Pulse Oximeters, reccomended units and how to use.

Forums › Health and fitness › Pulse Oximeters, reccomended units and how to use.

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Mad Scientist
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#2813460 15-Nov-2021 18:59

mudguard:

I always wondered what that setting was. I'd see it on my Garmin and generally just ignored it. Got 98% before, and I've no idea on the accuracy.

but have they got the leds with the correct wavelengths or the detector for the correct wavelengths? assuming the algorithm leads to the correct calculations too.

Senecio

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#2813499 15-Nov-2021 20:01

The Garmins with SPO2 readings have dedicated sensors on the back. Different to standard heart rate sensor.

I have it on my watch but I have it off by default as it does chew through the battery. I generally on turn it on if I’m above 800m of altitude and doing strenuous exercise.

ANglEAUT

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#2813537 15-Nov-2021 21:19

jonathan18: ... Yep, the first reading was higher, but even the discrepancy in the two readings is enough for me not to trust it. ...

That's the thing for me. As long as the bloody thing is consistently inaccurate, I could get an accurate trend. I'm more concerned about the trend that a once off reading. If every reading differs from the previous, I'd chuck it.

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Daynger

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#2813561 15-Nov-2021 22:16

robjg63:

I bought one of these for about $42 (inc courier). In stock ex Auckland - arrived in about 3 days.

https://www.emax.co.nz/Oxygen-Oximeter-Finger-Pulse-Rate-with-Batteries-7931.html

Said my o2 was 98 and my wifes 99.

Easy to use. Dont know how accurate. Just pop your finger in and wait a second or two.

Shows pulse rate as well - checked that and was accurate.

Seemed sensible to have one at home these days.

Thanks for that, have just ordered three.

One for home, one for my employee and one for my mum.

mattwnz

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#2813571 15-Nov-2021 23:15

Could make a good Christmas Present :)

Handle9

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#2813577 16-Nov-2021 03:50

FineWine:
Jesus h Christ. As usual the medical manufacturing and supply industry rips of the medical providers. I remember when I nursed in a kids hospital in Sydney, the BioTech guy told me that it cost A$500 for a new accessories basket for a wheeled stand patient monitor. All it was was a 12" x 8" x 6" plastic coated wire metal and they were replacing broken ones with a plastic one for less than A$50 bought locally. They broke because kids like to ride on anything with wheels 😀

Did the locally sourced ones have to allow for FDA and TUV audits of the DHF or lawsuits if things went wrong? The medical device industry makes great margins and has horrendous liabilities.

If the FDA don’t like what you are doing or you don’t maintain adequate records they can shut you down on the spot. Pharma is even worse. Every change you make must be auditable, including any environmental changes. It’s a horribly costly industry to operate in.

timmmay

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#2813614 16-Nov-2021 08:01

I just ordered the emax, fingers crossed (not while using it) it's ok.

Note that gmail classifies emax as spam, so you may have to look there for your order details.

I went into the purchase screen, then back out before payment, but it had already generated the order. If this happens to anyone else just go into "my orders" and cancel the order. The order is only confirmed once payment is made.

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JPNZ

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#2813616 16-Nov-2021 08:07

afe66: Thank god for pharmac.

People.dont know how lucky they are.

In 1996 I saw a sign in an American pharmacy that the price of 5 days of Augmentin oral antibiotic was $us250. That's 15 tablets for nearly 500nz...

I don't want to start an argument but while Pharmac is good, there are hundreds of life saving drugs they won't fund. I had a good friend that passed a few years ago from bowel cancer in their mid 30's and they had to fundraise the $100,000 them selves for a treatment cycle of Keytruda/Pembrolizumab.

Keytruda will save/extend 30 lives a week in NZ, its criminal that Pharmac looked at funding it but opted out due to cost constraints.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2813617 16-Nov-2021 08:15

Handle9:
If the FDA don’t like what you are doing or you don’t maintain adequate records they can shut you down on the spot. Pharma is even worse. Every change you make must be auditable, including any environmental changes. It’s a horribly costly industry to operate in.

So is government, minus the accountability.

Are these units loaned or are they being handed out with no expectation of them being returned? I suppose a few thousand hospital grade units would be useful in the healthcare industry to replace old ones, but in a home, self-monitoring environment, cheap and cheerful is good enough.

compound

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#2813620 16-Nov-2021 08:25

You could look at the price of pulse oximeters two ways. Cheap and cheerful as a just in case scenario for peace of mind or "what is my life worth?" the cost of a hospital grade unit is nothing when my life and those I love is at stake.

kiwiharry

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#2813622 16-Nov-2021 08:33

SirHumphreyAppleby:
I suppose a few thousand hospital grade units would be useful in the healthcare industry to replace old ones, but in a home, self-monitoring environment, cheap and cheerful is good enough.

I've ordered that one from EMax. Plan to take a number of readings with the device whilst I'm healthy to establish a rough baseline so should we ever get sick then I have a value for comparison, rather than trying to use it only when we are sick and then trying to work out what the normal readings are on that device.

I also have a Withings Scanwatch which also has SPO2 measurement function, but it sometimes comes up as "Inconclusive" when I take a manual measurement.

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JPNZ

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#2813624 16-Nov-2021 08:45

kiwiharry:
SirHumphreyAppleby:

I suppose a few thousand hospital grade units would be useful in the healthcare industry to replace old ones, but in a home, self-monitoring environment, cheap and cheerful is good enough.

I've ordered that one from EMax. Plan to take a number of readings with the device whilst I'm healthy to establish a rough baseline so should we ever get sick then I have a value for comparison, rather than trying to use it only when we are sick and then trying to work out what the normal readings are on that device.

Same as what I'll do, a decent 5-7% drop and I'll be seeking medical advice

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timmmay

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#2813633 16-Nov-2021 09:04

JPNZ:

I don't want to start an argument but while Pharmac is good, there are hundreds of life saving drugs they won't fund.

Pharmac allocate money from a fixed budget set by the government. They do the best they can on a difficult task. Since the budget is fixed there will always be groups that don't have funding for what they need. Some details of how they made funding decisions are on their website (PDF link to a specific one).

Bung

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#2813637 16-Nov-2021 09:15

Using lockdown to improve general fitness also helps. My memories of a couple of hospital visits include the breathing exercises on the wall of every room like trying to blow the flies off the ceiling that helped nudge the levels above 90.

GeekGuy

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#2813785 16-Nov-2021 10:51

When I was in hospital last year, I was always around the 92% mark when the nurses did the 3/4 hourly check.

They just got me to take a couple of deep breaths which brought it back up to a more normal reading when they retested.

Prior to that I was on a "trachy" which is not a pleasant experience.

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