Geemarc vs Bellman & Symfon: Deaf Alarm Clocks Compared (UK Prices)

Geemarc vs Bellman & Symfon

Short answer: Geemarc Wake 'n' Shake Star at £54.98 and Bellman & Symfon Alarm Clock Pro at £106.46 both reach 95–100 dB with a bed shaker included. You're paying roughly double for the Bellman, and what you get is battery backup and a system you can expand to the doorbell and smoke alarm. For waking up for work or school, the Geemarc is the sensible buy.

Before you pay anything: most of this qualifies for VAT relief, and if you need it for work, Access to Work may fund it entirely. That section is at the bottom and it's the part most likely to save you real money.

And a second device most people here end up wanting: something that works away from that bed — hotels, sofas, a partner who doesn't need to be woken. That's covered at the end.

Full disclosure: we make Silent Wake, a wrist-worn vibration alarm. It is not the right primary alarm for most people reading this page, and we explain why. Prices from Connevans and manufacturers, checked 7 August 2026.

UK prices and specifications

A travel option worth knowing: the Geemarc Wake 'n' Shake Voyager runs on batteries (2×AA + 1×AAA), does up to 75 dB across two levels, and includes vibration. Connevans lists it; the current price wasn't retrievable when we checked.

Read the decibel numbers carefully

Bellman's 100 dBA is measured at 10 cm. Geemarc's 95 dB is measured at 1 metre. Those aren't comparable — sound drops roughly 6 dB each time distance doubles — so measured at the same distance the Geemarc is likely the louder alarm despite the smaller headline. Bellman's own page also quotes 94 dBA at 30 cm, which is the more honest figure.

Manufacturers in this category choose the measurement distance that flatters the number. Always check what distance a dB figure is quoted at.

That said: if you're on this page, loudness may not be the spec that matters. For a profound hearing loss the audible alarm is irrelevant and the shaker does all the work — which is why every clock here includes one, and why shaker strength matters more than speaker volume.

Where Bellman earns the extra £50

Battery backup that actually works. Mains with rechargeable AAAs included, and it keeps working through a power cut. The Sonic Bomb's backup preserves the time but not the alarm. If your power is unreliable, or you simply cannot miss a morning, that's a real difference.

It's a system. Bellman's Visit range adds transmitters for the doorbell, telephone, smoke alarm and door contacts, all alerting through the same receivers. If you're equipping a home rather than solving one alarm, Geemarc doesn't offer that path.

One caution: the Bellman Pro's page carries a photosensitive-seizure warning for its flashing LEDs. If anyone in the household has photosensitive epilepsy, read it before buying anything with a strobe.

Where Geemarc wins

Price — £54.98 against £106.46 for a clock doing the same core job. Availability — Geemarc distributes widely in the UK and also rebrands the American Sonic Alert "Sonic Bomb" for this market. And it's enough: for waking up on time, a Wake 'n' Shake Star with a shaker under the pillow does what the Bellman does at half the price. Spend the difference on a second shaker or a smoke alarm.

Where to buy — and the 10% to RNID

RNID doesn't run its own shop. Their alarm clock pages route to Connevans, which donates 10% of qualifying purchases to RNID. So buying there costs no more and funds the charity. Argos stocks none of these brands. Amazon UK carries some but doesn't administer VAT-relief declarations at checkout the way a specialist retailer does.

VAT relief — read this before you buy

If you're chronically sick or disabled and buying for personal use, you should not be paying VAT on this equipment. HMRC's guidance explicitly lists "vibrating pillows for deaf or hard of hearing people" among eligible goods.

Who qualifies: a physical or mental impairment with a long-term, substantial adverse effect on everyday activities. You do not need to be registered disabled and you do not need to receive any benefit.

What you do: complete a written eligibility declaration for the supplier — HMRC publishes a standard form, and Connevans builds it into the checkout as a tick-box. Nothing goes to HMRC. One declaration per supplier.

On the Bellman Pro that's £106.46 versus £88.72. On the Geemarc Star, £54.98 versus £45.82.

Source: gov.uk — VAT relief on certain goods if you have a disability.

Access to Work — if you need it for a job

If you're employed or self-employed and your hearing loss affects your work, Access to Work can fund specialist equipment, and waking/alerting equipment is the kind of thing that gets funded.

Being precise: gov.uk doesn't list "alarm clocks" by name. It funds "specialist equipment and assistive software," assessed case by case, and RNID's workplace-adjustment guidance references vibrating alarms and pagers as examples. So it's a case you make, not a guaranteed line item.

Eligibility: 16+, in paid work or starting within 12 weeks, living and working in England, Scotland or Wales. No income or savings limit for employees; self-employed need turnover of at least £6,500/year. No formal diagnosis required. Northern Ireland has a separate scheme via nidirect; civil servants use their employer's scheme.

Applying: online at gov.uk or by phone on 0800 121 7479 — BSL video relay available, as is Relay UK (18001 then the number). Expect to pay upfront and claim back.

A £106 clock that costs you nothing is a very different decision.

Sources: gov.uk — Access to Work, RNID — Access to Work.

The device that goes where the clock can't

Here's the honest version from a company that sells wrist alarms.

