Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My mother has alzheimer's and I've been looking for a device I can attach to her that she can't remove, but will alert me when she leaves her assisted living facility 30 miles away from my home. Therefore, it had to be waterproof for showers, and because I don't want to drive there every day to charge it, must have long battery life. This product seemed to fit the bill and was reasonably priced. However, she doesn't have internet service where she lives, and I really didn't want to have to buy service just for this device to be able to stay in "sleep mode". I contacted support to ask them if internet was required and three times they told me "yes"... I didn't understand why (and didn't believe them), so I decided to risk it and bought it anyway. Here's what I've learned about how it actually works: Set up: This device contains (at least) a battery, a GPS receiver, a bluetooth antenna, a wifi antenna, and a 3G antenna. When you open the box the are instructions that direct you to go to the app store to download the "Whistle 3" app. You cannot set up this device without a SMART PHONE (Android or iOS). Once you download the app and create an account, it prompts you to connect via BLUETOOTH to the device. There is no getting around this part. I imagine you could theoretically set up the device with a friend's smartphone, add a phone number or email address for SMS/email notifications to a different device, and then delete the app. Once connected via bluetooth, the app will prompt you to choose a WIFI network for the device to connect to and enter the password. At this point, it's important that your wifi router is actually connected to the INTERNET because the device will attempt a firmware update (This part is interesting, so I'll expand: You'll know the device wants to update firmware by way of a pop-up in the app. You can dismiss the pop-up, and the device will still work, but every time you open the app you'll be reminded that 'it's working on updating firmware'. I let it sit for several hours and it never updated, however, once I removed the device from wifi range and brought it back into range, the firmware updated within minutes... not sure why). "Sleep zone" vs "Locations": The "Sleep Zone" is defined purely by wifi range. As noted above, as long as the device is within range of its wifi network (not sure if there can be more than one - I haven't tested - comments welcome), the device stays in battery-saving "sleep mode". If the device leaves wifi range, it "wakes up" (uses more battery), but will not send alerts unless it leaves or enters a "Location" as described below. Separately, in the app, you can define one or more *circular* areas on Google maps (right in the app) as "Locations". If the device leaves or enters one of these areas, you will receive a push notification. You can't 'draw' a polygonal Location, so no squares or other funny shapes. Just circles. These circles can be resized to quite a large area though, so I haven't found it to be problematic. This of course means you can make your Location significantly larger than the wifi range. Crucially, merely leaving the wifi range won't trigger an alert unless the device ALSO leaves the Location. ASIDE: I've only lightly tested this, but it seems that if the wifi range is _not inside_ any defined Location(s), the device will still stay in sleep mode until it leaves wifi, so to be very precise, it seems you won't get notified unless the device is outside of wifi and AND outside a Location. Requirements for sleep mode: Awesomely, it turns out the only requirement for the device to stay in "sleep mode" is to be connected to a selected wifi network. So, contrary to what the 2 different support reps told me in spite of my repeated attempts to clarify, the wifi router does NOT need to be connected to the internet for "sleep mode" to work. Arguably, the device will need another firmware update in the future, at which time it would be helpful to connect to the internet - but I'll cross that bridge when it comes. How it communicates: So, amazingly, other than firmware updates, the device seems to do all of its communication via 3G cellular network. The implications of this are either really good or really bad, depending on your situation. For me, it's great, because I can set up a "dummy" wifi router in my mom's apartment that will keep the device in 'sleep mode' (saving battery), BUT, I can still communicate with it - which means I can see the location and, so, so amazingly, I can see the battery level too! This one aspect makes it worth every penny to me. On the flipside, if you live in an area with poor cellular coverage, expect to be frustrated. I would expect that even with strong wifi, you won't be able to "see" the device very well (I haven't tested, so comments appreciated here). Obviously, the fact that the device uses 3G means that you MUST purchase a subscription from them. I signed up for the 1 year plan for $7.95 per month and paid with a credit card - painless. There is also a 2-year plan for $6.95 per month, or you can do "monthly payments" for $9.95. Keep in mind, though, that "monthly payments" is a bit of a bait-and-switch, because you're still committed for a year. In all cases, you can cancel with 90 days if you're not happy. Getting notifications: As noted above, another really cool feature is that you don't necessarily need the app installed on your phone to receive notifications. You can add a phone number for SMS messages (which needs to be verified with a code sent to a newly added phone), but that phone does not need to have the app installed. Email notifications are also available. Also, the app can be installed on multiple smart phones (you do have to share email and password though, so consider that), so my sister who lives out of state can also keep tabs on mom. Sweet! Summary: Overall, fantastic product. After 24 hours of testing, 5 solid stars because it's perfect for my specific application. Support, while perhaps ignorant of how the product actually works, is very responsive and friendly. I've set a calendar notification and will update this review in 6 months with battery performance and other learnings. UPDATE (Jan 2019... 18 months later - oops!) Welp, unfortunately this update isn't going to be based on a lot of experience because, it turns out, mom didn't like wearing the thing and would regularly take it off and hide it. I actually spent several weeks looking online, going to jewelers, and even machine shops trying to find way to 'lock' it on to her ankle without it being ugly or uncomfortable - but also easy for me to remove for charging. Legalities aside, this was the only way to keep her from removing it. Unfortunately, before I could come up with a permanent solution she was picked up several times by the police for wandering and trying to enter random homes. So, yeah, that brought her life in assisted living, and the need to track her, to an abrupt end. She's now in a locked memory unit. That being said, we DID get to use it ("them" actually - I bought another so I could 'swap out' instead of sitting and waiting for it to charge) for a little while, and what I found is that even with wifi connected I could only get about 3 days out of each one. I was hoping for 6 or 7, but it was still the best thing going. Note: Keep in mind this was a year and a half ago, so I'm guessing/hoping the service has improved since then. For the times she did keep it on, it seemed to work pretty well, although I did sometimes get false alarms. The first time I got an alert I panicked and called the facility, but I soon learned to wait for a second or even third 'fix' to confirm she was really out of the zone. The one time it came in very handy was when the facility called ME to ask where she was, and I was able to tell them the general location. It turned out she had wandered into the neighboring wing - so she was still in her geofence, but outside of her living area. We never got the chance to 'road test' it in that she never wandered off while wearing it. I'm sure it would have worked, though, as any time I was transporting the swapped out unit back home I'd get an alert. Using a second device: I wish I had written this down while my memory was fresh, but as you can imagine, having a second device seems like a great idea for this type of application. Unfortunately it meant ANOTHER subscription plan to pay for, but it also came with some weird quirks/requirements. For example, you can't 'assign' both devices to the same 'pet' (mom was a pet in the app) and rotate devices like I wanted to do. Instead, I had to create a new 'pet' and assign the second device to it. Also, as I recall it wasn't trivial to disable alerts for the device I was taking home to charge. So, each time I'd leave the facility I'd have to send my sister a text to let her know I was leaving with it. None of these things were deal-breakers - just annoyances. Overall, this is what I would love to see Whistle (or anyone) do: 1. Let us purchase a second device and put them both on the same subscription, and give us a 'toggle' in the app to change which device should be active. I can't be the only person who wants to be able to 'hot swap' devices. 2. Create a way for the device to be 'locked' to the wearer. A fashionable, comfortable chain with a small lock would be great. I understand this potentially creates legal issues, but as legal guardians that's our risk to take. Anyway, if it came to that I'd feel just fine explaining to a jury why I put it on her. After all if such a device had existed, I'm confident mom would have been able to stay a locked memory unit for at least another 6 months and save taxpayers thousands at the same time.