When I was creating my baby registry, every single mom I spoke to recommended the Hatch. “Get the Hatch!”; “The Hatch is amazing — you need it!” I was intrigued. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was just an overhyped “trendy” product, and if I could get the results with my regular sound machine. But curiosity won out, and I added the Hatch Rest 2nd Gen to my registry. After three months, I have some thoughts.
Specifications
- Price: $59.99.
- Colors: One.
- Dimensions: 4″D x 4″W x 6.6″H.
- Weight: 0.85 lb.
- Trial period: 30 days.
- Warranty: One year.
- Wi-Fi enabled: Yes.
- Shipping: Free.
- HSA/FSA: Available.
Pros
- Sleek design.
- Can control it through the app.
- 19 free sounds available.
- Smart nightlight cues for sleep and wake.
Cons
- Many features behind subscription.
- Isn’t portable.
First Impressions
My first impression of the Hatch Rest 2 was that it was pretty unremarkable. It’s sleek and modern, which makes it look great on your nightstand or your baby’s nursery. However, it doesn’t look any different than most sound machines I have found online. It’s small enough not to take up a lot of space but large enough for the nightlight feature to make a significant difference to the ambiance of the room.
Product Features
While the app is where the magic truly happens with the Hatch Rest 2, the device has a few features to note.
The Hatch Rest features speakers at the top and a unique touchscreen, which allows you to turn off the machine and switch between different settings. The base of the Hatch Rest 2 is solid white and has an LED light that displays the current time. Overall, the design is simple but efficient.
Using the app, you can play soothing sleep sounds through the Hatch. The machine also has a smart night light, is Wi-Fi enabled, and features Time-for-Bed and Time-to-Rise cues, which we will discuss in more depth later.
With the free version of the app, you can listen to around 15 different sleep sounds, which you can set up to different light options to create a personalized sleep experience.
Let’s talk about the features you can discover on the app, which directly connect to your Hatch. You can create personalized routines to help your little one fall asleep and cues to help them wake up. These routines feature sound, light, and duration. You can choose different times of the day and week for each routine. The app has recommendations you can follow based on your child’s potential developmental needs if you find setting it up yourself too daunting.
With a subscription, you can access premade routines to help your little one ease into sleep. Presets include Win Your Bedtime Battles, Starlight Stories, Rhythmic Wind Down, and Sleepy Songs & Stories.
Other features behind the paid subscription include lullabies, instrumentals, customer favorites, sleep stories, guided rest, soundscapes, music, and seasonal stories. One of my favorite features is the Tuck-Ins. Here, you create a goodnight message to help soothe your little one to sleep.
Hatch Rest 2nd Gen
Testing
I had to test the device for several months to see if the Hatch worked for my newborn. A baby’s sleep schedule changes drastically within the first three months of life, so it was important to see if the Hatch Rest 2 could keep up with her while also keeping me sane at night. While it didn’t help me get any extra sleep (unfortunately), I do think it helped me get my daughter to bed more efficiently.
Setup
The initial setup of the Hatch Rest 2 is straightforward. You don’t have to assemble anything—just pull it out of the box and plug it in. However, downloading the app and connecting the Hatch did require some extra time. I recommend setting this up well in advance of your little one’s bedtime.
Connecting the Hatch Rest 2 wasn’t all that difficult, but depending on your connection, it may take some trial and error. We have two different Wi-Fi networks, and the Hatch wouldn’t connect to our default one, so I had to switch to the other one for it to connect, which was a bit of a hassle to figure out. Once it connected, though, the rest was setting up the Hatch on the app and personalizing it to fit my needs. However, it is important to note that some users have reported connectivity issues and app bugs that affect usability. I didn’t experience any bugs.
Sound Quality and Variety
I love that the Hatch has 19 free sounds you can choose from, but I hate that the rest are locked behind a pay wall. However, the songs available without the subscription are quite useful. The songs are:
- White Noise
- Brown Noise
- Ocean
- Rain
- Birds
- Crickets
- Campfire Lake
- Wind
- Water
- Dryer
- Vacuum
- Fan
- Forest Lake
- Calm Sea
- Thunderstorm
- Heartbeat
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Brahm’s Lullaby
- Rockabye Baby
I tested each available sound for quality and effectiveness and appreciated how much variety there was in the free song options. My daughter absolutely loved the Brown Noise, and I found it was the best for keeping her asleep. I used to try using white noise sounds on my phone, but the sound was never realistic enough. The Hatch Rest 2 provided smooth sounds and natural noises that sounded remarkably realistic, including the rain. One morning, I put on the bird sounds, and it sounded so real that I thought it was coming from our backyard!
