparent display that glows translucent blue when you press a button on it or on your wristband. It works by monitoring your movements and picking the first time in the half-hour before your alarm time that you're in shallow sleep to wake you. It works for two people quite independently and I chose bird calls for my alarm; Greg has a drumbeat which would have been my second pick.

And it works! This review explains it pretty well.

My only complaint is that it doesn't have a silent vibrating option, apparently because it would eat up the battery in the wrist band which will last five years. Still, deaf people need alarms too, as do those who sometimes have to resort to earplugs because their partners snore. [sigh] However it seems to work well if I remember to take the plugs out if I wake up in the night.

A very clever and futuristic-looking little device!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, nice!

It makes *such* a difference, if you wake up 'when you're ready', as opposed to the whole thing of being dragged up from the depths...

Oh, yes! Sometimes I don't even know what the noise is, let alone what day it is. Birds are a lovely way to wake up and it intrigues the cats too. :-)

Hee! I bet it does.... :-)

That is a very fanciable gadget. I must keep telling myself I don't need it, my normal sleeping patterns wake me up about 15 minutes before the alarm goes off and they are getting back to normal slowly.

In that case you don't need one. :-)

Hmm, I may wind up buying one of those in future. I absolutely cannot wake up to an alarm clock, but I need to learn, and I'm betting this would help a great deal. I'm so glad you pointed it out, thanks!

It's a cool device, very well designed. Why would you need to learn to wake up to one though? When I wasn't working, I never bothered with an alarm and it was so good for me getting the right amount of sleep each night.

If I don't have somebody telephone or physically come wake me, I oversleep, sometimes all day. I've always been that way, because I have a sleep disorder. And even without a job, there are doctor appointments and visitors and such to get up and get ready for. I've been looking for some way to train myself to wake up that would be natural and gentle; this might be just the thing. What I was considering before was a chime that started very soft and gradually got louder, but having something keyed to the shallow end of the sleep cycle seems ideal.

Ah. Then it would be perfect because it's a nice gentle way to wake. :-)

Oooh, that looks very nifty! (puts on list of nifty things to get when the budget is happier)

I would recommend it. It's uncanny how well it works.

And how's your ear?

See this entry, which I just added, seeing as I expect others will want to know too. Thanks for the concern.

Ooh, yes, I heard about that a while ago, and thought it sounded very sensible. Did you get it from that site?

Yes, we did. I was originally interested in a watch, I think it was, from the US, but it had a lot of faults. With this, most of the works are in the clock so the band is a lot smaller and surprisingly comfortable.

You can also download your sleep patterns to a PC to look at, though I haven't done that yet. And the clock's supposed to learn from your patterns to anticipate you better, though it seems to me the alarm goes off just as I open my eyes. :-)

Oh and it has a 'chill out' feature which plays ambient sounds. e.g. an ocean with seagulls (at night?) till you go to sleep. The night I tried that, it stopped when Greg dozed off. :-P

I have this dreadful habit of going back to sleep while I wait for the BoT to finish in the bathroom - can it tell if you've done that, and wake you again? I suppose I could just set my alarm to a bit later to get around it.

If you've turned it off and go to sleep again, I don't think it would know. I haven't tried that out. I do have a normal alarm set for the 'right time' as a backup in case, which I turn off when I get up.

Oh, damn, that'd be *so* cool. I definitely want one, but those are incredibly expensive! Bugger! Would be one of those things that'd help me sleep, and that's one of the things I need most in the world, damn it:P... *sigh*

Maybe they'll become more popular in the future/maybe I'll win the lottery soon. Yes.

I think the only thing that helps you sleep is the chill out feature I mention in the comment above. I didn't find the ocean one I tried all that helpful though as there was a regular weaker wave and I found myself listening out for it. I should try some other sounds (in the hope I can drown out Greg's snoring and assorted cat snorts and snuffling).

And now it's time for bed in fact.

Gadget-love... it sounds quite interesting! It seems like a good alternative to an alarm (which I barely tolerate).

It's great. And if it doesn't wake you in the half-hour leading up to the set alarm, it will do a normal alarm at that time.

Sounds good to me. ^_^

Ooh, you bought one! Very cool! I was extremely tempted to get one, myself, for when I'm on day shifts, but I couldn't quite justify spending the money.

I am kind of glad I didn't, though, as for some strange reason, after decades of not dealing well with being woken by an alarm, about a year or so ago, something in my brain apparently finally figured out the trick of anticipating the alarm while I'm asleep and doing pretty much exactly what the gadget does: waking me up at the right spot in my sleep cycle before the alarm goes off. It seems to happen lately more often than not. It's amazing. And it does seem to make a huge difference in how I feel in the morning, even when it means I get less actual sleep.

Yeah, that's what they say; if you're woken up naturally, you feel a lot more refreshed.

What your icon said.

wow, it's fantastic.

I try not to use an alarm and usually wake up in good time.

If you can, that's a lot more healthy than being forced awake. This has almost the same effect. :-)

Gadget lust

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