Best AEDs For 2023 Reviewed
AED’s can make the difference between life or death. Having an AED saves precious time and gives a victim of sudden cardiac arrest the best chance of life.
While all AED’s do the same thing, they can vary greatly in price and features. We will discuss what you need to know to decide which AED is the best fit for you, your school, church, or business.
Review of the Top FDA Approved AED’s in 2023:
We have selected the top 7 AED’s on the U.S. Market. These are chosen because they are the only FDA approved AED’s on the market:
Philips AED’s: We will still review these, because they have a great product. However, there have been significant delays on restocking these since 2020. They should not be considered unless you know they are available and you can get accessories with them.
Cardiac Science Powerheart® G5 AED
The Powerheart G5 is ideal for public access or first responders. The Powerheart was the first FDA approved AED with a fully automatic shock delivery, dual-language capabilities, changeable increasing energy, and rapid shock times. It is unique in that once turned on it is ready to deliver a shock within 10 seconds. Meanwhile other AED’s take more time to charge prior to being able to shock.
This AED was designed to meet the needs of first responders but it is also simple enough to be used by anyone. The Powerheart G5 is priced at $1,920.00 and is well worth your investment.
Defibtech Lifeline AED
The Defibtech Lifeline AED is ever popular with fire departments and first responders. It has a clean, non intimidating, straightforward design. The Defibtech is a durable, reliable, and effective AED. You should have no doubts that this AED is capable of operating in any environment, thanks to its resilient and simplistic design.
This AED features precise and clear voice prompts that will walk users through each step of using the AED. Some AED’s can seem a bit intimidating to use due to their intricate designs, but this isn’t the case with the Lifeline AED from Defibtech.
The Defibtech Lifeline weighs 4.4lbs and is lightweight, weighing less than most AED’s. The AED is low maintenance and performs daily self tests to ensure its functionality and indicates it is in working order with an indication light. The Defibtech Lifeline is the most inexpensive AED retailing for $1,315.
HeartSine® Samaritan® PAD 350P
The HeartSine Samaritan PAD 350P is meant to be a simple, compact, and effective AED that’s designed to offer every single thing that one would expect from a high-end AED. This is the AED we most often recommend to people looking for an AED for their home, church, or workplace.
The HeartSine AED is the most user friendly AED on the market. The HeartSine offers real-time coaching which will walk anyone through the steps to use the machine. The design revolves around two buttons: one button to turn on and one button to shock. This AED is lightweight and has a very small footprint making it easy to place in any public location or to carry for travel. It’s reasonably priced at $1350 and offers a warranty period of up to 8 years, the maximum of any AED.
Physio-Control LIFEPAK® CR2
The Physio-Control Lifepak CR2 features simple graphics and voice instructions. This AED is most used by schools and churches due to its dual language functionality. This easy to use device is meant to used by those with little to no medical experience, also making it a perfect AED to keep in your school or church.
The LIFEPAK connects to WiFi to record and report data as the AED is in use. Additionally, the Physio Control LIFEPAK CR2 Defibrillator is the only AED that enables CPR compressions during the heart rhythm analysis process. Every minute a patient does not have hands on care decreases their likelihood of survival. This unique feature allows for maximum hands on time.
The Lifepak CR2 has a cost of $1,895 and includes an 8 year warranty.
Zoll AED Plus
The Zoll AED Plus is undoubtedly one of the best products in its class. It truly raises the bar for AEDs as a whole thanks to their intuitive design and is popular amongst institutions that can afford its higher price tag.
This AED features an IP55 rating which means it has the ability to withstand challenging conditions such as extreme heights or temperature. This is important for people working in rural settings, camps, or traveling in the outdoors with an AED.
This AED comes with real-time CPR assistance that guides users through the entire process and provides actual feedback through which one can determine what they’re doing wrong and what they can do to fix it. The pads and batteries of the Zoll AED Plus are rated to have a shelf-life of 5 years, and the warranty of the Zoll AED Plus itself can be up to 7 years.
This AED is priced at $1999, and it’s slightly heavier than others at a weight of 6.7lbs, but this is to be expected considering its feature-rich design.
Philips FR3 AED
The HeartStart FR3 is one of the most technologically advanced AEDs and is semi-automatic. This AED is recommended for medical professionals and features advanced ECG guidance. This AED is not for use by lay responders.
A major highlight of the HeartStart FR3 is that it’s small and lightweight, weighing in at 3.8 lbs. Its compact size makes it one of the best choices to use in tight situations where a swift and effective response is critical to saving a life. The Heartstart FR3 has a high IP rating, meaning it will operate effectively even in harsh environments.
The price tag for this AED is $2,990. This is the most expensive AED we sell, and you definitely get what you pay for in this AED designed for advanced responders..
Philips HeartStart FRx AED
The Phillips HeartStart FRx AED is another great product designed to be simple and effective. The Philips HeartStart FRx defibrillator helps save lives by providing guidance as users administer an electric shock through the chest to the heart of patients during cardiac emergencies. This AED features a higher IP rating then the Phillips Onsite AED and is more ideal for users familiar with it or people traveling with an AED.
Unfortunately Phillips Heartstart FRx and some of its accessories are indefinitely backordered.
Philips HeartStart OnSite AED
Philips designed the HeartStart Onsite AED for the ‘ordinary person in the extraordinary moment’ and this description flawlessly captures the essence of this AED because, even with absolutely zero training with AEDs, you can effectively use this device by following the prompts.
We all love when electronics come with the batteries included and the Philips Heartstart delivers! The Heartstart comes ready for use with a battery pre-installed and is immediately ready to be reused. After turning the AED on, users are guided via voice instructions giving step by step directions and automatically detecting when the steps are completed.
The device itself is fairly small and comes with a case to make it easily portable. This AED is priced competitively at $1,470 and comes with a considerable warranty period of 8 years, starting from the date of shipment.
Conclusion
Any of the AED’s above are good options that we stand behind. Depending on your location and experience level you can narrow down the few that may be a good fit for you. If you aren’t sure what’s best for you still, please get in touch and we’re happy to discuss the differences.
If you skipped to the end of the article because its TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) and want to know what to buy… We recommend the HeartSine Samaritan AED to 90% of people and it would probably be a great fit for you too!
