Best Pill Crusher Reviews 2018

When you have a pet or someone you love who finds it hard swallowing pills, or swallowing anything at all, it’s perhaps time to look for an alternative means of passing the pills into their system. This is where a pill crusher comes in handy, with its ability to grind the pills into powder. There are different pill crushers in the market, all promising different interesting features, and this could become confusing when you want to choose the best pill crusher for you. Therefore, we put together this review and buying guide to help walk you through the decision. For this review, we selected 5 top products that are outstanding in features and their value for money from the long list of pill crushers that we researched. This is just a snapshot of the wide pill crusher range that these brands have, so you can also check their other products if these don’t truly appeal to you.

Overview

PROS

CONS

SPECS

Design

Size

Material

Storage

Extra

Our Top Choice

Ezy Dose Ultra Fine Pill Crusher

Ezy Dose manufactures some of the best easy-to-use medication management products and it’s even endorsed by the Arthritis Foundation.

Interestingly, this pill crusher comes with a stainless steel blade which grinds the pills into fine powder and which stays sharp after multiple uses.

The cutting compartment doesn’t have anything to keep the pills in place so they tend to fall off when you open it.

Pill-cutter and a pill-grinder

1.5 x 3 x 6.2 inches; 0.014 lbs

Stainless steel blade

Built in pill storage compartment

Built in drinking cup and cover

Best Value

Carex Health Brands Ultra Pill Crusher

Carex Health Brands is a renowned manufacturer of health management products that offers a level of customer support that sets it apart from its competitors.

Thanks to its conical grinder, the pills don’t get in the threads. It’s also easy to clean with warm soapy water and is wide enough for large hands.

The conical base may make it hard to stand on its own.

Turn to crush

2.6 x 2.6 x 2 inches; 0.14 lbs

Plastic

Storage area under cap

Easy to clean

McKesson Silent Knight Pill Crusher

McKesson is committed to creating innovative resources, support and technology to help improve the healthcare industry and give its patients an improved and healthier lifestyle.

It doesn’t require any cleaning and has a lifetime warranty.

Some customers complained about the price, but then, it’s good value for your money.

Lever-powered; push to crush

11.8 x 5 x 3.8 inches; 11 lbs

Metal

No storage

Long handle for easy crushing

AliMed Pill Crusher/Pulverizer

AliMed has become a renowned provider of innovative solutions and services to specific medical needs, especially those that require ergonomic products.

Many customers believe this pill crusher is good value for its price, even moreso due to its durability.

Some customers complained the bottom cracked after a while, but this can be avoided when you crush upside down.

Twist to crush

2.7 x 1.2 x 7.6 inches; 0.1 lbs

Tough precision plastic

Separate storage compartment

Easy to use

Apothecary Ergo Grip Pill Crusher

Apothecary has over 40 years’ experience in consumer wellness and management industry and has 4 product line brands that are market leaders in healthcare.

This crusher is convenient for travels since it’s handy and has a storage compartment for pills. The outer threads make it easy to release the crushed pills.

It may be too small for people taking more than 3 pills at once.

Turn to crush

2.4 x 2.4 x 2.4 inches; 0.15 lbs

Silicone

Handy pill storage on top

Ergonomic grip handles

(Updated May 18, 2017)

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Watch Our Pill Crusher Review

How Do I Choose the Best Pill Crusher?

There are people who have a phobia for swallowing solid matter. The thought of swallowing something without chewing it makes them gag. There are others with an ailment that doesn’t allow them to pass any solid through their throat. There’s still another group who are too old to swallow as the muscles of their throats have begun to fail. It could be your pet or your horse which will spit a pill when it finds it in its food or tastes it in its water. As all of these usually require medication at some point, there must be a way to give them their pills. That’s where a pill crusher comes in: it helps you to get the pills in a powdery form, which you can then mix it with either a liquid or with food or even pass it through a tube.

