- Every year, emergency rooms across the country
treat around three million older adults
for fall-related injuries.
The good news is that medical alert systems
are designed to detect dangerous falls,
and help people get treatment faster.
To learn more about these devices,
we tested three brands and ranked them based on factors
like equipment options for inside and outside the home,
features for caregivers, and affordability.
You can find our full lineup of best medical alerts
in the description below.
Today, we're putting Bay Alarm Medical, GetSafe,
and Aloe Care Health under the microscope,
to find out which is best for you and your loved ones.
(gentle music)
Bay Alarm Medical is the classic medical alert system.
What you see is what you get.
Bay Alarm has all the essentials
for in-home care and mobile help buttons.
It's also the only one of the bunch
with a landline option for in-home systems.
One of our favorite things about Bay Alarm,
is small, but pretty cool.
They're Bella Charms, these clip-on covers
that make normally clinical-looking
medical alert pendants more fashionable.
GetSafe blends features from classic systems like Bay Alarm
with new things like voice activation.
With that in place, nobody needs to wear a call button 24/7
to get the help they need.
GetSafe also had the fastest response time
over any of the systems we tested.
Their monitoring center answered our call within 30 seconds.
Aloe Care Health is a newcomer to our lineup.
It comes with features like fall-detection
and a Caregiver App in its basic cost.
And its mobile help button uses three kinds of technology
to help emergency responders find the caller in need
and stay connected with them until they've arrived.
However, extra accessories like lock boxes
and a Vial of Life document,
aren't available through Aloe Care Health.
So, if those are important to you,
you will have to buy those separately.
Medical alert systems usually come
with monthly monitoring and equipment fees.
Equipment fees are the one-time charge for gear,
while monthly monitoring is more like a bill
that keeps your connection between your stuff,
and the monitoring center.
So what are the prices like for Bay Alarm Medical,
GetSafe and Aloe Care?
Bay Alarm Medical has three tiers of in-home systems
ranging from $20-$40 a month.
Its cheapest option is the landline option.
These in-home systems are lease-free,
meaning that you only pay for monthly monitoring.
You can also bundle other options like the in-home system
with the GPS button or a smart watch.
But if you only want the mobile device,
you will have to pay for equipment and monthly fees.
GetSafe's in-home systems range between $80 and $230,
while its mobile button is $80.
Monitoring for in-home systems
comes with a flat $24.99 a month rate,
with a mobile button lands around $20 a month.
And that flat rate monitoring for in-home gear,
is consistent across packaging.
So you won't be punished for getting more equipment
for a larger house.
Aloe Care Health falls right in line with the other brands
with equipment kits ranging from $99-$300.
The biggest difference though,
is that its cheapest option is a mobile button
and not an in-home system.
Professional monitoring for all of Aloe Care's gear,
it ranges between $25-$50 a month,
and bundles include the in-home and mobile unit.
Aloe Care is slightly more expensive than the other two,
but features like fall-detection,
and the Caregiver App come with it.
(soft music)
So what exactly is an in-home system?
Basically, in-home is the classical medical alert system.
It's a base station with a series of extra buttons
that can all call for help.
Every brand has its own variation
but most come with accessories like a wearable button,
and wall buttons that you can place around the house.
The big difference is that
everything needs to stay within range of the base station.
So, these systems are best
for people who don't leave home often alone.
You can also opt in for features like fall-detection
to be built into your gear.
So if you fall at home,
the system will call for help if you need it.
Bay Alarm's in-home base stations come into flavors,
cellular and landline.
And Bay Alarm Medical is the only one of the group
with this landline option.
The basic cellular and landline options
only come with the base station and a wearable button.
While you won't have to pay for equipment,
it will cost you $40 a month
to add wall buttons to your kit.
GetSafe's in-home system is a cellular only option
which isn't an issue,
as long as you live around decent cell reception.
One of the best parts of GetSafe's in-home system,
is its voice activation feature.
Just like a smart speaker, like your Alexa or Google home,
the base station for GetSafe reacts to wake words.
But GetSafe also has voice activated wall buttons
that respond as well.
