SlumberCalm 2-in-1 Sound Machine & Portable White Noise MachineĀ (Review)
SlumerPod came out with a set of sound machines for little ones, and we tried the SlumberCalm sound machine for home, as well as the portable sound machine for travel. Do we recommendĀ them?
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Could there be a kidsā sound machine out there thatās so good that even parents would want to use it?
We tried the SlumberCalm āBesties Bundleā, the two white noise machines from famous childrenās sleep brand SlumberPod. The ābundleā consists of the Portable SlumberCalm travel sound machine, and the 2-in-1 Sound Machine and Night Light for home.
In this review, find out about the quality and value of these sleep products as I rate them both for sound quality, ease of use, aesthetics and the big āare they worth it?ā at the end.
Quick summary of what to know
- The two āSlumberCalmā sound machines are high-quality sound machines for babies, toddlers and children, from famous sleep brand SlumberPod.
- Theyāre both currently priced pretty competitively, and the best way to get them is to save and get the āBesties Bundleā with both, at a steep discount.
- Both have night light functionality, and you bet I tried it out for myself on the portable one when we went on vacation (Iām serious!).
- I find the travel sound machine to be a little big for what it is, but I think the SlumberCalm for home is a great size, if not impressively compact.
My main list of pros and cons
I found both SlumberCalm products to be very good at what theyāre marketed to do. I only really have one complaint.
Pros
- The SlumberCalm Portable Sound Machine has an easy-to-use volume slider that I found simpler to adjust than with other travel sound machines.
- The night lights on both sound machines work really well, and the 2-in-1 Sound Machine for home has 8 color choices of lights.
- I mainly use both sound machines for white noise, and I like the array of choices for different styles of white noise (as well as the nature sounds and music options).
- The 2-in-1 Sound Machine is a great compact size to have on a childās night stand, shelf or dresser, at only 5ā high.
Cons
- The SlumberCalm Portable White Noise machine is surprisingly heavy (10 ounces) and sort of clunky.
Features I used
First, Iāll chat through the features we used, specifically on my use of the SlumberCalm Portable Sound Machine on our family trip to Mexico City.
White noise sounds
Iāll be the first to tell you that I am convinced that white noise from a sound machine is how I got my baby to sleep through the night. And if youāve read my article on how I got sleep when I had a newborn, you may recall that I am a painfully light sleeper.
So when we packed for our trip to Mexico City, I considered that the city would be noisier with more ruckus than our house in the suburbs. Sure enough, my and Danās bedroom in the Airbnb faced a main street with motorcycle traffic and garbage trucks, so on the first night I set up the SlumberCalm portable sound machineāyes, for US!
Our daughter used the Yogasleep travel sound machine that we always pack along for trips.
I chose the lowest and dullest white noise option from the 10 (!!) white noise options on the SlumberCalm Portable Sound Machine. Believe it or not, it was a lovely addition of soothing white noise for overnight in our room, in addition to the soft lull of a strong tower fan. There were other white noise sounds to choose from, but I like the ones that are the deepest with the most bass.
Soft night light
I often go to bed before Dan, even at home, so I thought it would be helpful to use the SlumberCalm Portable Sound Machineās night light option to dimly light the floor space near the bed.
The night light on the portable SlumberCalm is circular, and takes the shape of the round circumference of the sound machine itself. It only has one brightness option: on, or off. Luckily, itās not overbearing at all. Itās indeed very soft and subtle, and as the SlumberCalm website proposes, it supports natural melatonin production through the amber hue.
Iāve been hesitant to use a night light for our daughter at her current age because they can draw so much attention if theyāre bright, but this one, even being on a travel sound machine, is an excellent option with a nice design.
Sound machine timer
One night during our seven-day trip, I accidentally pressed the 90-minute timer on my portable SlumberCalm. When I woke up in the morning, I wondered why the SlumberCalm wasnāt making any sounds or noise, and that was likely the reason why. I hadnāt woken up from the end of the noise because of the fan, luckily! Itās good to know that the timer works.
Iām not sure when Iād really use the 30-60-90 minute timers unless I wanted my child to wake up at the end of such a time frame during a nap. But, some families may want this option on their sound machines, and the 2-in-1 SlumberCalm for home has the function, too.
Rechargeable battery
Before we left for our trip, we charged up both our SlumberCalm sound machines with the USB-C wires they came with. Well, that was how we got them to turn on and show us what they could do for their very first spins around the block (in our house).
