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TopTenREVIEWS - Gold Award - Awarded for excellence in design, useability and feature set
Overall Rating
 
 
 
 

The Bay Alarm Medical Alert System boasts a 1,000-foot range. It comes as a waterproof necklace or wristband. This medical alert system is easy to install and has a backup battery in case your power goes out. This system works in most living areas and can even detect if you push the button while you're outside, as long as you're within range. This first-rate medical alert system wins our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award for its overall value, ideal combination of features and great customer service.

Bay Alarm Medical can provide assistance to your loved one 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at the touch of a button. Additionally, this service puts customers first by providing no-hassle pricing, the best combination of hardware, and fast, courteous service in 170 languages.

Installation:
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Installation of Bay Alarm Medical equipment is so easy that you don't need a technician. All you have to do is plug the unit into a power outlet and the phone line. This medical alert system works with the phone line you have, so you don't need to worry about obtaining a dedicated phone line for it.

Shipping and installation are free with most payment plans. If you decide to pay month by month, however, you'll have a shipping fee. If you opt for a yearly or quarterly payment plan, you pay nothing to get the equipment. All the options are plans, not contracts. Should you decide you don't want the system, there is no cancellation fee. If you choose to cancel the service, you have to wait until the term you have paid for – one month, quarter or year – before the service will end.

This medical alert system can come with you on vacation or easily move to another state. As long as you have a landline and power, you can plug in the Bay Alarm Medical equipment for full service under your existing plan.

Monitoring Features:
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The Bay Alarm Medical pendant communicates with the base console from up to 1,000 feet away, which is a little less than the length of three football fields. This range is larger than what most of the other products that we reviewed offer. The pendant can communicate with the base console through most walls, including exterior walls, depending on the building material. This means that even if your loved one has a nasty fall while out in the yard with the dog, the pendant can still communicate with the console in the house, which will in turn contact Bay Alarm Medical respondents who can call an ambulance or another type of first responder.

The console itself has features to make communication easy in an emergency. A sensitive microphone and speaker will allow your loved one to speak to Bay Alarm personnel, even if they are not right next to the console. You can also use this medical alert system to answer phone calls. You just have to push the button on the pendant and start talking. The pendant will turn on the speakerphone in the base console.

The pendant for this medical alert system is petite and waterproof. It also has a 32-hour battery backup so it can weather a significant power outage. All these qualities make this service invaluable. Most falls happen in bathrooms, and you can wear this pendant in the shower. You can also wear the small, lightweight pendant as a necklace, wristband or clipped on a belt.

Additional Services:
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Emergency workers use whatever means necessary to get to your loved one. That includes breaking down the door if your loved one is incapacitated and cannot let them in the house. That is the scenario Bay Alarm Medical alert system helps you avoid with its lock box feature. In an emergency, operators can give ambulance and fire personnel a code for your loved one's lock box. The lock box works just like the ones used by realtors. Open the box with the code, and the house key is inside. That way you don't end up with costly repairs. We wish the lockbox were included in the basic price, but it is not. You pay a one-time set-up fee that we think is worth it for most users.

You can order extra pendants to monitor another loved one with the same main console. You pay extra for the additional pendant, but there's not an additional monthly fee for the additional person. For an added monthly cost, you can configure the medical alert system to work with detection equipment from Bay Alarm for smoke and carbon monoxide. If the system detects either of those, the system will alert customer service representatives, who will then call the fire department and anyone else you designate. Bay Alarm Medical does not offer medication dispensers, GPS tracking or fall-detection technology. This company sticks to the basics of medical monitoring.

Company Information:
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Bay Alarm Medical is part of the larger company Bay Alarm, which is a family-owned business established in 1946. The company began in the Bay Area, initially offering burglar alarms. Bay Alarm has a good reputation and can boast 65 years in the security business. We like that.

Customer Service:
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Not everyone will need to take advantage of the 170 languages Bay Alarm Medical offers it service in, but when you need someone who can understand Kazakh, for instance, there is really no substitute. This service has invested in translation services to provide help in Thai, Azeri, Italian, Norwegian, Uzbek, Greek, Montenegrin, Hakka, Telugu and many, many more languages. The impressive list can offer tremendous peace of mind to family members all over the world. You want to know that someone will understand your aged grandmother in her own language and can help her when you are not around.

There are plenty of support options online and over the phone, just in case you need help with installation. Additionally, Bay Alarm Medical has a FAQs page on its website. This is the only medical alert system we reviewed that offers a live chat support option through its website. Chat is not an essential feature for every customer, but we don't see why this is not an option with more medical alert system providers, especially since they have workers ready to respond around the clock anyway. It's convenient to be able to go to the website and get answers within seconds.

Summary:

Bay Alarm Medical is the ideal medical monitoring system because of the balance it strikes between good features and good value. It has everything you need to care for a loved one but doesn't include unnecessary extras. The company has invested in the things that really count – easy installation, great equipment, fair payment terms and excellent customer care in practically any language at any time of the day or night.

 
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Bay Alarm Medical

Pros
This conveniently small, waterproof pendant works at a range of up to 1,000 feet. Additionally, this service is available in 170 languages.

Cons
While Bay Alarm Medical provides several conveniences beyond the expected services, be aware that it does not offer medication dispensers, GPS tracking or fall-detection technology.

The Verdict

If your loved one presses the button on the pendant, whether he or she is in the yard or the shower, the Bay Alarm Medical Alert System can notify emergency medical technicians.