Besides its amazing alarm system, the Loftie has a minimalist design that looks great on any countertop, an elegant and ambient night light that emanates from the bottom of the clock, a bright screen and a simple interface. Be aware that while there is a small backup battery in case of blackouts, the clock is intended to be powered by its USB cord. This comes down to personal preference, but we can probably agree that a gradual awakening is better than being startled by an obnoxiously loud buzzer.

It's very abrupt, so it won't rouse you gently, keep this in mind when considering your favorite alarm clock pick. Meanwhile, more expensive alarms will illuminate your bedroom with a calming light to simulate the feeling of waking up under canvas at sunrise.However, the control buttons and on-screen menus are incredibly fiddly and not very intuitive, so it takes a while to master the settings.

If you work in a coworking space, where you’re surrounded by lots of like-minded, talented individuals, collaboration and productivity are the key to your success. Of course, it can be used as an alarm clock too, and the Echo Show’s “Sunrise Effect” brightens the screen gently before your alarm goes off, to help ease you into the day. It’s easy to tell what time it is with the DreamSky, even if it’s the middle of the night and you’re as blind as a bat. So if you have a bad habit of sleeping through multiple alarms and just can’t count on a normal, everyday alarm clock to awaken you, the Sonic Bomb Dual Extra-Loud Alarm Clock should be enough to wake you up.For an even gentler wake up, we also recommend the Philips SmartSleep Connected, which mimics a natural sunrise for a pleasant wake up. Light therapy, which simulates exposure to natural sunlight, is known to help SAD sufferers, so a wake-up lamp could be the ideal solution for those dark and dreary winter mornings. It rattled the plastic inside the clock and had a screeching sound that had us jumping out of bed to end our ears’ suffering as soon as we could. If you work for a large corporation, in an open-plan office, you may be able to get away with sitting in a corner at your desk, consuming large amounts of coffee – although this isn’t ideal!

You can’t alter the volume or style of the beeping alarm but we found it was enough to wake us up without being too jarring. Some people might argue that the humble clock has been made redundant with the arrival of the smartphone.The glow emitted by smartphones has a much higher concentration of blue light than natural light does, which confuses your body’s circadian clock and makes it more difficult for you to drift off. However, we will probably do the same routine the following morning, setting and re-setting the alarm, getting off to a poor start again and continuing the cycle of poor sleep. The numbers on the clock itself were fuzzy and hard to read, and while it’s equipped with natural sounds to wake up to, the audio quality is so bad that it sounds like it’s coming through a tin can. But, considering this is how many traditional alarm clocks are set, it’s unfair to make too big a deal of this.

The alarm is also adjustable, with five different volume settings, so you can fine-tune the beeps to ensure you roll out of bed every time. In our review, we appreciated that the clock doesn't take up too much space and that the digits can easily be seen from afar.These include the usual suspects such as birdsong, or plus slightly weird new age music, if that’s your thing.