Freeus, Belle+ : Review

By:  Editorial Team   |  Posted: November 16, 2018   |  Updated: December 22, 2023

The Basics

  • Product: Belle+
  • Company: Freeus
  • Review Date:  Q 2018. 

Where to buy it or learn more*:

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Analyst Summary: Freeus   |  Belle+

The Freeus Belle+ is a mobile, go anywhere medical alert. It is of the same class of product as those we reviewed in our comparative analysis of mobile medical alerts.

This product is made by OEM supplier to the medical alert industry, Freeus. It is resold by a variety of medical alert companies under various names. You can’t buy it from Freeus itself.

The product is fairly new, and contains the most recent features one should expect in a mobile medical alert.

The product is notable for claiming quite long battery life (up to 5 days per charge) which is substantially more than most comparable mobile medical alerts.

The Belle+ also includes multiple location technologies (GPS, WiFi location, and Cellular triangulation). Many of the competing products include only GPS and in some cases cellular triangulation, although some (such as the Philips GoSafe) include all these too plus more.

The website is unclear about how waterproof this product is, but some of the other websites that sell this product claim it can be used in the bath and shower.

 

Hands-on Testing

See our hands-on testing of this product below.

This product was called the Medical Guardian Active Guardian when we evaluated it, but as of 2024, that product is no longer sold by medical Guardian under than name.

This is a rebranded version of the Belle+ made by wholesaler Freeus. It has a couple of noteworthy features, in addition to those typical for products in this class.

  • it includes both GPS location technology and WiFi location technology, which might make it more accurate in knowing where you are at all times (we have not tested this);
  • it claims a battery life of 5 days, which is very good for this class of products.

Note that the current product sold by Medical Guardian looks like the image at the top of the page.

In our testing below, we also show images of a prior generation of the product, which was the one we tested originally.

 

We acquired this product (the Freeus Belle+, rebranded as the Active Guardian*) and evaluated it over several weeks, as we have done with many of the competing products.

We tested this product at the same time as the Lively Mobile. Both products have similar features. Both performed well.

 

Freeus Belle+ and Lively Mobile
Left: Lively Mobile; Right: Freeus Belle+ (rebranded as Active Guardian)

 

Here are the key findings.

  1. In our tests, battery life was roughly 4.5 days. This is noticeably longer than most other products with similar characteristics, which usually have battery life of around 1.5 days. This may well make a difference, depending on your lifestyle, and would be the primary reason to choose this specific product over similar competing products.
  2. Location capability seemed quite similar to the Lively Mobile, and quite similar to the other mobile medical alerts we have tested. In other words, the product mostly knew where we were to within a house or two, and almost always to within a block. We thought that the fact it had WiFi locating capability might make it superior, but there was no sign of this in our tests.
  3. The Active Guardian / Belle + is a bit larger than the Lively Mobile. You can see the picture below. It is also a bit heavier (2.4 oz vs 1.4oz). It did not feel especially big and clumsy, but the difference in size and weight was somewhat noticeable.
  4. In daily useage the product has several small lights that flash periodically. So does the Lively Mobile, but the Lively lights are a little less obtrusive. Both products make it pretty clear you are wearing a “medical alert”.
  5. This product is easy to charge. You just drop it into a simple charger.
  6. The marketing literature describes the product as “highly water resistant” and says you can wear it in the bath or shower.

 

 

 

*The Freeus Belle+ product we acquired was bought on Amazon, and was sold by a company called LifeStation (rebranded as the LifeStation Premium Mobile). The actual device is the same as is sold by Medical Guardian as the Active Guardian. But the monitoring service was provided by LifeStation.

We found LifeStation quite difficult to deal with. For example, to activate the product we needed to make multiple calls to the customer servce center. These calls were never answered. Instead we had to leave messages and then wait to be called back. So, we don’t recommend buying the product from LifeStation, and if you like the sound of this Freeus Belle+ product, we recommend buying the Active Guardian from Medical Guardian.

Medical Guardian’s response center has already been tested in a number of our other reviews and is good, although with slower response times than GreatCall.

 

Where to buy it or learn more*: (this takes you away from our website)

Freeus Belle+

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*Disclosure: The research and opinions in this article are those of the author, and may or may not reflect the official views of Tech-enhanced Life.

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In some cases, when we evaluate products and services, we ask the vendor to loan us the products we review (so we don’t need to buy them). Beyond the above, Tech-enhanced Life has no financial interest in any products or services discussed here, and this article is not sponsored by the vendor or any third party. See How we Fund our Work.