While the feasibility of vertical velocity as a threshold parameter for pre-impact fall detection has been verified, effects of sensor attachment locations and methods calculating vertical acceleration and velocity on the detection performance have not been studied yet. Regarding the vertical velocity-based pre-impact fall detection, this paper investigates detection accuracies of eight different cases depending on sensor locations (waist vs. sternum), vertical accelerations (accurate acceleration based on both accelerometer and gyroscope vs. approximated acceleration based on only accelerometer), and vertical velocities (velocity with attenuation vs. velocity difference). Test results show that the selection of waist-attached sensor, accurate acceleration, and velocity with attenuation based on accelerometer and gyroscope signals is the best in overall in terms of sensitivity and specificity of the detection as well as lead time.