QardioArm Smart Blood Pressure Monitor: Wireless, Medically Accurate, Easy to Use, Compact Digital Upper Arm Cuff. Free App for iOS, Android, Kindle, Apple Watch. Syncs with Apple and Samsung Health

I suffer from high blood pressure. The doctor asked me to keep regular measurements so I bought a regular blood pressure monitor thinking the problem would go away. Unfortunately blood pressure isn't like a cold. Especially for someone like me who doesn't smoke, drink etc.This may be just me, but I found using a traditional blood pressure monitor and tracking the number cumbersome and put me off doing it. I finally gave in a decided to get the much more expensive smart monitor. I read reviews for this one and the Withings one, the Withings looked nicer but was a bit more expensive. I read a number of 5 star reviews of both and struggled to decide which one to get. I then read some 1 start reviews. 1 star complaints with this one were with it being a bit odd way of registering the monitor with phones and other minor issues the Withings 1 star reviews were complaining about the accuracy of the readings themselves. This one is also approved by FDA etc, I can put up with it of fidilyness for accurate readings. However I never had any problems using it. The batteries were dead when it arrived though, which is irritating, but I saw a review complaining about this too.I have been using it for over a week now and it is great. Much quicker and easier than a traditional BP monitor. It integrates really nicely with heath kit and shows my manually recorded readings. It allows you to put comment describing how you are feeling when you take BP and automatically records where you were too using your phone location (my BP is much higher at work than home).It shows you your BP readings on the World Health Organisation chart which makes it easier to understand your BP readings. You can also do things like email report to doctor which includes summary of results and full details in attachment.It also has a nice feature where it automatically take a number of readings in a row with a short gap between to try and get a more accurate reading. Which the nurse and doctor always do, but it does it automatically.It can also show your slideshow from the photos on your phone to help keep you be relaxed during the measurement.Really nice product I wish I had bought it months ago!One final tip. I found that different colours on the Amazon page were differently priced. I got the gold one because it was £15 cheaper than the other colours! Worth looking out for.

Saw this in an exhibition at the Design Museum recently.As I suffer from high blood pressure and travel a lot I was intrigued by the small form-factor and the fact that it is wireless.I have had the product for a couple of weeks now and I have to say it is great.Easy to carry around - much more portable than my previous device. Having the readings stored automatically on my iPhone (5s) is great and meant I could easily show the recent history to my doctor during my checkup a few days ago.As for the app - it seems pretty good. I’ve tried the reminders but don’t actually find them that useful as I tend to remember in the evening anyway and am often too rushed to check in the morning (it’s usually not a question of needing to be reminded).The app keeps a history list as well as showing a graph that keeps track of your average reading.Also something I only just discovered is the ability to automatically take a few readings in succession and record the average. You can set how many readings it will take (up to a maximum of three) and the interval between them - the Qardio app then takes care of the rest. This should lead to even more accurate readings. A nice touch.I have two final comments:1 - The build quality would get a 9/10 as there seems to be a few gaps and a bit of flex in my particular device - more than I would like to see.2 - Although the idea is that the armband acts as a wraparound protector (which it does pretty well) I would still like to have a case as well particularly for when travelling (but I guess that is not something that many people would care so much about).So in summary - definitely a great product for anyone that needs to monitor their blood pressure on a regular basis.I hope it is sturdy enough to cope with the battering it will no doubt get as I travel around but only time will tell.

Straight out of the box this looks like something Apple designed, the packaging is slick and solid with the obligatory’Quick Start’ leaflet and accompanying hefty warranty booklet. Downloading the app was simple and in a few steps I had the unit set up. Yes you need to set up an account to use it, but as the NHS will soon share my data I’m not that worried.Pro’s : it works, it just works. No problem with Bluetooth, the unit activates when unrolled (make sure your phone is already on the app when you unroll the unit as it wakes and connects faster) readings are quick and load straight to the phone with a handy graph to help you visualise highs and lows.Con’s : the pump motor sounds somewhat light weight during use, nothing like my older Omron unit. The cuff can be fiddly to position to the right tension one handed. You need to roll the cuff around the unit in the same way it came packaged as this shuts off the battery and wakes the unit for each use, no, not good for people who don’t want to pack it up each time.It works with apple health ok, so far I have had consistent readings without issue so overall it’s a game changer because the readings are syncing with my phone and don’t require me to manually input them into anything.

My experience was positive for the first 12 months but now it has stopped inflating and is therefore useless. I can feel leaking air from the cuff so believe it has sprung a leak , despite me being very careful with it. Other than that it worked OK. I liked having the results saved in the app and unlike many others I had no connection issues with my iphone 6. The results were consistent, however over read when compared to my partners calibrated professional monitor ( she is a nurse ) Systolic reads 147 when its 140 and diastolic is similarly a few points wrong. I can live with the slight inaccuracy but obviously cannot live with a product that fails at 12 months old. My partners professional equipment lasts many years despite heavy use. I am now struggling with contacting and returning this item and amazon do not make it clear, all such items have a mandatory 2 year guarantee by law.