GreatCall Lively Mobile: One-Piece Waterproof Medical Alert Device, Silver

UPDATE 8/11/17: Normally, I leave my updates at the bottom of my reviews, but this information is too important to hide there. My subscription ended the end of last month and I have verified that this device will call 911 directly (long press the call button) even without service. Yes, I tried 911. Yes, that works. No, it will not call GreatCall and I can't use Link, but who needs GreatCall and Link when what we really need is 911? (When Mom starts wandering, I might reconsider.)Like I stated in the original review, this is a phone with one speed dial button. Like all phones, it must be able to dial 911 whether we are paying for service or not. I am upgrading this product from two stars to three stars. Honestly, GreatCall will be unhappy, but I think people should know. I hope this helps everyone. If you want a call button that works everywhere without a subscription, get the Lively. All the inconveniences I've stated in my review are there, but they are somehow negated when I realize I don't have to pay.___________________________________________My mother is in the beginning stages of dementia. She doesn’t know how to use her cell phone (no landline), so I really wanted to like Lively. Unfortunately, it is a no-go from me.SERVICE LEVELSThere are three service levels. The basic service level just gets you emergency help. The next level up enables urgent care and Link (the app). The highest level includes product replacement and fall detection.BATTERY LIFEThe biggest drawback to the Lively is the battery life, which lasts two days with or without fall detection enabled. Yes, I tried it both ways. Mom can’t remember to charge Lively every night and put it on every morning. She needs something she could wear all the time, like my dog’s Whistle GPS Pet Tracker. Too bad the Whistle is so bulky.CHARGINGThe charging cradle should have been made so that the Lively could only fit in one direction. The way it’s made, even if Mom remembered to place the Lively in the cradle, she could do it upside down and not even know it. Yes, it makes a sound when placed properly, but Mom is confused about new things and can’t learn that.It would be great if Mom could charge Lively on the nightstand next to her bed, but there’s no way to turn that bright blinking white light off. It ought to just turn off automatically when in the cradle, but it doesn’t. How is poor Mom supposed to get any sleep? Having to charge Lively in another room increases the odds that Mom will forget to charge it or put it back on.FALL DETECTIONI had one unit that was defective and kept calling 911 directly whenever I put the Lively in the charging cradle. (No, my hands were not anywhere near the big button on the front.) The first time it happened, it did not even tell me it was calling 911. I only found out from my phone app and had to call 911 back to insist that they not come. My replacement unit is working properly, although I was not happy it thought I fell when I slumped into my beanbag chair last night to watch a movie.By the way, fall detection is only supposed to work with the lanyard, not the belt clip.CUSTOMER SERVICEI called many times regarding my first defective unit, so I feel vastly familiar with the process. Be prepared to wait half an hour for an agent. If you call form the phone number listed in the app, the wait is longer. Use the number listed when you sign into Lively on your PC. I had two phones on both lines twice, and twice the phone number listed on the PC was answered first.WARRANTY SERVICE/TECHNICAL SUPPORTThe device has a 1-year warranty. However, they will refuse to honor that warranty unless you go through the entire testing/fixing process with their technical support.Look, if my product is calling 911 whenever I put it on the cradle, it is obviously defective. Perhaps their technical support can fix it, perhaps not. BUT, I do not want to “fix” it and wait on pins and needles to see if it accidentally calls 911 while Mom is wearing it. She would not know it called 911. She would not know how to call the police off if she did. It would freak her out to see police/fire unexpectedly show up at her door. If that happened, she would refuse to ever use this device again.This is a device that should be completely reliable. The company should offer a replacement under warranty whenever the customer believes it is defective, if only for peace of mind. They should not insist on technical support.PRODUCT REPLACEMENTReplacement of lost or stolen devices is only available for the highest service level and it costs $3/month to enable. On top of that, you have to pay $15 for the replacement, which is a refurbished device. Considering a brand new Lively is selling for $37 on Amazon right now, I don’t think the replacement service is a good deal.CALLING GREATCALL/911I’ve made lots of calls to GreatCall and some calls to 911.Short press the call button: You get the GreatCall operator. Sometimes, there is a short delay before an operator picks up. It’s just a few seconds, but I’m not sure how Mom would react to that. The operators have all been very nice. I have a note in there that Mom needs someone who will speak slowly and allow her some time to answer. Two operators have done that, but all say that note pops up on their screen when the call comes in. If the GreatCalls operator determines there is an emergency, they will call 911 for you. If you want to call 911 directly, see below.Long press the call button: You get your local 911 operator. They can talk to you just like the GreatCalls operator can. In fact, Lively is actually a phone with a phone number. GreatCall just won’t give us that phone number. Wish they would so I could call Mom on it. I would pay for that privilege. Hear that, GreatCall?NURSE/URGENT CAREI pushed the Lively button to see how I would go about getting a nurse. Turns out you can’t just call and say you want a nurse. The GreatCalls operator will run you through their protocol to make sure it’s not an emergency first (a good thing). If it’s not an emergency, they will forward the call to their urgent care.GPSOnly the GreatCall operator and 911 have real time GPS accuracy. We peons are limited to whatever the last location was detected, which happens a few times an hour. There is no way to refresh the GPS.LINK (phone app)The defective unit only sporadically notified my app when the battery was low. I mostly heard about it after I started charging the battery when it was in its cradle. I’ve only allowed my replacement unit to go dead once, but it did notify me that time.The app does show location (see above). It also shows where Mom has been throughout the week. It notifies me when she calls GreatCall or 911. Through the app, I can invite other family members to monitor Mom, but there are privacy settings to prevent them from using the GPS locator and seeing push notifications that can be activated if I wish.By the way, it took a bump up to technical support for me to learn that the battery life indicator in the app is simply an image. No matter how much charge the battery has, the image will always show half a charge. You have to read what's underneath to see the battery level. Very deceptive.WATERPROOFThe Lively can be used in the shower but it should not be submerged in the bathtub. Beware that the sound can be very muffled when the device is wet. Mom’s voice is soft, so the first time I had Mom try it wet, the operator couldn’t tell anyone was speaking. I had to jump in and take over so that the operator wouldn’t call 911. Neither the operator nor I could make out each other’s conversation until I put my mouth right up to the mic.I tried it two more times wet, and the sound was tempered but both sides could hear. Because of the muffling of sounds, Mom might not be able to speak to anyone on this device while in the shower or when just getting out of the shower. She would get the GreatCall operator, but she might not be able to explain the situation.WEARING LIVELYLively comes with a lanyard and belt clip. Around my neck, it feels a little heavy. I tucked it into my bra so it would bear a little of the weight. After awhile, I got used to it, but Mom doesn’t want to wear this on her neck because of the weight.I used the belt clip to clip the device to my shoe for a few days. With it needing charging every night, I decided that won’t work. Mom couldn’t get this off her shoe if she tried.OVERALL IMPRESSIONBecause of the trouble with my initial unit, the problems getting that unit replaced, the problems getting a live customer service agent, the short battery life, the weight around the neck, the problems with a wet device, the cradle design, no real time GPS, and the bright blinking light that would keep my already insomniac mom from sleeping, I think I will pass on renewing the subscription. Mom will get this device today to use as a panic button that will always in the cradle. Hopefully, she will remember that she has it and how to push the button. In the meantime, I will be on the lookout for something else.

