I would say this alarm has been extremelly helpful with respect to allowing us to sleep without concern that my mother is getting up without supervision. I especially like the fact that the alarm is able to be brought to whatever room I am in. Although there are three levels of sound, so, sometimes I just leave it in a nearby room, still able to hear the alarm even if I move among the rooms. As noted in other reviews, there is a 'crinkling' noise when the person moves in the bed, but we have an incontinence pad over the alarm pad, and my mom is undisturbed by the crinkling sound. Positioning of the pad (I used safety pins to keep the pad in place on the mattress) may require a bit of trial and error and will depend on the person's sleep habits, and speed of rising. I would say this purchase was totally worth it for our situation. I also purchased the ac adapter, as others had written that the cost of battery replacements was expensive. The adapter has worked out well.