Report on CMS50E Pulse Oximeter

The unit fits entirely on the finger .. no watch type appliance on the wrist.

It is solid and well made to all appearances.

It comes with software and cables and a manual and carrying case.

The manual is a little bit difficult to understand because it was written by Chinese and their idea of English is often a far cry from what I understand.

That being said .... for a manual for a Chinese product it is far far better than most I have seen. Only one section left me truly baffled.

A little experimentation quickly aids in understanding what they are trying to say.

The on-screen menus are easy to navigate and understand. The LCD screen brightness is adjustable in 4 steps and I turned it down to step 2 and it is plenty bright to see in a daylit room.

There are 2 software programs. When you insert the CD nothing happens. You have to go into explorer and run the setup.exe file. There are no other files on the disk.

That installs 2 software programs and a readme file which would be nice if they printed it out and included it in the box. That solved several questions the manual was unclear on.

I struggled to get the first program to take input via upload and failed. Finally found out why. It seems that program is more for a nurses station and has 4 windows for displaying data from 4 patients at the same time.

If I hook up the PO via cable and turn on USB then it takes the live data and displays it in the selected window. Works fine once I understood what it was.

The second program is called SP02Review .092 and it is the real meat that we are looking for.

Just hook up the USB cable, go into the menus turn on USB turn on UPLOAD and voila the data imports into this program just fine.

You are prompted to input name height and weight and age and sex when saving the file ... you can also do that before you begin to upload.

Unfortunately, you cannot enter this data as a default so it is automagically entered. However, when it saves the files it does so with the name you gave it and the date and time as the filename. So if you don't enter any info it will just save the file with the date and time as the file name ... which can be fine if you are the only one using it.

You get a very clear graph showing your O2 saturation and pulse rate.

Then came one of the best features of the program ... I clicked on the print button to see what would happen and got a menu for 4 different report printouts!! Surprised me .. wasn't expecting that. I was expecting it to just print out the graph but it gives you even more data than is displayed on the graph.

Very nice reports include your highs and lows and averages both for O2 and Pulse and a basal SPO2. It shows how many events you had and the duration of the events.

It comes with event parameters pre-defined but you can change those to suit yourself.

Altogether very excellent reports.


Anyway, I've only had the unit since Monday noon but so far I am very pleased with it ... especially for the $249.95 price from Southeastern Medical Supply.

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Thanks for that report. It would be interesting to compare that to cpap data reports for parallels, especially when you get some extremes in the readings. Some of the other recording pulse ox products have been cost prohibitive for me. This is the second one mentioned on here that is more reasonable. Does this mean that like most tech products, the price lowers as the technology becomes more commonplace and with this type of item, used outside a medical setting (sports), or is there a real quality difference?
Kathy

Greetings,

I too purchased a CMS-50E recently.

Yes... The manual is written in Chinglish. (Poorly translated.)

But once you figure it out... It is a very powerful little device. It records data up to 24 hours. It has alarms for pulse rate and SaO2 levels. It has a beautiful color display. It has a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery built in. The data viewing software comes FREE with the machine! (Hear that Resperonics & Resmed... FREE SOFTWARE.)

My Only complaints are:

1. The display is beautiful but small. I need my reading glasses to read the menus. (How else could they fit all that information on your finger?)

2. The Alarm does not work while it is data recording! This can be dangerous if you are expecting the alarm to wake you up! What's worse... You can actually set the alarm feature to show it's "ON" with the data recording but the unit will not alarm. I am sure they will eventually fix this problem with a firmware update to avoid a lawsuit. Just be aware... NO ALARM when recording.

Otherwise... The device seems to work very well and it is very inexpensive. I also ordered my CMS-50E from Southeastern Medical Supply... They shipped it promptly. I had no problems.

Good reviews folks!

Does the software allow you to export the data onto a text file?

Arizona-Willie

Thank you for your posts!!! Keep please keep us informed how things are working with it. AND if you get the SPO one and can compare would love to hear your opinions on both.

I don't have the extra cash to purchase a unit at this time but am thinking if and when I do I might go with your recommendation on this one.

I do know I won't deal Med1.

Yes the display is relatively small and I too have to use my glasses to read it.

But, I think people with 20/20 vision would probably not have any problem.

I use my glasses to read just about anything.

As for the alarm ... not sure about that.

The first night it came off my finger twice and the alarm went off and Da Boss was hitting my shoulder to get me to wake up and shut it off.

Since then, though, it has never come off my finger during the night so there has been no occassion for the alarm to go off.

But, the first night also, I screwed up somehow and didn't get any data recorded or else it was when I tried to upload it and didn't think it was working and tried again ... I might have lost the data.

Since I got it figured out though I've had no problems recording.

One samll niggle with the unit .... with everything else they put in there, they should have put a clock chip. You have to tell it what time it is before you start recording if you want to know what time things happened.

Minor annoyance.

I'm one of those people who will find something to bitch about in heaven.

Overall, so far, I'm very happy with this unit.

Greetings,

1. I should clarify my statement about the alarms. In record mode the unit WILL make an alarm if it falls off your finger completely. It is the min/max threshold alarms that don't work in record mode. If you put the unit in record mode and then set a threshold alarm to go off at a specific value... (For example: Below 80%) The unit WILL NOT alarm even though the menu indicates that the alarm feature is "ON". It is not actually enabled. This is a dangerous software flaw that can mislead someone into thinking that they will get a wake up call when the O2 level falls below the threshold you set. Just be aware that the min/max threshold alarms don't work when recording.

