Lumie Bodyclock Review: Lab Tested (Shine vs. Luxe)

We tested 4 Lumie Bodyclocks. See the lux output, flicker analysis, and why the Shine 300 is the brightest but might not be the best choice.

Derek AntosiekFounder, light and circadian research lead 6 min read

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Four Lumie wake-up light alarm clocks lab-tested comparison showing which model wins, displayed on gradient background

I’ve tested and used all 4 of the Lumie Bodyclocks currently available in the US!

In this article, we’ll compare these 4 models so you’ll know exactly which one fits your requirements!

If you’re on the hunt, check out our best sunrise alarm clock list! →

The Overview

The Shine 300 is the brightest but suffers from flicker and a poor user interface. If those aren’t dealbreakers, it’s a good choice.

The Rise 100 and Glow 150 are simple to use but lack brightness flexibility and the need to manually re-enable the alarm daily is annoying. The Glow 150 offers more sunrise customization (20-45 minutes) compared to the Rise 100’s fixed 30 minutes. Additionally, the Rise 100 only has a beeping alarm, unlike the others, which include nature sounds.

The Luxe 700FM offers better performance than the Rise and Glow models, with customizability similar to the Shine 300 but is much easier to use. It also has Bluetooth streaming.

Bodyclock Rise 100

Bodyclock Rise 100

Bodyclock Glow 150

Bodyclock Glow 150

Bodyclock Shine 300

Bodyclock Shine 300

Bodyclock Luxe 700FM

Bodyclock Luxe 700FM

Comparing Features

Before we proceed with the science and testing, let’s review what features set these models apart from each other.

Ease of Use

The Rise and Glow buttons and navigation are identical and I found both equally easy to use, no complaints here.

The Shine and Luxe are both very different from the others, though I found the Luxe much easier to use than the Shine.

The Shine has 11 buttons total for navigation and while they technically make sense once you get used to them, I sometimes found it overwhelming and forget which ones did what.

The Luxe on the other hand has 4 main buttons just like the Shine, but features two knobs for navigation instead of all the extra buttons which is just a lot more intuitive.

In either case, I found both easier to use than the Philips SmartSleep HF3650 since they use words in their menu systems rather than icons.

How to change from 24-12 hour time (only 100 and 150?)

1. Remove the power from the unit, and wait for the unit to power down completely (approximately 5-10 seconds)
2. Press and hold the ALARM, MINUS and SUNSET keys simultaneously
3. Whilst holding the three keys, apply power to the unit.
4. Release the keys once the display shows four dash (-) characters
5. A ’24’ or ’12’ should be displayed on the screen. Use the MINUS and PLUS keys to swap between the 12 and 24 hour modes.
Press the centre CONFIRM key to accept your selection.
6. The unit will reset and show the new chosen time format

Sunrise & Alarm Settings

Here are the sunrise durations for each model:

Rise 100: 30 mins
Glow 150: 20-45 mins
Shine 300: 15-90 mins
Luxe 700FM: 15-90 mins

If you’re trying to stay cheap, 30 minutes on the Rise is fine, but you’ll have to upgrade for more customizability.

It’s worth noting that the Shine and Luxe offer up to 90 minutes which is longer than any other sunrise alarm clocks that I know of, most only go up to 60 minutes.

One thing I found annoying is both the Rise and Glow require you to manually enable the alarm each day after it goes off… why? I have no idea.

The Shine and Luxe models have weekly alarm setting that solves this issue. So I’d make the upgrade if you don’t want to worry about forgetting to enable your daily alarm…

One more thing worth noting is that the Rise and Glow only have 5 brightness settings and don’t allow for much “dialing in” which will be obvious in the testing section later in this article.

General System Settings

The Rise, Glow, and Shine each have a switch on the bottom that allows you to change the menu-dimming behavior.

Off will set the menu to turn off completely after a short time. Tapping the clock will temporarily re-illuminate the time.

Low will just dim the clock but not completely turn it off.

The Luxe has the same options but must be done inside the menu system:

None of these alarms have battery backups that handle alarms or last beyond 30 minutes in the event of a power outage.

Unwinding & Sunsets

The Luxe 700FM and Shine 300 both allow for anywhere between 15 and 90 minutes, however, the Luxe has quite a few more nature and noise options to choose from and you can use audio through Bluetooth as well.

The Glow 150 does have a sunset feature but contains even fewer sounds and is limited to 20, 30, and 45-minute durations.

The Rise 100 has a sunset feature as well but does not include the option of using any nature sounds.

Alarm Audio Samples

If you’re curious, we’ve recorded audio samples for each clock!

