Withings Smart Blood Pressure Monitor (for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch)

I started out using Withings WiFi scale and enjoyed the simplicity of it. Step on the scale in the morning, your weight is auto tracked - you can view it online, view it on your iPhone, etc. Something about it made weight loss a lot easier - every morning, you want to beat your "high score" (or low score? haha) from the day before. It actually gets addicting.I found the blood pressure monitor to have the same effect. The Withings app can track your blood pressure along with your weight. Using this will allow you to see your improving blood pressure as the weight comes off. Its easy for some one to tell you that losing weight helps with blood pressure - but actually seeing it graphed together and seeing your own results makes all the difference.The cuff is very comfortable - it grips your arm on its own with the inside part, then you pull the velcro strap around to tighten it. I found it is easier to get positioned right than my traditional blood pressure cuff with just the velcro strap. I usually use a "large" blood pressure cuff, but this fit my arm great.The readings were very accurate when compared to my doctor's bp cuffs.The big thing to note - this works with the older Apple connectors - not the iPhone 5 lightning connector. If you want to use it with the iPhone 5, you will need to get the adapter. Watch out for prices on those - some vendors really overcharge but you should be able to find one between $20 and $30 online. I recommend the Apple brand - I have read that some of the cheaper, off brand adapters work for charging only, and won't work with attachments like this bp cuff. So do your homework on that if you decide to buy an off brand. I can confirm the Apple adapter works great with this product.

My doctor at one point advised I keep track of my blood pressure at home. Since I already love the Withings WiFi Scale and to make it a bit more fun I got this gadget. It is well made. It fit onto my arm perfectly as well as another person's arm in my family whose arm is more than double the size of mine. What makes this cool is the tech aspect of it. I really like how it integrates with the iPhone/iPad app and the website. I love being able to track my data and see it graphed. This also takes your pulse as it measures blood pressure. It works fine on my up to date (in terms of software) iPhone 4S. I did get a message a few times on my iPhone that this device does not work on this phone, but after restarting my iPhone it always works in the end. The app that goes with it is free and there are no monthly fees. It is also very easy to delete readings from the iPhone app so if you want to use the device on other people you can do that and then delete their data so it does not mess up your readings. As far as readings go you can take a single measurement or an average - the device can be set to take a series of 3 readings in various time increments.

Let me preface this by apologizing for a long review, but I felt it was necessary in this case to explain my thoughts on this product accurately.I was on the market for a new blood pressure monitor because my doctor wants me to take mine at least five times a day and wanted some sort of memory function so he could check it weekly. The one I have now is a hassle because it only remembers the last ten readings. I began searching and through a handful of friends, found the Withings BP-800 BPM, which has a wonderfully designed app for iOS devices. I decided to give it a try, despite the very high cost.At first when I started using this BPM, I loved everything about it. It is, to me, an extremely attractive design, the app for iOS devices is simple and well designed, and it seemed to work as expected. On top of all that, I have very sensitive arms when it comes to squeezing them and for a reason I can not explain, this one did not feel painful at all and did not feel as though it were strangling my arm.Unfortunately, with all the positive aspects of this device, I quickly learned that there are serious issues with the design. I was taking readings five or more times a day as instructed and began wondering why they were so low. I am on a cocktail of 75+ pills a day due to chronic medical illness' and am on blood pressure medication as well to combat severe migraines caused by all these medications. My readings began a little lower than normal, which I simply attributed to taking them at home comfortably rather than being stressed out at a doctor's office. My readings are usually 120/85 at the doctor, and I was reading 115/75 at home.These readings held steady for a week or so, then things began going wrong. I started getting readings between 100-110/58-65. I got extremely nervous and couldn't get into the doctor right away so stopped the blood pressure medication as instructed. When I finally got to the doctor, my blood pressure was 135/85 to 135/90. Luckily I had the cuff with me and I took a reading right then, and it was reporting an almost normal 115/67. This followed with my doctor bringing in three other cuffs and they were all reporting the dangerously high numbers. I was put back on the blood pressure medications right away and was put in the hospital overnight to be safe as well as had to go to the doctor every day for a week to make sure things were good.After this nightmare, I compared my unit to the three friends of mine that have the same exact product. To both their and my shock, their units were all reading within 2% of mine, very low, inaccurate readings. One of them is now on blood pressure medication as well, thinking they had optimal blood pressure, they were quite wrong. I can't explain how dangerous of a situation this can potentially put someone in. I know this could be true of any blood pressure cuff out there, but the fact that four out of four units I had access to exhibited the same exact flaw, I am absolutely returning this.On top of this major flaw, there is a minor one that should scare most people away. If you decide you no longer want to use iOS devices, this product becomes absolutely useless. You NEED to be plugged into an iOS device just to use it, there is no way around it. Save yourself $100 and just buy a cheap unit from Walgreens and if you need to keep a record, write it in a notepad.