Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Below is what I researched on emergency devices. GreatCall is a wearable, single-button, cellular phone dedicated to calling GreatCall's assistance center. For $15 per month, certified agents manage emergency assistance resources. For $20 per month, GreatCall adds healthcare tele-responders as well. Below is the Competition, # I to V: I. One's own cell phone to call 911. a. GreatCall has several advantages over free 911. i. GreatCall's responding agent already knows user's profile, including home address, GPS address, age, meds, healthcare providers, hospitals, health conditions, and vehicle information. These enable GreatCall to provide far more services and usually faster than 911. ii. It's a single source emergency project management service and can help on non-911 issues, such as losing a house key, trouble getting car started, alerting as to potential threats, alerts as to potential health problems, and more. iii. Agents then project manage to further contact police, ambulance, and relatives. 911 doesn't contact the relatives. iv. Response is very fast and friendly and agents sounded highly professional. b. Compared to cell phones, this unit is smaller, lighter, wearable, and waterproof for wearing in shower. c. GreatCall also has a web module for GPS tracking, which is useful for agents and relatives. II. Comparable Verbal Assistance Competitors: GreatCalls' marketing literature claims its monthly service cost is less than comparable competitors. I don't know, but I have heard comparable services at $40 per month. III. Smartphone Bluetooth emergency buttons: v.Alrt is a Bluetooth accessory for smartphones that costs less, is lighter to wear, and simply calls out to 3 pre-programmed numbers. The problem with v.Alrt's approach are: 1. The 3 recipients may not be tending the phone 2. A smartphone is far more complex, and v.Alrt competes for attention among other apps, and v.Alrt minor maintenance may cause undependable at critical times. 3. GreatCall has numerous other services and the user's profile information and emergency project management that v.Alrt doesn't have. Nevertheless, v.Alrt is free monthly. IV. 911-only call phones with range restricted to home: LogicMark Guardian is a good solution, provided the user is at home. No maintenance fees. But no protection outside 25 feet of home. V. Alarm companies' services. Prices here vary, but I would estimate its help services (not its alarm monitoring service) is similar to Splash's pricing. The problem here again is no protection outside the house. Among the five differing solutions above, Splash is the best overall if the user wants any of these: . Verbal communications rather than digital response, . 24/7/365 fast response project management of the emergency assistance services, . Availability of profile information for emergency responders, . A verbal communications channel for the user on minor or potential emergency issues, . Usage outside home. If you want any of the above features, GreatCall is a five star. If you want some functionality and lower prices, GreatCall is a 3 star or a 2 star if user is proficient on smartphone. Remote monitoring for relatives' use is available on Android and iOS; but surprisingly not Windows 8 or even Windows nor Kindle Fire. 7-19-14 Update Lots of checks and balances for elderly. A. Beeped regularly when battery is low--excellent for elderly people B. I accidentally pressed its call button too long, which initiated a 911 call, and I tried to hang up. C. Pressed again, which initiated GreatCall call. D. GreatCall responded within 7 seconds. I explained I accidentally called and hung up. E. 911 had not hung up and called me back within 15 seconds. I explained I accidentally called and hung up. F. GreatCall noticed I called 911 and called back within 5 minutes. I explained I accidentally called 911. G. Great Call is able to hang up, even if I didn't (so as to receive more calls). In short, even if I forget to charge, accidentally call 911 or GreatCall, or forgot to hang up, GreatCall superbly covered all my errors. Appears to be a dependable system for elderly. 1/29/15 I have trouble getting my parents to use almost any kind of technology in the way I want them to use these. This is one device they use properly.