Could there be a kids’ sound machine out there that’s so good that even parents would want to use it?

We tried the SlumberCalm “Besties Bundle”, the two white noise machines from famous children’s sleep brand SlumberPod. The “bundle” 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 “are they worth it?” at the end.

Quick summary of what to know

  • The two “SlumberCalm” sound machines are high-quality sound machines for babies, toddlers and children, from famous sleep brand SlumberPod.
  • They’re both currently priced pretty competitively, and the best way to get them is to save and get the “Besties Bundle” 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 (I’m 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 they’re 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 child’s night stand, shelf or dresser, at only 5” high.

Cons

  • The SlumberCalm Portable White Noise machine is surprisingly heavy (10 ounces) and sort of clunky.

Features I used

First, I’ll 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

I’ll 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 you’ve 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 Dan’s 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 machine—yes, 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 Machine’s 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, it’s not overbearing at all. It’s indeed very soft and subtle, and as the SlumberCalm website proposes, it supports natural melatonin production through the amber hue.

I’ve been hesitant to use a night light for our daughter at her current age because they can draw so much attention if they’re bright, but this one, even being on a travel sound machine, is an excellent option with a nice design.

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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 wasn’t making any sounds or noise, and that was likely the reason why. I hadn’t woken up from the end of the noise because of the fan, luckily! It’s good to know that the timer works.

I’m not sure when I’d 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 didn’t 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 use—just being honest. These may be of interest to you, so I’ll talk about them in brief, here.

Additional nature sounds and lullabies

I’ve 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.

“Shh” mode (womb sounds)

We also haven’t tried the shh mode on the 2-in-1 nor the portable SlumberCalm. The only time I’ve 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 I’ll try it out.

Child lock

There is a child lock on the backside of the portable SlumberCalm. I didn’t 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, I’ve 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: it’s an inch shorter than our Hatch Rest, and it makes a difference in appearance. It does all the same things (except for one thing I’ll mention below) at a smaller total size.

Comparison to Hatch Rest for home

If I can be nit-picky and technical, I’m 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 “OK to wake” function (”Time to Rise”).
  • It does not use an app, which means you cannot control it remotely via your phone and that being the case, you can’t have multiple parents or caretakers controlling it and modifying the settings remotely.
  • No “sleep programs,” 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 “infinite colors” for nightlight settings (we haven’t used this—I don’t see the need for it), but I thought I’d 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.

SlumberCalm’s 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, they’re different in what they do and how they’re sized, but if you are focused on price alone, you will be getting great value with SlumberCalm products to solve your child’s sleep requirements.

Why we chose to try the SlumberCalm Besties

We’ve only tried one travel sound machine up til now: the Yogasleep Hushh® Compact Sound Machine. We like it a lot. Our toddler sleeps with it on vacation, and at her grandparents’ house, for a sleep environment as close as possible to the one at home.

At home, we use the Hatch Rest+, and we’ve 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 brand’s sound machine products were like. I’m 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 you’ll see what I mean when I’m saying that the Besties Bundle is a great deal: for less than you’d pay for a single Hatch Rest product, you can get two sound machines, and the portable SlumberCalm is highly useful.

If you shop elsewhere, I’ll let you know that the ONLY other place on the internet where I’ve 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 it’s the best way to try out both SlumberCalm products at a great price.