The end of an icon: why the LIFEPAK CR Plus is disappearing from the stage

Anyone who has worked with AEDs for a while recognizes it almost instantly: the LIFEPAK CR Plus. The characteristic black and orange AED from Physio-Control appeared on the market at the beginning of this century and grew to become one of the most recognizable AEDs of its generation. As early as 2003, the device was in use worldwide. A US product correction from that year shows that a single early production series comprised 7,095 devices distributed across the United States and numerous other countries, including the Netherlands.

More than twenty years later, the era of the CR Plus is coming to an end. Sales of new devices in countries requiring CE marking ceased back on April 1, 2019. For existing owners, that was no immediate reason to replace their AED at the time. Stryker expected to continue supporting the devices throughout their limited warranty period. For the LIFEPAK CR Plus, that period was eight years.

In February 2026, that changed. Stryker discontinued the QUIK-PAK electrodes and the CHARGE-PAK battery charger for the LIFEPAK CR Plus and LIFEPAK EXPRESS. According to the manufacturer, ongoing and unforeseen component availability issues and supply chain constraints forced support to end sooner than originally anticipated.

This marked the end of the steady supply of original consumables used to keep existing CR Plus AEDs operational. Residual stock may still have been present in the market after February, but that inventory is no longer being replenished. For the many CR Plus AEDs still in service, an inevitable phase-out has begun.

The striking part is that a CR Plus does not need to be technically defective for this to happen. A device can still pass its self-tests and indicate readiness for use while the ability to maintain it long-term disappears. As soon as the existing components need replacement, there is simply no new production of the original replacement kits.

That raises an interesting question. Is February 2026 truly the beginning of the final end for the LIFEPAK CR Plus, or will an aftermarket emerge for the large group of devices still in use?

An AED from the turn of the century

We have not been able to find exact global sales figures for the LIFEPAK CR Plus. Therefore, we cannot back up the frequently heard claim that it is one of the best-selling AEDs in the world with reliable public data and will not state it as a fact.

However, its extensive international distribution is well documented. In May 2003, the manufacturer executed a correction for 7,095 CR Plus AEDs with specific serial numbers. According to the FDA, those devices were distributed worldwide to countries including Australia, Canada, India, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.

Moreover, those 7,095 units represent only the affected devices from that early production batch—not the total volume of CR Plus AEDs produced in the years that followed. How many units were ultimately sold and how many remain operational in Europe today remains an open question for now.

The positioning of the CR Plus, however, is clear. The device was developed as an AED for Public Access Defibrillation: making defibrillation accessible outside traditional professional healthcare environments so that even responders with minimal training could deploy an AED during a cardiac arrest.

By then, the LIFEPAK name was already strongly associated with professional defibrillation equipment. The CR Plus brought that brand name to a much broader audience, finding its place in businesses, sports clubs, and other locations where an AED needed to be available before emergency services arrived.

The unusual CHARGE-PAK

A significant part of the current issue lies in how Physio-Control designed the power supply of the CR Plus. In practice, the CHARGE-PAK is often simply referred to as the AED’s battery, but technically that is not entirely accurate.

The CR Plus contains an internal rechargeable lithium battery that powers the AED. The replaceable CHARGE-PAK is designated by the manufacturer as a battery charger. According to official documentation, it delivers a trickling charge to the internal battery to keep it at the proper energy level.

This sets it apart from AEDs where the user simply removes the primary battery from the device and replaces it with a new one.

The CHARGE-PAK is notable in another aspect as well. According to the manual, a newly installed CHARGE-PAK becomes internally paired to that specific defibrillator. Physio-Control explicitly warns that a used CHARGE-PAK should not be transferred to another CR Plus.

Furthermore, the manufacturer stipulates that the CHARGE-PAK and QUIK-PAK electrodes be replaced simultaneously. Consequently, they were sold together as a replacement kit. Per the manual, replacement is required after defibrillator use, when the CHARGE-PAK indicator appears, or when the indicated expiration date is reached.

It is precisely this specific combination that makes the current phase-out more complex than the discontinuation of a standard AED battery.

April 1, 2019: sales stop in Europe

Stryker discontinued sales of the LIFEPAK CR Plus and LIFEPAK EXPRESS in countries requiring CE marking on April 1, 2019. In the United States, sales stopped later, on October 31, 2020.

That did not mean existing CR Plus AEDs reached their end-of-life at that moment. On the contrary, Stryker expected to support them for years to come. The CR Plus carried an eight-year limited warranty, and during the initial sales discontinuation, the manufacturer assumed spare parts would remain available throughout that period.

There is an important distinction here. Discontinuing the sale of an AED simply means no new units are being sold. As long as parts, electrodes, and technical support remain available, an existing device can stay operational for years.

That is exactly what happened with the CR Plus. The devices remained mounted on walls in many locations long after 2019, and QUIK-PAK/CHARGE-PAK replacement kits remained available.

Until Stryker issued a new announcement in late 2025.

Stryker forced to stop earlier than planned

In December 2025, Stryker notified customers that its prior expectation to support the CR Plus throughout its full limited warranty period could not be met. The company cited ongoing and unforeseen component availability issues and supply chain constraints.

