Sleep trainer clocks: the Gro Clock and the alternatives, checked

Your toddler is at the bedroom door before six, and a friend has already told you to get a Gro Clock.

That is fair advice. A sleep trainer clock, often called an ok-to-wake clock, uses a picture or colour to show a child who cannot read yet whether it is still night or time to get up, at a time you choose. The Tommee Tippee Groclock does that, and it was on sale when we checked. Another clock is worth it only for a specific reason, and the five checks below show what each clock gives you.

How we compared: on 28 September 2026 we read each manufacturer’s UK product page, its manual where we found one, and our own listings. We tested nothing, so this compares what the pages state, not how the clocks behave at 5am. A clock qualified if it was sold in the UK and its own page stated a stay-in-bed and time-to-get-up signal for children who cannot read yet. The Purflo Snoozee comes up a lot in search, but its own page does not set out the features we compare; for Hatch and Angelcare we could not confirm a UK price or availability. We sell HaloCat, SunMoon, BearLume and Sunora; they are marked as ours and held to the same checks.

Not sure a clock will help at all? Start with whether ok-to-wake clocks work.

What the Gro Clock does

Tommee Tippee’s Groclock product page describes a clock that shows the passing of time with colours and symbols; its support page adds that Ollie the Owl wakes up at the time you set. You set sleep, nap and wake-up times, and the LED display turns up, down or off. There is an optional alarm, an optional digital clock face for later, and a key-lock like the one on a mobile phone.

Two details are easy to miss. The Groclock support page says the adaptor plug is not included, although the 1.8m micro-USB cable works with most phone-charger plugs. In a power cut the clock freezes its settings, so after a long cut the time is out by the length of the outage and needs resetting.

On 28 September 2026 it was £25.99, down from £39.99.

The job, and the extras

A sleep trainer clock has one job. These five checks cover it, and they work on any listing:

1. A picture or colour a pre-reader can read. An owl, a sun and moon, or a colour change. Numbers mean nothing yet.
2. A wake time you set. The signal should change when you decide, not at a factory default.
3. A face that dims to off, or close to it. A clock that lights the room at 2am is doing a job nobody asked for. Brightness matters more than the colour of the face, as our guide to night light colours explains.
4. Power that copes with the night and with being unplugged. A cable, a rechargeable battery, or a memory backup battery, usually a small coin cell that keeps the time and settings but does not run the clock.
5. A lock, plus placement out of reach. A key-lock (or child lock) stops the buttons changing the settings. Where the clock sits does the rest, because locks are not always enough.

Everything else is an extra: alarm sounds, more colour phases, night-light colours, white noise, apps. Fine if you want them, but each is one more thing to set and one more button a curious child can find. Given the choice, we would take a clock that meets all five checks over one with more extras and a gap in the five.

How the clocks compare

Prices and features are as stated on each manufacturer’s page, or our own listing, on 28 September 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not say, not that the feature is missing.

Which one suits which home

Tommee Tippee Groclock. The default, and at its current price cheaper than any of our clocks here. On Tommee Tippee’s own pages it covers the picture, the wake time, the dim-to-off and the lock. Power is the weak spot: budget for a USB plug if you have no spare, and expect to reset it after a long power cut.

Zeepy 2-Phase. Of the clocks we looked at, the lowest price with both a stated lock and a backup battery. Zeepy’s page does not say how the wake time is set or whether the glow turns off, so check both before buying.

Zeepy 4-Phase. For no cable by the bed: its page lists up to five days on a charge and a silicone jacket. Four colour phases are more to learn than night and morning, and wake-time setting and dimming are not stated.

Groov-e GV-CK01. The lowest price we found. Between Groov-e’s page and its manual it covers the picture, the wake time, the backlight to off and a coin cell that keeps the settings if unplugged (they reset after a long unplug). Against that, there is no plug in the box, the manual asks for a 5V/1A supply and no fast charger, no lock is stated, and it was listed as back in stock soon.

HaloCat (ours). The only clock of ours with a stated lock: the HaloCat listing says you set the routine, then lock the settings. At £49.90 it costs more than the Gro Clock even at full price, and the listing does not say the display goes fully off.

SunMoon (ours). A sun and moon picture, close to the Gro Clock idea. At £67.90, SunMoon is the priciest here, and its listing does not state a lock or how the cue time is set, so check both before relying on it.

BearLume (ours). The extras pick, for a family who want white noise in the same device. BearLume runs on a rechargeable battery; the listing does not state how the wake time is set, how dim it goes, or a lock.

Sunora (ours) is a different kind of clock: a sunrise light that starts brightening about 20 minutes before its alarm, rather than a picture that says stay or go.

Three things to check on any listing

Is a plug in the box? The Gro Clock and our Sunora say the adaptor is not included, and Groov-e’s box list has a cable but no charger. Several listings, ours included, do not say either way.

What happens if it is unplugged? Every other clock in the table lists a backup or rechargeable battery; the Gro Clock freezes and needs resetting after a long cut. SunMoon and the Groov-e use a coin cell, and neither page says whether it can be reached, so check the compartment is secure. Our guide to lights for a child’s bedroom has the full button-battery and cable checks.

Is a lock stated, and where will the clock sit? One US review site found its young testers opened one clock’s "concealed" button panel in under 20 seconds, and a parent on Mumsnet wrote that a Gro Clock could be reprogrammed even with the child lock on. The manuals point to placement: The Gro Company’s classic manual says to practise the key-lock where your child cannot see and never to let them play with the power unit or lead, Groov-e says to keep the clock out of reach, and our listings say to keep the cable and power source away from the sleeping area. So put the clock where your child can see it from bed but not reach it, with the cable running away from the bed.

Keep the Gro Clock or switch?

If the trouble with your Gro Clock is setting it up or getting it to reset, fix that first with our Gro Clock guide. Switch only for a named reason: a battery so the settings survive being unplugged, no cable by the bed, or a sound you want in the same device. More features on their own are not a reason.

If the clock is doing its job but mornings still start at five, the clock may not be the problem. Our guide to a toddler waking at 5am goes through the causes a clock cannot fix.

Choosing yours

On the tightest budget, the Groov-e if you can do without a stated lock and it is back in stock, or the Zeepy 2-Phase if you want one. For the simplest route, the Gro Clock and a spare phone plug. For no cable by the bed, the Zeepy 4-Phase. From us, HaloCat, if a stated lock matters and you are happy to pay more. Our children’s clocks and night lights are all in one place.

References

1. Tommee Tippee. Groclock Sleep Trainer Clock. Product page, UK. Accessed 28 September 2026.
2. Tommee Tippee. Groclock Sleep Trainer Clock Support. Support FAQ, UK. Accessed 28 September 2026.
3. The Gro Company. How to use your groclock. Manual for the classic mains-adapter model, 2010. Accessed 28 September 2026.
4. Zeepy. Zeepy 2 Phase Toddler Sleep Training Clock, USB Power, Slumber the Sloth. Accessed 28 September 2026.
5. Zeepy. Zeepy 4 Phase Toddler Sleep Trainer Clock, Kip the Kitty. Accessed 28 September 2026.
6. Groov-e. Sleep Trainer Alarm Clock GV-CK01. Product page. Accessed 28 September 2026.
7. Groov-e. GV-CK01 user manual. PDF. Accessed 28 September 2026.
8. BabyGearLab. The Best Toddler Clocks. US review site, updated 2024; covers US products. Accessed 28 September 2026.
9. Mumsnet. A Gro clock but not a Gro clock. Parent forum thread, June 2022; individual experiences, not tested findings. Accessed 28 September 2026.