I had normal Blood pressure until I bought the Boots Monitor! (Boots Blood Pressure Monitor)

Member Name: danfreedman

Product:	Boots Blood Pressure Monitor
Date:	25/10/00 (1797 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use

Disadvantages: Not accurate from one reading to the next

When I passed 40, it was considered prudent to have regular blood pressure check ups. I have a weakness in the family which may affect me also some day. Now I am busy and work miles away from the GP so a test at home unit was the answer. I looked in a large branch of Boots for what available and finally settled the "Boots Blood pressure Monitor" - a battery driven model - see the price given below.

I auditioned several models from Omicron and all sorts of units which worked by inflatable cuffs on the finger the wrist etc. However, I plumped for this model since it employed a wrap around cuff for the upper arm as you normally find in Doctors surgeries and the hospital.

In use the unit is simple. The batteries are inserted and and the cuff put on and held in place via velcro. there is only one way to wear the cuff, it has a useful picture as well as a tab on one edge to identify which way is correct - The manual is not that helpful in explaining the readings and what to expect.

Press a button to turn it on, wait for the unit to stabilise and show a ready indicator in the LCD panel and then press the test button. The batteries inflate the cuff until it is quite tight and then slowly deflates it whilst taking a pulse and blood pressure reading.

Very good you might think, not so I'm afraid. It never manages to read the same blood pressure from one inflation to the next. It seems to need three or four attempts before it will stabilise, but then the readings will stilldiffer by about 10%. Quite frankly for a device of this importance you ought to be able to expect a better result.

The shop assistants now have kindly advised that none of the home test units are that accurate, they can ony advise the that the pressure has risen a lot or the reverse. If you are worried, see the GP - and that is my advice exactly. We tried to calibrate the unit with the GP's but it was hopeless, so, I now make the monthly trip, ju
st to be sure.

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