Bought this with the highest level service package ($40/mo) for my aging parent with me monitoring from another city. Here are some of the problems we had:1) Short battery life - tried to get parent to put in charger each night then put on in the morning. Remember, you basically don't have any coverage when it is in the charger, so was worried about night falls. Maybe if they added the option to reduce location updates (like some other products) the battery would last longer. We didn't need the location updates since my parent can no longer drive so is always with a family member when away from home.2) Device/charger alignment - needs some work on design to make it easier to ensure the device is lined up with the charger. My parent had trouble getting it inserted properly, so the next morning the device battery was sometimes dead.3) App frequently out of sync with device - many times the app would show battery low, charging, not found, etc during the day. When I called to check, the device itself might be completely different status - i.e. charged and being worn properly.We went with some alternative devices which come close to the Lively features we cared about and don't have any monthly fee. Here is our setup:1) Amazon AWS iOT buttons - programmed these to text family when pressed, then mounted several ($15 ea) near the floor at locations where a fall might occur (i.e. in bathroom, hall, etc). Once you setup a free AWS account, they can be easily programmed with the AWS iOT Button Dev app. They have a battery life of 1000 presses and the battery is an alkaline battery which has a multi-year shelf life.2) Amazon Echo Dots - got two of these and setup with family contacts. My parent can tell Alexa to call us or we can use the new Drop In feature to listen/talk (i.e. if we get a button press from a fall). Also added a couple of smart light switches so that parent can ask Alexa to turn on lights before venturing to bathroom, etc at night. Alexa also has an increasing set of fun skills that my parent enjoys.3) Dlink WiFi Motion Sensor - Set this up to send out text to family if motion has NOT been detected by 10 am every morning. This takes a bit more work since the Dlink app is setup to report when it detects motion (i.e intruders). Maybe Dlink will add the motion NOT detected option to their app in the future, but for now you can setup some sequences with a free account on Zapier.com.

This product does not hold a charge. It almost always had to be on charger and would start to beep and say it needed charging again only after a few hours off the charger. I would not recommend this alert at all!!