Windtrace Automatic Pill Dispenser for Elderly, Electronic Monthly Pill Organizer with Alarm & Light, 28 Day Smart Lock Medication Dispenser, Timed Pill Dispenser Machine for Prescriptions & Vitamins

It is certainly challenging to set up but once that is done it is great.

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 organizer2) 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 time3) It's easy to look back and see how many times I've forgotten to take my medicine over the last month4) I love how I only have to open one lid to refill it. 7 day organizers are really annoying in that regard5) 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.

Here are my thoughts on the product:1. Programming is not intuitive at all. Words like indecipherable and incomprehensible come to mind. One should not feel the need to consult the instruction manual every time they need to set the time, alarm, etc.2. The top cover lock latch is flimsy- it should be more substantial… and made to be “child-proof” (“press and turn” perhaps- as in a child-proof prescription bottle top).3. Forget the key and provide a ¼ turn shank with a slot wide enough to be used with a typical coin.4. The user guide is unwieldy… folding old road maps was never an easy task. The user guide should be in the form of a stapled booklet.5. The alarm volume is too low, even at the highest setting. As people age they lose their hearing. The alarm needs to be louder and perhaps uses a two-tone approach similar to European police or ambulance sirens.6. Inserting dosage rings via the folding tabs isn’t good. The tabs sit within cups and cover the pills within the compartment. The dosage ring should be a vinyl decal that “sticks” in place (no adhesive).7. There should not be a large “OPEN” identifying the location of the top cover lock. It is asking for trouble- it needs to be more discreet, so it doesn’t attract the attention of the senior citizen.There is much room for improvement.

When I first started reading the reviews, I always start with the one star review. I look for commonality amongst the reviewers. Are all the complaints about the same problem or feature or functionality. These I take to heart verses say 50 reviewers having 50 different complaints. Most of the complaints were geared towards programming the dispenser. I have had both good and bad experiences with the programming of equipment in my eighty years work experience. I had to go through it twice just to see what was happening after each step. Third try and it worked perfectly. I had one hiccup where one morning It skipped the first dispensing time but all the rest were on time. This happened two days in a row. I just started the programming over again and it has worked as designed so far. My wife has dementia and I set this on her desk and with the help of the audio alarm, she hasn't missed a dosage. I highly recommend it as a very convenient way of insuring that your loved one will receive their medicine on time.

I’m a former R.N. with a BS in Nursing and have a high I.Q. and even I had trouble setting up and programming this pill dispenser. Just when I finally thought I had it all figured out, it failed to alarm or light up at 7:45pm 3/20/23. (prior to this it always had alarmed at the proper time) I was on the phone with my 92-year-old mother waiting to make sure she took her pills. Fortunately, the carousel did rotate to the correct third position so she was able to access the proper pills. They have a 24/7 help line which I have twice reported my criticisms of the dispenser which also include the ring that you have to end up taping to the carousel (it has these tabs which were useless) The various rings are for how many times you need to take pill(s) per day. My mom has 3 times, so the ring is labeled 1, 2, 3 nine times (9 days) with one slot empty (there are 28 total slots for pills) Sometimes the number is not centered in the little window because the ring was not made correctly. You have to wait until she takes her very last pills on the 9th day, THEN refill the carousel for 9 days or it gets all screwed up. So I go over at 7:30pm on the 9th day and refill it after she takes her evening pills. And I take the pill bottles home with me so she can’t get into them and overdose herself. She has dementia. It is still very challenging but not as bad as when her pills were in the old Sunday through Saturday pill boxes. She even had a double AM/PM one! If you or your loved one does not have dementia, I would recommend getting one of these dispensers, but not this brand. I got it only because it was labeled as Amazon Prime and was 20% off. Sometimes less expensive does not mean better. Now I need to call Victor back tomorrow and tell him it failed to alarm and light up. Have been using it since Mar. 6, 2023 and today is Mar. 21, 2023. P.S. It is also very hard to read whether it says am or pm for the alarm times because it is so far to the right on the display and not dark enough print.