I recently got a new mini Bernedoodle puppy and he is cute and fun and adorable… except when he is whining in his crate. Unfortunately, this dude is the lightest sleeper I have ever shared a room with. If I wake up at 2:30am to reach for a drink of water, this dog is up and will cry until 3:00am. If he’s taking an afternoon nap in his crate and the TV is too loud, I’m bound to hear his cries through the walls.
A great solution to this problem, as I have found, is using white noise. If I put on a white noise podcast he will nap for hours without interruption. However, putting on a podcast involves leaving my phone or laptop in his room during the only time when I’m not worried about keeping an eye on him.
Naturally, the iLive White Noise Machine with Night Light seemed like the perfect gadget to try. This machine is a standalone white noise emitter that plugs into the wall. It’s just slightly taller than a 3rd generation Amazon Echo Dot, and has a ring that emits a soft light.
Everything on the device is customizable with 25 different sounds to choose from, 10 different light colors, and 5 different timing options. With the iLive White Noise Machine on my bedside table, I hoped to put an end to the incessant cacophony coming from the bed of my 10-week-old, too-cute-to-do-any-wrong pup.
Sound Quality
The first thing I wanted to see when I turned on the iLive White Noise Machine was that it would be loud enough to drown out any other sounds that may disturb my dog. I was very pleased to hear that this device can get plenty loud. It’s not just loud though. I would be happy to use it as quiet background noise while reading a novel, or as defense against my noisy neighbor’s late night jam sessions.
The quality of sound coming from the speaker is nothing special, but I didn’t expect it to be. Background noise is not usually intended to be focused on. It gets worse above a certain threshold of volume, but unless you’re worried about counting the splashes of each individual raindrop on the pond at 80 decibels, it will probably serve you well.
Night Light
While the night light feature was not my draw to this product, I did find some use for it. My little puppy does go to sleep before I do, and leaving the night light on was a great way to be able to find my way to my own bed in the dark without using the flashlight on my phone.
The warmer colors are very soothing, and I could them being used during meditation. The night light is also dimmable, so you can set it to the brightness of your choosing. In terms of brightness, I would say that it doesn’t fill up the whole 200 square feet of my bedroom, but keeps one corner pretty well lit.
Customization
Likely my favorite part of the iLive White Noise Machine is the number of customizable features. I loved being able to change the type of white noise I listened to from static to rainfall to piano music.
The machine also allows the user to set the timer for the white noise to a predetermined number of hours or continuous. These features along with volume, brightness, and light color, really allow each user to customize their space however they want. (Also I should mention that it is possible to have both a light with no noise, and noise with no light).
Ease of Use
I have a hard time thinking about how this product could be any easier to use. It is very straightforward, and I don’t think I even looked at the instructions once. It plugs in, then the buttons are very intuitive. I suppose if there was one thing that I had to complain about it would be that you do have to scroll through all 25 sounds in a list going back and forth, but I think that’s rather picky.
Overall
As a standalone white noise machine, the iLive White Noise Machine with Night Light completely met all my expectations. This little device does quite a good job of controlling the ambiance of a small, personal area. It has become a habit to use every time I go to bed, and my puppy sleeps better too.
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