I greatly appreciate your sympathetic response, and your offer to have your Verilux contact review my experience. The problem is, I really wanted another Verilux Rise & Shine lamp for the other side of the bed. I started out with one lamp just to see if I liked it. Well, I do like it — this fourth lamp at least, since it finally works without drifting off the station, etc. — but I’d hate to go through four more trips to the store just to find a second non-defective lamp for the opposite side of the bed!

Before I consider even TRYING to find another lamp, I would like an apology from Verilux. The owners’ manual states that customers should not return defective product to the store, yet that’s exactly what a Verilux customer service rep instructed me to do — knowing that his advice would require me to make a third 40-mile round trip to the store. There was no sign of sympathy whatsoever, and the response, which could have been as simple as offering to send me a replacement shade for defective lamp #2, was lacking such that it made it appear that Verilux offers no warranty support whatsoever — even though their warranty card states that they will cover defects in materials and workmanship for three years! The customer service rep also knew I was a first-time customer, but didn’t seem particularly interested in generating a good first impression, either (unfortunately, I did not write down his name).

In closing, if Verilux wishes to me to express an apology of some kind, they can do so (my user name @hotmail.com). If need be, I can provide the serial number for the first defective lamp I spoke of and the third defective lamp I returned (do not have the serial number for the second lamp, however.) I mention this only because I feel that whatever the store returns should be evaluated for the problems I indicated for the purpose of improving quality control. I sincerely hope, at least, that Verilux is committed to improving the product to spare other customers an equally poor first impression.

Wow, what a pain for you. Except for the low buzzing issue with the lamp on the low light setting, I love this product and continue to use it. So far I’ve not noticed any other defects.

I’m going to tell my contact at Verliux to read your post.

It took three tries on this lamp to get one that was “less defective” than all the rest. About the only problem I did NOT experience in what I am about to relate is the commonly reported issue wherein the light bulb buzzes when set to a low output level. I read on one site that screwing it in tighter helps. Maybe that’s why it has yet to surface.

The first lamp I purchased, via The Sharper Image, had a DOA internal speaker (and since it is mono there was no sound except when bypassing the internal speaker using the included pillow speaker). In addition, there was a pretty obvious nick in the plastic housing right next to the LCD display. Finally, the upper and lower halves of the lamp body were not neatly joined. As a result, the edges felt a bit rough and uneven.

The second lamp I received in exchange seemingly came out of the mold wrong. The lamp shade wouldn’t sit straight on the little lip that juts out below the socket. Not only did the lip appear somewhat off, but the shade itself was cockeyed. As if that wasn’t enough, the bright white shade also had a beige stain or blemish on it. The light bulb leaned at an angle because the socket was skewed. As for the cosmetic appearance, the edges you see illustrated in the photo show a plastic “face” in which the LCD panel is mounted. Those edges were rippled and pitted as if they ran one too many through the mold without cleaning it out (or it didn’t come out of the mold cleanly, in any event). There was also a scratch — once again straight out of the retail packaging. And since the lampshade is not the standard configuration, I had no choice but to put up the misalignment, call Verilux directly to inquire about a new shade/lamp, or make the 40-mile trip back to the store to return the lamp — again.

As per the instruction manual, I called to report the problem to Verilux. Since Verilux offers an impressive three-year warranty covering defects in workmanship and materials, I expected a sympathetic response. No such luck. I might have been able to ignore the misaligned bulb if they had simply sent me a new shade, but Verilux refused, and in contradiction to their own user manual, suggested I make a third trip to the retailer.

The third lamp — yeah, I know, you’re wondering why I didn’t just get my money back…. Well, I suppose it became a challenge of the “mission impossible” type. So back to the store I went. The third lamp looks much better constructed. However, in contrast to the first two, it took 20 minutes to get a nearby station to come in clearly since the antenna continually picked up static. Finally I picked up the Verilux Rise & Shine power adapter off the floor, and there I found my static culprit. The adapter is apparently leaking RF despite the use of a high-end Belkin surge protector! Oddly, walking in front of the lamp or pressing the lamp’s buttons seemed to trigger this static reaction in the FM tuner, as well. I’m not sure if the tuner card is just not quite as good or if there is a slight grounding fault, but on a lark I unplugged the lamp for 30 seconds as suggested by the user manual to “reset” the electronics and I have had less problem in the 18 or so hours since them — although I still had to reposition the FM antenna again today. By comparison, other clock radios in the same spot, which is located near a window, do not even require their antennas extended.

At this point, I am debating whether the issue is evidence of an impending failure, or just cause to request a new power adapter from Verilux. As for overall build quality, this third lamp doesn’t have any scratches, pits or ripples in the plastic — but it wobbles on level surfaces! In other words, it won’t sit flat. I had to put museum putty beneath it to keep it from rocking when I use the buttons.

Is this ridiculous, or what?

What is even more ridiculous is that Verilux offers a three year warranty. However, four days into my ownership experience they have already refused to remedy defects in the materials and workmanship, which the warranty card states the company will guarantee for three years! Translation? Don’t expect Verilux to help you if any aspect of this all-eggs-in-one-basket product fails.

Supposedly, the third time is the charm. As such, I doubt continuing to exchange it will result in a better product as I will just trade one problem for another, for another, for another. Poor quality control is apparently par for the course — which is sad because this is otherwise a fantastic, space-saving concept.

If you are still interested in this product, I’ll comment briefly on who I think will benefit most from this product. This is a lamp uses full spectrum light. People who are “night owls” and want to learn how to get their body clock readjusted to morning wake cycles will probably benefit most from this lamp (since full spectrum light will trigger hormonal changes in the brain to “reset” one’s internal clock). However, if you use it for reading at night it may do just the opposite — cue your brain to continue pumping out daytime hormones when it’s time to shut them off for the night. For this reason, you would do well to keep a conventional book light on hand, in my opinion. The second reason I mention this is because the bulbs are 12-volt proprietary “Xenon” bulbs that retail for $19.99 (and good luck trying to find them anywhere locally). They are rated at 2,000 hours, which may not last any longer than conventional bulbs (and you can’t substitute regular bulbs, either). Finally, this lamp may not grow annoyingly bright enough to wake you if you are the type who may turn away from it in your sleep. Although it is bright enough to read by — and easy on the eyes since it contains none of the usual yellow colorcast generated by incandescent lighting — the Verilux Rise & Shine lamp would probably work best in pairs (one at either side of the bed so that turning away from the lamp when set to wake is not so easy).

Despite my experience, I sincerely hope that Verilux will continue to offer this product. Having said that, I hope they read their customer reviews and take it to heart as a sort of “focus group” feedback session. This product, as it stands, requires fine tuning, to include a digital tuner, stereo speakers and, most importantly, better overall quality control. Combining so many convenient features in a single product — roughly 6.5″ wide at the base and 20″ tall — is an excellent concept, which deserves further development. I’m just not sure if the present street price of $149.99 is justified in view of the numerous quality control issues.

Well folks, this has been my first post to this site. I hope it spares someone the headache I went through. The only thing that spared me a wee bit of grief is the fact that I bought my Verilux Rise & Shine lamps locally. This is one product I would NOT buy over the Internet. As bad as three 40-mile round trips may sound, it beats paying $13 apiece to ship it back to some Internet retailer for an exchange.

Update 3/17: yikes… I forgot to get back to you with the info… On the dim setting, the light is still noticeable in a dark room. There isn’t an OFF setting for the backlight.

I like the rest of it, but I’ve never liked the idea of a glowing panel by my bed.

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/verilux_rise_shine_lamp

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