Introduction
It’s a proven fact that babies respond well to white and pink noise after birth. As a first-time mum, it’s one of the reasons I’ve been looking into white noise machines in the hopes of improving my co-sleeping environment, but with so many options to choose from, working out what to buy is a bit of a minefield.
There are plenty of baby-specific options out there from the Ewan Deluxe, the SnuzCloud, and the Luna Dream Machine, but I wanted to try something that’s catered to adults too just to see if there are any major differences between the two, especially when it comes to things like sound quality.
That’s where the Groov-e Serenity comes in – a sleep aid, which is designed to give you and your family a restful night’s sleep. Unlike the others I am testing, this is the only noise machine that can’t be suspended, and acts more like a night light.
Design and Features
- Looks a bit like an Amazon Echo
- Unimposing design
The Serenity looks a little bit like a third generation Amazon Echo Dot. It’s small, circular, lays flat on a table, and has several buttons sitting on its surface. A LED ring surrounds it, acting as a night light when enabled.
It’s fairly unimposing and sits quite nicely on a bedside table, more so because it’s cordless too. I had mine placed there – next to my next-to-me crib – and didn’t really think much about it unless the light was turned on.
As for ease of use, the Serenity is pretty straightforward: the power button and light sits at the bottom, the volume buttons either side, which are then flanked by the six sound options, and the timer at the top. Getting used to these controls can take time, but once you know your preferred sounds and settings, you’ll memorise where each button is and be able to switch it on in the dark.
Sound-wise, the Serenity comes with six different profiles: white noise, calm, relax, ocean, forest, and rain.
I’ll be honest, I found the sound quality of the speaker quite bad, especially with harsher noises, so I spent most of my time listening to either white noise or forest for sleep and relaxation, respectively. I’ll elaborate on the quality in a minute, but I found the speaker disrupting my already precious moments of sleep more often than not.
If you do find a sound that you like, you can set a 15/30/60 minute timer to turn the speaker off once you’ve dropped off. This is a little bit abrupt, but similar to others in the group test. You can leave it to continuously play too, by either not setting a timer and relying on the battery or by plugging it in and leaving it on.
The LED ring can also be used as a night light or a relaxation device. You can either have this switched on as a solid white light or in a breathing mode, which pulsates every few seconds or so. I would have liked to have had the option to change the colour, but I’ll admit the white light is handy in the middle of the night – especially to check if the baby is stirring. Frustratingly, there’s no option to just turn on the light. You can turn the volume all the way down, but that requires extra button presses and the risk of noise.
Sound Quality
- One of the more restrained machines tested
- Weak sound
Since the Serenity is designed to be placed on a flat surface – unlike the other white noise machines in our group test, which could all be suspended – we placed the machine on a table next to our bed and baby’s next-to-me crib. The distances are consistent with our other tests, though, just to make comparisons easier.
At its quietest, the Serenity is one of the more restrained machines that we’ve tested – only the Snuzcloud manages a lower minimum volume across all three distances. That makes it a good option if you’re after something gentle for co-sleeping setups.
But when you turn the dial up, the Serenity is capable of outputting maximum volume readings similar to the Ewan Deluxe, the loudest machine in our test group, and the gap between the two volumes is the widest (a 26 dB swing) we’ve measured.
However, while the Serenity has range, the sound quality is the weakest of the machines I’ve tested. Since the sound is coming from a very small speaker on one side of the machine, I’ve found that there’s a lot more static clouding the audio due to the vibrations caused by being placed on a flat surface – something that’s particularly noticeable in ‘relax’ mode. There’s also audible looping on some profiles like forest, which can be distracting.
Safety
- Can get quite loud
- No child lock
Since the Serenity isn’t developed with babies in mind, you’ll need to make some considerations when using it around little ones. These largely come down to placement and volume.
As it’s designed to be placed on a flat surface and can get quite loud, you’ll need to make sure that it’s out of reach of little hands and at a volume that is safe for them. Obviously there’s no child lock on this device either, so that’s worth considering too.
Just because it’s not designed for children doesn’t mean you can’t use it in a nursery setting – you just have to be careful, as with all electrical devices.
Battery Life
The Serenity is packed with a 400mAh battery, which gives up to eigtht hours of runtime. If you’re using the timer function, you’ll get multiple uses out of the white noise machine before needing to recharge it. If you want it on all night, though, you can just plug it in and use it at the same time to get you through a full night.
It goes without saying that if you have the LED lights on too, the battery life will be less than eight hours.
Final Thoughts
The Serenity does the basics well – it’s compact, portable, cordless and rechargeable, making it easy to move around or take away. The LED light is a nice touch – especially when used as a night light – and the three timer settings give you reasonable flexibility for planning night time routines. However, it is let down by its small, single-sided speaker, which introduces noticeable static, particularly on relax mode, and there’s audible looping on profiles like forest that become distracting the longer you listen to it.
At full price, we can’t recommend the machine, especially since it retails similarly to the Snuzcloud and Luna Dream Machine, but we might consider it if the price was slashed.
How We Test
We test every white noise machine thoroughly in the appropriate setting. We check how loud the machine is, its sound quality, and safety – especially if it’s marketed for babies – and its battery life. We will always tell you what we find and we never, ever accept money to review a product.
- Used for over a week in a bedroom setting
- Thorough testing and checking safety compliance
How long does the Groov-e Serenity battery last?
It lasts approximately eight hours per charge, but you can enable continuous play by plugging it in overnight.
What sounds does the Groov-e Serenity play?
Ocean, Forest, Rain, Relax, Calm, and White Noise.
Is the Groov-e Serenity good for nurseries?
The Serenity is not designed with babies in mind. It can work as a general sound machine in a nursery, but it doesn’t have baby specific features that many products like Ewan Deluxe and SnuzCloud have.
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