LifeStation Medical Alert System Review
LifeStation offers simple at-home and mobile medical alert systems designed for various needs and budgets.
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LifeStation is one of the more venerable medical alert providers on the market. It’s a family-owned, privately held company that’s been in business since 1977. LifeStation also has multiple monitoring centers that are Five Diamond-certified by The Monitoring Association (TMA),1 an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau,2 and UL-listed equipment. With those accolades, many see LifeStation as one of the best medical alert system providers.
However, LifeStation’s prices for top-tier packages are pretty high and the company doesn’t have many add-on features. For this year’s review, I tested the In-Home No Landline and Sidekick systems. Read on for a firsthand look at my experience!
How Does LifeStation Stack Up to the Competition?
LifeStation offers medical alert systems with fast response times at affordable prices. However, if you are looking for specific accessories or more high-tech features, you may be a little disappointed with what LifeStation has to offer. Check out our top-rated medical alert providers below to compare your options and choose the best system for your needs.
Pros About LifeStation
- Well-established company: LifeStation has over 45 years of experience in the business, so you can trust their reputation and products.
- No contracts and a 30-day money-back guarantee: You can try out your system without any risk. If you realize it’s not a good fit for your needs or lifestyle, you can cancel service anytime down the line for a prorated refund.
- Variety of systems: LifeStation offers everything from a basic in-home system to discreet stone pendant and smartwatch medical alert devices, so you can find the right system for your needs.
- Features: LifeStation’s Find My Loved One feature and Alexa-pairing technology make their products smart home-friendly. You can locate the user at any time with your phone or Amazon Echo — perfect for family members or caregivers.
Cons About LifeStation
- Limited accessory options: There aren’t too many bells and whistles to add, such as medication reminders, activity sensors, or other high-tech features that some companies offer. If you’re looking for lots of add-ons and health features, check out our reviews of Alert1 and Lively.
- No landline option: When I spoke to a representative, he confirmed that they no longer sell the At Home Landline system.
- Activation fees: While LifeStation does not charge equipment fees, they do charge a $99.95 activation fee for three of their four products.
Overview of LifeStation
The Buying Experience
LifeStation’s prices and product features are clearly listed online, but if you want to purchase your system online, make sure you scroll to the very bottom of the page and click the “buy now” button. That is, if you’re already sure which system to get. Otherwise, clicking on the products will direct you to first call the LifeStation sales team or fill out a form to receive a quote via email. Although consulting LifeStation’s sales team is an extra step, I suggest taking the opportunity to ask the agent whatever questions you have before buying a system. Customer reviews often mention that LifeStation’s representatives are personable, patient, and helpful.
Customer reviews often mention that LifeStation’s representatives are personable, patient, and helpful, and during my interaction with them I found that to be true. After dialing in and listening to a piano concerto for a few minutes, I was connected to a friendly representative named Corey. There was no sales pitch, and Corey answered my questions patiently. I asked him how much fall detection costs, and he let me know it was an additional $15.90 per month through LifeStation’s Supreme plan. That’s on the high side, as many medical alert system companies, such as Medical Guardian, only charge $10 a month for fall detection.
>> Further Reading: Compare LifeStation and Medical Guardian
I also wanted to know LifeStation’s average response time. Corey said their average response time is just 20 seconds after you press your help button. Impressive! Some providers I’ve reviewed, including Life Alert, have average response times of two minutes, so LifeStation is faster than many of their competitors.
Setting Up My System
In-Home No Landline Setup
My In-Home No Landline package came with a square base station and small help button that can be worn as a bracelet or necklace. The setup for my system was easy; it was basically a plug-and-play. I turned on the on/off switch at the bottom of the base station, plugged the unit’s power cord into an outlet, and that was it! It took about two minutes for the base to find the cellular connection, and then it was ready to use.
To test my system, I put on my wearable help button and pressed it. An electronic emergency sound came through the speaker. Then, it took about 20 seconds for a loud voice to identify herself as a LifeStation operator. I told the operator that I was just testing the system, and she said I was welcome to test as much as I needed. I tried the same test again with the pendant in a room farther away from the base station to test the coverage range. I found the two-way speaker sufficiently loud, and I could hear the operator without moving closer to the base station.