2. The unit does have a time stamp feature. You can set the starting time when you enable record mode and the recording will start with the time you programmed and count up. But you must set this time stamp manually each time you start a new recording session.

Not too sure about the time stamp.

I tried to set it to start 5 minutes later .... but within a minute it went into record mode.

I was hoping you could do a delayed start but that doesn't seem to work.

Just have to set the time to approx what it will be in about 30 second or so ... I need to use a stopwatch to see exactly how long it takes from the time I hit the button to exit the menus till it goes into record mode ... but I don't think that much accuracy is really necessary as far as time goes.

A delayed start would be nice ... would also be nice if it displayed the data while recording ... or the option to have it do that.

I hadn't used the software for my cpap machine for a long time so today I put the card in and check last night's readings .... oh no ... lots of apneas ... so tonight I am going to up the pressure one pound from 9 to 10 and see if that helps.

In the past I know I had the fewest apneas with the Activa mask but thought the Hybrid would be better but I haven't been checking it. I know I feel like I sleep better with the Hybrid.

Anyway ... good luck to all with the the pulse oximeters ... have fun playing with them

Might just be the thing to purchase. Basic features, price isn't bad. The alarm yeah, that is a big problem since most of use would like to rely on such a feature.

Nice to know about this...thanks for the review.

Note, I found this at an online store for $198.00, don't know much about the place, never bought anything from them.

http://www.echostore.com/wireless-oximeter-cms50e.html[/url]

This looks like a very promising device (especially for $200). How is it attached to your finger? Is it just by friction (in which case it would seem to be easily dislodged while sleeping) or is there some kind of clamp?

Anonymous wrote:How is it attached to your finger? Is it just by friction (in which case it would seem to be easily dislodged while sleeping) or is there some kind of clamp?

I had a look around some of the web sites that list it as available and found a variety of different pictures. Its apparently a finger tip grip style unit (sort of like a spring clothes peg) so there would probably be some mild clamping action, beyond simple fiction.

Cheers,

Bill

I have read here recently that some people think that for overnight wearing, one should use a wrist fitting unit. I assume that is because the finger type fall off. Have other found that not to be the case?

It clamps on just like the ones I've had them use on me in the hospital.

It did fall off twice the first night but I guess subconciously I know it is there now and I haven't had a problem since the first night.

I must have fat fingers as well as a fat head because it does hurt my finger by morning. It squeezes pretty good. As I recall, the hospital units hurt too.

I expect I will get used to it after awhile if I keep wearing it every night .. and I think that would be a good idea.

I've learned a lot just in the few nights I've had it.

I have a few O2 events every night but the alarming thing is the cardiac events.

My pulse will be in the 60's most of the time but I have over 100 events every night where it changes by more than 6 bpm for over 8 seconds. My low every night has been down in the 40's!!!!

I've had that happen when awake too and just relaxing in the recliner watching tv and had that PO on and it would be kicking along with my pulse in the low 60's and suddenly the alarm went off and I looked and it was 47.

Doesn't last long then it goes back up.

Fortunately, tomorrow I have an appointment with my cardiologist for my annual checkup and I am going to show him the printouts. Probably not a real problem but it's kinda scary.

Things like this though are what make these things worth the money. I've felt my heart beat go sorta funny many times but had no way of checking it....now I do.

Hi, I just happened to find this thread as I was looking for better software for the cms-50E I bought this week. I got it from Echostore for the $200 price plus priority mail shipping; they shipped quickly.

However, they did not include a software CD, just a link to download software on their site. I have no problem with that in principle, except that this included NO documentation for the software. It appears to be the same programs, but it will only print part of the time, and I can only drool over those multiple types of printouts, which have not shown themselves. I want to find a way to access those reports... any advice appreciated. So I guess that's the $50 difference in the price - no software CD.

The little device itself is pretty cool for the price, I'd have to agree with all said here about it. A recording oximeter for 200 bucks is a great deal - and empowers patients.

In my case, I don't tolerate CPAP well so have used a dental appliance... but have felt terrible lately. I didn't relate it to apnea since I didn't 'recall' any apnea wakings. My HMO, Kaiser, won't help me check on any of it. So I decided to search for a cheap recording oximeter and found several... this was the one I bought. The free bundled software is a nice perk in concept (and in reality if I can get it to print reports! Currently it's telling me "can only print in single user mode" when I press the print icon... what? I have no idea what that means, I'm using the program that only has one user screen).

However, just using the thing for two nights has been amazing... showing that on the dental appliance I have been having nasty apneas all dang night! Then, I assumed that my CPAP would show that it did not help, since I generally feel rotten after using it... but no, the little oximeter showed that the CPAP prevented ALL desaturations, it didn't let my SPo2 fall below 94 all night, when it had spend a lot of time between 84 and 90 the previous night. So really, the thing has already paid for itself... and now I can do apnea pre-screenings on all my family and friends.

I do wonder how long the 'built in' battery will last, and would have bought one of the watch-type ones that takes reusable batteries if it hadn't been for the extra $100 cost. Still, a very cute gadget at a nice price point.

cheers

Willie,
Great assessment of unit and software. And I'm glad that you like it. The price is right... as compared to most other oximetry options for PAP users.

Nodzy