My personal favorites were either the rain or the thunderstorm. Another thing I loved about the sound machine is that it helped drown out the noise of traffic outside the house, since we live on a relatively busy street.
As for playback duration, the sounds looped seamlessly, so there wasn’t a point where I could tell it started over. (If I heard this, I absolutely would not have been able to go to sleep.) When selecting a duration for the sound, you can choose up to 24 hours or let it play continuously until you manually turn it off. I set it to play continuously, and sometimes, I forgot to turn it off, and it just stayed on in the bedroom all day.
Nightlight Functionality
One of the best features of the Hatch Rest 2 is the nightlight. With the color wheel, you can literally choose any possible color you can think of and a brightness of up to 100%. I loved to have the light shine red, as I read somewhere it might help babies sleep. Unfortunately, the nightlight at 100% wasn’t very bright (depending on the color). I wish it would get just a little bit brighter so I could still see text on a page while reading to her at night.
The lights were easily accessible through the app, making it a breeze to switch up the colors, turn it off or on, or lower the brightness. This would likely be a great option if you’re trying to help your toddler sleep with a dimmer nightlight and want to wait until they fall asleep to adjust it.
App Usability
I believe the most important factor to test was the app’s usability, considering the app completely controls the Hatch Rest 2. The app was easy to navigate, although it was a bit confusing at first. Setting up presets for the Touch Ring on the Rest was challenging for me. The top part of the sound machine, which helps you turn it off or on, can also switch between saved routines. When you add a step, you can choose between Time-to-Rise, Time-for-Bed, and Custom sound or light.
You can also create your own custom schedule or, with the subscription, add a Hatch+ schedule informed by pediatric sleep experts. Under the Explore tab, you can access Hatch+ sounds, Sleep sounds, and Alarms. The alarms are sounds you can play during one of the two Time-for features, with options like Bedtime Bird Calls, Wind Chimes, or a character saying good night/good morning.
I wanted to test the responsiveness of the remote commands and real-time adjustments to the actual Hatch machine. When I went to change the color of the Hatch through the app, it took about one second to switch, and it also did so with a fading effect, making it seem less aggressive. Each command takes about a second to trigger on the Hatch, making it easy for quick adjustments to a nighttime routine.
During my three-month use of the app, I did not encounter any crashes, glitches, or connectivity issues. We even lost power one night during a major thunderstorm, and the app automatically reconnected when the power was restored.
Time-for-Bed and Time-to-Rise Feature
Despite not using it yet, I wanted to test out the two time features. When I clicked on the option to create a new Time-To-Rise routine, it showed me two different steps. The first one is called “Stay-in-Bed” and has a default 30-minute duration. You have the option to change the sound to something different than their nighttime sound, or you can choose “Keep Playing Sound.” This option helps avoid early wake-ups with no interruption to their sleep.
When that time is done, the Hatch will transition into Time-to-Rise. You have the option here to keep playing the same sound and focus on changing the Hatch’s color. The default time listed is one hour. This routine is supposed to help your little one wake up slowly. You can also choose a start time for this routine, with a default set to 7:00 AM.
Time-for-Bed is similar. The first step is “Wind Down,” which features the sound Calming Melody, the color Orange for the light, and a duration of 30 minutes as the default options. Then, it switches to Sleep, which plays continuously, with a default setting of White Noise for the sound and Red for the light color. This makes the transition from orange to red softer. You also have the option to add this schedule to the Touch Ring for easy access.
I tested both features and found they worked seamlessly between both steps. It will take a lot of trial and error to find the sweet spot for your child and what works for them, which might make this option feel daunting. With so many light colors, sounds, and durations, you’ll never quite find what works for your house. I still appreciated having this feature for when my daughter has a more unique sleep routine.
Hatch Rest 2nd Gen
Not Bad for the Price
Overall, I do think it’s a good little sound machine. It’s pretty inexpensive, at just $60 for the machine. The app is technically free, but I find the subscription a huge con for me. I am exhausted with companies constantly having subscriptions for their devices — it feels like we have countless gadgets at home that require some service for them to continue working. However, I appreciate that many song options are available for free on the app. I have not found any reason yet to subscribe.
The sound quality is excellent, and I love having so many color options. Do I think a regular sound machine might still work for you? Yes. However, having both the sound and light on one device is convenient, and the personalization makes it stand out compared to other sound machines or night lights on the market. I would recommend the Hatch to any parent wanting to have a small, convenient device to help their little ones fall asleep better at night.