Stryker announced it would discontinue the QUIK-PAK electrodes and CHARGE-PAK battery charger in February 2026. That milestone has now passed.

Following the end of production, distributor stock may have briefly remained available. However, for the broader narrative, that temporary residual inventory is not decisive. The fundamental shift is that there is no new original production backing it up. Every original kit currently sold or installed will not be replaced in stock.

As a result, the situation since February 2026 is fundamentally different from the years following the sales discontinuation of the AED itself.

When is an AED truly end-of-life?

An AED is not automatically unusable just because its manufacturer introduces a successor. Conversely, a green readiness indicator or OK symbol today does not guarantee that a device can be maintained for years to come.

With the CR Plus, these two aspects are now visibly diverging. The electronics may still function while the supply chain for maintenance disappears.

An owner might eventually find themselves with a CR Plus that has no internal technical defect, but requires replacement consumables. Without suitable replacement products available, such a device cannot be sustainably kept ready for use.

Therefore, there is no single date on which every CR Plus AED in Europe suddenly becomes unusable. The actual end point varies per device and depends on the status of installed components and whether the AED is deployed in an emergency.

What is certain, however, is that the original manufacturing supply chain has stopped. Without an alternative, the remaining population of CR Plus AEDs will inevitably shrink.

Can another manufacturer keep the CR Plus alive?

This is where the story becomes more intriguing. Why couldn’t another manufacturer produce the discontinued components?

The answer is more nuanced than a simple “that’s not allowed under MDR.” The European Medical Device Regulation does not ban third-party accessories outright. In fact, the MDR explicitly defines an accessory for a medical device: an article which, whilst not being a medical device itself, is intended by its manufacturer to be used together with one or several particular medical devices to specifically enable the medical device(s) to be used in accordance with its/their intended purpose(s) or to specifically and directly assist the medical functionality of the medical device(s) in terms of its/their intended purpose(s).

In principle, another manufacturer can develop an accessory for a Stryker medical device. That manufacturer assumes full legal responsibility for it. The product must be lawfully placed on the European market for that application, and the manufacturer must substantiate its intended use, safety, performance, and compatibility within the applicable European regulatory framework.

The distinction between “fits a CR Plus” and “demonstrably intended and regulated by the manufacturer for use with a CR Plus” is essential when dealing with medical devices.

Third-party electrodes already exist

Upon closer investigation, the situation turns out to be more interesting than it initially appeared.

There is at least one European manufacturer offering defibrillation electrodes that explicitly lists the LIFEPAK CR Plus in its compatibility documentation.

Italian manufacturer EF Medica produces a wide range of defibrillation electrodes for equipment from various brands. In EF Medica’s current product literature, adult electrode 87.111.41 is explicitly listed as compatible with devices including the LIFEPAK 15, LIFEPAK 20, LIFEPAK 1000, LIFEPAK CR Plus, and LIFEPAK EXPRESS. Additionally, the manufacturer lists a pediatric electrode with energy attenuation for the CR Plus and EXPRESS.

This serves as an important correction to the assumption that no third-party electrodes exist for the CR Plus.

EF Medica’s compatibility documentation carries a CE mark with the number 0051. What we have not been able to confirm with sufficient certainty based on publicly available information is the precise European certification regime under which this specific CR Plus-compatible adult electrode is currently marketed. To make a definitive statement that this exact product is fully certified under the MDR, we would need to verify the corresponding current Declaration of Conformity and certificate details for that specific product.

That distinction matters. A CE-marked medical device in 2026 might still be on the market under transitional provisions from the earlier Medical Device Directive (MDD), while other products fall directly under the MDR.

Therefore, we limit our conclusions to what the sources support: there is demonstrably a European manufacturer offering a third-party electrode for the LIFEPAK CR Plus. The precise current MDR status of that specific electrode warrants further verification.

Third-party compatibility already demonstrated in the US

That another manufacturer can technically develop suitable electrodes for the CR Plus has also been demonstrated in the United States.

In 2020, the US FDA cleared multifunctional defibrillation electrodes from Cardinal Health. Official FDA documentation explicitly states that various Kendall and Medi-Trace Cadence electrodes with Physio-Control connectors are compatible with the LIFEPAK 15, LIFEPAK 20, LIFEPAK 1000, LIFEPAK CR Plus, and LIFEPAK EXPRESS.

To achieve this, Cardinal Health had to compare the performance of its electrodes against the original ones. FDA documents show that tests included evaluating electrical impedance and the electrode’s effect on the defibrillation waveform.

This highlights why “compatible” for a defibrillation electrode means far more than just a matching connector.

US regulatory clearance does not equal European market access, of course. However, the example demonstrates that it is technically and regulatorily feasible for another manufacturer to develop an electrode for use with the CR Plus.

Yet, that still does not solve the largest hurdle.

The CHARGE-PAK is the real bottleneck

Even if suitable third-party electrodes are available, the LIFEPAK CR Plus remains entirely dependent on its power system. And that is where the gap in the aftermarket appears to be significantly larger.

