Customer Reviews

Telemergency Royalty 100 Pill Dispenser with Alarm Clock and Timer

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This unit needs to be usable in all respects by anyone who might need help remembering to stay on a medication schedule. That would mostly be older people. In that respect it falls far short. Two stars instead of one because it does hold pills and you can get them out reasonably easily (assuming you've re-assembled it correctly; see below).

1. The slots do hold several pills (as advertised) but they are narrow and hard to fill without spilling a pill into a neighboring slot.
2. If you take it apart to wash it it is hard to reassemble. In particular, the center unit that holds the clock has to be inserted just right, which isn't obvious. Once that is in place, putting the cover on is pretty simple, but it's easy to get the center unit wrong.
3. The clock/alarm is a joke. First, it only alarms once a day, which makes no sense for someone needing to take meds more often. Second, it's hard to set (hold down two little keys, release, then press another to adjust hours or minutes). Third, the display is small and not well lit. Fourth, there is a "reminder" function, which requires more button pushing and notifies you in a fixed number of hours (not hours and minutes, just hours) and is easy to confuse with the alarm (which is a once a day setting). Fifth, the alarm is both a buzzer and a small blinking light, but turning the buzzer off (using the very small switch on the clock unit) also turns of the flashing alarm. So if you just want to be reminded by a flashing light that you need to take your meds this morning you can't do it. And if you want to be reminded in the morning and evening, forget it.
4. The manual is not much help.

Seniors would need considerable help setting this up, if it's appropriate at all. We'll probably return it.

This may look similar to other pill dispensers, but there's a reason it's so much cheaper. It is just a 28-slot pill box that also happens to have a place to hold an alarm clock. It does not control access to the meds or advance automatically. Fine if you need to keep track of a complicated med schedule, but it won't prevent someone with memory problems from taking their meds at the wrong time. BTW, the one I got came with a dying battery in the clock, which means that before I can even use the reminder feature I have to go buy a new battery.

I am an R.N. and also a Diabetic. I have used this dispenser every day, twice a day. I use one for my morning pills and one for my evening pills. This way I can set them up for a month. There are times when I have forgotten to take my pills or really couldn't remember but with the Royalty pill organizer all I had to do was look and see what day the last pills were taken. They have been very helpful in managing my Diabetes, helping me to take medications on a regular schedule every day. I highly recommend this item to be used, especially for the elderly who often need assistance in organizing and correctly taking their medications.

Cecelia R. Peterson,R.N.

I wanted a pill organizer that would help me keep track of my pills and remind me to take them. Enter the Telemergency Royalty 100.

PROS:

First, the positives. I like that it has slots for all seven days of the week, four times a day: morning, noon, evening and bedtime.

There is a small portable pill box in the timer that can be removed and carried around.

That's all I can think of.

CONS:

Like most 28 slot pill organizers, this one is large and unwieldy. It's almost 8 inches in diameter. Be ready to find a space on the counter.

The cover rotates around the face to give access to the pills. It does not rotate easily. Grandma with arthritis would have problems. If one wants to latch the cover, there is only one position to do it in, which necessitates rotating the cover around with every use.

The clock/timer/alarm is the selling point of the product, yet it is so frustratingly unintuitive. I could not do something so simple as programmng in the time. I went to the users manual and found that to program the time, I do not press "set." No, that would be too easy. I must press "snooze" and "mode" together and hold for 3 seconds. To change the hour, I press the set button until it scrolls to the correct hour. I must then hit "mode." I hit "set" to scroll through the minutes. When I have everything perfect, I must press "snooze." ??? Who came up with all that?

It gets even better. Only one alarm per day can be set. If I want to ring again the next day, I must enter the "set" function and then press "snooze."

If I have multiple pills to take, I must set the timer (different from the alarm function but easier to use, in my opinion) each time I take my pills. I press the "mode" button until it reaches the number of hours I need it to count down from and then press "set." If I make a mistake, it will not let me reset the timer. I must wait until the timer goes off or else take out the battery, reset the clock and then reset the timer. I haven't found any other way.

The countdown timer can only be set to the hour.

CONCLUSION

I would not recommend the Royalty 100 for the elderly or anyone who needs simplicity and an easy way to get to their medication. I wouldn't even buy it again for myself. A plain weekly pill organizer would work better. Otherwise, keep the users manual handy. It should be stored near the Royalty.

Product is very cheaply made. I purchased two of them and the timers do not work. Also the parts do not fit together well. Do no waste your money. Very disapointed.

It must be me but i just dont get how to set the timer to repeat everyday...ill have to ask a rocket scientist