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Last Updated On: | 10 Minute Read
We recommend Bay Alarm Medical as our #1 provider for 2024. Among all of the medical alert companies in the industry, we found that they have the best overall mix of services, equipment, customer service, testimonials, and affordability. Our reviewers found that the company offers an exceptional blend of services, equipment, customer support, positive testimonials, and affordability.
Comprehensive Device Selection
Bay Alarm Medical provides a diverse range of devices, including in-home systems, mobile units, and smartwatches. Notably, their SOS Smartwatch is among the few medical alert watches featuring automatic fall detection, utilizing artificial intelligence to reduce false alarms.
Affordability Without Compromise
Affordability is a hallmark of Bay Alarm Medical. They offer high-quality medical alert systems at prices significantly lower than competitors like Medical Guardian or Lifeline. Most importantly, these competitive prices do not come with lower service quality. Bay Alarm Medical’s customer service is consistently top-notch, and their emergency monitoring centers are Five Diamond Certified by the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA). This certification involves an annual process, adherence to strict quality standards, and random inspections by Underwriter’s Laboratory.
Key Points
- Our 2024 ratings give Bay Alarm Medical an overall ReliaScore™ of 9.8 out of 10, making it one of the best medical alert companies on the market. Read our reviews below to find out why.
- The company has a stellar reputation for service and gets excellent reviews online.
- Their emergency monitoring centers are 5 Diamond Certified.
- Bay Alarm Medical offers the best medical alert smartwatch on the market.
- All of their medical alert systems are affordable, with a first year cost that falls at or below the average of the systems we tested.
How We Tested
Our evaluation of Bay Alarm Medical and other leading vendors involved over 12,000 hours of research on 16 leading medical alert brands, followed by more than 520 hours of hands-on testing. We assessed each system’s ease of setup, reliability, response times, and overall user experience. Bay Alarm Medical consistently demonstrated superior performance across these metrics, reinforcing its position as our top choice for 2024.
For a more detailed review of the company including a video, please see our full Bay Alarm Medical review here.
Disclosure: In order to provide this free service to our visitors, Medicalalertbuyersguide.org may receive compensation if a purchase is made through this website.
| SOS Home Landline | SOS Home Cellular | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Subscription | $25.95 / mo | $31.95 / mo |
| Fall Detection Cost | $8/month, plus $30 equipment fee | $8/month, plus $30 equipment fee |
| Key Lockbox | Yes - $30.00 | Yes - $30.00 |
| Shipping Cost | $12.00 standard shipping | $12.00 standard shipping |
Bay Alarm Medical "SOS Home Landline" Overview
The Bay Alarm Medical SOS Home Landline system is a reliable, user-friendly medical alert system specifically designed for seniors who prefer a simple, home-based setup using their existing landline. This system is praised for its affordability, quick response times, and straightforward operation, making it an ideal choice for those who want a dependable emergency alert system without the need for cellular or GPS features.
Chosen as our 2024 Editor’s Choice for best home landline medical alert system, the SOS Home Landline offers a seamless experience from start to finish. The company’s website provides clear instructions, user manuals, and helpful videos, ensuring that users can easily navigate the setup process. The checkout experience is streamlined: Bay Alarm Medical pre-registers your device, so your details are already on file when you conduct your first test call, eliminating the need for lengthy activation processes.
During the checkout process, Bay Alarm Medical registers your medical alert system. This means that when you conduct your initial test, they already have your details on file, saving you the hassle of waiting on hold to activate the system by providing your personal information. After setup, testing is ready to go immediately.
The unboxing and testing process is fast and simple, taking only about five minutes. We successfully reached the base system from 1,000 feet away, and the help button had a quick response time, connecting to the monitoring center within about 40 seconds.
Setup is hassle-free and can be completed in under five minutes. During our testing, the system maintained a strong connection, with a reliable range of up to 1,000 feet from the base unit. The help button responded quickly, connecting to a monitoring agent in about 40 seconds, ensuring fast assistance in emergencies.
The optional fall detection pendant is an excellent addition for enhanced safety, especially for seniors who live alone. This feature effectively distinguishes between routine movements and actual falls, providing peace of mind without frequent false alarms. While the fall detection requires its own pendant, the primary help button can be worn as a pendant or wristband, giving users flexibility based on their comfort preferences.
The SOS Landline System from Bay Alarm Medical is quite similar to Medical Guardian’s Classic Guardian system. While Medical Guardian offers additional options for a more customized system, these add-ons can quickly increase costs, and their basic service is already pricier than Bay Alarm Medical’s.
The Bay Alarm Medical SOS Home Landline system stands out for its robust performance, ease of use, and affordability. It’s a well-rounded choice for anyone seeking a trustworthy, landline-based medical alert system backed by strong customer support.