A bedside clock with a shaker should be your primary alarm. A shaker under the mattress moves your whole body; a wrist band moves your wrist. The clock is mains-powered with a visible display, so it can't quietly run flat. If you're buying one device and you're deaf, buy from the table above, not from us.

But a mains-powered clock the size of a book solves exactly one room. A wrist band covers the rest, and this is where most people on this page eventually get caught out:

• Travel and hotels. The single most common place deaf travellers miss a morning. A Bellman Pro doesn't go in hand luggage; a wrist band does.
• Sleeping anywhere that isn't your bed — a sofa, a friend's spare room, a hospital chair, a bunk.
• Not waking a partner. A shaker shakes the mattress, so it wakes both of you. A wrist band wakes exactly one person — the only device that does.
• Daytime alerts — medication, appointments — with nothing anyone else can hear.

Silent Wake is built for that job: no speaker, three escalating intensity levels, two independent alarms, about two weeks per charge and 30 minutes to refill — the module slides out of the strap into any USB port, so there's no cable and no adaptor to pack. Free worldwide shipping with no minimum, delivery internationally, and 100 days from the day it arrives to send it back.

The reason to buy that second device from us rather than improvise one is mundane and practical. A phone under the pillow has to be charged every night and a smartwatch needs charging far more often than a fortnight, which is awkward when the device only earns its keep while you're asleep and wearing it. Up to 14 days per charge means a week away needs nothing packed but the band itself, and because there is no speaker in it, a shared hotel room or a partner on a later shift stays undisturbed. We ship internationally, which matters when the trip is the reason you're buying in the first place. And since nobody can tell in a fortnight whether a device reliably wakes them, the 100-day money-back guarantee runs from the day it lands — if it doesn't wake you, email us and we refund it, rather than leaving you arguing over a 30-day window.

Silent Wake — the one that travels

Pocket-sized, no mains, no cable, no speaker. 100 days from delivery to decide, support@eivoi.com answers within 24 hours, and every verified review is one you can open and read in full before you spend anything.

It is not a replacement for a bed shaker — we'd rather sell you the right second device than the wrong first one.

See the current price →

Common questions

Is the Geemarc Wake 'n' Shake loud enough for someone who is profoundly deaf?

For a profound hearing loss, loudness is largely beside the point — the shaker does the work, which is why every clock in the table above includes one. The Geemarc Star's 95 dB is quoted at 1 metre and the Bellman's 100 dBA at 10 cm, so at a matched distance the Geemarc is probably the louder of the two despite the smaller headline number. But if you can't hear the speaker at all, that whole row is decoration. What actually decides it is how hard the shaker moves the mattress, and that is the specification these manufacturers say least about.

Should the bed shaker go under the pillow or under the mattress?

Both work, and they fail in different ways. Under the pillow puts the vibration closest to your head, which is the most noticeable placement, but it's also the one most likely to end up on the floor if you move a lot in your sleep — and on the floor it isn't touching you at all. Under the mattress moves more of your body at once and can't be dislodged, at the cost of spreading the same force across a much larger surface. Restless sleeper: mattress. Still sleeper who needs the strongest possible signal: pillow.

Is the Sonic Bomb the same as a Geemarc clock?

Not the same product, but a related one — Geemarc rebrands the American Sonic Alert "Sonic Bomb" for the UK market, so you'll see both names attached to similar hardware. The SBB500SS in the table is £51.26 (checked 7 August 2026), does 85 dB pulsating, includes a 12V shaker pad and a red LED flash. The detail worth catching is its power: the battery backup keeps the time but not the alarm. In a power cut the Sonic Bomb will still tell you what time it is, and the Bellman Alarm Clock Pro will still wake you up.

How do deaf people wake up in hotels?

With something that doesn't need mains power, which rules out most of the table. A Bellman Alarm Clock Pro doesn't go in hand luggage and a shaker needs a socket beside the bed, which is why hotels are where deaf travellers most often miss a morning. Two things work: the battery-powered Geemarc Wake 'n' Shake Voyager, which runs on AA and AAA cells and includes vibration, or a wrist band. Silent Wake is pocket-sized with no adaptor and no cable, since the module plugs straight into any USB port — a second device, not a replacement for the clock at home.

Will a bed shaker wake my partner as well as me?

Yes, and there's no setting that fixes it. A shaker works by moving the mattress, a mattress is shared, and a device engineered to be impossible to sleep through will be difficult for the person beside you to sleep through as well. The only category that wakes exactly one person is a wrist-worn band — vibration only, against your own wrist, with no speaker in it. If you share a bed and your partner's mornings start later than yours, that's the honest argument for owning both a shaker and a band rather than choosing between them.

Related reading

• Alarm Clocks for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People
• Bed Shaker vs Wrist-Worn Vibration Alarm
• Vibrating Alarm Clocks in the UK
• Waking Up When Your Hearing Aids Are Out Overnight
• Wearable Vibration Alarms for Hearing Loss
• Waking Up for an Early Flight
• Bellman & Symfon Alternatives

Prices from Connevans and manufacturer sites, checked 7 August 2026 and subject to change. VAT and Access to Work information is drawn from gov.uk and is general information, not advice on your circumstances. We sell a wrist-worn alarm and said so at the top; we don't sell any product in the comparison table.