Progressive alarm clocks in Vancouver?

April 1, 2008 1:18 PM

Where can I buy a progressive alarm clock in Vancouver, BC, Canada? I would like an alarm clock that lights up or makes noise gradually, without having to buy it online.

The one I am interested in right now is the Peaceful progression alarm clock.
But if you have any other suggestions and you can buy it in Vancouver, by all means suggest it here.
Thanks.

posted by Iax to shopping (6 answers total)

I know you asked for ones you can buy in person, but my wife got the Zen Alarm Clock for me a couple years ago, and it's very, very pleasant to wake to. I just had to include it, in case other MeFi's who are willing to purchase online are interested and reading.

"The Zen Alarm Clock's long-resonating Tibetan bell-like chime makes waking up a beautiful experience — its progressive chimes begin your day with grace. When the Clock's alarm is triggered, the acoustic chime bar is struck just once … 3-1/2 minutes later it strikes again … chime strikes become more frequent over 10 minutes … eventually striking every 5 seconds until shut off (see the chime progression graph, below). As they become more frequent, the gentle chimes will always wake you up — your body really doesn't need to be awakened harshly, with a Zen Clock you're awakened more gradually and thus more naturally."
posted by blastrid at 2:51 PM on April 1, 2008

I'd like to take a moment to warn you away from anything from Hammacher Schlemmer. My wife bought a progressive alarm clock from them and it was a total piece of shit, right out of the box. Now, two months later, one of the numbers doesn't work anymore. Great stuff.
posted by nevercalm at 3:00 PM on April 1, 2008

I'm hesitant to derail further, but 3 years ago I got my wife a similar clock (same manufacturer) to the one that blastrid mentions above, and ...
a) we had 3 units that failed within 1-6 months of delivery, though the 4th (all warranty replacements) has been functioning reliably for almost 2 years. Customer service to get these replacements varied from ok to terrible, with a regular struggle to get them to reimburse the customs charges we got nailed with each time they shipped one.
b) As a light sleeper, the first, single 'chime' is enough to jolt me awake. The only 'progressive' part of it is the frequency of the chimes, not the volume.

Personally, I have an alarm clock that I plug my iPod into, and have a playlist of songs that start very quiet and gradually get louder. I love it, though I am interested in the clocks that gradually light up. Though I'm in a different part of Canada, I'm interested to see what responses you get.
posted by valleys at 3:15 PM on April 1, 2008

Seconding the Zen Alarm clock. Wakes me up better than anything I've ever had (except for the tapedeck on a timer loaded with 25 of the worlds greatest marches at full volume), and much more peacefully. Doesn't have the Light component, but that doesn't work for me anyway. Can't help much about B.C. retailers, but either contact the makers for a dealer. Or make the rounds of whatever neighborhood is full of handcarved wood organic incense burning meditation aromatherapy jewelry stuff - if you pass a place called PlanetWeavers or some such, I bet they carry it.
posted by bartleby at 4:14 PM on April 1, 2008

At the risk of this becoming a thread about the virtues of the Zen alarm clock: I had one in the past and did like it except for the fact that it used batteries only and it sucked batteries like there was no tomorrow. that was more than 5 years ago, so maybe they are different nowadays. Or, just get some decent rechargeable batteries. Sorry, no help about vancouver locations, but they are made by Now and Zen.
posted by hazel at 7:03 PM on April 1, 2008

Any London Drugs carries RCA alarm clocks that have a "Graduwake" feature.
RCA AM/FM Clock Radio
Not fancy but you could go and check if it does what you want.
posted by metaname at 12:17 AM on April 2, 2008