Overall, we find Bay Alarm Medical’s combination of affordability and strong customer service to be a great choice for those needing a landline medical alert system.
Read our full, hands-on review of the SOS Home medical alert system.
| SOS Mobile | |
|---|---|
| Device Cost: | $63.90 + $12.00 shipping |
| Shipping: | $12.00 |
| Monitoring Service: | $34.95/month |
| Fall Detection: | $10.00/month |
| Total 1-Year Cost: | $620.70 |
Bay Alarm Medical SOS Mobile
The SOS Mobile medical alert may be our favorite of Bay Alarm Medical’s systems, and it is our #1 pick for the Best Mobile Medical Alert System. The system provides manyfeatures at a fairly low price point, making it a good value.
While we don’t like the $99 hardware cost paid up-front, Bay Alarm Medical charges only $29.95 for monthly monitoring. That’s $20/month less than other companies charge for the same service. With an additional $10 per month for optional fall detection (something we highly recommend), that brings the first-year cost of owning the system to $578.40. Among the systems we tested, only Lively Mobile+ costs less than this.
The SOS Mobile offers a compact, sleek design, with the option to wear the device around your neck or on your hip. We like that automatic fall detection is integrated into the device and doesn’t require you to wear a separate pendant just for that optional feature. We found the automatic fall detection to work well, setting off alarms on hard falls but not triggering false alarms for minor bumps.
While we had some minor issues with the initial setup, everything else about the system was easy to use. We found its GPS location tracking to be responsive and accurate, though we wish it showed your street address in addition to latitude/longitude coordinates.
The Caregiver Tracking portal is somewhat buried under the company’s online account management. However, it does a good job of showing the wearer’s location. We found that GPS reported our location to within 100 feet of our true position.
| SOS Smartwatch | |
|---|---|
| Device Cost: | $111.30 |
| Shipping Fee: | $12.00 |
| Emergency Monitoring: | $34.95/month |
| Automatic Fall Detection: | $10.00/month |
| Charge Time: | 4 hours |
| Battery Life: | Up to 24 hours |
| Service: | Excellent |
Bay Alarm Medical "SOS Smartwatch" Overview
Bay Alarm Medical has an excellent reputation when it comes to its pricing, customer service, and product reliability. Our experience with the SOS Smartwatch did not disappoint. We chose Bay Alarm Medical’s SOS Smartwatch as our pick for both Best Value Smartwatch and Best Overall Smartwatch.
The SOS Smartwatch has added automatic fall detection using an algorithm powered by artificial intelligence, a key feature missing from most medical alert watches. Using AI to reduce the risk of false alarms, we think this feature is a game changer and may make the SOS Smartwatch the best medical alert system of any type.
Bay Alarm Medical is a full-service medical alert provider. They offer home landline and cellular home medical alert systems as well as the SOS Smartwatch. The Bay Alarm Medical sales representatives were friendly, knowledgeable, and eager to help us choose the correct system for our needs. There was no hard sell and no pressure to purchase extra add-ons or upgrades.
The unboxing and set-up process couldn’t have been easier. The smartwatch arrived charged and ready to use. Even better, Bay Alarm Medical completes the product registration during check-out. The first time you push the SOS button, the operator already knows who and where you are. If you’ve ever spent a frustrating amount of time on hold waiting to “activate” a product or service, you’ll appreciate Bay Alarm’s system even more!
The smartwatch itself is easy to use and comfortable to wear. The sleek black design doesn’t look like a medical device – just a regular smartwatch. This is an important consideration because a medical alert device only works if you actually wear it. The SOS Smartwatch is a good option for someone who is reluctant to wear a medical alert pendant or clunky wristband.
During our tests, Bay Alarm Medical’s monitoring center responded within 15 seconds after we pushed the SOS button. The operators were helpful – even calling back to ensure that everything was ok.
Our testing of the watch’s automatic fall detection feature also found it to do a good job of distinguishing between false alarms and hard falls that signal an emergency.
Medical Guardian’s MG Move Smartwatch is the nearest competitor to the SOS Smartwatch. It offers additional apps and a robust Caregiver Portal that makes tracking the movements of your loved one easier. We do wish that the Bay Alarm SOS Smartwatch offered similar options. But the SOS Smartwatch now offers automatic fall detection, while the MG Move does not have this key feature.
The first-year cost difference between the SOS Smartwatch and MG Move is also substantial: $662.70 for the SOS Smartwatch compared to $811.85 for the MG Move. Medical Guardian’s monthly monitoring charges are also higher than Bay Alarm Medical’s.
We think that Bay Alarm Medical’s excellent service and affordable price structure make it a better value than the MG Move.
Read our full, hands-on review of the SOS Smartwatch.