During our trip, we only used the portable sound machine if it was plugged in during the night. It was just convenient that way, and I didnāt have to worry about it dying, even though it has the capacity to last all night with 16 hours of continuous playback.
Note: to fully charge the portable sound machine from SlumberCalm, it can take up to 2.5 hours, if it were completely dead.
Features I did not use
Here are a few of the features I did not useājust being honest. These may be of interest to you, so Iāll talk about them in brief, here.
Additional nature sounds and lullabies
Iāve never been one to listen to the pitter-patter of rain, or birdsong, as I try to go to sleep, so I never introduced that to our toddler when she was a baby. We only use white noise options on sound machines.
āShhā mode (womb sounds)
We also havenāt tried the shh mode on the 2-in-1 nor the portable SlumberCalm. The only time Iāve heard this used was in the beginning months of our daycare, when the babies were young and it was the lull to get them to do nap time. If we have another child, maybe Iāll try it out.
Child lock
There is a child lock on the backside of the portable SlumberCalm. I didnāt use it (yet).
Product size
The only thing I want to say here is that the portable SlumberCalm feels a bit heavy. With our Yogasleep travel sound machine, Iāve clipped it to a baby carrier in the past, and it barely weighs anything. The portable SlumberCalm seems to be a lot more in weight, like more solid-feeling.
Regarding the 2-in-1 SlumberCalm for home, though, I have good news: itās an inch shorter than our Hatch Rest, and it makes a difference in appearance. It does all the same things (except for one thing Iāll mention below) at a smaller total size.
Comparison to Hatch Rest for home
If I can be nit-picky and technical, Iām going to let you know a few things that the SlumberCalm 2-in-1 Sound Machine & Night Light does NOT do, when compared to the leading Hatch Rest sound machine for home:
- It does not do an āOK to wakeā function (āTime to Riseā).
- It does not use an app, which means you cannot control it remotely via your phone and that being the case, you canāt have multiple parents or caretakers controlling it and modifying the settings remotely.
- No āsleep programs,ā as Hatch Rest calls them. This actually is a function we use with our Hatch Rest: it automatically turns on at the same time every night with the same white noise setting.
- The Hatch Rest allows āinfinite colorsā for nightlight settings (we havenāt used thisāI donāt see the need for it), but I thought Iād mention it.
Do I recommend it?
I do, yes! I think both the SlumberCalm products come at competitive prices, especially compared to what I have seen in the market of sound machines both for home and for travel/on the go.
SlumberCalmās sound machines are each less than the similar product from Hatch (the Hatch Rest for home, and the Hatch Rest Go for travel). Of course, theyāre different in what they do and how theyāre sized, but if you are focused on price alone, you will be getting great value with SlumberCalm products to solve your childās sleep requirements.
Why we chose to try the SlumberCalm Besties
Weāve only tried one travel sound machine up til now: the Yogasleep HushhĀ® Compact Sound Machine. We like it a lot. Our toddler sleeps with it on vacation, and at her grandparentsā house, for a sleep environment as close as possible to the one at home.
At home, we use the Hatch Rest+, and weāve used it since our child was a newborn. It was one of the most useful products from my baby registry.
So, I was open to trying an alternative, just to see if there were any better sound machines out there for any future children of ours.
Having been a SlumberPod customer in the past and having had SO many friends say great things about the original SlumberPod blackout sleep tent, I was inclined to try something totally new and different from the company.
The SlumberCalm Besties Bundle was the perfect way to see what the brandās sound machine products were like. Iām also sure that this is just the beginning of SlumberCalm: there are likely to be iterations and newer versions of these sound machines in the future.
How to get them
The best way to get SlumberCalm sound machines from SlumberPod right now is on the SlumberPod website at the SlumberCalm home page.
Here, you have the choices of the Besties Bundle, the 2-in-1 machine for home and the portable sound machine for travel. I think youāll see what I mean when Iām saying that the Besties Bundle is a great deal: for less than youād pay for a single Hatch Rest product, you can get two sound machines, and the portable SlumberCalm is highly useful.
If you shop elsewhere, Iāll let you know that the ONLY other place on the internet where Iāve found SlumberCalm to be sold is at a website called Pish Posh Baby; however, this site is not offering the Besties Bundle deal, and personally, I think itās the best way to try out both SlumberCalm products at a great price.