OMRON Evolv Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor for Home Use & Upper Arm Blood Pressure Cuff – #1 Doctor & Pharmacist Recommended Brand – Clinically Validated – Connect App

Very Nice Blood Pressure Cuff
I have been taking my blood pressure twice a week for several years now. Previously I manually kept a record of my BP readings in a log so that my doctor could review the info. Recently, I decided to upgrade my old blood pressure monitor to one that synced to an app on my phone to simplify my record keeping and make it even easier to share the info with my doctor. I took a chance on this battery powered BP cuff which is more compact and has no tube running from the device to the cuff. I have been using this BP monitor for several months now and it has proven to be a great choice. The BP readings seem to be very accurate. It was easy to set up and it syncs to the Omron app on my phone which stores the most recent 100 BP readings. You can also record your weight and other health related info in the app. I would buy this BP monitor again.

Design eliminates the hose and is convenient and easy to use
After two weeks of use, I really like this monitor. Its primary stand-out feature is that it does not require a hose between the cuff and the actual mechanical parts — they are all miniaturized so that they fit on the cuff. This makes it much more convenient to measure your pressure and easier to get into a position for an accurate read. I found the monitor was consistent and accurate as far as I can tell — much better than my last monitor which would return readings 20 points different at 3 minute intervals. This one returns readings that seem plausible and are consistent. The display is smaller than other monitors, but that is part of the overall miniaturization that makes this monitor good. The display is certainly large enough to read without any trouble. So far it does what I want it to do. I have not implemented the connection with my phone so I cannot comment on that. But it’s not important to me. Mostly I just want to be able to measure my pressure easily and accurately and I can manage the results as I want them. This monitor is a step up from my last and meaningfully better. Recommended.

Accurate, comfortable, easy to use
I like that this is a compact, all-in-one unit. It’s fairly easy to use and put on your arm. I have verified with my doctor that the BP reported is pretty accurate (good enough for home use). The app isn’t amazing, but straightforward, and it links with other health services (like Samsung Fit, which I use). Connects without any issues. Battery life is good, and I can generally get weeks of use out of the unit before they need to be changed (depends on how much you use it, of course). All in all, a good device for keeping track of your BP.

