[enoch_r]

Different things work for different people, I guess. I think the clocks have two points, both aimed at simulating the conditions we evolved in--one, they turn on gradually, and two, they wake you up with light rather than noise. I personally don't care about the first point--my timed light flips on while I'm still asleep, I wake up gradually, and at the point when, in a dark room, I'd probably come up from a doze, roll over, and go back to sleep, I notice it looks like daylight in my room and get up. In fact, I prefer this, because the sunrise alarm clocks I've used haven't been bright enough to feel like dawn instead of a lamp.

Yeah, you don't get all the benefits of a sunrise alarm clocks, and it might not work for everyone. It's a hack to get some of the benefits at a lower cost, that's all.