Life Alert Systems Review

“Help! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” has been quoted over and over again in TV and movies since the first Life Alert commercial debuted in the late ’80s. We wanted to get to know the company behind the catchphrase, so we did the research.

Life Alert has three primary devices—the emergency pendant, waterproof shower button, and portable GPS emergency button. Each of these devices comes with a lifetime warranty and with two-way communication, a standout feature in the medical alert industry.

Life Alert costs $49.95–$89.95 per month, which may be out of reach for many people. We also encountered pushy sales staff on the phone. We don’t recommend Life Alert as a first choice because the best medical alert systems are much more cost effective and up to date.

Before writing our Life Alert review, we started by digging through its website and customer reviews from other sites. We were able to find specs on some of the equipment, but no useful product pictures or demonstrations, so we called Life Alert directly.

Once we reached a customer service rep, we took note of how they answered, what they said, and how satisfied we were with their answers. Learn more about how we review medical alert systems and other safety products in our full methodology.

To put it plainly, Life Alert costs more than any other system we encountered. The pendant alone costs $49.95 per month on a 36-month contract. Only Philips Lifeline comes close to this price for one device, and it cost $5 less per month. There’s also an activation fee for each plan, but it comes with personal orientation for your equipment to sweeten the deal.

While researching, we noticed that Life Alert provides no pricing information. If you want to learn more about the company’s equipment and rates, you have to call them directly. Even then, prices vary from location to location, so the quote you get may be different from what a relative or friend in another state may get. Either way, you can expect to spend thousands of dollars by the end of Life Alert’s three-year contract.

Life Alert has a pendant that can be worn as a necklace or wristband, a GPS emergency button, and a shower button that you can buy separately or bundle together. The pendant and GPS are standard devices you’ll see in most medical alert systems, but the shower button is unique to Life Alert.

Each medical alert device has a two-way intercom that connects you to a professional at Life Alert's monitoring center so you can get help wherever you are in your home. Showers, stairs, and yards can be dangerous places if you have mobility issues, so we like that you can speak directly into any nearby device to get help.

It's ironic that this medical alert company that coined the phrase, "I've fallen and can't get up" doesn't offer automatic fall detection. Fall detection is a common add-on in medical alert systems that detects speed and pressure changes that happen when a person falls.

Most medical alert systems charge $10 per month for this service because it contacts an emergency responder if you’re unconscious or can’t reach your call button. Falls are a serious issue for older adults, but Life Alert hasn't added this feature to its equipment.

We called Life Alert to get more information about the products, policies, and prices an average customer could expect.

Before we got to ask any questions, we had to provide information to get a free brochure (which we weren’t entirely interested in). Once we got in touch with a sales rep, they were pushy and barely gave us time to ask questions. The rep we spoke to used guilt tactics, dodged direct questions, and ran verbal circles around us. After only 20 minutes on the phone, we were exhausted.

It was a little harder for us to test Life Alert’s emergency response, so we turned to customer testimonials and reviews. From what we found, Life Alert is genuinely helpful in an emergency. We saw stories of subscribers able to get help in time after emergencies like falls and chest pain.

Life Alert is more costly and requires more commitment than other medical alert systems. Other popular brands like Bay Alarm Medical and Medical Guardian don’t require a contract, have starting rates half of Life Alert’s price, and offer more equipment.

We encountered other services, like GetSafe, that require one-time equipment fees like Life Alert, but it’s a rare feature. The monthly cost you pay Bay Alarm Medical and Medical Guardian goes towards the professional monitoring service, rather than the equipment.

Other systems use a base station connected by cellular or landline service to connect all the system’s buttons and mobile units (like pendants and GPS devices). Life Alert doesn’t use a base unit, which can be a good and a bad thing.

The pendants alone can reach the base station from up to 800 feet. If you have a larger house or are more active, the GPS unit won’t need a base station to call for assistance. And if you have a smaller house, the pendant alone should be enough.

Like all medical alert systems, Life Alert has an important goal: to help folks stress less about unexpected emergencies while providing timely assistance if an emergency happens. It’s similar to other systems like Philips Lifeline because of its price and emergency pendant, but it costs much more per month than top brands like Bay Alarm Medical.

Life Alert is quick in an emergency and has equipment with some helpful features, but these are standard for a typical medical alert system. The pushy sales, outdated (and unhelpful) website, hidden fees, and sky-high prices eclipse most of Life Alert’s best features.

With over three decades in the business, we expected more out of one of the first medical alert systems. We’d like to see some modernization in the form of new equipment, transparent pricing, and the ability to buy a system online.

The longer Life Alert waits to update its sales practices and business model, the less relevant it will become among medical alert providers, and even its immortal catch phrase won't save it.

While we don’t recommend Life Alert for many, you can read about the companies we do recommend as the best medical alert systems.

• Best Medical Alert Devices
• Bay Alarm Medical System Review
• Medical ID Bracelets
• Medical Guardian Review
• Best Home Security Systems