Axbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock

aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock
Overall Rating: 6/10
Acquired August 2006

Overview:
The aXbo sleep phase alarm clock (SPAC) is an alarm clock designed to monitor which phase of sleep you’re in throughout the night and wake you at the ideal time. It works by connecting to a wireless wristband and senses the degree of body movement. It doesn’t actually measure brainwaves or eye movement.

The idea is that the best time to wake up is when you’re in the lightest phase of sleep. By sensing the amount of movement in the wristband transmitter (and hence your arm), the SPAC can guess at your current sleep phase and wake you at time that will be most likely to leave you feeling refreshed instead of disturbed into wakefulness.

You might be thinking, “what if I reach the proper phase of sleep 20 minutes after my bus leaves?” Don’t worry—if you don’t reach the proper phase of sleep before your set wake time, the SPAC will always go off at the set time regardless. So you’ll always wake on or up to 30 minutes before the time you set the clock for.

Something to keep in mind: my experience has been that the SPAC does, indeed, wake you at the best time. However, you should NOT expect the clock to somehow rejuvenate you or enable you to wake refreshed if you don’t get enough sleep in the first place. In other words, if you only get a couple of hours of sleep, it really won’t matter what sleep phase you’re in when the alarm goes off. You’ll still be too tired to wake up.

Sure, the aXbo alarm clock sounds quite promising with its ability to monitor your sleep phases and wake you at just the right time, but does it promise too much? Martin Regtien doesn't seem to think so, and after reviewing the Sleeptracker as well, he seems to think the aXbo not only bests its rival, but happens to be one of the best systems on the market for waking up right. Unfortunately, he didn't receive the USB cable with his review unit that allows you to check out your sleep patterns with your computer, but he did have an easy time setting up and using the actual aXbo. Turns out the wristband sensors are plenty comfortable, but though you can set separate alarms for both you and your partner, Martin's wife was wakened by his alarm. He suggests that the makers of aXbo create a vibrating alarm for the ultimate in sleep bliss, but for the casual user the aXbo seems to fit the bill exactly if you're prepared to fork over the $250.

Upside:
First things first: this is a remarkably well-made and, for an alarm clock, extremely sophisticated piece of technology. It has interesting styling cues (a not-too-subtle iPod derivative). The wireless wristbands are a great way to connect you to the clock without making you uncomfortable or restricting movement. Also, there are two separate frequencies, enabling the clock to monitor two sleepers at once and wake each person separately. I’m a big fan of other nice touches, like the cool blue backlight (activated by pressing any button on the clock or the button on the wristband), the many wake tones and volumes, the white noise sounds, the built-in rechargeable battery, and the ability to turn off the alarm sound by pressing the wristband button. Another neat feature is that the clock itself is small enough to be portable, so you won’t mind traveling with it. I travel with mine all the time.

Downside:
As you may have guessed by my score above, the aXbo SPAC has a few shortcomings. The biggest, and in my opinion, worst offender is the lack of a snooze function. According to aXbo, the very nature of how this clock works negates the need for snooze, but I think that’s applying an overly-idealized expectation. Waking me at the right phase of sleep may be easier than at other times in the night, but if I only went to sleep 4 hours ago, I’m still going to want to fight the alarm.

The cool blue backlit screen is quite nice to look at under ideal conditions, but it is more often than not difficult to read. Because the screen is translucent, there are twice as many angles for light to hit it at the wring angle and make the screen appear blank. So unless you’re close enough to press a button and activate the backlight, or you’re already wearing the wristband, you might have a bit of trouble checking the time.

The fact that the SPAC can monitor and wake two sleepers is great. The fact that it does so with audible alarms is not. This essentially forces one person to wake at the other’s ideal time. It just depends on who gets there first.

The price: With shipping, I paid 209EUR for aXbo. The exchange rate at the time converted that to about $270.

Did I mention no snooze??

To make this perfect:
Let’s start with the obvious: Add a snooze function. The next thing I’d add is a silent vibrating alarm setting. Keep the audible alarms, but make it possible to have the wristband buzz you awake.

Specifications:

• Each person goes through various sleeping cycles during sleep.
• Each sleeping cycle, which lasts approx. 90 to 110 minutes, alternates with deep-sleep, light-sleep and REM-sleep.
• REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is the phase in which you dream. Sleep gets less deep towards the morning and REM phases get distinctly longer.
• There are also sleeping differences between the sexes. Women move more in their sleep but less intensive, whereas men move less but more intensive.
• Both REM and deep sleeping phases are marked by almost no movements. If you move from a deep sleeping phase into a REM-phase and from a REM-phase into a deep sleeping phase your body movements get more active.

This is where aXbo comes in. The physical activity that characterizes the various sleep phases is monitored, so that aXbo is able to calculate the optimal point at which to wake you.

Verdict:
The aXbo SPAC has proven to be a very nice alarm clock, and I continue to use it every day. However, I don’t think it’s worth the money. If you’re like me, and you have a hard time waking up every morning, there are a lot of other less expensive options out there. I can’t say that they work better, but considering the price gap, I’d give the others a try first.