I love my Hatch Restore 2 smart alarm clock, especially its white noise machine function. And as great as it looks on my nightstand, it doesn’t quite fit into my carry-on or personal item. As someone who both loves to travel and struggles to fall asleep, I’ve been looking for a better solution than using an app as my sound machine.

Amazon, creepily, knows my sleeping patterns (or lack thereof) a little too well, as it kept recommending the Babelio white noise machine to me. After one too many sleepless nights being woken up by every little sound, coupled with seeing the pocketable device one too many times as an ad in my feeds, I finally caved — and I’m glad I did.

Portable but powerful

Fitting in the palm of my hand and only weighing 2.40oz, the mini sound machine stashes in my backpack, but it can also rest on my nightstand. My favorite color being purple, I opted for the lovely lilac color. If you are interested in achieving a certain aesthetic with your audio gear, there are eight other colors to choose from, including a more neutral black or white device.

Fitting in the palm of my hand and only weighing 2.40oz, the mini sound machine stashes in my backpack, but it can also rest on my nightstand.

Despite its pocket-size, I’m impressed by its sound output, producing a similarly loud, albeit more compressed, output compared to my Hatch alarm.

Like the Hatch and other sound machines, the Babelio has a library of customizable options, including nature sounds like rainfall and birds chirping along with white noise, pink noise, and my favorite, brown noise. While I’m partial to fan noises, I also tested the nature sounds and found that, with the waves and thunderstorm tracks, there’s an overlay of white noise that results in a more dynamic sound, but the thunder cracks are more pronounced and rain drops are slightly diluted.

For the most part, I found all the sound loops pretty calming, with the white noise perfectly scratching parts of my brain. I usually stray away from sounds that incorporate thunder, as I find them disruptive, but I was impressed with how loud the thunder cracks could get on the Babelio. It just startled me as I was trying to fall asleep.

When I want to switch between sounds, I simply hold the volume increase sign “+” for two seconds and the next track will seamlessly play with little to no lag. To go back to a sound I like, I similarly long-press the volume decrease “-“ button for an easy track transition.

Timers to set the tone

My favorite feature, aside from the powerful noise itself, is the speaker’s timer functionality. By long-pressing the power button, I can set either a continuous all-night loop, which I always opt for when sleeping, or a 30 or 60 minute play-time. For easy viewing, a green light indicates continuous play, the sky blue/ white light appears for a 30-minute timer, and the blue light signals a 60-minute session.

I find the shorter play-times are great for when I want to focus on my work but don’t necessarily want to play music, making the machine also a suitable desk companion.

A battery built for travelers

Overall, I’m impressed with the robust battery life. The machine lasted me four straight nights on a continuous loop when I was visiting family in Texas, traveling three hours to and back from San Antonio and back to Houston with me, only needing a charge once back in New York City.

USB-C charging

The speaker easily recharges via USB-C port, and now that I mostly use either an iPhone 15 or Galaxy Z Flip 4, I only need one charger near my nightstand. In my traveling bedtime ritual, I got into the habit of charging the speaker as I took time to unwind in bed (yes, scrolling through TikTok) before plugging in my phone and powering on the speaker.

Verdict: Pocket-lint or pocket-pit?

As a light sleeper and frequent traveler, I’ve compromised on both sleep and mini products that under-deliver in size and promise. The Babelio mini sound machine delivers the perfect solution for my on-the-go lifestyle without compromise. Pocketable, powerful, and plentiful in features for its size, I expect it to be a staple in my carry-on bag or tech organizer for the foreseeable future.