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Personal alarms are safety devices that, when triggered, send an alert to a pre-set number of mobile phone numbers or a 24-hour monitoring service. We lab test and review the latest models, including watches and pendants, to help you find the best personal alarm for an emergency.
Our test covers both watch and pendant-style personal alarms.
Our expert testers give every personal alarm a thorough workout to help find the models that:
Our interactive comparison tool helps you find out which brands are the best performers and which carry through on their claims. Our Recommended list will help you quickly see which models come out on top.
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List of brands we tested in this review.
Price at time of purchase.
enter value/s in increments of 1 between 80 and 709
We recommend models with an overall score of at least 70%.
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All personal alarms we tested came in either a watch (worn around the wrist) or pendant (worn around the neck) design.
A charging cradle is useful because it makes it obvious the device needs to be plugged in.
Does the device accept incoming calls?
Will the device auto-accept an incoming call? This would be useful if the user has fallen or is unable to move but able to speak.
Activates if the device falls rapidly – which then triggers an alarm to a contact.
Sends an alarm to a contact if the device doesn't move for a specified amount of time.
This is where you can set the device to tell you whether it has moved. Sort of the opposite of the non-movement alarm.
If the device starts moving rapidly, say by the wearer getting into a car or train, it creates an alarm to send to a contact with this information.
We assess the user manual, email and telephone support and SIM insertion, where necessary. We also assess configuring, activating an SOS, recharging, using the buttons, the shape of the device and whether it is easy to grip and carry.
enter value/s in increments of 1 between 0 and 0
We test their mobile network reception, GPS accessibility, and battery life to find which ones perform the best.
We call to and from the device, to test whether the voice quality was clear and loud enough to hear.
Geo-fencing allows you to set up a virtual fence and alarm for when it is crossed.
A Similar model is identical in most aspects except for a few. This means that a majority of its test results are identical so you can reasonably expect to get the same results from the model we tested, but for those aspects which aren't identical, we'll note these as "Not Tested" in the Compare tables.
A Tested model refers to a model that is still current and available in the Australian market. You should be able to order this model through your local retailer, or find it online.
These models can't be found in retailers or online or are no longer manufactured. You may still find these models on second hand websites, or in second hand dealers. Test methods may change over time, so criteria which can't be directly compared will contain an N/A.
An Identical model is exactly that. Performance characteristics will be identical and the only difference will be something trivial such as colour, which won't have an impact on performance.
These are models we haven't yet tested but that are available.