These same wall buttons also have two other built in methods
for calling help, a long pull cord and the button itself.
However, from what our tester found,
the audio on these buttons are pretty bad.
And so, it's worth testing out before fully installing this.
(indistinct)
And like I mentioned before,
GetSafe offers a flat monitoring fee
for their in-home system,
but this does change if you add extra features.
It's great to see this stay at an affordable rate
for adding accessories like voice activated buttons.
Plus having these voice enabled devices around your home
means that there's less of a need for a wearable.
Aloe Care's in-home system is also cellular-based,
and was the easiest of the group to set up.
All of its in-home components come prepared.
So you just need to plug it in, and turn it on to get going.
But unfortunately, its backup battery is pretty short.
At its most basic, you can get a base station
and a wearable button, just like Bay Alarm.
But it's premium kit comes with wall-mounted fall sensors.
These are basically motion detectors
that you can set near the floor.
So, if you or your loved one falls,
they'll sense the sudden movement and ask if you need help.
These are the closest things
that Aloe Care has to wall buttons,
but it's a pretty unique approach.
(soft music)
Mobile medical alerts are standalone devices
with everything built-in.
There's no need to worry about going out of range,
but that also means
you have to take your device with you everywhere.
These mobile devices are best for active seniors,
or folks with disabilities who leave home regularly.
Many of these use multiple forms
of tracking and communication like 4G, WiFi or GPS.
They might need a daily charge too.
So it's important to keep reminders regularly
so they keep working.
Bay Alarm Medical's mobile devices
are the only ones that they charge equipment fees for.
But the brand has a GPS button,
and smartwatch to choose from.
Our tester, Cathy, was able to test
both of these devices in her review,
but she wasn't terribly impressed with either.
The GPS button took nearly two minutes
to reach the monitoring center.
In a time when seconds really count, that's an eternity.
GetSafe has a mobile GPS button,
but it's not obvious from the brand's website.
Which makes me wonder how much longer it might be available.
This little piece of equipment
is where GetSafe's value starts to drop.
The flat monitoring rate
doesn't apply to GetSafe's mobile button.
And on its own, the GPS button costs at the same amount
as an in-home system.
Plus, it doesn't come with fall-detection included.
So you might end up paying more for that one little device,
than you would for a whole in-home system.
Unfortunately, GetSafe's mobile button
isn't its strongest option.
Aloe Care Health is the only one of the bunch
where the mobile unit is the cheapest option.
Which for active older adults is really good news.
It comes with automatic fall-detection built right in,
and it's small enough to fit just about anywhere.
Plus, our tester was especially impressed
with the Aloe Care App and its caregiver features.
If you need to find your loved one,
use the app to export their location to Google or Apple maps
and then you get directions right to them.
(soft music)
Like I mentioned before, our tester, Cathy Habas
tested all three of these systems.
Here's a quick rundown of how each brand did in Cathy's test
- On paper, Bay Alarm Medical absolutely is the best.
They have free spouse coverage,
they have really great signal ranges
for all of their equipment.
- According to Cathy and her test experience,
Bay Alarm Medical is a good starter system.
- Bay Alarm Medical has a ton of options.
They are all available to add on to your system
after you purchase it.
So start basic, and then build on from there.
And then if you find that there is a feature missing
that you want, for example, voice activation,
then you can always cancel with Bay Alarm.
There's no long term contract,
you can send your equipment back
and you can try another company.
- But the biggest hangup Cathy had for her test
was the slow response time from its equipment.
When she tested the base station,
she found it took around 60 seconds
for the monitoring center to answer her call,
and the mobile GPS button took even longer
around two minutes.
Cathy had mixed reviews for GetSafe with her tests.
While GetSafe was by far the fastest
to respond in emergency call,
she ran into system issues with the system during setup.
When she tested the GetSafe bay station,
she got a response from the monitoring center pro
within 15-30 seconds, pretty awesome.
But during setup, she found that the pieces
that were supposed to work automatically
within her system didn't.
And she needed to pair them individually.
