Omron M4 blood pressure monitor

In early 2004 I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, and my doctor told me to buy a home monitor. I bought an Omron M4. This is a review of the monitor, but firstly a disclaimer; I am not a medical professional, I am not an expert on blood pressure monitor machines … this is just a review by a user of the monitor.

Above is a photo of my Omron M4 monitor.

Overall I have been happy with the monitor.

Accuracy

I believe the monitor is accurate. I have taken it to a doctor. He took my blood pressure on one arm, and I used the omron monitor on my other arm. The readings were very close.

I recently found a website, the dabl Educational Trust which rates different blood pressure monitors. (Click on the “Device Tables” link, then click on “Upper Arm Devices for Self Measurement of Blood Pressure”). It gets a “questionable” rating from them, while the Omron M5-I gets a “Recommended” rating.

Battery Life

I am only on my second set of batteries. I have been impressed, in fact surprised at how long a set of batteries lasts (It takes 4 AAs). Being mechanical, I would have thought that the pump would have drained the batteries very quickly, but they have lasted far longer than I would have guessed.

It has an indicator that lets you know when the batteries are low.

Usage

Using the monitor is simple. There is a green strip on the cuff which I line up with my elbow. It doesn’t seem overly sensitive to how the cuff is orientated.

Once the cuff is in place, one button turns the monitor on, and after a couple of seconds of warming up … I press the “Start” button.

It inflates the cuff, then deflates it, then displays the reading (alternating with my pulse reading).

The whole thing takes about 40 seconds. There is also a one reading memory. You can turn it on, press the “Memory” button, and it will display the last blood pressure reading it took (but not the last pulse reading).

Summary

Overall I am happy with the monitor. I beleive it is accurate, it has good battery life and is easy to use. It would be better if the screen was large enough to display both the blood pressure readings and the pulse reading at the same time, instead of alternatively flashing between them.

One last piece of advice. Do not pick the monitor up by the cuff. The cuff’s tube is only loosely connected to the monitor. I found this out the hard way!

Related Resouces

• Home monitoring blood pressure center