Sidekick Setup
To set up the Sidekick mobile unit, I plugged in the charging cradle, placed the unit on the charger, and pushed the power button for an initial three-hour charge. I knew the unit was fully charged when the battery light stopped blinking red. To test the unit after it was done charging, I pressed the silver SOS button on the front of the pendant. I heard a sound alerting me that a call was in progress and was connected to a live operator in no time.
Contracts and Warranty
LifeStation offers a lifetime warranty for all equipment that covers normal wear and tear and product defects. If the system is damaged or lost, you’ll have to pay for the replacements. If you buy the protection plan for $7.95 per month, you’ll receive two complimentary help button replacements or one system replacement every year. There are a few caveats to this protection plan. It is not available with the Luxury system, and the Sidekick Smart system comes with the protection plan included. LifeStation doesn’t have long-term contracts, so you can cancel your service at any time.
LifeStation Systems at a Glance
| Specs | In-Home No Landline | Sidekick | Sidekick Smart | Luxury |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $35.95 per month | $39.95 per month | $47.90 per month | $47.90 per month |
| System type | In-home cellular | On-the-go cellular | Cellular smartwatch | Sidekick + jewelry pendant |
| Range | 600 feet | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Two-way speaker | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fall detection | $15.90 per month (via Supreme plan) | $15.90 per month (via Supreme plan) | N/A | N/A |
| Location tracking | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Equipment protection plan | $7.95 per month | $7.95 per month | Included | Not covered |
| Water-resistant equipment | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
LifeStation System and Product Details
In-Home No Landline
LifeStation Mobile LTE
Cost
Starting at $35.95 per month, the In-Home No Landline unit is an affordable medical alert system that doesn’t require a landline. For comparison, Medical Guardian’s monthly prices start at $38.95 for the MGHome Cellular, a cellular at-home system, so LifeStation is on the slightly more affordable side.
Equipment
In-Home No Landline comes with a wearable help button and a base station with a two-way speaker. One of the advantages of this system is that the base station can be put anywhere in the home regardless of where the phone jack is, as it runs on a cellular connection instead of a landline. This system works well for homebodies, older adults who don’t have a landline, and those who want the freedom to easily move the system anywhere in the house.
Did You Know? Older adults who use medical alert system devices due to a health problem had a lower risk for falls, researchers found.3
Service and Monitoring
This system runs on AT&T’s cellular connection, so make sure that AT&T has reliable service in your area. LifeStation's monitoring center offers 24/7 support, so all you need to do in an emergency is press the help button on your pendant or base station. During my tests, I had no trouble connecting to the monitoring center throughout my home, and I found that the operators were always friendly and quick to help.
Sidekick
LifeStation Sidekick
Cost
The Sidekick system starts at $39.95 per month, comparable to other mobile units on the market. For instance, Aloe Care Health’s prices for a mobile system start at $42.95 per month, while Medical Alert charges $47.95 per month.
Equipment
The Sidekick is best suited for on-the-go users or families who want to keep track of their loved one’s whereabouts. The Sidekick pendant is bigger than the At Home pendant, weighing under two ounces and measuring a few inches long. It’s an all-in-one system with a built-in microphone, speaker, and emergency help button, so there’s no base station or other equipment required except a charging cradle. You can wear the system like a necklace or put it in your pocket or purse. During my testing, I noticed Sidekick was smaller and more compact than some other mobile units, which I appreciated. I tucked the pendant into my sweater, and it was barely noticeable!
FYI: More than 1 in 4 older adults fall every year, but less than half tell their doctors. Even so, falls among older people result in 3 million visits to emergency rooms every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.4
Service and Monitoring
The unit is equipped with GPS, Wi-Fi, and AT&T cellular technology to update your location in real time, so help can be dispatched no matter where you are. The unit’s batteries last for a full five days, meaning you won’t have to worry about charging it all the time. Plus, it has voice prompts and will vibrate to alert you when it’s time to charge the system.
Pro Tip: LifeStation offers perks like free shipping or a free month of service if you pay for your system quarterly or annually instead of monthly.
While this feature is useful, I wish LifeStation had their own mobile app where family members and caregivers could easily check their loved one’s location at any time. Other top brands like Bay Alarm Medical and Medical Guardian have companion mobile apps.
