WITTI BEDDI 2 review
Since my review two years ago of the original BEDDI it had been my go-to alarm clock, so when I was informed that there was a newer version of the BEDDI that addressed some of the issues I’d had I thought I’d upgrade.
Well, I also thought I’d upgrade because as with most of the stuff we review I got it at no charge and my 5yo had been wanting a clock.
The BEDDI 2 fixes a glaring problem with the BEDDI – most notably if the power flickered the BEDDI lost the time, your alarms, and pretty much anything you wanted until such time as it synced up with your phone again.
While WITTI’s BEDDI 2 will not alarm if the power is off, but it will keep time and no sync is required to restore time and alarms.
The BEDDI 2 has a radio and thermostat. With the assistance of the BEDDI app it can simplify or complicate various routines. In the morning it can wake you up with a playlist, tell you what your commute to work is, the weather, turn on the lights, or perform a variety of user-defined actions. You can program these routines to the three smart buttons as well.
They’ve added a white noise generator to the thing with five built in sounds. None are particularly appealing to me but that’s personal preference. I’ve gotten spoiled by high quality massive choice noise generators.
The BEDDI 2 has a couple of USB charging ports on the back, one will charge at 2.1 amps, the other at 1 amp. It has an indent in the top to put your phone that will serve as a heads-up for the morning BEDDI notifications.
BEDDI 2 issues encountered
I’ll preface this with you’re probably not going to have these issues.
If there’s another BEDDI within Bluetooth range and your BEDDI 2 hasn’t registered yet you might be shuffled over to the older one (in my case occasionally the old one shows and the new one doesn’t and I’m forced into the config for the old one) – not a huge issue, just exit and re-launch or sign out and open again.
The snooze button doubles as a change-light-intensity button. During an alarm if you whack it you tend to change the brightness. Not a huge deal, but it would be nice if during an alarm event window that button only worked on a long press to change brightness. Perhaps if the brightness would return to pre-set levels after so long that would be cool too.
If your phone isn’t around none of the actions that smart buttons do can trigger. This is a Bluetooth smart alarm clock. If your phone locked up, died, etc forget waking up to your Spotify playlist and the coffee pot starting.
While you can now set an alarm time at the clock without an app, there does not appear to be a way to set the time unless your phone is connected. Probably not an issue unless you’re away and someone else wants to observe daylight savings time in your absence.
Worth it?
Coming in at about $99 for a Bluetooth speaker, indoor thermometer, radio, with some buttons that work with an app on my phone I’m feeling the cost is premium. I could probably build the thing out of other devices. I don’t think my design would be as stylish though.
I like the wake up light, the audio is premium I’ll give them that, and as an alarm clock the BEDDI 2 is actually pretty great allowing you to set up to four alarms (three of which you can set by day of week.)
However I feel that relying on a phone to handle so much of the task load for “Smart” makes this less robust than say a Google Home or Alexa. I’d really like to see the BEDDI brand go WiFi.
If you’re going to control IoT perhap being connected to the Internet might be useful. Plus even if your phone is working, did your task manager manage to kill your app? Did you get a new phone and now have to set it up again? Running an AirBnB and wanted to give the tenants a wow clock?
Spotify premium is also needed and the only supported music service at the moment. This has been the case for a couple of years, so I don’t expect it to change.
BEDDI 2 review wrap-up
If it sounds like I’m complaining, I sort of am. I think the BEDDI line has greatness coming, and it’s a really good device, but the BEDDI 2 is a series of minor improvements on the first one rather than a massive step forward in the realm of smart clocks. Really, WiFi it, throw in a smart assistant, externally connected temp sensor, you’ve got my money.
Overall good, but priced 30% higher than I’d feel it’s right at.
You can grab the BEDDI 2 on Amazon for $99.99
