1) Does anyone have experience with refurb AED's?
Yes and they are refurbished to mfgs specs. Nothing wrong with them.

2) Any specific manufacturer better than the rest?
Philips seems to be the all time favorite. Welch Allyn was all favorite at JFK left alone in the cases being checked once a week.

3) Is a vehicle mounted/charged (12VDC) option available?
They have build in batteries some models have interchangeable batteries. On some models you do the daily check which requires you to look at small lcd screen which shows you if unit is ready. We have some back up units that haven’t been used in 2 years and show full charge. Some old units had a standard battery charger and it required a 110V outlet. If you get that all you need is a good converter. Also pads have expiration date so you need to pay attention to that.

4) Is a refurb AED like the refurb parachute, better than nothing?
Yes but look at my comments in the end.

5) If purchased new, what is the life cycle on something like this?
I have AEDs that delivered 12 shocks in the field and battery was still good.

6) How often / how expensive is re-calibration?
Every time you turn it on for checkup unit recalibrates itself.

7) How long is training?
Hah. CPR plus AED use is about 2-3 days. But if you are going to go all the way get CFR-D training.

8) What legal mess am I opening up?
Huge. When traveling in Nepal I walked into a remote clinic and after looking around I asked where the defiblirator was. MD looked at me and answered: and if I bring them back what will I do with them since nearest hospital is 2 days away or $3000 2 hr flight away. So few things will happen if you shock somebody:
a) you shock them and they will regain pulse but no breathing so you have to keep breathing for them.
b) you shock them and there is no change in their status so you will continue cpr.
c) no shock so you will keep going with cpr.
d) you shock them and they will come right back and this is what early defibliration is all about. Put them in the right position and wait for the glory.

Now what if you need to continue with cpr or rescue breathing for your patient and they are going to survive only to be found to be brain dead? What if family decides to take a chunk out of you because your cpr have been not up to the AHA standards? And believe me they will win because anyone put on the stand will testify against you that cpr quality on one rescuer goes down the longer it is performed. I rotate my guys every two minutes.


9) Anything I missed?
Yes mate. Cardiac arrest is a serious business. It aint pretty and TV moments where you shock them and they walk home are far appart. Early defibliration and good cpr increases survival but you kill it with delay response of EMS due to your distance from hospital and travel times. Now there are different types of AEDs out there... Some will shock only Vfib and some will do Vfib and Vtach.

Being a vigilante first responder is great until you hit the law wall. That disgruntled family is going to go after company who is going to wash their hands off you faster than you can explain yourself. Than you are left alone. And homicide is just one of the charges that would come to my mind. And it sucks man because all you want to do is some good.

Maybe you can find a local volunteer EMS squad/corp that can let you work under their license. That would save you from a lot of trouble. Last time I checked AEDs were given out by prescription to people who needed them so that means you had to use them on your family. You needed an MD to sign off on one if I wanted to get one for an ambulance corp. I know there are docs out there that would give you anything you want but what if they gave you permission to get one for you and your family and you used it on the stranger and created a mess? It will be your butt on the lane mate….