Luxury
LifeStation Luxury
At $47.90 per month, the Luxury systems combines the Sidekick system with a jewelry pendant and chain. This is great if you want an attractive and discreet casing for your system. Both the chain and the case, which includes a lapis blue resin stone in its center, are brass. It offers all of the safety functions and features as the Sidekick system.
Sidekick Smart
LifeStation Sidekick Smart
Cost
Sidekick Smart, LifeStation’s latest smartwatch system, starts at $47.90 per month. I’ll be honest: This is fairly expensive compared to other popular smartwatch systems on the market. For comparison, Bay Alarm Medical’s monthly rates for a similar smartwatch start at just $39.95, plus a one-time $199 equipment fee.
Equipment
I was excited to see that LifeStation added Sidekick Smart to their lineup, as more and more companies are offering high-tech smartwatch systems. Sidekick Smart is a touch-screen watch that can track your steps and monitor your heart rate as well as provide instant weather forecasts, making it an excellent option for active seniors. The system is water-resistant, with Bluetooth technology and a built-in two-way speaker. If you’re hesitant to purchase a medical alert system because of the way it looks, know that Sidekick Smart is a discreet solution. It looks exactly like a regular watch, so no one will know it’s a medical alert system!
Service and Monitoring
Sidekick Smart runs on AT&T’s network with GPS and Wi-Fi tracking. That means help can be sent no matter where you are, whether you’re taking a jog, golfing, or running errands. If you need assistance, simply tap the “emergency call” button on the touch screen or hold down the knob on the side of the watch to connect to the monitoring center.
Further Reading: AARP supports congressional efforts to help prevent falls among older adults nationwide. Find out more about the bill here,5 and also check out our guide to AARP membership benefits.
Compare LifeStation to Other Providers
Add-on Features and Accessories
Most of LifeStation’s add-ons are typical for the industry. Though they don’t offer more techy features like medication reminders, activity sensors, or a mobile app, they offer all of the essentials to keep you protected.
LifeStation Wearable Pendant and Watch
Fall detection
According to a study by the CDC, 36 million older adults experience a fall every year.6 For this reason, I think automatic fall detection is the most important add-on to consider. A fall detection pendant will automatically detect if you fall and send an alert to the monitoring station, even if you’re unconscious or unable to press your help button. LifeStation’s fall detection pendant is available with a Supreme plan and runs $15.90 per month for the Sidekick and the In-Home system.
Lockbox
If a first responder or family member needs to enter the house during an emergency and doesn’t have a key, this lockbox makes it easy. Instead of breaking down the door, causing expensive property damage, they will receive a code to unlock the LifeStation lockbox and retrieve a key. LifeStation charges $2.95 per month for this lockbox.
FYI: Visit our list of the best medical alert systems for older adults to compare LifeStation to the industry’s leading providers.
Protection plan
With this protection plan, you won’t have to pay the full price for lost or damaged equipment, which could save you hundreds of dollars. For $7.95 per month, you’ll be eligible for two help button replacements or one system replacement every year.
LifeStation vs. the Competition
LifeStation devices are not the most high-tech on the market, but they are catching up, with Alexa integration and their Luxury pendant, which offers a truly attractive emergency mobile device that doesn’t look like a piece of medical equipment.
We rated other companies comparably in terms of technology and response times, although many of them had significantly lower monthly fees, such as MobileHelp. MobileHelp has systems starting at $24.95 a month. LifeFone also starts monitoring costs at $24.95 a month and does not charge any activation fees, compared with Life Alert’s activation fee of nearly $200. LifeStation sits in the middle with its $99.95 activation fee.
>> Expert Advice: Read our review of the best medical alert systems with fall detection.
For another comparison, Medical Guardian offers protection with lower monthly costs than LifeStation. Plus, Medical Guardian offers a free lockbox while LifeStation’s costs $2.95 per month. Medical Guardian also offers fall detection with its devices for $6 less per month than LifeStation. However, one of the most important features of a medical alert system is how quickly agents respond to an alert. And in that respect, LifeStation performed as well as (and in some cases, better than) Medical Guardian did.
We also like that LifeStation systems come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, like Bay Alarm Medical systems do. Life Alert, one of the best known companies in the medical alert industry, does not offer such a guarantee and requires long-term (three-year) contracts for service. However, LifeStation’s devices work within a shorter range (600 feet) than Life Alert’s devices; Life Alert’s new Micro Voice Pendant works within 1,000 feet of the base unit. For comparison’s sake, MobileHelp says their devices work up to 1,400 feet from the base unit, which is the longest range of all the systems we’ve reviewed.
