Lark Silent Un-Alarm Clock and Sleep Sensor for iPhone / iPad

This is a fairly useless product.

It makes a load of noise when it vibrates, so what use is it compared to an alarm clock noise? Annoying you can't turn it off from the wrist thing itself. You have to use the iPhone. If the noise itself doesn't wake up my other half, certainly me turning on my iphone screen, entering the unlock pin, scrabbling around for the swipe to shut up button, and then forcing the device back into its charger will! (it does not fit easily back on)

And I didn't realise that apart from the absurd £70 cost for essentially an alarm clock, if I want any sleep analysis, I have to subscribe for FIFTY QUID a year! How absurd! No thanks. I feel ripped off, now I don't have a useful product at all, I'd rather just use an alarm clock.

This is probably the single worst purchase I have ever made. Please save your money!

The purpose of this device is two-fold. It works as a vibrating alarm clock and you can also use it to record your sleep patterns. Whatever you use it for, you need a device with the iOS operating system (iPad / iPhone) to use it.

As an alarm, you wear it on your wrist and it wakes you up with by vibrating against your wrist. If you've had a full eight hours sleep it works very well, but I wouldn't trust it if you've had a late night and need to be up early the next morning. It is configured to activate an audible alarm on your iOS device if the vibration doesn't wake you. The device is fairly unobtrusive and comfortable to wear and is like a bulky watch.

The initial set-up involves registering with the Lark website and then downloading their app to your iOS device. The app is then used to set the alarm (daily - you cannot set an automatic repeat alarm) and monitor all your sleep data. The data shows how long it took you to fall asleep, the quality of your sleep, how many times you woke up (surprisingly, I wake up very briefly and without really knowing about it approximately nine times!) and how active (restless) you were whilst sleeping each night. You can add notes to your daily history and you also have access to Lark's "team of sleep experts" for advice and tips.

However, some of these features are no longer available after the seven day trail and you have to sign-up for a 1 year PRO subscription (£39.99 at the time of writing).

In summary, this is an OK device but unless you intend to sign up for the PRO subscription and use it to its full capacity then it is, ultimately, an expensive alarm clock. Bundling a 12 month subscription into the current purchase price would make more sense.

When I got this I was quite excited as I have real difficulty waking to alarms, I sleep through everything! Having assembled it, which involves sliding the gadget into a soft wristband, setting up the phone app and plugging the base unit in and letting it charge, I later got into bed very concious of the wrist band! I woke up the next day, completely forgetting I was wearing in and wondering what the noise from my phone was. I had slept through the vibrate and woken about half and hour later with the phone sitting merrily playing a tune!

Time to pass to a friend to try I thought.

He works shifts, which proved interesting on the sleep reports as it repeatedly said not enough sleep but it did cope with sleeping more than once a day. He said the wake rate is not accurate as he several times remembers waking and looking at the time but when the report was check the section at that time showed movement but not a wake up. I guess it would be useful if the sensitivity between movement and waking could be changed to reflect the indiviuals restlessness against wake ups. He also found it best to remove his watch and replace with the band and he was then unaware of it. However it does wake him and I now can't get it back!

Some things against the physical product are, the awkwardness of getting the thing docked, the iPhone won't go in the stand when encased, the accuracy of the reports and the fact it did not wake me!...

In favour are the convenience of charging the phone from the unit which has a USB port on it, which saves a plug socket, wakes my friend gently and without waking the household (very good for shift workers with early starts) provides a 'guide' to sleep quality and in my friends case proved invaluable as he still woke up on time when there was a power cut! Setting it is easy as it uses a very similar set up to the standard iPhone alarm feature.

The stars are lost due to it not waking me, the price and the lack of some sort of adapter to allow a phone to stand in it when in its protective case. Getting it in the stand is important as the Lark also turns your phone into a clock display on a dim setting so you could lose the old alarm clock completely.

The only time my friend reported not waking until the phone started playing was when he had slept in the wrong position and had a numb arm, but then the noise woke him straight away anyway and you can't fault the product really in that situation!

All in all, would I recommend it, yes and no, yes if you can afford it, no if you are a very heavy sleeper, yes as it is apparently a lovely way to wake up, no if you want real accuracy and finally yes if you work shifts and suffer power cuts! Read more ›

This products is very accurate, I used to use Wake-mate, however I find Lark a lot more accurate and reliable, the fact the product has to be docked to allow editing of the alarms is an excellent idea.

The timings the device records are also accurate, and I am still on my trial for the Coach Pro system that Lark ave, but I am sure I will be paying the money for the Pro upgrade.

This is a very well made product that deserves 5 stars

Tracking your sleep patterns can make for interesting reading, especially if you are regularly disturbed in the night by children, noise, insomnia, changing shift patterns or any number of other reasons. This device will give you a good idea of your sleep quality and quantity. It is not perfect as if you lie very still when trying to get to sleep, it assumes you are asleep which can skew the results.

The wrist band is like a large watch and has to be quite snug on the wrist to work properly. It has occasionally resulted in pins and needles in my hand, but I think that's just when I've been sleeping in a funny position! It's simple to charge - just plug it in to its base in the morning and let it charge up through the day ready for use at night. The connector can be a little fiddly until you get used to it.

As for a silent alarm clock, it wakes you up by vibrating against your wrist. It always seems to have done the job quite well, and is certainly a nicer way to wake up than having a normal beeping alarm clock going off next to your head. So far I've always set a second alarm clock a few minutes after the lark is due to wake me just in case it doesn't work if I'm especially tired, but I have to admit I haven't needed it yet. It's not quite silent, as the vibrating makes a feint buzzing noise, so if your partner is a light sleeper, they may well hear it though it is a lot less instrusive than a loud beeping sound.