Hatch Restore 1 - Sleep Sound Machine & Sunrise Alarm Clock (Open Box)

I am an active male in my mid 20s and I’ve struggled with sleep for a few years primarily due to work stress. My inability to get a good night's rest began in college with the all-night study sessions, social events, and general stress of being a student. This problem has compounded over the years. I've tried various meditation and sleep apps but none have had a lasting effect on my ability to fall and stay asleep. My research led me to Hatch, through which I discovered their newest product offering geared towards adults -- Restore. What stands out to me most about this product is the expansive content library -- guided meditations, white/relaxing noises, bedtime stories, etc -- making it much more than an alarm clock. Restore has enabled me to establish a consistent nightly routine, made better by the inclusive content library that I can control from my phone. Additionally, I'm a very light sleeper which means that external noises from my apartment complex regularly wake me up and disturb my sleep cycle. The white noise content has been really helpful in reducing external noise and keeping me asleep. I’ve used white noise machines/apps before but they would either shut off in the middle of the night or the sound would loop and actually keep me awake. The variety of white noises (and other sounds) this device has is extremely helpful in this regard.   Of all features, the one that has pleasantly surprised me most is the sunrise alarm feature. I’ve never used (and didn't know) what a "sunrise alarm clock" was prior to purchasing this product. Every morning, the light on the Restore syncs with the sunrise and gradually brightens, which is especially great since I like to sleep with blackout curtains. If I wake up unexpectedly in the middle of the night, this light is especially helpful in letting me know if it's almost time to wake up (or if there's no light, that it's the middle of the night and okay to go back to sleep). Instead of waking up to the blaring iPhone alarm sound, I wake up from this gradual "sunrise" light brightening up my room and the peaceful sound of waves/birds chirping/etc. This has made a significant difference in my morning moods. Waking up doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it. Using a product like this has helped me wake up on the right side of the bed every morning. I never realized how toxic and negative it was to wake up to a jolting alarm clock. I feel like most people don’t know what a "sunrise" alarm clock is and I’ve told some friends about it because it seriously changed my mornings. Not only have my nightly and morning routines improved drastically, this product has also enabled me to stay accountable to a nightly routine that has noticeably improved my sleep quality. Restore's technology and design make it a very pleasant essential to any bedroom. Sleep and meditation matter even more especially during current circumstances, and my friends who have purchased this product agree with me that this is 100% worth the investment for personal care/health. If you’re looking to get great sleep naturally and need some help, this product is fantastic. I'm still surprised by the immediate and noticeable impact this product has had on my daily life!

I realize my reviews get a big long, so the readers digest version is this: If you want a better night sleep, if you want to wake up feeling good, and if you don’t want waking up feel like you just got birthed from an alien body, get a Hatch Restore. It has all the bells and whistles that the other brands are missing. Okay now onto my story: After about a year of searching, comparing, reading and researching, I finally settled on the Hatch for my bedside alarm clock and I’m sooooo glad I did. It was a painstaking process, so I thought I’d share with everyone my experience, to maybe save you the trouble. It starts with a quick story: I moved from California to Washington about 3 years ago under the lie that “it doesn’t rain much here!” Oh. Yes. It. Does. And when it’s not raining, it’s gloomy and overcast (BUT not dry and brown, so there is that). So the first thing I did was buy a SAD lamp (yes I was in fact sad, but really this stands for seasonal affective disorder - real thing). It helped, but I noticed I was still waking up less then rested and had a really hard time getting going in the morning. A friend suggested I stop reading things on my phone late at night and put it far away from the bed to charge. But I used my phone as white noise to fall asleep as well as my alarm clock, so to do that, I needed to get a different solution for these things. This same friend suggested a light therapy alarm clock that would “ease me into my day”. Sounded perfect (although I have to admit, it really just eases me into my coffee, which eases me into my day, details). After comparing, I’m not kidding, like 10 therapy light alarm clocks, I found that all them were missing something. Either the clock light didn’t dim, or I couldn’t control the alarm time for different days of the week, or the light setting was limited (one color, or one speed, or no control over brightness), or it had the light feature but no sound feature, or no smart phone app. There was always something that I didn’t like. I first evaluated the lower price point options, and quickly threw those out (what’s the point if it doesn’t do what you want?), and then moved on to the higher priced one. The closest one to the Hatch was Lumie and Philips – but either there was no iphone app for easy control, a fraction of the sounds available, no mediation readings, less light cycle options, and both more expensive. Per the excel sheet I put together to compare (yes, I did that), the hatch was an obvious and easy choice. All of what is advertised came true and I love it! And the proof of its therapeutic success is my FitBit app who says my “sleep score” went from an average of below 70% to In the 80%’s the first week I started using it. And I read below how someone said they hit the light on in the middle of the night when reaching for water – I just don’t get that, just put your water glass in front of your Hatch – problem solved. I have had zero issues so far (the only tiny issue was I had a little trouble pairing it – but I just uninstalled and reinstalled the app and it worked fine. I think this was because I downloaded the app and searched for a product before I actually had it, which may have confused my phones Bluetooth – so don’t do that). 5 stars from me. I love it.

