Equipment Reviews

Twenty single-product reviews of the equipment families buy in the weeks after a fall or a diagnosis, each one including who should not buy it.

Read this before the reviews. Most of the equipment on this page is a clinical decision before it is a shopping decision. Power wheelchairs, patient lifts, hospital beds and pressure redistribution mattresses should be specified by an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, a nurse or your parent's doctor, and an occupational therapy home assessment is very often the right first step ahead of any purchase.

That assessment is also the route to Medicare, Medicaid or veterans' coverage for durable medical equipment, which almost always requires a physician's order and an enrolled supplier before the equipment is bought. Buying at retail is usually the moment that route closes. We say so on every page, and it costs us the sale.

These reviews draw on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested these products ourselves and we do not pretend otherwise. Nothing here is medical advice.

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