Before now, most people had only the option of using mortar and pestle for crushing their pills, but then there’s the complaint that it needed too much energy and multiple pounding to get this done. Inspite of this challenge, a lot of people, till date, still trust this arrangement. Other people have tried putting the pills in a folded paper towel and smashing the pills with a hammer and using the crease of the paper as funnel for transferring the ground pill. In some cases, some people even use salt grinders to crush their pills. However, all these have some disadvantages. With the paper towel, you could burst the paper and lose your pills as the blow may be too heavy for the paper. For the salt grinder, some of your pills may get trapped in the case, making you take less than your prescribed dosage. Using a pill crusher, however, helps you forego these clunky methods.

So, the question is: how do I know the best pill crusher to go for? Which one will do the job with as little stress as possible? Which one will be most convenient considering the health status of the user? There are some factors that you need to put into consideration before choosing a pill crusher, such as the number of pills you have to crush in a day. We have taken the time to research on these factors and the importance they serve and we’ve put them together in this review.

Please note that it’s important to contact your physician or pharmacist before crushing any pills as crushing can be counter effective for some pills. This means that not all pills are effective after they’ve been crushed. For instance, time-release drugs will be detrimental when you crush before taking them.

Price

One of the factors to consider when choosing a pill crusher is your budget; how much are you willing to pay for a pill crusher? When you have this in mind, it helps guide you as to what price range you should be looking at. However, it will be a huge mistake to rely solely on price as your determining factor for choosing a pill crusher. This is because there are different factors that affect the price of a pill crusher. For instance, the material. Most pill crushers are made of plastic, but then there are the metal ones and the steel ones; these are more expensive than the plastic ones. The job done by the crusher also affects the price. So, first things first, know what function you want your pill crusher to perform and then look for the one that falls within your budget.

In our research for the best pill crusher, we saw a range of prices from $5 to $77. However, we also found some cheap pill crushers which usually broke apart within the first few times they were used. Thus, we made it a point of duty to avoid them. So, this review has a selection of good quality pill crushers that will give you good value for your money.

Features

Whether you want to choose a pill crusher for an animal, a child or the elderly; whether you’re a care giver or you’re the pill-taker yourself, there are factors that you need to consider before choosing the right pill crusher that you can invest your money in. Someone crushing hard pills like horse pills will not go for the same pill crusher as a person crushing simple vitamins. Likewise, a person crushing a good number of pills daily should not go for the same pill crusher as someone that crushes about 2 or 3 daily. There are some features that different pill crushers possess that make them ideal for the different function. Below, we highlighted these features and further, in the next few sections, we look at these features and what makes them important or necessary for certain functions. Some of these features are:

Material
Ease of use
Size
Design
Frequency of use
Number of pills
Type of pills
Cleaning
Health status of user
Additional features
Storage
Crushing efficiency
Portability

Construction and Design

Like we stated earlier, pill crushers are made of different materials, the most common being plastics. However, some plastics are more durable than others. The material that your pill crusher is made from determines the durability of the product. Pill crushers made of metal, stainless steel, or aluminum generally last longer than pill crushers made from plastic. But then, you don’t need to go for a metal pill crusher if all you need is to crush 1 or 2 pills daily or for a short period of time. The metal crushers are recommended for people who have many pills to crush daily or who want to use it for years to come.

There are different designs of pill crushers. While some are twist-tops, others are handle to base crushers and rotation crushers. The twist-tops have a threaded cap which you twist down until it crushes your pills. They’re quite convenient for people who crush few pills at once because most of them can handle only 2 or 3 pills. The handle to base crushers normal have a cup or pouch that have the pills and the handle is pushed down on the pills to crush them. These ones crush many pills at once. The rotation type functions by you twisting the handle which in turn grinds the pills in the cup. So, depending on which is more convenient for you, any of these designs could be a good choice.

