Set up was easy and quick. The maximum setting of light is bright enough for the intended purpose, but not enough to light up the whole room; good range of light options both in color and brightness. I only use a few of the sound options, but really enjoy the sounds offered both for falling asleep (rain/storm, ocean, and white noise being my favorites) and for waking up (I use the birdsong option). I really like that it lets you set a timer for sound fading out, and fading in as part of an alarm.I'm the kind of person that can hit snooze on a sound-only alarm over and over without ever reaching full consciousness - and putting obstacles to doing that (eg, phone out of reach so I have to get up to get it) resulted in either me sleeping through alarms, or waking up groggy and spending the first several hours of the day feeling jet-lagged.Gradual simulated sunrise has made a massive difference for me. Instead of interrupting REM (resulting in the grogginess) the light + birdsong option very effectively let me come to consciousness naturally. It lets you set how long you want the 'fade in' to last.My only main gripes with it are1) Tapping to cycle through the color options is slow and annoying. Sometimes I accidentally tap it when I don't mean to, and instead of the light turning off, it changes color, and then I have to tap 12 times to get it back where I want it. It's not a huge deal, but it's annoying when it happens.2) After a few days of use, I encountered a bug with the sleep timer option; new out of the box, it didn't matter what time you had set (eg, 2 hours to get to silence from whatever volume you set it to), if you changed your mind and wanted it for a shorter window, the timing could be adjusted. After a few days that was no longer true - it only wanted to manually wind down. Even if you turned it off/on, it would remember where it was in the countdown (and round to the nearest 10's place, including if you pressed any buttons attempting to adjust the setting).3) EXTREMELY short power cord, considering that you need to place it in an optimal position - you don't want it RIGHT next to your face, but if it's across the room it might not be bright enough to do the job as intended. The short cord means you don't get a lot of flexibility in placement depending on where your outlets are. My bedside table placement means I needed to use an extension cord.Compared to every other aspect of use however, these are very minor gripes. I wish I'd had something like this as a teenager, it makes waking up in the morning at a set time a natural, easy, process, instead of a fight against my body and brain's predispositions.
