Hatch Restore 3 vs Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light (HF3520)

Philips publishes the numbers. Its leaflet lists 20 brightness settings up to 300 lux and a sunrise that builds within 30 minutes from soft red through orange to bright yellow before the sound plays. Philips also says its wake-up lights are the only ones clinically proven. That is the brand's claim, and no published study we found compares it with the Hatch.

Hatch describes the Restore 3's sunrise as moving from red to orange to white before your chosen alarm sound, but its product page gives no brightness figure, so there is no like-for-like number to compare. Owner reports summarised in our Hatch review describe its light as softer. If you sleep in a blacked-out room or wake before dawn in winter, the published brightness favours the Philips.

This is the Hatch's reason to exist. In the Hatch Sleep app you build a routine that chains a wind-down light, sleep sounds through the night and the sunrise in the morning. At night you press the big button on top to start it and press again to move to the next step, so the phone can stay out of the bedroom. Hatch's free features include a rest reminder and three sunset options for the sleep step.

The Philips has a sunset simulation, a light that dims you down at bedtime, and that is its whole evening offer. Its sounds are wake-up sounds, and there is nothing to program beyond the alarms. If an inconsistent evening is your real problem, the Hatch addresses it and the Philips does not.

Philips lists 5 natural wake-up sounds and FM radio, and its spec sheet says it cannot play music from a phone. It is built to wake you with sound, not to send you to sleep with it.

Hatch's help centre lists the sleep sounds as pre-loaded and free, with Hatch+ adding a library of music, meditations, bedtime podcasts and stories. For falling asleep to rain or white noise, the Hatch is the only one of the two designed for it. If you already own a sound machine you like, this gap matters less.

Hatch says you need its free Hatch Sleep app and a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi connection to set up and register the Restore 3, and the app is where routines are customised. After registration you can run it phone-free from the buttons on the device.

The Philips has no app at all; its spec sheet lists app control as no. Every setting is on the unit's buttons, which look dated next to the Hatch but cannot be changed by an app update or an account problem.

The Philips has nothing to renew. The Hatch works without Hatch+: Hatch lists the sleep sounds, light options, sunrise alarm, rest reminder and three sunset options as free and pre-loaded. The membership is how Hatch adds its music, meditations, podcasts and stories. The Restore 3 comes with a 30-day free trial, after which Hatch+ renews monthly or yearly unless you cancel.

The cost chart counts three years of the yearly Hatch+ plan, so read it as the cost with the membership. Without it, the difference between the two is only the device price.

At our latest check the Philips cost less than the Hatch, and it has been the lower-priced of the two at every price we have recorded. Hatch's Amazon price moves more, and Hatch sells direct as well, so Amazon stock comes and goes.

For waking up alone, the Philips gives more published brightness for less money. The Hatch's higher price buys the routine and the sleep sounds, which are worth it only if you will use them every night.