Waking up is hard, especially as the mornings grow darker and colder. I’ve never been a morning person, but one device has helped me get closer to becoming one: a sunrise alarm clock. After first trying a sunrise alarm clock about 10 years ago to brighten my windowless bedroom (new grad life), I’ve since tried many more models to find the best and brightest—literally—to help rouse you in the morning without feeling like the walking dead.
The downside is that these devices aren’t cheap, especially the ones that actually pack all the features you could want. If that’s what’s holding you back from snagging your own Hatch or Philips sunrise alarm, good news: Cyber Monday is here to help you. Many sunrise alarm clocks we recommend are on sale right now, so there’s no better time to buy one for yourself (or as a gift this holiday season!) Be sure to check out our live Cyber Monday deals tracker for more great deals.
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Sunrise Alarm Clock Deals
Photograph: Nena Farrell
WiiM’s adorable Wake-Up Light is small but mighty. Not only does it have a huge library of sounds to wake up or fall asleep to, and an easy-to-use app to create your routines, but it can display a rainbow of colors on its light, making it feel like a smart light bulb. The sounds it plays range from generic to random, going from thunderstorms to Healing Music for Insomnia (a gentle piano piece). While this lamp is small, the reading mode was still bright enough to read by.
Lumie’s sunrise clocks are great—my favorite is the Lumie Luxe 700FM, but the Shine 300 is pretty similar and it’s on sale right now. It’s a little smaller and doesn’t have the five radio station buttons, but besides that, it packs the same features: bright enough to be a bedside lamp, a nice sleek form with a stylish fabric base, and has both a sunrise and sunset option. Lumie’s clocks only show military time, but you get used to it quickly and it’s worth the trade-off of these great sunrise alarms.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Everyone asks me about the Hatch Restore 2 when they hear I test sunrise alarms. It’s a great, stylish little device, but I think it shines best as a sound machine, since it doesn’t get quite bright enough to really force me to rouse the way other sunrise alarms do. It does help me fall asleep with its Rest routine you can set and great sounds—plus extra sounds if you subscribe to Hatch+ for $3 a month—so if you’re looking for a device to help you fall asleep more than you need one to rise, this is a great choice.
This budget pick from our Best Sunrise Alarm Clocks guide has the opposite problem from the Hatch—it has no nighttime routine, unlike all the other options we recommend (and that are on sale right now!), so it’s best for folks who only need something to help them wake up, and nothing else. It’s a great sunrise alarm on a budget even before it’s on sale, and the cheapest one you can find during Cyber Monday.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
There’s no better time to buy the Loftie Lamp than right now, since it’s such an expensive model. It’s a great choice for the design-conscious—nothing looks better than the Loftie, and the app is easy to use to set up your alarms. The Loftie Clock ($120, $40 off) is sold separately (and is also on sale!) and you’ll need it if you want a sound alarm to pair with your brightening lamp. There’s only a nine-minute brightening period (other lamps will let you customize it and usually start at 20 minutes), so my hack is to set up the light to finish brightening 10 minutes before my alarm goes off.