DO NOT BUY THIS GARBAGE. TL;DR - will immediately brick if you attempt to change the wifi for any reason and you will get nothing but automated messages from their support team. This thing worked adequately for about 6 months. Sure you can't set it on a timer to start/stop at a certain time. Sure the app is completely useless unless you want to buy a monthly subscription for their "guided sleep stories" or whatever other nonsense they think is worth $50/year. Sure the non-subscription noises are limited and only one actually blocks any noise. But it does make white noise to aid sleep so long as it decides it wants to work. The best part of this complete waste of plastic - make sure you never change your wifi even a little bit. We had a tree fall on our house forcing us to have to leave to go to a hotel while the repair work was being done. We thought - ok we'll take our noise machine with us to help muffle the hotel noise. Turns out Hatch has a different idea of how you should use the $120 noise machine you purchased. Their idea for using it outside of your home is simply - "don't." The thing NEEDS to connect to the internet to download your "settings." No idea why when all I want is one of the built-in non-subscription noises, but here we are. It won't connect to a hotel wifi with a portal to log in, but we got it to connect through a hotspot - for ONE night and it would never connect again. Now, a month later, we're back in our house and it won't connect to any wifi - not the normal one it was using just fine a month ago, not the hotspot that worked once, not a spare 2.4 GHz only temporary wifi network I made. NOTHING. Turns out, in what appears to be an effort to prevent used sales, it will simply brick if it thinks you're trying to change the wifi settings even a little bit. Google "hatch restore won't connect to wifi" to see this has been a problem for many hatch devices for years. The most frustrating part is it clearly remembers something about me because the clock will still dim at 9 pm like we had set it before all this. It just can't remember to bring up the ONE SOUND I WANT IT TO MAKE when I press the button. Good luck getting any sort of support from Hatch as well. Maybe I would have better luck getting help if I had paid them $50/year for features I don't want or need. Doubt it though. Their "find other solutions" when you fail at connecting the wifi for the 100th time is "all your favorite sleep routines are available from your phone app - perfect for travel!" Sure, $120 for my nice noise machine, but if I want to use it anywhere but my home I need to pay you $50/year and then also use my phone speaker? Get out of here.

This is by far the best product decision I’ve invested in this year. It has been a long time since I’ve woken up in a peaceful way. Many alarm clocks are jarring for me, since I’m a light sleeper. I feel like I’m being pulled out of the layers of sleep rather than being yanked into awareness. I’ve enjoyed that this alarm has a sunrise setting, this feature has assisted in my subconscious awakening before I’m fully ready to wake up, when I am ready to wake up, I feel more at peace, awake, and aware of my surroundings without feeling the need to instantly reach for coffee. There are over several different sunrises as well as tone colours to choose from. Ranging from natural incandescent lighting to pastel and vivid tones. There are features that offer evening routines, and options for different morning routines. Each one can be edited as well as add to. There are over 30 different sleep sounds to choose from in the free version of the app. The app also contains a paid for version which is a yearly subscription of $50. At first I was disappointed at this given the price of the alarm. However, I’m all for supporting a yearly subscription if it supports meditation practitioners and musicians. This is a service and if it assists me in getting not only better quality of sleep but also sets me in a better and more focused mood in the morning ( and it has checked both those boxes ) I’m willing to pay the price. I’m currently trying out the free trial of the app. I have enjoyed the sound scapes and some of the meditations are quite soothing. I was surprised at the amount of options ( in the paid version ) ranging from Ambient Sounds, Meditations, and Sleep Music. The sleep music focuses on Binural beats which is really relaxing. There is only one meditation that sounds like the voice has been distorted and that is “Core Strong” in the tab “Daily Stretch”. The speaker is surprisingly good quality. The set up and connection was streamlined and easy to follow the prompts. What I love: • Variety of lighting and tone features. • Speaker quality. • App functions and being able to control the clock from my phone. • Decent amount of features on the free app. • Sunrise feature • Meditations to wake with. Things I wish it did: • I wish the alarm clock had an option to dim or turn off the lights on the numbers. I enjoy total darkness and the lights on the numbers has been a bit bothersome. I normally just put something in front of it to hide the light. • I wish it had the option to be cordless. • I wish there were a few more free options in each category, I think if given a wider range of what the app is fully capable in the free version then I believe more people would be willing to invest in the app ( they would just have to hear it first). *However there is a 6 month free trial so that is generous*. Over all, I’m extremely happy with the quality of this product and thankful for the state and quality of my sleep since purchasing the Hatch Restore. This product has allowed me to start getting into better morning and evening routines. The sound that is playing on the video is “at sea with foghorns.” The music I like waking up to is “Meditative flute”.

