Beurer Wake Up Light WL50

One-minute review

The Beurer Wake Up Light WL50 is designed to gently rouse you in a simulated sunrise, and definitely helped make our experience of jumping out of bed a lot easier. If you find it difficult to wake up, we're pretty confident it will help even the groggiest of sleepers feel more alert.

Wake-up lights mimic the sunrise, gradually growing brighter until it’s time to wake up and the WL50 offers a time limit of how long a period you want this to happen. You can choose from a duration of either 10, 20 or 30 minutes, and if you want to wake up at a certain time you can program it to start warming up before your alarm goes off. 

On the subject of alarms, the wake up light has three sounds to choose from: a melody with bird calls, a series of chimes, or a set of beeps. Alternatively, you can choose to wake to an FM radio station, though (as with the Lumie Bodyclock Active 250) there's no DAB radio, and the reception wasn't great.

You can also use the light to help you fall off to sleep, as it offers a reverse effect if you want to unwind in a sunset atmosphere. You can set the light to gradually dim from white to yellow, and then red, over the course of 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

The Beurer Wake Up Light WL50 wakes you with a simulated sunrise that gradually shifts from a dull red glow, through to yellow, and finally white light (Image credit: Suzanne Baum)

Price and release date

The Beurer Wake Up Light WL50 was released in July 2019, and costs around $110 / £80 / AU$150 from retailers including Amazon.

That makes it one of the most affordable wake-up lights available, approximately the same price as the Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock HF3520, and less than half the price of our current top-rated light, the Lumie Bodyclock Luxe 750DAB.

Design

The Beurer wake up light has a smart-looking design, which resembles a drum shape. It's slim, measuring 13.2cm x 10.8cm (height x diameter), and sits neatly on a bedside table without appearing over bulky. The touch button function is simple to use, and the digital clock at the bottom of the light is easy to see when you're lying in bed.

Performance

Whether you choose to use it in the morning or at night to get to sleep, the way the Beurer Wake Up Light WL50 slowly activates is a very gradual process. There's nothing bright or disconcerting about the way it glows; it seems to be cleverly designed to support the sleep rhythm as best as possible.

What is slightly grating though is the alarm sounds; birds, chimes and beeps are not something we would choose to wake up too. The same goes for the sleep melody setting, which is designed to help you fall asleep. It is a bit like a baby lullaby.

We were able to wake up with the light program without the alarm, but a family member found it helpful. When it went off, he would 'snooze' it by touching the top of the speaker. By the time it would go off again eight minutes later he was ready to get up.

The Beurer Wake Up Light WL50 is compact, and looks smart on your nightstand (Image credit: Suzanne Baum)

We appreciated the fact that the Beurer Wake Up Light WL50 can be used as a mood light during the day, and found it very relaxing to watch it shift through all the different colours. When we chose to to read before going to sleep, we found it very calming to have on our bedside table, instead of relying on a dimmer switch.

Although the light has a radio function, that is just an added bonus and not something to shout about as there's no DAB, and the FM reception was sometimes fuzzy. With that in mind, we'd opt for the other sound settings instead. Overall though, when it worked, it was just an extra function on an otherwise extremely brilliantly designed wake up light.

The Beurer wake up light represents very good value for money and gives you plenty of options to make sure you're awake and rise in good time. The only reason we didn’t give it five stars was because the alarm noise of birds squeaking could be quite annoying if left on for long periods of time, and the FM radio wasn't always reliable.

Buy it if

You struggle with early rising
The sunrise effect works well. The way the light slowly raises the brightness level of the bedroom provides a gentle waking experience.

You want a multi-functional light
This wake-up light works well as a reading lamp, a desk light for daytime and evening and a mood light.

You don’t want to splash the cash
There are cheaper wake-up lights available, but the WL50 certainly isn't the most expensive either, and its all-round usefulness justifies its price.

Don't buy it if

You want to use it as a SAD lamp.
At 800 lux, it's not bright enough. Check our our guide to the best SAD lamps for some better options.

You want a variety of alarm sounds
Unlike a noise machine like the HoMedics Deep Sleep Mini, the WL50 has only two wake up melody alarms. 

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