Windtrace Automatic Pill Dispenser for Elderly with Alarm

One of the worst products I’ve purchased. The lid does not open wide but stays at an angle and slams shut. Trying to open wide as shown in startup guide will break it. the turn table is hard to take out because of this. The Alarm is way to quiet, the locking mechanism is cheap plastic as are the keys. They send you 3 cheap plastic keys that are a very bizarre shape. It does have a little place to keep one of them on the bottom. Good luck keeping up with the other two! I’m comparing this to a more expensive one that I accidentally dropped and didn’t want to pay another $100 so I went cheap.

I've used this for a while and finally got fed up with it. It's a really good idea but is not very practical. The wheel is slightly confusing on how to set it up for day/night meds. I can't imagine if you had morning noon and night meds. or more. There is no OFF button. If you're not using it, it keeps chirping at med time. I gave it a good honest shot, but it's just not for me. There is a steep learning curve so keep that in mind when using it. As with some products these days, the instructions were very VERY vague. I finally managed to get it set up and running right, but it's really too cumbersome.

Overall positive experience after several months, but let me start with the drawbacks: 1) First of all, let me say that I'm in tech. I'm a thirtysomething software developer at a prestigious company. Why is this relevant and not some random brag? Because setting the timer or changing the time on this thing is confusing. (Notice how this review is right after daylight savings time? There's a reason I'm just now getting around to the review...). If a tech person needs to look at the instructions, so will you / your dependent. The instructions are clear, just take a picture of them and put them in your favorites on your phone so when daylight savings rolls around or your routine changes, you'll know what to do. The instructions are probably online somewhere, and of course you can save the piece of paper, but taking a picture of them will probably be your best bet. 2) At one point, this was stored upside down and a tiny pill got lodged in a spot that prevented the wheel from fully rotating, and the mechanism wasn't perfectly aligned after that for several weeks. I don't know why, and honestly, I don't know what fixed it. Maybe I hit the next button enough times? I *think* it's aligned again, but it's weird that it didn't click back into place right away. 3) this thing beeps once every couple of minutes for about an hour and then stops. if you're out of the house during that time, you'll need to remember to take it. 4) it only has 28 days. Why not make it a whole month's worth? Why make us hang on to a couple of extra pills in a bunch of different bottles? I would improve it by - allowing 31 days of medication - connecting to your phone so you can snooze it if you're not around - fixing the weird rotation issue I experienced - making the UI easier to work with, or even printing the instructions on the back. Okay, done with the bad. On with the good. 1) I very rarely have to refill this! It's so much better than a one week organizer 2) I can easily check to see if I've taken it already because if there are pills in the most recent divot, then it's time 3) It's easy to look back and see how many times I've forgotten to take my medicine over the last month 4) I love how I only have to open one lid to refill it. 7 day organizers are really annoying in that regard 5) This thing is so persistent, I HAVE to attend to it if i'm home. The only downside is that if I'm not home, my partner will flip it over and I might forget about it (and leave it flipped, possibly causing a tiny pill to jam it). 6) after several months I can feel what my medicine is supposed to feel like when I take it CONSISTENTLY. It's a huge difference, wow. Overall advice: I don't know if this exact one is the best, but it's a huge upgrade from where I was, and this felt like a splurge. If this broke tomorrow, I would replace it with something similar ASAP. If you have a lot of medicines, this makes taking all of them easier.

Item is clear, so you can see the medication. Purchased for my dad works great.

Initial setup for two times a day is confusing with cardboard designation rings. Do you cut off tabs or just bend tabs down? Once you set it up - notifications for medication is wonderful.