love it for before bed routine and helping me wake up

As a must-have-a-fan-to-sleep kind of sleeper, I have been meaning to buy a white noise machine for YEARS. This winter (and previous winters) also seem to always hit me hard-- I have a hard time getting up before the natural sunrise and found any alarm noise to be very startling and down-right offensive. The price on this sleep-aid definitely gave me a gut wrench at first, especially since I'm not much of a consumer and hate buying things. I tried many competitor products (usually 2 separate products: noise machine & sunrise clock) and hated having 2 products or didn't like the features and design of either. --- Notable awesome things: I love that this little gadget fulfilled both of my needs for quality sleep and gentle wakening in one simple, easy-to-use and very sleek design. I LOVE the simple 1 button design to cycle through pre-programmable bedtime, sleep and wakening routines. I love that the noise and light levels have increments measured in percentage (1-100%) vs levels (1-10). With this feature, I am able to fine-tune the level of the sound and light. --- If I am being nit-picky, there are some things that could be improved: As a non-subscription user, the product offers a few white noises to choose from and multiple work for me, but I wish they had more. The app could be improved. I find it a bit clunky to navigate at times with a few more clicks and interactions than needed. I get the interface color of the app design (mimicking nighttime colors/mood), but the buttons taking up more than half the screen aren't intuitive to me, especially since they aren't differentiated by any noticeable color changes. As a non-subscription user, I also don't love that the subscription features are at the top and there is no way to turn it off or customize the app to not see them. I have to scroll to get to the feature I want. --- Still despite the app experience not being 5 out of 5, I don't ever want to go to bed, sleep or wake up without this gadget ever again! I even travel with it-- which made sleeping at the in-laws for the holidays and enjoyable experience. For me thinking the price was steep at first, I think it's 100% worth it. It has improved my quality of sleep and the gentle wakening to the light every morning is life-changing.

I was hesitant at first about this product. I was worried it was just a cheap knock-off of the Philips version that costs more than twice the price. But it was on special for Prime Day so I gave it a try. Let’s start with the cons because there aren’t many: - You need to place it right next to your Wi-Fi router for setup. Not in the same room, right next to it. This was a minor struggle due to mine being behind my TV but whatever, it worked in the end. - I think the design could be a bit more ‘globe-like’ so that it radiates light to a wider degree as right now it’s sort of directional to where it’s facing. Not a big issue at all though, just a small improvement to be made over time. The pros: - You can customize everything! The app is amazing and allows you to set up very detailed bedtime and wake up routines that are so easy to use and really make a difference. I initially thought I’d only use the wake-up feature but after playing around with it I found I loved the winddown feature too because it’s not time-based – you just tap the top of the machine when you get into bed and it starts your routine. - The morning wake-up features really do work. I’m a morning person but the act of getting out of bed to exercise is so hard for me. Like stupidly hard. But having a light gradually wake up before ocean noises begin playing is the most peaceful way to wake up in the morning. I almost felt like I had this tiny surge of adrenalin kicking in, mt mind wasn’t foggy, I didn’t snooze my alarm 20 times, I just lay there listening to ocean noises for a few minutes then got out of bed on a freezing cold and rainy morning. - They have thought of everything, even allowing you to dim our switch off the clock feature while you sleep which was amazing for me since I hate any kind of light in my room at night. - There are the options to subscribe for more sounds and content but they have given you a ton of sounds and features for free so that if you don’t want to subscribe you can still have amazing functionality with the device. - It’s just so simple to use. If you need more time to read your book at night (or scroll on Instagram) you just tap the top again to start your bedtime routine over again. Overall, I really love this product. I’m so happy I purchased it at the start of winter, I think it’s going to make these dark months a lot easier to wake up and hit the gym. I’m so happy I didn’t pay double the price for the Philips version. This is a winner!