The size of your pill crusher matters a lot. For people with large hands, picking a micro twist-top pill crusher is setting yourself up for a bruised palm with time because your palms will continually rub against each other while you’re twisting the crusher. It’s more advisable to go for bigger pill crushers. Always check out the dimensions of your pill crusher to be sure that it’ll fit your palms comfortably.

Some pill crushers have additional features like a drinking cup while others have pill splitters. If you need any of these features along with your pill crusher, look out for them when making your purchase.

Some pill crushers have designated storage compartments. These always become handy when you must take some pills along with you or set aside some pills for ease of access. If this is a feature you’d love to have with your pill crusher, look out for pill crushers that have them – easy!

If you need to travel with your pill crusher, it’ll be more convenient to go for lightweight pill crushers. That means you need to consider the weight of any one you choose to purchase to be sure that it’s portable enough for you. Most care givers like to toss a pill crusher into their pockets so that it’s easy for them to access it at every time.

Performance and Ease of Use

A good percentage of pill crusher users are arthritic patients. This means that they need pill crushers that are easy to use and which require as little energy as possible to operate. While purchasing a pill crusher, read up on its ease of use to be sure you’re not purchasing one that’ll pose a problem for its user. This is where the health status of the user comes into play. The Arthritis Foundation has endorsed some pill crushers; you may have to look out for these pill crushers as this means that an arthritic patient can use them without any stress. For example, most twist out caps are usually hard for people with weak hands, so be aware as to whether they come with easy twisting features.

How frequently you use your pill crusher, the type of pills you use it for and the number of pills are the biggest factors that affect your choice of a pill crusher. Some pill crushers cannot crush some types of pills as they may be too hard for them and some pill crushers can only crush few pills at once. When choosing your pill crusher, check out whether it can withstand the frequency at which you want to use it and if your pills are soft enough for it. Also ascertain that it can take the number of pills you will be crushing at once.

Some users of pill crushers have complained that some pill crushers do not clean out well as they have the ground pill powder trapped in the groves or the corners of the base; this grows mold after a while. Look out for pill crushers that don’t trap the ground pills and are easily cleaned with water.

Finally, look out for crushers that crush to fine powder, especially if you have to pass the powder through a tube.

What is the Best Pill Crusher?

After going through the buying guide, it’s safe to assume that you now know what to look out for in a pill crusher. Now, it’s time to go through our list of best pill crushers in the market and make a choice of which one works best for you.

Our Top Choice

The Ezy Dose Ultra Fine Pill Crusher comes with a drinking cup and cover and also features a storage compartment to carry your pills with. Do you need a pill crusher with a good grip and which comes in different colors? Consider the Ezy Crush Pill Crusher with Ergo Grip.

Ezy Dose Ultra Fine Pill Cut And Crush Pill Crusher with Storage – Available in 3 Pack Sizes

Ezy Dose Pill Crusher 67825 – 1-Pack

Features

Endorsed by the Arthritis Foundation for making medication products with ease-of-use design, Ezy Dose has gone ahead to establish itself as a leader in the manufacture of medication management products. Its product lines include push button pill planners, push cutters and push crushers that make it easier for users of all ages to follow through with their medication.

One of the amazing products in its line of product is the Ezy Dose Ultra Fine Pill Crusher (Selling for $8.94 - Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) which is a convenient 3-in-1 product for medication management. It features a stainless steel blade that cuts your pills in two and still maintains its sharpness after repeated use. It also has a pill storage compartment that can hold up to 4 pills at once. This means you can also use it to carry your pills around. When you’ve crushed your pills, you’re likely to mix it with a liquid before taking it; this pill crusher has a drinking cup and cover compartment that you can use for that purpose. It grinds pills to ultra-fine powder. It crushes about 3 to 4 pills at once. Since it’s a twist crusher, it can be used by persons of any age because not much energy is required to crush with it. With just a little pressure applied, the stainless steel blade is able to cut your pills and the crusher is able to give you a fine finished product.