Alongside the QUIK-PAK electrodes, Stryker also discontinued the CHARGE-PAK battery charger in February 2026. The official manual shows that this component is not a standalone accessory containing power alone. The CHARGE-PAK maintains the internal battery of the AED and becomes internally paired with the device upon installation.

As far as we have been able to establish at the time of writing, we have found no third-party CHARGE-PAK replacement where the manufacturer demonstrably specifies that it is intended for the LIFEPAK CR Plus and lawfully placed on the market within the European medical device regulatory framework.

This is a much more specific and important conclusion than claiming “no third-party parts exist”—a statement that proves inaccurate regarding electrodes.

The core question is who can supply a replacement for the CHARGE-PAK.

Without a solution for that component, an alternative electrode cannot independently secure the operational lifespan of the CR Plus.

Who will fill the gap?

This creates a compelling technical and commercial question. How many LIFEPAK CR Plus AEDs remain installed across Europe, and is that installed base large enough to make developing an alternative CHARGE-PAK commercially viable?

We have not been able to reliably verify that first figure. No public data indicates how many total CR Plus AEDs were sold in Europe or how many remain operational today. For that reason, we will not cite unsupported figures claiming hundreds of thousands of units.

That it involves more than a handful of devices is beyond doubt. A single product correction in 2003 involved 7,095 globally distributed CR Plus units, and the device remained on the market for years afterward. However, that fact alone is insufficient to deduce a current European installed base.

For a potential manufacturer, that exact volume is decisive. Developing a component for a medical device requires far more than designing a fitting plastic casing and inserting battery cells. A manufacturer must understand how the original system operates, engineer a product that interacts with it correctly, and demonstrate safety and performance for the intended use.

On the other side of that equation are potentially thousands of customers facing the same problem: a working AED for which the original manufacturer no longer produces a CHARGE-PAK.

A market with an expiration date

There is a unique challenge built into this business case: the potential market shrinks every day.

No new LIFEPAK CR Plus AEDs have been sold in Europe since April 1, 2019. Every CR Plus that gets replaced by another model, develops a defect, or is decommissioned for any other reason permanently leaves the potential customer base for an aftermarket producer.

This means time works against a new manufacturer. Development, validation, and navigating the necessary regulatory processes require time, while during that same window, more and more owners will simply decide to replace their CR Plus.

The longer a solution takes to arrive, the smaller the market becomes. And as the market shrinks, recovering the investment required for such a solution becomes increasingly difficult.

Conversely, a large remaining installed base could represent an attractive niche. The devices are already deployed and the user base exists. A manufacturer would not need to build a new AED platform from scratch, but could instead solve an existing problem for an established user group.

The big unknown remains unchanged: how many CR Plus AEDs are still hanging on walls?

An unexpected sustainability dilemma

This phase-out also carries a sustainability aspect. A CR Plus can remain fully functional technically, yet ultimately require replacement simply because an essential component is no longer available. As a result, complete AEDs risk becoming electronic waste while their central electronics show no defects whatsoever.

That makes a well-engineered aftermarket solution potentially compelling. If a manufacturer can provide demonstrably safe and suitable replacement parts, it could extend the operational life of existing equipment.

However, with an AED, sustainability can never serve as a pretext to compromise on reliability. An unvalidated knock-off battery or electrode is not a solution when a cardiac arrest demands total trust in the complete system.

That is precisely why the regulatory compliance of any potential aftermarket solution is paramount.

The end of the CR Plus has begun, but the story isn’t over

The timeline is clear. The LIFEPAK CR Plus was on the international market as early as 2003. Sales in countries requiring CE marking ended on April 1, 2019. Stryker expected to continue supporting existing devices throughout their limited warranty period, but was forced to revise that plan due to component availability and supply chain issues. In February 2026, the QUIK-PAK electrodes and CHARGE-PAK battery charger were also discontinued.

As a consequence, the remaining CR Plus AEDs will gradually disappear from service. Not all on the same day, and not necessarily because the devices themselves are broken. The moment will arrive for each unit when consumables require replacement and the original manufacturing supply chain no longer exists to provide them.

Our analysis highlights an interesting nuance. An aftermarket already exists for the electrodes: examples can be found in both Europe and the United States of other manufacturers offering electrodes specifically designed for the CR Plus. The assumption that only original electrodes are technically possible is incorrect.

The real bottleneck appears to be the CHARGE-PAK.

For that specific component, we have not yet found a demonstrably compliant European third-party successor. Unless one emerges, this relatively small component may ultimately dictate when thousands of potentially functional LIFEPAK CR Plus AEDs must be replaced.

Thus, the question shifts.

It is not: Can someone manufacture alternative parts for a LIFEPAK CR Plus? For the electrodes, we know the answer is yes.

The more intriguing question is: Can someone develop a technically and regulatorily sound successor for the CHARGE-PAK, and are there still enough CR Plus AEDs in Europe to make it commercially viable?

Whoever manages to solve that problem may not sell a new AED.

Representing a smart workaround, however, they might just extend the life of one of the most iconic AEDs of the past twenty years.