We purchased the Hatch Restore and Rest, based on my wife's interest in the product. The fit, finish and build quality of these products are excellent. The app that drives them is simple, easy to use and beautiful. Controlling the products using touches to the smooth surfaces makes you feel like you are in a science fiction movie; this is definitely a 'living in the future' kind of product. Before we owned Hatch products, we relied on various streaming services piped through an iPhone to put ourselves and our youngster to bed. This product has essentially replaced that while also providing a low, attractive ambient light to help our young child to the bathroom or to guide us to his bedside through the obstacle course of toys in his room. The Restore product also has had the effect of removing any pretext for taking a phone or device to bed. Need to wake up in the morning at a certain time? Check. Need some sleep meditation to get through the sleep gate? Check. Need to know what time it is when you wake up? Check. Now lets get into where these devices are not quite making it, and this becomes more significant because they are pretty costly for what they actually do. -Neither device can be pared up with a phone or tablet as a simple bluetooth speaker. This is clearly a deliberate neutering of the product to funnel users into the pricey and limited content store subscription. This is not awesome. -The devices are curated and design-first to a degree of preciousness that is a little embarrassing. The product team has taken itself a little too seriously. Take a cue from Moshi and be a little more friendly and empathetic with your audience instead of taking the Jobsian 'I know what my customers need' approach to product development. -There are other function neutering elements within these devices that are frustrating in the area of bluetooth connectivity. The devices do not seem to tolerate more than one controller, which is a bit silly, when you consider that the purchasing audience is likely to be couples. Another failure of empathy here in the product design. -The device is completely a walled garden in terms of content. Only content provided by Hatch is available on the device, which is yet another crippling function. Being able to load spotify and use it as a spotify device would be a giant win. So would being able to program activation of NPR One at a specific time. -The device seems to have no hooks for Alexa, Google Home or Apple Siri or Homekit, a clear miss. -Without the very pricey, limited, restrictively curated, and frankly left-biased content store (meditations, 'spiritual sounds, etc), this is functionally a very pricey noise maker. This product has a lot of potential but it gets in its own way from a design and technology perspective, ignoring obvious cues from successful predecessors about actively engaging with the ecosystem instead of walling itself off and funnelling users into an echo chamber of self-reinforcing design values. I use these products every day, and I am really hopeful for some transformational updates that will let the device really unfold itself to be open to the rich service and content ecosystem that exists outside its walls.

First, I do love having the Hatch light. It’s so incredibly useful as a step toward bedtime without full darkness. I got it because I live in an apartment that has light outside my window that stay on at night. This means I have to get darker curtains at night - but it also means I don’t get to wake up to the sun, which stinks. So this allows me to set a time for light to come on. One major thing I wish they would add is a function to have the hatch automatically set at sunrise. I’d love to just set my Hatch to turn on with the sun every day! I did look into other cheaper light clocks. But a major issue I had with them is that I wanted to be able to have JUST light come on, with no sound. Other light alarms I looked into didn’t allow me to turn off the sound. It was both or nothing! So, I paid the extra money for Hatch. I did use a few sleep cast programs, but some of it was a bit mystical/silly for me. And it felt like it was either all meditation or all story. I won’t say which other app I use, but I prefer a different app for sleep casts because they do small meditative exercises and then have the sleep cast. And they seem less hippy-dippy and more just relaxing. Anyway, bottom line is that it’s worth it for the controllable light alone. If you have some stress or trouble sleeping, the sleep cast stuff could be decent for you (but there is a monthly fee for it).

I received this product in March of 2021. I have loved it! It had become an integral part of my nighttime sleep routine. However, I recently made a long-distance move and my Restore was unplugged for about 5 days. It was packed securely in the original packaging for the move. When I plugged it in after arriving in my new home, it would not turn on. No clock or lights of any kind. I tried all suggestions I could find online including reaching out to Hatch support directly. Hatch tech support said it was likely a problem related to the power cord so they sent me a new one. It didn’t help. Hatch then replaced this item with their newer version, the Restore 2. I was VERY pleased that the company offered to replace it after 3 years of use. There are some features of this original model that I really miss, but I am learning to live with the new version. Props to the Hatch support team.