Rise 100

Lumie Bodyclock Rise 1001 sound
  1. Alarm Beep

Glow 150

Lumie Bodyclock Glow 15010 sounds
  1. Beep
  2. Tropical Birds
  3. Blackbirds
  4. Cafe
  5. Goats
  6. Steam Train
  7. Thunderstorm
  8. Waves
  9. Crickets
  10. White Noise

Shine 300

Lumie Bodyclock Shine 30014 sounds
  1. Beep
  2. Tropical Birds
  3. Blackbird
  4. Osprey
  5. Guzheng
  6. Cafe
  7. Steam Train
  8. Thunderstorm
  9. Waves
  10. Crickets
  11. Kittens
  12. Tree Frogs
  13. Ping Pong
  14. White Noise

Luxe 700FM

Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 700FM27 sounds
  1. Beep
  2. Dawn
  3. Pastoral Ambiance
  4. Tropical Birds
  5. Blackbirds
  6. Bulbul
  7. Hyacinth Macaw
  8. Scops Owl
  9. Osprey
  10. Robin
  11. Skylark
  12. Woodlark
  13. Crickets
  14. Goats
  15. Kittens
  16. Tree Frogs
  17. Running Water
  18. Waterfall
  19. Waves
  20. Guzheng
  21. Cafe
  22. Halyards
  23. Movie Projector
  24. Ping Pong
  25. Racing Cars
  26. Steam Train
  27. White Noise

Testing and Comparing the Sunrises

Now let’s see how these lamps compare spectrally.

Total Light Output

To test the total light output and sunrise graphs, we put each one in our integration sphere.

Here’s a graph showing the max lumen output for each of the lamps:

Lumie sunrise clock lumens
  1. Glow 150320 lumens
  2. Luxe 700FM325 lumens
  3. Rise 100332 lumens
  4. Luxe 700FM (Low Blue)332 lumens
  5. Shine 300552 lumens
See the numbers
Light outputMeasured
Glow 150320 lumensAs published
Luxe 700FM325 lumensAs published
Rise 100332 lumensAs published
Luxe 700FM (Low Blue)332 lumensLow Blue
Shine 300552 lumensAs published

Oddly the Shine 300 just blows all the rest out of the water! While every other lamp is just about even in comparison.

How about the sunrise ramp-up?

Lumie Body Clocks Sunrise Ramp Up curvesBrightness over the sunrise, as a share of full output

Output by time. Rise 100 ramp length 29 min; Glow 150 ramp length 29 min; Shine 300 ramp length 29 min; Luxe 700FM ramp length 29 min; Luxe 700FM (Low Blue) ramp length 29 min.

See the numbers

Rise 100

Ramp length
29 min

Glow 150

Ramp length
29 min

Shine 300

Ramp length
29 min

Luxe 700FM

Ramp length
29 min

Luxe 700FM (Low Blue)

Ramp length
29 min

They all look pretty good! A nice gradual ramp-up, nothing super sudden.

Lux Output

While total output is nice to know, we need to measure lux to determine how effective a lamp will be.

For this, we measured each lamp every 6 inches on various settings.

Here’s a graph showing the lux output at 1 foot for each lamp:

Lumie Sunrise Alarm Clock Lux
  1. Rise 100363 lux
  2. Luxe 700FM380 lux
  3. Luxe 700FM (Low Blue)382 lux
  4. Glow 150425 lux
  5. Shine 300729 lux
See the numbers
IlluminanceMeasured
Rise 100363 luxEarlier test
Luxe 700FM380 luxAs published
Luxe 700FM (Low Blue)382 luxLow Blue
Glow 150425 luxAs published
Shine 300729 lux12 in

As you can see, the Shine is still much brighter than the rest, interestingly though, the Glow 150 beats all the rest even though its total lumen output is lower.

The best bang for your buck might be the Glow 150! But if you’re looking for the brightest lamp, the Shine 300 is the one to get.

Optimal Lux and Ranges

So at what ranges and settings might you want to use these lamps? Well, we like to recommend starting at around 250 lux.

Because there aren’t a lot of brightness settings on the Rise and Glow, these are much harder to dial in than the Shine and Luxe models.

Setting 5 is too bright at 1 foot, but lowering it to level 4 drops it too low.

Now the Shine 300 is bright. There’s quite a bit more wiggle room with this one!

And while the Luxe is just as bright as the Rise and Glow, its brightness settings allow you to dial it in better depending on your preferences.

Sunrise Effect Videos

We’ve recorded and compressed each lamp’s sunrise effect into a 10-second clip so you can see what they look like here:

Rise 100
Glow 150
Shine 300
Luxe 700FM Normal
Luxe 700FM Low Blue

Testing Flicker

If you’re concerned about Flicker, we test this with our LabFlicker meter.

Rise 100 & Glow 150

The Rise 100 and Glow 150 perform almost perfectly with a pretty flat waveform, nothing to worry about with either of these.

Rise 100

Lumie Rise 100 flickerLight output over time, relative to its peak

A flat line at the top means steady light; dips mean flicker.

Light output by time. Full brightness, Brightness percent flicker ; Full brightness, Brightness frequency ; Full brightness, Brightness ieee 1789 ; 50%, Brightness percent flicker ; 50%, Brightness frequency ; 50%, Brightness ieee 1789 .

See the numbers

Full brightness, Brightness

Percent flickerHow far the light dips from its brightest, as a share of the total. Under 1% is steady to the eye.
Not measured
Frequency
Not measured
IEEE 1789The flicker safety guidance for lighting: how deep the flicker is, for its frequency.
Not measured

50%, Brightness

Percent flickerHow far the light dips from its brightest, as a share of the total. Under 1% is steady to the eye.
Not measured
Frequency
Not measured
IEEE 1789The flicker safety guidance for lighting: how deep the flicker is, for its frequency.
Not measured

Glow 150

Lumie Glow 150 flickerLight output over time, relative to its peak

A flat line at the top means steady light; dips mean flicker.

