Homedics SoundSleep White Noise Sound Machine, Silver, Small Travel Sound Machine with 6 Relaxing Nature Sounds, Portable Sound Therapy for Home, Office, Nursery, Auto-Off Timer, by Homedics

Miracle worker! Can use without the timer feature!
My mom has had bad insomnia for several years, more noticeably in the past year as she recovered from knee surgery that left her in a lot of pain even after her knee had “healed”. She tried everything for sleep: melatonin, Ambien, a 1/2 glass of wine, herbal remedies, diets, low/no sugar, the list goes on and on. She already was eating healthy and exercising as much as could be expected, but she could not sleep. I got her DVDs and CDs from the library and she hated them all. Then I thought of this on 1/13/13, and now she sleeps!!!!!!She doesn’t have that blissful perfect sleep that she wants, but now she dozes off and wakes up more rested – without medication for sleep! We’ve had this for 5 days and the change is definitely noticeable!The sounds are as listed: ocean, summer night, rain, thunder, white noise and brook.”Ocean” is perfect, the dogs think the beach is in the bedroom and you think a surfer will walk in at any moment!”Summer Night” has cricket noises and sounds like riding Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland (without the music)”Rain” is by far the most relaxing.The “Thunder” one is odd as you would think thunder is a scary noise for some, but hey if it works for you use it!”White Noise” sounds just like a fan, a kind of noisy fan, but a fan.”Brook” sounds bubbly and is my least favorite… it sounds like a brook but also like a faucet running.My mom listens to this very loud for some reason – I can hear it 2 rooms away – but she can sleep with it like that. I come in and turn it down when I go by her room and she doesn’t wake up. The sound is unobtrusive even when it is loud, and when I do hear it I am usually reading or something and it is pretty comforting.The audio does not sound tinny at all and is very realistic. I was surprised at the sound quality especially when she had it turned up so loud, but it was very good.I bought this model because it specifically did not have the heartbeat sound – maybe good for kids who have not read Edgar Allan Poe, but not for us!Note: This one can play ALL NIGHT LONG!! I was afraid the timer feature was the only way to use it as with some other brands/models, but you just turn this on and let it run as long as you want. Thanks to the other reviewer who mentioned that feature.The unit is very lightweight and I can see how it can be very portable for trips. Not sure how long the batteries would last, so will probably use it with the adapter whenever we can. It is so lightweight, I do think that if you dropped it, it would probably break or crack, so be careful with it.Definitely worth the money!

This product is pretty good but it could be a lot better with …
Summary: Does the job but I wish some product actually implemented all these features.Off late, I have tried a bunch of different sleep products since shifting into a new apartment which is in a noisier neighborhood than before. Man, I wish I knew I was so sensitive to noise. I have installed black out curtains, sleep mask, philips wake up light alarm and a bunch of other things to regain my sleep. This product is pretty good but it could be a lot better with simple suggestions. I hope the company reads the review and decides to implement them in the next iteration of the product.Here are my ideas for a killer product that would get 5 star reviews:1. Basics: Sound quality and level is good for some of the sound tracks. Your personal favorite will depend but there’s enough variety that you will enjoy at least one or two. I do feel that some of the sounds don’t have the quality for which you would listen to them every night. After listening to them for a few nights, I noticed that they would produce some additional echo or muffled reverberation sounds in the room which are noticable.Also, if you are trying to drown out ambient noise, there are only a few sound tracks that have a constant beat. A lot of the others are very silent for many seconds and you could notice external traffic or outside noise in those portions.2. The lights: I wish they had an option to turn off the light on the LED panels. My room is otherwise pitch dark and I had to cover up the lights with book/tape to avoid them becoming a distraction especially since it’s on whole night.3. Alarm option: Now, I know this product is not supposed to solve the problem but I wish they had an option to configure an alarm with the same sounds in the morning. I like to leave the product on overnight so that it drowns out the noise but in the morning, it’s hard to wake up with the sound playing in background.4. Speaker quality : On a scale of 1 to 5, I would say the speakers are 3, not excellent but not uncomfortable. We could use better speakers here especially when tuned to the 6 sounds that it’s trying to play.5. Wake up light & alarm: I wish I could combine my wake up alarm light with this product and have just one thing to configure each night.6. Ambient sound sensitivity: I have another app that records noise levels in my environment overnight. It’s a pretty simple idea to do so with a basic microphone. It would be cool if there was a functionality that would start background noise if and when there was noise in the environment. Usually, most people know that their place is quiet but there’s the early morning truck which just wakes you up and you struggle to fall back asleep. It would be cool if in those cases, the product increased it’s white noise to drown out the increased noise in the environment.7. Basic sleep tracking: Again, I presently use another device to track my sleep at night. It would be nice to have a combined device that did the same.8. Timer settings: That’s actually a pretty cool feature that I really like. Again, I wish that they had a way to auto-start or extend/shorten the duration of the ambient noise if someone hasn’t yet fallen asleep. There are a few nights when it’s a lot noisier than usual or you don’t fall asleep in 30 minutes. Not a great idea to then try and fumble to the product & switch it on again in the night.9. I think most people who use such products are temporarily going through a phase of insomnia, this product adds one small dimension to the efforts. I have had good success with mobile apps like pziz, sleep as android, sleep cycle etc that provide same basic functionalities and lot more.I wonder sometimes why I need this device, if I can use those apps for generating and keeping the ambient white noise & sounds esp when your smartphone probably has better speakers. The only reason I prefer this is because for many people, turning on the phone at night, will absorb them into another world.10. In summary, it’s much better than a pure white noise producing machine but less capable than a smartphone. Worth the money but I hope that some product improves and implements the suggestions that would help out many more people.

This plays a variety restful sounds that help you fall asleep! I don’t use this every night but when I need it, it works for me!

A very good sound machine. Earlier I could not sleep because I am very sensitive to any small sound. Had serious sleep problem after I got married because my husband’s snores were really loud. So I tried this homedic sound machine. And I turn on the white noise the whole night. I am sleeping very well now because I can’t hear my husband’s snores anymore. The best part of it is… My husband and baby likes it too! It also cancels noise that comes from outside your room. I recommend this to anyone who has problem like me.

It’s a very basic product and would not cost much to make. Considering the retail price, the markup is very very high. But it gets the job done nevertheless. I am married and have a snoring problem. During summers, the noise from air conditioning and ceiling fan sort of masks my snoring noise and my wife does not have much trouble staying asleep while I snore. But during winters, it becomes very difficult for her because our room is very very quiet. When I first heard about a white noise machine, the first thought that came to my mind was that this is something that might help my wife stay asleep while I snore during winters. I have been using this product for a month now and it has definitely helped a lot.