>> Learn More: This year’s review of Bay Alarm Medical.
Overall, LifeStation is a good choice for an affordable and reliable emergency alert system, particularly if you’d like your system to work with Alexa or you would prefer a wearable that looks more like jewelry than a medical alert device. If a priority for you is a system designed for couples, however, check out MobileHelp. Or if it’s important to you or your loved one to be able to reach emergency response agents who can communicate in a language other than English, also look into Bay Alarm Medical, which we found offers an impressive number of language options.
Our Methodology: LifeStation Review
Our team of senior tech experts spent over 100 hours evaluating LifeStation’s medical alert systems. We consider a list of criteria including device durability, price, the buying experience, accuracy, and overall value based on our hands-on evaluation of the company’s products and services. We also ask older adults for feedback on the systems whenever possible. We then use our research and personal experience with the products to give each company a star rating out of five. You can check out our medical alert system page for more details on our review process. Below are more details about the categories considered in our review.
- Cost: Older adults have a range of budgets, so we look for reliable options for emergency alert systems that fit every budget.
- Value: Our evaluation includes considering whether a system’s price justifies its overall value, including each company’s most basic system and optional add-ons.
- Emergency response times: We test each system for average response times, accuracy in detecting falls, and how helpful and courteous response agents are. We also make sure agents are easy to hear and understand and that they can hear us during test calls.
- Ease of use: We thoroughly test every button and function to see if they’re intuitive and work like they’re supposed to.
- Purchasing experience: We consider the ease of finding product and purchasing information on a company’s website, and we speak with customer service representatives to find out if they are patient, helpful, and able to provide accurate information about the company and their products.
- Equipment: We test each piece of equipment to gauge whether it appears to be high-quality, durable, and reliable. This includes testing alert buttons in the home, mobile devices away from home, and fall detection features.
- Features and add-ons: We test as many optional features as we can, such as fall detection capabilities and caregiver apps, to ensure they’re useful and worth the price.
The Bottom Line on LifeStation
LifeStation offers products built for solid, straightforward performance. The equipment is simple and user-friendly. Customer testimonials speak to the company’s fast response times, kind and compassionate representatives, and the peace of mind these systems offer. While most of the systems aren’t exactly stylish, LifeStation focuses on the features that matter for keeping you safe, like fast response times, location tracking, and 24/7 professional monitoring. Plus, LifeStation offers a new smartwatch system for active older adults. With over 40 years of experience in the industry, LifeStation will surely be around for years to come, keeping you safe as you age in place.
Frequently Asked Questions About LifeStation
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How much does LifeStation cost per month?
LifeStation systems range from $35.95 per month for the In-Home No Landline medical alert system to $47.90 per month for the Sidekick Smart and Luxury pendant. Add-ons, such as fall detection, may increase your monthly costs.
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What is the return policy for Life Station?
Since there are no contracts, you can cancel your service and return your equipment anytime. With their 30-day return policy, the company gives you a full refund anytime within the first month of service.
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How long do pendant batteries last?
The battery for the At Home pendant lasts about three years, at which time LifeStation will give you a reminder call and send you a new pendant. The battery lasts about five days for the Sidekick, and the system will audibly alert you when the battery is running low. The Sidekick Smart should be charged daily.
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Is there a wristwatch option for the pendant?
There is a wristwatch help button for the in-home systems. However, if you upgrade to the fall detection pendant, it must be worn around the neck to work correctly.
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What if the power goes out? Will everything still work?
LifeStation’s in-home base stations have a 32-hour backup battery, so you won’t have to worry about a gap in service. If this battery ever gets low, the base speaker will notify you or the user.
The Monitoring Association. (2025). What is the TMA Five Diamond Program?
Better Business Bureau. (2021). LifeStation Inc.
National Library of Medicine. (2024). Factors Associated with Falls in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Subgroup Analysis from a Telemergency Service.
Centers for Disease Control. (2024). Facts About Falls.
AARP. (2024). AARP Backs New Bill to Prevent Falls Among Older Americans.
CDC. (2020). Trends in Nonfatal Falls and Fall-Related Injuries Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years — United States, 2012–2018.
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