Wellue AirBP Plus Bluetooth Blood Pressure Monitor Upper Arm Large Cuff, Portable Wireless Blood Pressure Machines for Home Use with LED Display, Multiple-User & PDF Report on App for iOS & Android

Cost at the time 20. I bought this as a travel BP monitor. It works in a semi-automatic way, where you have to pump the initial cuff pressure yourself. The device performs the slow deflation and measurement of systolic and diastolic BP as well as pulse rate.

The idea of the manual pump makes the device smaller and lighter. It is nevertheless an upper-arm cuff monitor, so there is no reason for it to be less accurate than traditional designs. Most BP monitors are a somewhat bulky wedge shape unit containing the pump along with 4 AA cells. This makes for a heavier and more bulky package that i didn’t want to carry on my travels. Hence this model.

The unit consists of a pump bulb, a cuff and a small monitoring computer. These are all fixed together and it appears there is no way to replace the cuff. The cuff appears to be approximately mid-size, so people requiring a large cuff may not be able to use this unit. The unit charges via USB and because the power only runs the sensor and computer, it lasts a long time on one charge (1000 measures according to the manual)

A cloth bag is supplied and the unit rolls up neatly around the tubes. When it is packed away, it’s about the size of a Coke can and weighs about 200g.

There are two models offered for sale, my version has a small display built into the sensor unit and there is another model that does not have this display that is slightly cheaper.

If you have the model with the display, you do not need a mobile phone to operate it. There is an app which talks to the unit via Bluetooth. This wasn’t as bad as i had feared and seems to work quite well. Notably, you don’t actually need to Bluetooth pair to your phone, which is nice. It seems to automatically find it whenever you activate the unit with the app running.

The app guides you through inflating the cuff, tells you when to stop pumping and finally gives you a nice readout and will also store your readings. I was actually impressed by the app, but i nevertheless wanted the option to operate the unit without fiddling with my mobile phone each time.

Without the app running, you can just inflate the pump and the unit will beep when you are to stop pumping. After that, it takes over and slowly deflates as it measures. It takes about 10-12 pumps to inflate which you do with your free hand. Obviously, you need the model with the built-in screen in order to read the final measurements if you are not using the app.

Accuracy;

I have 3 Omron units which i often compare to each other and to other devices. For the last week i have been taking measurements with this device and the Omrons. All are upper-arm cuff devices. The Omrons have the same basic sensors, cuffs, pumps and computers to each other and give similar readings.

Compared to the Omrons, I am finding this device often reads a bit high, but a lot of the time it is in fairly close agreement. eg Systolic within 5. I think this device is a bit more picky about the exact position of the cuff and where the sensor is over the artery compared to the Omrons. Taking a bit more care about the cuff position seems to be the answer when using this unit.

So far I am happy with the unit and can recommend it for the price i paid.

This is a smart solution: We do the pumping ourselves, by hand (which is the easiest thing in the world) and the result is that the battery is only for the measurement. Thus the whole device can be A LOT smaller and lighter than standard devices with an electrical pump (and uses very little battery power). Accuracy seems fine – agrees with another upper arm device I have. MUCH better than the devices that go on the wrist, these do educated guesses. Battery is rechargeable (standard USB) and lasts ages. Had this for a month and haven’t re-charged yet. The device can work on its own. It can also work on a smartphone with a smart little app (on an iphone it also adds the data to ‘health’ automatically, probably on android, too). No data-collecting “account” and “registration” nonsense. (Very minor gripe: would like an option to turn off the voice that says “stop pumping now”.)