Review: HoMedics Soundspa Classic Model: SS-4500

For about a year or so I have been running the Homedics Soundspa Acoustic Relaxation Machine, with sounds that put me to sleep. I loved the machine, but for the past few months now it has been failing on me. It would stop for no reason, and the speakers seemed to be blown because I'd have to constantly smack the thing just to get it to work.

Last night while at Kohl's I came across a pretty large selection of Homedics SoundSpas. Seeing how my cheap model lasted a good run, I figured I may as well pick up a newer model. I came home with the Homedics Soundspa Classic, model SS-4500.

Unlike my older model, the Homedics Soundspa Classic not only came with the same sounds that my Acoustic Machine did, but it also had a few new features worth bragging about.

It has an clock and an alarm with a built in blue LED light allowing me to easily see the numbers. The cool part about it though was that it also had a projector built into the machine that when turned on would display the time on the ceiling or wall, depending on what angle you placed it at.

My main concern though was how the alarm would chime when the sounds were being played, because I like playing sounds throughout the entire night, and into the morning. I wondered if the alarm would work, over the sound of waterfalls, rain, or whatever other soothing sound I was playing.

I decided to give it a go. I set the alarm to make beeping sounds. I also had the option to have the alarm sound to the built in radio, or the soundspa sounds.

The beeping alarm worked, it chimed in right over the sound of waterfalls, and I was pretty happy with that. However the alarm will not sound if you have it set to Sound (which are one of the 6 sounds the machine makes). So if you plan on sleeping with one of the 6 sounds on, make sure the alarm is set to BEEP or RADIO, that way it will work.

Mostly though I truly wanted the Homedics Soundspa Classic for the sounds that would put me to sleep. Waterfalls has always been my sound of choice, which puts me to sleep quite well. Other sounds though are Ocean, Rain forest, Spring Rain, Summer Night, or Thunder.

Ocean in particular is a nice sound to play in a bathroom that has a beach theme (I've always wanted to do this). However when it comes to sleeping with Ocean I find it impossible because of the annoying seagulls that play softly while the waves break at shore. The birds chirping though would of been tolerable had the loop not been so obvious. I have insomnia pretty badly, and I would seriously stay up all night counting the loops if the thing was on.

Rain forest is basically a bunch of odd exotic animals making strange noises.

Spring Rain sounds like rain splatting on a sidewalk, the bad part about it though is that like the Ocean sound, I can find the loop, and it is annoying.

Summer Night is similar to Rainforest's, only there are more bugs making noises than anything else. Crickets chirping though gets on my last nerve, so I cannot tolerate this sound for too long.

Thunder is a sweet sound that I love playing. It has a realistic thunderstorm sound, the loop though is obvious, but still enjoyable nonetheless. You basically hear a storm rumbling and thunder cracking every now and then. I like this sound particularly because my room is in the basement, and I have no heard a thunderstorm in my room since moving down there.

Waterfall does not really sound like a waterfall, but it was a heck of a lot better than calling it white noise... which people fear now because of the movie, and paranormal shows. Hehe. Waterfall is white noise, only labeled more discreetly for the scardey cats out there.

Issues:
 
I like the Homedics Soundspa Classic, don't get me wrong, however there are a few issues that definitely need to be mentioned.

I personally like sleeping in complete darkness, but even when the Homedics Soundspa Classic back-light LED is set to low, it is still far too bright and actually lights my room up significantly. The projector that projects the time on the ceiling or wall is also far too bright to have on at night, rendering the feature pretty much useless for me. Those who don't like any light sources in their room while trying to sleep will also find the light that it gives off to be far too bright.

The only fix for this issue is to turn the machine around so the light does not face you, still though it illuminates walls around it, which can be bothersome.

This so far has been the only issue I have with the Homedics Soundspa Classic. Other than that the waterfall sound puts me to sleep with ease, and works like a charm. The volume can be adjusted with the turn of a dial, and the sounds can be adjusted with the push of a button. The radio also works pretty well, and comes with a wire for you to move around to get a better signal on your particular station.

Final Words:
 
All in all I'm happy with my purchase, and likely will continue to purchase Homedics Soundspas in the future.

I recommend this particular model only to those who will not be bothered by the bright illumination it will cause in the room at night. For all others, you can pick up the SS-2000 series that does not have the built in clock.