There are other amazing pill crushers from Ezy Dose, some of which are:

Ezy Dose Deluxe Cut N' Crush - Pill Crusher and Pill Cutter Combo – Made with a high-quality design. Perfect for Dysphagia patients
Ezy Crush Pill Crusher with Ergo Grip - Colors may vary – Has a see-through bottom and an ergo grip
Ezy-Dose Tablet Crusher with Pill Container (Pack of 3) – Contains a pill container and a pill crusher and comes in a pack of 3

Check out other pill crushers from Ezy Dose if this one doesn’t suit your desired purpose.

Best Value

The Carex Health Brands Ultra Pill Crusher has a simple but rugged design, is built for ergonomic convenience and can be used by weaker patients. If you also need a weekly planner medicine chest, check out the Pill Box Medi-chest Medium.

Carex Health Brands Ultra Pill Crusher – Available in 2 Pack Sizes

Carex Health Brands Pill Crusher 3566 – Pack of 1

Features

Carex Health Brands is a world-renowned brand in the manufacture of household, self-care, and medical products. It’s a brand name that’s found in almost every home. It’s committed to creating innovative and easy-to-use products that will improve the general quality of life of its customers. 35 years in the business has placed it on a pedestal that most health management brands aspire to. Its exceptional customer support and information loaded website have also taken the brand a notch higher, making it a go to place for both household and medical product information.

While making the Carex Health Brands Ultra Pill Crusher (Selling at $6.75 – Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price), Carex Health Brands had arthritic patients and those with weakened grips in mind. So, it designed an ergonomically convenient tool for them to use. It has a simple design which is rugged. It’s triangular which makes it easy to hold and handle. Unlike most products with grooves, this pill crusher is easy to clean with warm soapy water, leaving minimal or no deposit behind. It has a storage area under the cap. It uses an inverse molding technique that creates a tight seal and allows the user to apply only a little bit of pressure to turn pills to powdered form.

This pill crusher can also split your pills to tiny splatters if enough pressure is applied. It weighs only about 2.3 ounces which means that it’s lightweight for the elderly and weak patients to use. With this pill crusher, the pills do not jam in the thread because the grinder was threaded with a technique that gets the crushing started even before the thread gets to the pill. The conical shape gives the crusher a pointed end which helps to crush the pills more easily. It’s wide enough to fit the palms of people with large hands, so it makes holding and twisting much easier without rubbing your palms against each other. It also comes in a 2-pack size option.

Carex Health Brands has other pill crushers, so if this doesn’t meet your requirements, check out the other options.

The McKesson Silent Knight Pill Crusher is a latex-free crusher that minimizes wastage of crushed pills even while crushing many pills at once. If what you need is a pill cutter that’s pocket friendly, you can also check out McKesson’s Medi-pak Stainless Steel Blade Pill Cutter.

McKesson Silent Knight Pill Crusher with Disposable Pouches

McKesson Pill Crusher NONSK0100

Features

McKesson’s mission reads “Together with our customers and partners, we are creating a sustainable future for health care. Together we are charting a course to better health”. This is its commitment to create a new standard for the healthcare industry. McKesson believes that it operates as the central nervous system of healthcare because it continually executes critical in-house operations that improve both its businesses and those of its partners and generally improve the welfare of its patients. To this effect, it creates new technology, new services and new ideas that make healthcare smarter and bring information and people together. It proffers resources, support and technology services to numerous health care brands.

The McKesson Silent Knight Pill Crusher (Selling at $77.58 – Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail price) is one of such innovative healthcare products. It’s most suitable for people who take many pills at once. Its features include the following:

It has a long handle for crushing
It crushes pills into fine powder in one or two pounds
It has a built-in pouch dispenser
Minimal effort is required to use it
No cleaning is required
No wastage as the pills are crushed in a pouch
Crushes many pills at once
It’s latex-free
It doesn’t take up too much space
It has a lifetime warranty

You can reorder for a refill of your pouches when you exhaust them or, better still, purchase some extra along with the crusher.

