With many medical alert systems on the market, how do you know which one to choose? Today we’re going to have a look at one of our favorite medical alert systems, QMedic. We first reviewed QMedic in 2014, now the company has updated their products, so we are taking another tour of QMedic’s alert system.
The Stuff We Liked: Choice of pendant or wristband, completely waterproof, two year battery life. Excellent base station range around home, choice of landline or cellular base station. Activity alerts to detect deviations in sleep and activity patterns, choice of monitoring center or caregiver notifications. Very simple and competitive pricing plans.
The Stuff We Didn't: No GPS option for out of the home.
The Bottom Line: QMedic remains one of our top recommended systems for the ease of use, simplicity of high tech equipment and additional activity tracking not common with other medical alert products.
The Basics of QMedic Medical Alert Systems
QMedic’s alert system is based around the traditional pendant with base unit model. The base unit is fitted with a speakerphone, making two way communication possible at all times.
Users have the option of a help button bracelet or pendant, which means you can select the option that is most comfortable for you to wear.
You can choose from a landline or cellular based system to suit your current home phone set up. Set up is really easy. A visual reference is included in the box that outlines the 4 simple steps to set up your system. In a nutshell, it's plug, test and play!
What QMedic Does Better Than Other Alert Systems
QMedic’s base unit is sturdy and reliable with some great features (we’ll get to those in a moment). However, QMedic goes beyond the basics with their 24/7 proactive data alerts for caregivers. When you’re setting up your QMedic system, you can choose to have caregivers or family members alerted when your mobility or sleep patterns deviate from your normal range.
QMedic features include:
- Alert family members when not being used/worn
- Keep track of wake-up times to flag any suspicious behavior(s) outside the norm
- Base station can be configured to landline or cellular based on needs
- Base station battery lasts 24 hours if disconnected from power source
- Personalized ADL (activity, sleep, and wear compliance) alerts and periodic wellness reports available
- 1,000 feet of range from pendant to base station
- Configurable call routing on-demand (i.e. routing to caregiver phone vs. call center
- Redundant 24/7 emergency call center based in USA (5-Diamond and UL-Certified)
Few alert systems offer this level of tracking and we think it’s a huge step ahead for giving you and your caregivers peace of mind. According to QMedic, 71% of ER visits are avoidable. Their proactive alert system prevents unnecessary ER visits by making it easy to get appropriate help without necessarily calling an ambulance each time an event occurs.
QMedic also generates monthly wellness reports for you and your designated caregivers or family members.
During installation, you can set your preferences to show whether the monitoring center should contact an ambulance or a caregiver, family member or friend in the first instance. You can also call out a specific phone number to be contacted by the base station.
Features We Love about QMedic
QMedic has several other features worth noting:
- Their pendants and bracelets are completely waterproof. Many medical alert system pendants are water resistant, but QMedic’s bracelets and pendants can be worn while bathing or washing dishes thanks to being completely watertight. That means you don’t have to take your alert button off and risk forgetting to put it back on.
- The base unit has a great range – up to 1000 feet. The speaker is loud and clear and the speakerphone works well even if you’re in another room. The base unit radius should reach most yards, driveways or mailboxes with no problem, so you’re protected even at the perimeter of your home. Of course, you would want to test the boundaries of your unit to know exactly what the medical alert coverage is at your home.
- The pendant/wristband battery lasts for up to two years and never needs recharging, so you can wear your unit 24/7. QMedic monitors your battery at all times and will send you a new wearable free of charge if your battery starts running low. Plus, if you’re worried about your battery you can call in at any time to check its level.
- Setup is so easy. It really is as simple as picking the location of the base station (a central area of your home), plugging in the base station, and pressing the button on your pendant or wristband to make a test call.
- Calls to the monitoring center are toll-free.
- The monitoring center takes action on any call. That means if you press the button but then cannot speak or reach the base station, an ambulance or caregiver (depending on the preferences you chose) will be alerted at once.
Drawbacks of QMedic
It’s hard to find things we don’t love about QMedic, however there are two changes we'd advise:
- There isn’t a GPS function. That means that although QMedic works brilliantly in the home, there is no scope for using it when outside of the home.
- QMedic doesn’t offer automatic fall detection. Their site states that they are working on it, but this feature is “in the design and testing phase for the immediate future.” We will update this review once this new feature is available.
QMedic Pricing
QMedic offers straightforward pricing:
- You pay $30 per month on a month-to-month basis. That means no contracts and no hidden fees, plus the price is all-inclusive so you don’t have to pay extra to buy or rent the equipment.
- You can save money on a longer term plan if you’d like, but there is no obligation to. Buying a year in advance ($300) works out to $25 a month.
- You are leasing the equipment, so that means it does need to be returned once it's no longer needed.
Every QMedic plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. We like that the 30 days is counted from when you activate the system rather than from when it arrives at your home, so every user gets the full 30 days to test it out.
If you’re looking for a medical alert system, we’re pleased to recommend QMedic. It’s easy to setup and use, robust and waterproof, and offers activity alerts that sets it above other systems. Of course, we really like that they don’t lock their users into contracts.
As we get older, the risk of falls or medical events is a somber reality. Choosing a great medical alert system can make all the difference to the quality of your life. You and your loved ones can rest easy knowing that help is on hand if something should happen.