What is a good blood pressure meter for home use?

I use Omron brand. It takes double A batteries. It works pretty well, I don’t get a lot of error messages.

Previously, I had a different brand and both worked fine. I used to double check at the supermarket also, and more or less it seemed close enough to accurate. During covid I haven’t done my pressure at the supermarket.

I’m guilty of not sitting correctly to take my blood pressure, which is important to get an accurate reading.

When a reading looks way off I make my husband take his pressure.

Panasonic EW3006S Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor we have one.

I have been using the CVSHealth arm cuff reader. It seems very accurate, consistent with what my doctors read.

I take my reading after I get up in the morning, after sitting for about ten minutes, but before coffee, food, or medications. I cuff my left arm and rest my left hand on the computer table, and use my right hand to press the button on the reader. And I use a spreadsheet to track my numbers.

Agree about omron – just got one a couple months ago. Don’t get the bluetooth model; it isn’t worth the extra $20. But do buy the power cord (extra $10 on eBay) because changing batteries is a pain/

Bright green LCD screen, and accurate. I took it to my doctor, and he approved of the model.

I have an Omron wrist meter which I like.

I am shopping for this, too. Thanks for reminding me to look up reviews. The retailers they list for each model are in parentheses. These are all arm cuff (not wrist) models.

Consumer Reports – October 2020 – Best Blood Pressure Monitors for $50 or Less

A&D Medical UA767F (Walmart & Amazon)

Equate (Walmart) Equate 4000 series

Omron Silver BP5250 (Amazon)

Rite Aid Deluxe Automatic BP3AR1–4DRITE (Walmart & Amazon)
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NY Times Wirecutter – July 2019 – The Best Blood Pressure Monitors for Home Use

The best home blood pressure monitor
Beurer BM55 (Walmart & Amazon)
This monitor provides consistent readings, is easy to use, comes with a cuff that can fit most arms, and has a large, backlit display. It also offers ample on-device data storage for up to two users.

Budget pick
A&D UA-767F (Amazon)
A simple monitor for up to four users
Consistent and easy to use, this no-frills monitor can store blood pressure readings for up to four people, and its adjustable cuff can fit most arms.

I have the Omron BP742N. (Intellisense) 5 Series It works very well. It is repeatable and has enough smarts in it to average readings and keep track of 2 different people.
And you do not need to connect it to your phone or web app to make it work.

Thanks very much, all. Omron sounds like a good bet. I placed an order.

I ordered the wrist cuff Omron and it did not work. Then I ordered the arm one and it did not work also. Neither squeezed hard enough to get an accurate blood pressure. They didn’t squeeze higher than 150. It’s also a pain to return. The cuff on both is very stiff with very little room for the cuff to inflate properly. My old one is microlife and I think I’m going to order it again.

Oh, dear, that ^^^ changes the picture. Damn. Thanks, but damn.

Why do you have to order another one, though? Old one no good?

My old ones cuff is starting to split but I can’t find the same replacement cuff. I had to let them know I was returning it and had to wait 2 days for a reply to get a number for my refund and I had to pay for the return postage. It was actually my daughter who ordered the wrist one and then I told her to make it a regular arm one. When that one was defective as well I told her to forget it. I’ll buy one at Walgreens so if it’s defective I can just return it back to the store.
She ordered it on Amazon.

I just looked at my cuff and it can get fairly small. There are children sized cuffs for very small arms.

The wrist BP I don’t think anyone mentioned above until @Pandora, and generally it’s felt they aren’t as accurate, but depends how accurate you feel you need. If your concern is low BP you might want the reading to be more accurate.

@JLeslie The arm cuff was the same size as my current one that works.

A while back for fun I bought a cheap wrist cuff at Harbor Freight for $13 just to see if they worked. It did – sort of. It was not repeatable no matter how careful I was. Even with no movement it didn’t always repeat.
I found the Omron arm cuff to be quite good.

Remember, no matter which one you get, you need to have the cuff at the level of your heart. It is a simple hydraulics problem. If you raise your arm and have the cuff above your heart, the readings will be low. Hang your arm off the couch below your heart and the readings will be high. Be consistent.

Thanks for all responses. And @LuckyGuy, thanks for that reminder.

I checked with the home nurse, and the one she uses is a $32 number she bought at Target. I looked it up. So much for medical precision.

Let’s figure out the effect of putting the cuff in the wrong place i.e., not at the level of heart.
Blood pressure is measured in mm Hg millimeters of mercury which is 13.6 times the density of water. Let’s look at a typical blood pressure 120/80 in mm Hg
Assuming we humans are basically sacks of water let’s calculate the effect of being off about one foot 30 cm, 300mm. So the pressure would be 300mm of water incorrect. Now convert that to mm Hg and we get 300mm h20/13.6 density of HG = 22 mm Hg!
For every 1 ft the cuff is below your heart your heart the reading will increase by 22.
If your normal is 120/80 you can expect to see it read 142/102. That would scare you.
If you raise your arm 1ft above your heart the reading will decrease by 22 displaying a reading of 98/58.
Cuff placement is important.

^^Thank you! That’s useful.