Hi, I’m Ethan Green from nosleeplessnights.com, and in this video I’m going to be doing
a review of the Renpho white noise machine.
Now, there's a lot to like about this one, for a reasonable price.
I paid £ 25.99 for it in the UK, which means that it's at the budget end of the spectrum
of prices for white noise machines.
But even though it's at the budget end, it's got a lot of features, a lot of sounds, a
great night light, an internal rechargeable battery, and also a headphone jack.
So there's a lot to like about this one.
So, let's pop over to the table, play through the sounds so you can listen to them.
I'll talk about the features and show you the night light in action, and then finish
with some pros and cons.
Okay, so let's start off by talking about powering the Renpho.
There's two options to power it.
It came with quite a short USB-C cable, so you can plug it in and then it will just stay
playing as long as you want it to.
However, you don't need that cable and that's because you can use it to charge up the internal
rechargeable battery, which is one of the great features of the Renpho.
It takes about two and a half hours to fully charge it, and then you'll get around seven
hours use.
But that will depend on the night light that you're using, whether you're using a night
light, and the sound choice, and the volume.
So really, I’ve found that you can get less than seven hours or a few hours more even.
So, let's have a listen to all of the different sounds, which is going to take a while so
if you don't want to listen to them skip forward a minute or a bit more.
So, we're going to listen to the white noise first, then the fan sounds, and then all the
nature and other sounds.
What I like about it is that they're split into three different buttons: white noise,
fan sounds, and the nature and other sounds that are not quite nature sounds, but they're
not white noise or fan sounds either.
You'll hear them as we go through.
So let's have a listen, and I’m not going to talk, I’m just going to play through
them all.
[ Sounds playing ]
Okay, so those were all the sounds.
Now, I’m not going to give you my opinion of all 29 because that would take ages.
And really, at the end of the day it's a personal preference which sounds you like or not, but
I will say a couple of things.
First of all, I really don't like that ‘ding’ sound when you get to the end of the sound
choice.
I think that's a totally pointless inclusion in any white noise machine.
It can kind of be a bit disturbing, and it's even more disturbing that it happens when
you're playing around with the volume and you reach the maximum volume as well.
So I don't know why they've included that.
And I know it's something that really annoys some people, so if you're one of those, this
isn't going to be the device for you.
Now, with the actual sounds I really like the white noise choices.
I think there's some really good deep white noise sounds in there and the speaker can
handle it as well.
It's a two watt speaker technically, but I find it does a really good job of coping with
the pink and the brown noise or whatever colors they are - they don't say in the manual.
The fan sounds as well are really good, I like the fact that it's got good variety and
the speaker really handles them well.
Now, as for the nature sounds and the music box sounds and so on, there's some really
good variety in there.
I like the fact that they've got crickets and bonfires, and thunder on its own or rain
as well on its own without the thunder if you prefer.
And there's some small waves, running water, dripping water, though I don't know why you
would listen to dripping water.
I’m not quite sure who does!
If you do, leave a comment below this video, I’d like to know who actually listens to
the dripping water sound.
You've got a shushing noise which might work for some kids and fetal sounds, although,
I’ve got to say if that was the sound of the womb that I had to listen to for nine
months then no wonder I turned out a bit weird because it's not a very nice sound to listen
to, I've got to say!
The lullaby and the music box sound good through the speaker as well.
So again, there's a few options to play to little kids, and there's lots of options as
an adult.
So I like the variety in the Renpho.
Okay, so now let me show you the volume range.
I'm going to turn it back on to a fan sound and we can have a listen to the volume.
[ fan sound ] And there you go.
You can hear that it's quite loud on the maximum volume, and actually, I didn't pick a sound
that would sound naturally really loud.
But yeah, this machine does get really loud with some of the white noise and some of the
nature sounds.
Perhaps too loud even - you really wouldn't want to listen to them on the maximum volume.
But again, it's that ‘ding’ sound when you reach the maximum volume.
I just don't think that any device should have that, any white noise machine.
Another feature that I do like about this one is that it's got the timers.
So you've got the button there which is going to change the timer options.
You've got 30, 60, 90, or continuous if you want to.
And there's a little LED which tells you which one it's on.
Another thing to mention with the timer is that it does have a fade out option, so once
it's reaching the end of the time it will slowly fade out in the volume.
And I think it's great to have auto off timers.
Some devices don't, which I always find a bit of a shame, so it's great that you've
got different timers, because at the end of the day it's not really necessary to listen
to white noise all night and it's probably not a great idea to play it to kids all night
either.
So, another feature that's great about this one is that you've got a headphone jack here.
It's a standard 3.5 millimeter pin.
It's great that you can use headphones with this machine because it means that you can
listen to it privately.
So if you're sleeping next to someone they don't have to listen to your white noise,
and if you've got someone else in the room with you during the daytime, they don't have
to listen to it either.
Okay, so now let's have a look at the feature which for me is the most exciting about this
device, which is the night light.
Here you can see some filming that I did yesterday to show the night light in action.
So what I really like about the night light is that you can change colors, which is very
unusual for a white noise machine.
