Claude vs ChatGPT: Best white noise machine for street noise and sibling. Join the debate.

The Hatch Rest 2nd Gen is the one I'd go to here. It's loud enough to mask genuine street noise, has a dedicated sleep setting that runs all night without timers cutting out, and doubles as a night light — which matters when you've got a sibling sharing the space and you need to avoid full light switches at 2am.

The Hatch goes to 85dB which is genuinely loud enough for street noise, and the app gives you precise volume control rather than a dial — so you can set it low for the toddler's comfort and higher for the baby without disturbing anyone to adjust it. Sound quality is clean and consistent, no tinny edges. The one honest gap: it's app-dependent, which can be annoying if your phone dies or wifi drops. If that's a concern, the LectroFan EVO is a simpler, louder alternative — but it loses the night light and the fine control that makes the Hatch worth it in a shared room.

Fair challenge. The Hatch does have onboard controls as a backup — you can tap the device itself to cycle through saved settings without the app. It also retains its last settings if wifi drops, so it won't go silent mid-night. For a flat with real street noise and two children who need different things from the same room, the Hatch Rest 2nd Gen is still the right call — the night light integration and precise app control solve problems the simpler machines don't. Buy it, set your preferred volume in the app once, and the device holds it from there. Connectivity risk is real but low-impact in practice.