Groov-e Serenity Sleep Aid Review

Design and features

• It looks a bit like an Amazon Echo
• Clean design

Serenity looks a bit like a third-generation Amazon Echo Dot. It is small, circular, lying on a table and has several buttons on its surface. It is surrounded by an LED ring that acts as a night light when turned on.

It’s quite imposing and sits very nicely on the bedside table, even more so because it’s also wireless. I put mine there—next to my crib next to me—and didn’t think much of it until the lights were turned on.

In terms of ease of use, the Serenity is pretty simple: the power button and light at the bottom, volume buttons on either side, which are then flanked by the six volume controls, and the timer at the top. The controls take a while to get used to, but once you get to know the sounds and settings you want, you’ll remember where each button is and turn it on in the dark.

In terms of sound, Serenity comes with six different profiles: white noise, calm, relaxation, ocean, forest and rain.

To be honest, I found the sound quality of the speaker quite poor, especially with harsher noises, so I spent most of my time either listening to white noise or forest for sleep and relaxation. I’ll get into the quality in a minute, but I found that the speaker more often interfered with the already precious moments of sleep.

Once you find a sound you like, you can set a 15/30/60 minute timer to turn off the speaker after you hang it up. It’s a bit abrupt, but it’s similar to the rest of the group test. You can also leave it playing continuously by not setting a timer and leaving it on battery or plugging it in and leaving it on.

The LED ring can also be used as a night light or relaxation tool. You can turn this on as a steady white light or in a breathing mode that pulses every few seconds. I would have liked to change the color, but I will admit that the white light comes in handy in the middle of the night – especially to check if the baby is stirring. Frustratingly, there is no way to simply turn on the light. The volume can be turned down completely, but this requires an extra button press and the risk of noise.

Sound quality

• One of the more restrained machines tested
• Weak sound

Since the Serenity is designed for a flat surface—unlike the other white noise machines in our group test, which were all suspended—we placed the machine on a table next to our bed and the baby’s crib next to me. However, the distances are consistent with our other tests, just for ease of comparison.

Here’s what I found:

At its quietest, the Serenity is one of the quietest machines we’ve tested—only the Snuzcloud manages a lower minimum volume at all three distances. This makes it a good choice if you’re looking for some gentle co-sleeping.

But when we turn the dial up, the Serenity can produce a maximum volume similar to the loudest machine in our test group, the Ewan Deluxe, and the gap between the two volumes is the widest we’ve measured (a 26dB swing).

Although the Serenity has range, the sound quality is the poorest of the machines I’ve tested. Since the sound comes from a very small speaker on one side of the machine, I found that it muffled the sound much more due to vibrations placed on a smooth surface – especially noticeable in ‘relax’ mode. In some profiles, for example in the forest, you can also hear a loop signal, which can be distracting.

Security

• It can be quite loud
• No child lock

Since the Serenity is not designed for babies, there are a few things to consider when using it around little ones. These largely depend on placement and quantity.

Since it’s designed to be placed on a flat surface and can be quite loud, you’ll want to make sure it’s out of reach of little hands and at a volume that’s safe for them. Obviously, this device also doesn’t have a child lock, so that’s something to consider as well.

Just because it’s not made for kids doesn’t mean you can’t use it in a nursery setting – you just have to be careful, as with any electrical device.

Battery life

Serenity is equipped with a 400 mAh battery that provides up to eight hours of battery life. If you use the timer feature, you can use the white noise machine multiple times before you need to recharge it. However, if you want to keep it on all night, you can simply plug it in and use it at the same time to get you through the night.

It goes without saying that if you also turn on the LED lights, the battery life is less than eight hours.

Final thoughts

Serenity does the basics well – it’s compact, portable, wireless and rechargeable, so it’s easy to carry 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 your nighttime routines. However, it’s let down by its small, single-sided speaker, which creates noticeable static, especially in relax mode, and audible loops can be heard on profiles like forest that become distracting the longer you listen.

We cannot recommend the machine at full price, especially since it is sold in the same way as the Snuzcloud and Luna Dream Machine, but if the price were lowered, we might consider it.