Generally they just have a fixed night light or maybe a couple of brightness settings,
but this one has a whole range of colors.
I think there's seven different colors and white as well, so it's great that it's got
those options.
And if you want, you can have an option to cycle through all the colors gradually, you
can have it on a fixed brightness for any of the colors that you choose, or you can
have it on breathing mode, although personally I think the breathing mode is a bit odd.
I would have preferred it to change color gradually, or change brightness gradually
rather than doing a weird pulsing thing that it does at some point in the pattern.
You can also just select any of the colors that you want to use as a night light, and
then by holding one of the buttons you can adjust the brightness that you want.
So it really does give you a lot of flexibility to play with the night light.
Okay, so now let's talk about the night light buttons, which are a little bit confusing.
Fortunately, they explain it clearly in the manual, which you need to have otherwise you
need to watch this video so I can explain how they work!
So, here we've got the on, off or breathing mode button.
Breathing mode isn't really my favorite.
I would rather just keep it on personally.
This one here, you can hold it and release to get the brightness of the color selected.
It's kind of tricky to find the exact brightness, but once you get used to it, it's fine.
This one here, if you click it, it will go through the different colors, and if you long
hold it then it will go onto a gradient mode where it cycles through all the colors.
So those are the buttons, I think if you don't have the manual or you haven't watched this
video you could probably work them out, but it might take a little while, but yeah, it's
a little bit tricky.
But again, it's such a feature-rich night light that I guess it makes sense that they've
got a few different buttons and it takes a while to understand how to use them.
As for the weight, this machine is one of the heavier ones.
I think perhaps because it's got a good speaker, and so many sounds, and the internal rechargeable
battery.
It weighs 0.8 pounds.
As for the dimensions, it's 4.6 by 4.6 by 2.3, so it's kind of in the middle in terms
of the actual dimensions.
Okay, now let's talk about the pros and cons of the Renpho.
For me, I think the main pro for this one is the night light, even though it's a white
noise machine.
I do really like that nightlight - just the fact that it's got all those colors and you
can dim it as well.
It's a great feature and it's done really well on this device.
Another thing that I really like about this one is the fact that it's got so many different
sounds.
29 sounds is a great amount, you can find one that's going to be good at blocking out
the noise next door or outdoors, and hopefully one that you find relaxing to listen to as
well.
And you can experiment and have different sounds for different nights, which is great.
I also like the fact that the buttons are quite clearly labeled and you've got three
different buttons for the different sound choices, so it makes it quicker to find the
sound that you like.
It's good that it's got a few timers on it as well.
I think it's important for a white noise machine to have timers, but if you do want to play
it continuously then you can do.
I like the fact that it has an internal rechargeable battery.
I think that's a very convenient option for white noise machines, or you can play it plugged
in if you prefer to and then you don't need to worry about the battery running out.
It's good that there's no end to any of the loops or any clicking sounds so you can't
really tell when a loop begins and starts unless you listen to it a lot and you start
to learn where it is, which is more noticeable with certain sounds that aren't consistent.
[ water sound ] And actually, for a white noise machine the
speaker quality is pretty good in terms of the bass.
Quite often, these devices don't have much energy at the lower frequencies so they kind
of struggle to play thunder sounds and so on, and they really sound a bit shrill and
high pitched, but this one does a pretty good job of being more balanced in terms of the
sound that it produces.
Okay, now let's talk about the cons of the Renpho.
For me, I think the most important con is the fact that it makes that chiming sound
when it reaches the end of the selection.
Perhaps if you're new to the device then it might help you to understand “oh okay, I’ve
reached the end and now I’m going to go back to the beginning.”
But if you listen to it for weeks, or months, or even years on end, you just know.
So having that chiming sound which can be quite loud as well at the louder volume is
just totally unnecessary.
As for the sounds, there's a couple that I find quite difficult to listen to, especially
when the volume is turned up.
And that's because I’ve got tinnitus, and there's certain sounds, certain frequencies,
that if they're too intense then they really bother my ears.
For example, the nature sounds with birds I find really difficult to listen to when
the volume's turned up - it's just a bit too piercing for me.
And even though I said that I really like the night light, there's one thing that I
would complain about, which is the breathing mode.
I think there's just something about the way it kind of jumps a little bit in the brightness,
the intensity, that is a little bit disturbing.
I'd much rather it be done in a way that it just slowly cycles through the brightness.
So my final verdict of the Renpho white noise machine is that you get a lot for your money
with this device.
It quite pleasantly surprised me, I think it's one that kids or adults can use.
It's got a great night light, extensive sound choice, and the internal rechargeable battery.
Just be prepared to tolerate some slightly tricky buttons for the night light and that
annoying chime sound when you're selecting the sounds.
But if you can tolerate those gripes, the Renpho is a decent white noise machine for
a very reasonable price.
And that's about it for my review of the Renpho white noise machine.
I hope that you found this video helpful.
If you did, and you'd like to buy it then you can find a link in the description below
to do so.
And please also subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep in touch and see future videos.
Thanks again, this is Ethan from No Sleepless Nights.