Choose the McKesson Silent Knight Pill Crusher to crush your pills easily and save time too.

The AliMed Pill Crusher and Pulverizer is a great tool that’s made of tough precision plastic and it’s compact enough to be carried around. If, however, what you need is a resistance therapy putty, check out the AliMed Color-Coded Therapy Putty.

AliMed Pill Crusher/Pulverizer with Storage Cap

AliMed Pill Crusher 076855700297

Features

For over forty years in the healthcare product manufacturing and distribution business, AliMed has supplied a wide range of healthcare products such as operating room supplies, patients’ safety and fall management products, patient handling solutions, wheel chair cushions, and more. This has given it a place in the health care industry as a provider of innovative solutions to specific medical needs, especially those that are ergonomically inclined.

The AliMed Pill Crusher and Pulverizer (Selling at $7.25 – Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) is an inexpensive pill crusher for everyday pill dispensing. You would think that for its price it wouldn’t be durable, but it’s made of tough precision non-latex plastic that ensures it’ll last a long while. Some customers stated that they’ve used it daily for 2 years! It has a separate compartment in the cap for storing pills till you’re ready to use them or for carrying the pills along with you to your destination. It’s compact and can be easily thrown into the pocket and carried around. It crushes pills to fine powder that wouldn’t clog a feeding tube.

Other pill crushers from AliMed for your consideration include the following:

DSS Pill Crusher/Pulverizer (Pill Crusher Case of 50) – Comes in a pack of 50
AliMed Deluxe Pill Crusher, Silver - 1 Each – Made of heavy-duty chrome die-cast silver components with stainless-steel fittings
Alimed HealthSmart Pill Crusher 2" x 3-1/4", Red – 1 Each – 2 x 3 ¼ inches heavy-duty plastic. Comes in red color

You can purchase this pill crusher in packs if you are on different medications.

Looking for a different type of pill crusher with other features? Check out the rest of AliMed’s merchandise.

The Apothecary Ergo Grip Pill Crusher is a pocket friendly pill crusher with ergonomic non slip handles, convenient for holding it while crushing your pills. Do you need a durable monthly medicine planner for day and night? Check out 4 Week Monthly Medtime Planner by Apothecary

Apothecary Ezy Crush Small Pill Crusher with Ergo Grip

Apothecary Pill Crusher 767674240049

Features

A global leader in the wellness industry, Apothecary has over 70 patents from developing products that serve specific customer needs. With over 40 years in the healthcare and wellness management industry, it has built different product lines that have become market leaders in medication management, which are: Ezy Dose, Flents, Protechs and Wipe ‘N Clear. It collaborates with the majority of US pharmaceutical retailers to churn out innovative products for general consumer wellness. It has a presence in over 80 countries.

The Apothecary Ergo Grip Pill Crusher (Selling at $5.80 – Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) has ergonomic grip handles that make it easy to hold on to while twisting or grinding. It’s small and compact and, with its storage cap that can be used for storing pills, it’s convenient for travels. The threads on the cap are on the outside so the pills don’t get stuck in them. It has a soft rubbery non-slip grip while the pocket friendly price makes it a great and valuable buy. Its packaging comes in a blister card which keeps it intact during shipping.

Apothecary has one other pill crusher with similar features:

Apothecary Pill Splitter/crusher with Cup and Storage Compartment – It has pill cutter/pill crusher/drinking cup

Apothecary has another pill crusher that you can check out if the featured one doesn’t meet your requirements.

Get the Best Pill Crusher of 2018!

It has (hopefully) been a very informative and interesting review up to this point. Everything’s set. You’ve decided on the pill crusher to go for. Go ahead and make your purchase; your choice is the right one.
.

Our Top Choice

Ezy Dose Ultra Fine Pill Crusher

Best Value

Carex Health Brands Ultra Pill Crusher

McKesson Silent Knight Pill Crusher

AliMed Pill Crusher/Pulverizer

Apothecary Ergo Grip Pill Crusher