This took a little experimenting,
but she was able to get everything in working order
after a couple accidental calls.
- The buttons are voice activated,
you can press the button to get help,
and you can pull cord to get help.
So if your mom or your dad, or grandma or grandpa
just doesn't want a system, and you're like,
"Hmm, okay, you need a system."
Just put these buttons around.
If they end up having a medical emergency,
then they can have the button on hand.
So GetSafe is great for...
I guess I would say it's great for stubborn family members,
or just for having voice activation.
'Cause when I tested it, it was extremely easy
to say the wake word and get the button rolling.
- And finally Aloe Care Health was in the middle of the pack
for response time.
Cathy's test showed that they responded to her call
within 30-45 seconds of pressing the base station's button.
However, Aloe Care was the fastest to set up.
There was no pairing or testing required for this system.
From her experience,
this is what Cathy had to say about Aloe Care Health.
- And I have to say our whole team
got pretty excited about their technology
because it's a very unique approach
to medical alert systems, and remote caregiving.
Their Caregiver App is excellent.
Aloe Care Health has all the cool tech.
Like, if you're a caregiver and you're just really excited
about all the possibilities
of keeping an eye on your loved one,
Aloe Care Health is pretty cool.
(soft music)
- From our testing experience,
it's hard to pin down
exactly which of these three medical alert systems
were really the best of the best.
Bay Alarm Medical is a great starter system.
It has the best customer policies,
the most experience, the best prices,
and even extra features like free spouse coverage.
But its equipment is pretty lackluster and basic.
Essentially, if you're looking for a system
and aren't sure where to start,
Bay Alarm is an excellent first choice
- Bay Alarm Medical is best
if you know you need a medical alert system,
and you're feeling kind of overwhelmed.
You don't really know if you want voice activation,
or any of these fancier fall-detection systems,
or how many wall buttons do you need?
or do you really need a mobile GPS device?
Do you need a Caregiver App?
What do you need?
- Then there's GetSafe.
Cathy says that it's the choice for anyone
who doesn't wanna bother with wearables or pendants.
The voice activated wall buttons are a real game changer,
and it's best for folks who generally stay home
and don't stray far.
- And that's an excellent system.
If you are trying to buy a system for an aging parent
or an older family member who doesn't want a system,
and they don't wanna wear a pendant,
and they're kind of grumpy about it,
GetSafe has voice activated buttons,
it's very affordable to buy as many buttons as you want.
To have one in every room of your home
you only pay for the button.
- And finally there's Aloe Care.
It's got the better tech and equipment
and includes features for caregivers
without the extra charges.
Plus it's the best choice for active users,
since its mobile button is an entry package.
- The Aloe Care Health hub has an automatic answer feature.
So a caregiver can call the hub,
and the loved...
Your loved one has the option to cancel.
Like if they're up and about
and they don't wanna talk to you,
they do have the option to cancel your call.
But if they don't do that, you're automatically connected
and you can hear what's going on, and you can talk to 'em.
So just in case they are in a predicament,
you can talk to 'em and get some help.
Pro tip, if you are looking for an affordable system
just get the Aloe Care mobile companion.
That's a...
I believe it costs about $100.
I would have to double check that.
But it only costs about $25 to monitor,
and it goes with you everywhere you go.
It includes automatic fall-detection at no extra cost,
and that is very affordable for a mobile device.
(soft music)
- For many seniors and older adults,
spending your golden years at home is the ultimate goal.
We all try to live more active and healthy lifestyles
so that we can get the most out of that time.
But, if you have an older parent or loved one
who needs a little extra help with staying independent,
medical alert systems are a great option to look into.
We hope this video helped you
narrow down some of these options,
if you're looking for medical alert system.
Again, check the description to see all of Cathy's reviews
on each of these and her full lineup.
We also have standalone reviews on Bay Alarm Medical,
GetSafe and Aloe Care Health, if you wanna check those out.
Thanks for watching.
And if you want more safety, head over to safewise.com,
and you can find reviews and our lineups
of best home security systems,
best wireless cameras and more.
Stay safe.
(soft music)