Light output by time. Full brightness, Brightness percent flicker ; Full brightness, Brightness frequency ; Full brightness, Brightness ieee 1789 ; 50%, Brightness percent flicker ; 50%, Brightness frequency ; 50%, Brightness ieee 1789 .

See the numbers

Full brightness, Brightness

Percent flickerHow far the light dips from its brightest, as a share of the total. Under 1% is steady to the eye.
Not measured
Frequency
Not measured
IEEE 1789The flicker safety guidance for lighting: how deep the flicker is, for its frequency.
Not measured

50%, Brightness

Percent flickerHow far the light dips from its brightest, as a share of the total. Under 1% is steady to the eye.
Not measured
Frequency
Not measured
IEEE 1789The flicker safety guidance for lighting: how deep the flicker is, for its frequency.
Not measured

Shine 300 & Luxe 700FM

Now the Shine 300 begins flickering once it’s dimmed, as you can see.

Shine 300 flickerLight output over time, relative to its peak

A flat line at the top means steady light; dips mean flicker.

Light output by time. Full brightness, Brightness percent flicker ; Full brightness, Brightness frequency ; Full brightness, Brightness ieee 1789 ; 50%, Brightness percent flicker ; 50%, Brightness frequency ; 50%, Brightness ieee 1789 .

See the numbers

Full brightness, Brightness

Percent flickerHow far the light dips from its brightest, as a share of the total. Under 1% is steady to the eye.
Not measured
Frequency
Not measured
IEEE 1789The flicker safety guidance for lighting: how deep the flicker is, for its frequency.
Not measured

50%, Brightness

Percent flickerHow far the light dips from its brightest, as a share of the total. Under 1% is steady to the eye.
Not measured
Frequency
Not measured
IEEE 1789The flicker safety guidance for lighting: how deep the flicker is, for its frequency.
Not measured

Since this is at around 200 Hz and 100% depth this reaches high risk on the IEEE 1789 flicker risk plot.

The 700FM fares worse I’m afraid being risky at both 100% and 50%…

Luxe 700FM flickerLight output over time, relative to its peak

A flat line at the top means steady light; dips mean flicker.

Light output by time. Full brightness, Brightness percent flicker ; Full brightness, Brightness frequency ; Full brightness, Brightness ieee 1789 ; 50%, Brightness percent flicker ; 50%, Brightness frequency ; 50%, Brightness ieee 1789 .

See the numbers

Full brightness, Brightness

Percent flickerHow far the light dips from its brightest, as a share of the total. Under 1% is steady to the eye.
Not measured
Frequency
Not measured
IEEE 1789The flicker safety guidance for lighting: how deep the flicker is, for its frequency.
Not measured

50%, Brightness

Percent flickerHow far the light dips from its brightest, as a share of the total. Under 1% is steady to the eye.
Not measured
Frequency
Not measured
IEEE 1789The flicker safety guidance for lighting: how deep the flicker is, for its frequency.
Not measured

If flicker is a concern, you’ll want to stick with the 100 and 150 models here.

Overall Thoughts + Which One?

Each Bodyclock from Lumie has its quirks. The Shine 300 is by far the brightest but flickers and doesn’t have the greatest user interface. If you don’t mind the flicker and think you can handle the buttons, get that one.

I liked how simple the Rise 100 and Glow 150 are to use and while they’re technically effective, the limited brightness options for each make dialing them in difficult. You also have to reenable the alarm manually each day, which I found needlessly annoying. If you’re torn between the two, however, the Glow 150 does allow you to customize the sunrise duration from between 20 and 45 minutes while the Rise 100 is stuck at 30 minutes. The Rise 100 also only has a beeping alarm, no nature sounds like the others have.

The Luxe 700FM is slightly more effective than both the Rise and Glow models and features similar customizability to the Shine 300 but is much easier to use. It also has a Bluetooth streaming option if you’re into that.

Bodyclock Rise 100

Bodyclock Rise 100

Straightforward performer: very low flicker, simple to operate, and bright enough to actually do the job. Trade-offs are the lack of customisation — fixed sunrise duration, limited brightness settings, and you have to set the alarm manually every day.

Bodyclock Glow 150

Bodyclock Glow 150

Straightforward performer: very low flicker, simple to operate, and bright enough to actually do the job. Trade-offs are limited brightness settings and having to set the alarm manually every day.

Bodyclock Shine 300

Bodyclock Shine 300

Brightest of the four Bodyclocks we tested, which is the main reason to pick it. Trade-offs are flicker risk at lower settings, a menu system that takes some getting used to.

Bodyclock Luxe 700FM

Bodyclock Luxe 700FM

Mid-range Bodyclock with a friendlier menu than the Shine 300, brighter output than the Rise and Glow models, and Bluetooth streaming built in. Trade-offs are high flicker risk and the steepest price in the Bodyclock lineup.

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