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Raise your hand if you have never heard of a pulse oximeter until a few weeks ago New York Times op-ed piece freaked out everyone by talking about “the infection that silently kills Corona virus Patient. “Now raise your hand if you’ve decided to buy a pulse oximeter and found that it’s either heavily price-checked or out of stock. (I ordered one from Walmart for $ 30; a few days later, the price was included up to $ 50.)
Good news: pulse oximeters are in stock in some stores, and although you are still paying more than a few weeks ago, there are good deals. Whether you actually need one or not is a different story. I strongly recommend reading Dale Smith’s CNET report: Can pulse oximeters detect coronavirus? How they work and more.
Pay special attention to the section on accuracy. A pulse oximeter is a medical device for measuring blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate. But do they all do it exactly? Although there are tons of pulse oximeters on the market, not all of them are approved by the FDA for checking your blood oxygen level. In addition, at least one study found that many of these over-the-counter devices deliver inaccurate oxygen readings. Which raises the question: Should you bother to buy a pulse oximeter at all?
That’s up to you. Here are three options, all of which are in stock at the time of this writing, at three different prices.
Anself
Before the pandemic broke out, you could find a pulse oximeter at your local drug store for about this price. It’s hard to say how well this pulse oximeter works when it comes to measuring the pulse rate and oxygen saturation level in your blood (no user reviews are currently shown on the product page), but it looks a lot like others – just without a $ 50 price tag . Note that the seller here is not Walmart, but Joybuy, and shipping is expected to take 10-15 days.
Tomtop
If you are not in a hurry, this model of pulse oximeter will be delivered in Chinese warehouse ships within 10 to 20 business days – meaning it can take up to a month to arrive. Amusingly, you get a random color: black, blue, or teal, you can’t choose. This pulse oximeter has no user reviews and although it is shown as “FDA registered” it is not approved by the FDA. It is a die roll.
AccuMed
Although this finger pulse oximeter is sold out on Amazon (where it has a respectable 4.3-star average rating from almost 1,900 buyers), you can buy this popular model from AccuMed. And it’s FDA approved, which means it should work as advertised. As Smith wrote in the above report, “Note that there is a difference between” FDA Approved “and” FDA Approved “, with” Approved “being the less stringent of the two. However, Class II medical devices are like pulse oximeters, are usually “deleted” rather than “approved.”
What do you think about these things Is it worth it to have a pulse oximeter in all cases? Or better bet on medical equipment?
Look at that:
How pulse oximeters measure your blood oxygen levels
6:14
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