WiThings Blood Pressure Monitor

AlmstHvn

Now that I've incorporated my HRM and the Fitbit into my lifestyle, I turned my attention to my high blood pressure. My hope is that when my weight is down a bit more, MAYBE I won't need to take meds.. so I started shopping around for a BPM that would work with my iPhone. I found the WiThings Blood Pressure Monitor which got good reviews... I got mine in early May 2012 (via Amazon) and thought I'd share my observations:

They're not kidding when they say the cuff fits most arms. It wraps around my arm easily, with plenty of inches to spare. I usually have to use the large cuff at the doctors office. See their website for specific inches/cm.

Their website http://www.withings.com is a bit sparse. More of the "how to" can be found on the phone app.

After spending $130 on the device, the app itself is a good price - free.

The app default settings are for their other major product, a scale, which I don't have. I eventually managed to get the settings to focus on the bpm.

It shows a "tutorial" of how to position the device. Pay CLOSE ATTENTION to where (and which way) the cuff goes on. If it's not in the right spot, it will error out instead of giving you a reading.

It's not obvious, but if you rotate your iPhone 90 degrees (longways), it will show a progressive chart of your recent readings.

There is a "Share" feature under Settings that allows you to email your information - very nice feature.

Reliability
... I'm afraid I don't have good news here. Mine worked fine for about 2 weeks, then stopped. It would continue to inflate, but error-out constantly instead of getting a reading. The last good reading I got was 5/14.

I thought perhaps the batteries were low. I put in brand new batteries and now I get errors like "Battery is low - unplug device and replace batteries". I bought another set of new batteries - same Battery Low message. I've installed the batteries correctly, and they are alkaline just like the originals. The contacts are clean. I think the unit has just gone bad.

I've contacted Amazon to do an exchange. I'm hoping the replacement will last longer. I'll post a follow-up after things have settled.

Any other WiThings users out there? If not of the BPM, maybe their scale? I'm a little leery of their products at the moment... hoping others have had better luck!


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AlmstHvn

Just to wrap this up... I got the 2nd WiThings blood pressure monitor and have had the same results - got a reading 2 out of 10 tries. Sorry, that's just not worth my time.

I'm wondering if I have a weird heartbeat or something that throws it off... guess I'll add that to a list of questions for my doctor!