Unacceptable – why I returned it
I reluctantly returned this product after trying to give it every chance before the 30 day return window closed. I wanted to like it, the convenience of not having to deal with tubes and bulbs and having to manually write down my blood pressure readings were certainly attractive features. But the bottom line is that blood pressure reading are critically important, inaccurate readings can result in serious health issues, even death. I returned it because I couldn’t trust it.THE 3 TYPES OF MONITORSBefore getting into the details of why this unit is a bad idea, just a little background on the three most popular types of monitors for measuring your blood pressure at home. The least user friendly is the type you have to put on a cuff and squeeze a bulb to inflate it. Doctors can do that in their sleep but I never know how much to pump before hurting myself. The second type is a cuff you wrap around your upper arm connected by a rubber tubing to a small box with a display on it. These are by far the most popular in the world, all you have to do is press one button and it automatically inflates the cuff properly and if it doesn’t get it right the first time it knows to try again. The reading is displayed, usually in huge easy to read numbers and almost all of them keep a history for you and several other family members. Many of them can also transmit the results to an app on a computer, smartphone or tablet. Then there’s the Evolv. It offers you two things – having everything built into one bulky unit that wraps around your arm, and second, an astronomical price. It doesn’t do anything better, it’s not more accurate, it’s not easier to use (in fact as you will read here it can be extremely difficult to use). Omron isn’t the first with one of these, I had the first Qardio way back in 2014 that was essentially the same thing and my doctor told me to throw it away. Withings, Wellue, Greater Goods, Panacare and several other companies sell almost identical units. None of them are as trustworthy as the popular style with the cuff and rubber tube.THE CODE 4 ERRORPerhaps the most commonly reported flaw of this unit is the Code 4 error, which chastises you that you must not move nor talk during a reading session. This error even seems to confound the technical support people at Omron, the manufacturer. I am capable of sitting perfectly still and there is no one in the room with me to talk to. The defect is that the machine itself doesn’t stay still, it vibrates while in use, and I see no way that it is smart enough to differentiate between a person moving and the unit itself vibrating. From the day I bought it the device would not give me a blood pressure reading on the first try, it would instead display the Code 4 error telling me not to move or talk. So many people have reported this design flaw I am unable to understand why Omron lets it continue. The error code happens not once, not twice but as many as ten times, or even more before it will finally take a reading, and sometimes it never does. That is unacceptable and gives me serious concern that when (if) it finally takes a reading that the result is accurate.TECHNICAL SUPPORTOmron encourages customers to call them on the telephone for customer support, which is insensitive to all those who are non-verbal, speechless or unable to communicate in a supported language. To their credit they do have a way of filling out an online support request, I mention this because many if not most of the largest companies no longer offer online forms or email support, they demand that the customer call them, which is impossible for some people. When I brought this to Omron’s attention they did not take my suggestion seriously, in fact they were offended. But I did reach a person who responded by email the same day. She asked me a scripted series of questions, some of which did not even apply to the Evolv product, which indicates this company needs to put more attention into their training budget. None of the questions specifically addressed the Code 4 error but they gave me the opportunity to respond with detailed answers and an offer to help them have a better understanding of what is right and what is wrong with this product, which evidently was designed more for a crowdfunding wow factor rather than as a practical medical grade piece of equipment. After I took the time to answer their list of questions guess what they did? They ignored me, that’s right, faced with design flaw that so many people have reported they chose to stick their heads in the sand and hope I would go away, maybe no one would read my review. They were wrong, this information is too important to bury or ignore, people don’t buy blood pressure monitors for kicks or to play games. Ignoring the issue forced me to return this gadget to Amazon and post my honest review. Ignoring my request for support lost them the entire five points for this review.WHAT ELSE IS WRONGSince I consider the product unacceptable I won’t detail all that is wrong with it but I will touch on some of the obvious ones. Omron’s tech support seems to put a lot of emphasis of ordering the product with the correct cuff size for it to work properly but the Evolv is only sold in one cuff size which cannot be removed and changed, despite them insisting on knowing my arm size their own literature says the cuff fits pretty much every arm. But it seems to them their product can only really work if your body fits their ideal of what a body should be shaped like – but human bodies are not all shaped the same. As mentioned, they seem to have put form over function in many ways to make the design attractive to investors but not practical for users. There are many things wrong with the design – the status window is shiny black plastic which is difficult to position so the display can be read without glare. But even if it was not shiny the digits are unnecessarily small, dim and use a very thin font. Making the assumption that blood pressure devices are used more by older individuals than teens it doesn’t make sense that they would design a display that is so difficult to read, especially for their target customer base. The buttons are also of poor design. I appreciate that they are tactile, which means that at least they are not touch sensitive, but they are flush with the surface of the display and only have a microscopic range of movement, making them difficult for anyone to use and perhaps impossible for those with older, less agile fingers. These are just some of the more glaring design issues, there are more.THE APPI’ve read many reviews bemoaning the app starting out fine then turning into a heavy-handed pitch to upgrade to a subscription service. I did not get any such ad promotions pitched at me and I found the app to be acceptable, if not the best. I will say that if this or any app turned into something that required a subscription after I bought and paid for the hardware I would return it and not buy from that company again. I believe that especially when it comes to a health-related product that requiring a subscription to use it is unacceptable.YES OR NOOther than being a nice toy to show off and having a sleek shiny plastic case to impress your friends if you are in the habit of taking your blood pressure readings in front of them I see no reason to pay over seventy bucks for a device that consistently gives me error messages that the people who make it can’t fix which results in readings I can’t trust. I really wanted to like the convenience of this item but for me it is a no. I would advise reading any glowingly positive reviews carefully and deciding for yourself if they actually addressed any of the important issues I’ve detailed above or just rubber stamped a positive rating. Knowing all this I hope this information has been useful and helpful to as you compare prod

Best BP machine in the market. Most importantly it is very accurate and the readings matches the doctors bp apparatus. Yes it is expensive, but most of the cheaper models are not accurate. The Bluetooth connection is flawless and the readings sync with your phone (have tried only on Apple iPhone) and the health app on iPhone. The app is basic but that’s what’s needed – a place where all readings can be stored. The cuff is moulded and is very easy to put on by self if others are not around. The app also notifies for any arrhythmias (like afib, pvcs etc). Very easy to carry around while travelling. The photo shows the machine in white colour but received a full black one (thanks for that). A must have instrument for all hypertensive patients, or even others who want to keep a check on their BP.

Very handy and useful