Hatch Restore 3 review: a smart wake up light that’s deserving of all the hype

I’ve tested many products for T3 over the years from barbecues to mattresses and beyond, but one of my favourite gadgets to try has to be a wake up light. Even though I write about sleep extensively, I have a terrible morning routine, and the only thing I’ve found that helps me wake up ready for a productive day is a wake up light.

While I’ve tested many of the big name companies like Lumie and Philips, I’ve yet to try one of the most popular wake up light brands, and that’s Hatch. Launched in 2014, Hatch is well known for its sound machines, night lights and wake up alarms, and the Restore 3 is its latest model.

I’ve spent the past month or so making the Hatch Restore 3 part of my bedtime and morning routines, and this is how I got on.

Hatch Restore 3 review: price and availability

The Hatch Restore 3 is available to buy for $169.99 at Hatch. As a US product, the Hatch Restore 3 is tricky to find in the UK but it is available for £195.99 at Healf. It comes in putty, greige and cocoa colours.

To use the Hatch Restore 3, you’ll need to use the Hatch app which comes with a Hatch+ subscription. It’s free for the first 30 days before you pay $4.99 a month or $49.99 annually.

Hatch Restore 3 review: set up

Setting up the Hatch Restore 3 was extremely easy. One thing to keep in mind if you’re a UK customer is the Hatch Restore 3 will come with a US plug, so to test it, I needed a US to UK travel adapter to use it.

Once it was plugged in, I turned the Hatch Restore 3 on and downloaded the Hatch app on my phone. I had to enter my Wi-Fi to connect the two, and I signed up for an account and a free 30 day trial. From there, the Hatch app had me name my wake up light and take a quick quiz on how much sleep I get and what I wanted to improve on.

Using those results, Hatch recommended specific timings for my morning wake up and evening wind down. After this, I did what I normally do when testing wake up lights by flicking through the light, colour and sound options. I set up a wind down routine for 11pm each night, featuring sunset lights and rainforest sounds, and a morning routine of birds chirping at 7am with the light gradually increasing for 30 minutes before.

Hatch Restore 3 review: design and features

The Hatch Restore 3 is described as a smart sleep clock but it’s a lot more than that. It can be used as a wake up or sunset light, a bedside lamp and an alarm clock, so it’s got everything covered when it comes to falling asleep and waking up in the morning.

Available in three colours – I tried the putty colour – the Hatch Restore 3 has a semi-circle shape with buttons on the top and sides. It measures 7.24in in length, 2.43in in width and 5.31in in height, and weighs just 1.27lbs, so it takes up minimal room on your bedside table.

For the controls, the Hatch Restore 3 has a large circular button at the top. The button can be pressed to skip to different parts of the routine as well as start and snooze it. It can also be twisted to control the volume and increase or decrease the brightness.

Either side of the main control button are two buttons that sit flush against the device rather than protruding from it. The button with the three dots is the Unwind button which swaps you to your next routine. The other button is for pausing and playing your routine.

On the right side of the Hatch Restore 3 is the Bedside Light button which displays a warm light without you needing to play a routine. On the left side is the Alarm Toggle button which disables all your alarms. While you need the Hatch app to customise different routines on the Hatch Restore 3, the device has all the buttons you need so you shouldn’t have to use the app often once you’ve saved your settings.

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Hatch Restore 3 review: app

The Hatch app is free to download on iOS and Android devices, and comes with a monthly or annual subscription after the 30 day free trial. The app is where you can customise your different routines, lighting, sounds and brightness, but it’ll also give you recommendations here and there about your routine.

The Hatch app has lots of options available, including 60+ sleep sounds, 100+ ambient lights and up to 22 pre-programmed colours. When choosing your routine, the app allows you to preview songs and lights which are shown on the Hatch Restore 3 device before you add it to your routine.

Setting routines is easy, and you can choose what time you want things to start, how long for, and specific days. I found that the app could be a bit glitchy at times as when I was setting up my first routines, it often froze and lost my settings so I had to set them again.

I felt there was a bit too much going on in the app at times. Oftentimes its pop-ups which gave advice on how to use certain features would appear and it was almost impossible to get rid of them and go back to what I was doing without exiting the app first.

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Hatch Restore 3 review: performance

Wake up lights tend to have quite unusual designs, but I really loved the look of the Hatch Restore 3. I have quite a small bedside table so I try to keep things minimal, but the Hatch Restore 3 sat nicely taking up hardly any room, and it looked great. It’s easily the best looking wake up light I’ve tried.

I used the Hatch Restore 3 as part of my morning routine, and I found it woke me up very naturally and accurately – I definitely didn’t sleep in when using it. Its gradual brightening lights were very gradual which I appreciated, and I’d wake up to different sections of brightness before it got to its maximum level. When it did, the light was enough to wake me but I also enjoyed the relaxing bird noises as a ‘back up’ alarm.

The wind down routine was very relaxing, and it had my husband falling asleep almost immediately. This is where I used the lights and colours the most, and I loved the variety of them. When the light is on, it doesn’t light up the entire device as there is a ‘bar’ at the bottom which shows the time and icons. However, I didn’t find that it made the light any less powerful and enjoyed still being able to see the time.

I’m not the biggest app user – if I don’t need to use one, I won’t! – so I liked being able to use the on-device controls of the Hatch Restore 3. The buttons took a bit of getting used to but I liked that I didn’t need to go into an app first thing in the morning to turn off my alarm.

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Hatch Restore 3 review: verdict

There’s a reason that the Hatch Restore 3 pops up whenever you search for wake up lights, and that’s because it really does live up to the hype. While I definitely think the app could use some improvements in terms of usability, once you’ve sorted your routines, the Hatch Restore 3 takes it from there.

The variety of sounds, lights and colours are extensive, and the design of the Hatch Restore 3 is cute and fun. It definitely deserves a place on your bedside table, although I think the ongoing price might make people pause.

Hatch Restore 3 review: alternatives to consider

The Dreamie Sleep Assistant Smart Alarm Clock is a newer wake up light that I just tried – and loved. It has a similar concept to the Hatch Restore 3 but it’s completely subscription free and has all your controls on the device, so you don’t need an app for it either. It’s also a US-only product so you’ll need an adapter to use it in the UK and Europe.

If it’s a similar design you’re after, the Momcozy Sunrise Wake Up Light also has a semi-circle design but it doesn’t feel too big and overpowering like some other wake up lights do. It has similar functionalities, as it can also be used as a wake up and sunset light, alarm clock and sound machine.