Are there counterfeit Contec CMS50F and Wellue devices?

[wwcanoer]

Are there counterfeit Contec and Wellue devices? CMS50F, SMS50I, RS01 in particular.

contechealth and contecmed websited sell the CMS50F for $90 but people on ebay are selling new ones for $50. Many have store names such as contecmedical1826 with many sales and high ratings. Are these genuine retail Contec devices or unbranded OEM made by Contec or counterfeit copies falsely labelled as Contec or what?

I'm in Indonesia shopping for an all-night recording oximeter. Most local sellers demand $300 for the $90 CMS50F. I found one for $100 but from a low volume online seller that probably is all dropshipped items, with only 2 no-text user reviews for this device. To order one direct from Contecthealth to US costs $90 but to Indonesia $190 plus large import duties and takes 2 months. It's annoying but I don't want to buy a fake one.

There's also a Wellue O2 Ring for a reasonable $170 while others sell for over $300. Again, looks like selling a dropshipped item, so could it be several years old with a weak battery? Warranty and easy returns are not common here, so it's a risk compared to buying in the USA.

The CMS50D+ is not available here. I will search again with the list of models that work with OSCAR.

Any thoughts?

Also, is there a guide anywhere that describes the differences between the many Contec models? Their website is disapointing.

[wwcanoer]

MY QUESTIONS:

(1) Are there counterfeit CSM50F devices being sold on eBay and in Asia? I see this model sold as new on eBay for $50 by many different sellers, such as contecmedical1826.
(2) How to know that we've bought a genuine device? Can we check a serial number somewhere?

CONTEC'S REPLY:

(1) "You mentioned that selling CMS50F at this price is a fake shop. Our company has regulations on the price of products, and the price you mentioned will not appear."
(2) "In order to prevent you from buying fakes, we recommend that you buy them from the official website. https://contechealth.com/collections/pulse-oximeter-1 "

I assume that their response "You mentioned" is simply a language error because I didn't make a statement, I asked a question. Clearly, they acknowledge that fakes exist and none of their real distributors would sell CMS50F at $50. (At Contec Health, Reg. $99, now $89 with free shipping.)

Disappointing.

[chunkyfrog]

Quality checks occur throughout manufacture, sometimes very close to completion.
Only by passing the final inspection will a device be sold through the "front door".
The remainder may exit through a "back door," and be sold
through an "independent" jobber, or even a close-out retailer.
It is a fact of economy--happens all the time.
To save money, you roll the dice.
This is the most likely source of the discounted products.
A shade less accuracy, lower battery life, or a tiny bit dimmer display, etc.
Often no biggie--and you saved a load of bucks.
(that you might not have had in the first place)

[wwcanoer]

Sure, fine for an MP3 player but for medical equipment, it depends how critical it is. The doctor suggested an oxygen machine for a family member, so I need a real oximeter

There's oximeter tests online with a subject who lowers their blood oxygen (using a rebreather that removes CO2) that show that all devices do not respond the same. In this example, when a Nonin ($200) oximeter showed that SpO2 dropped from 97% to 85% in 45 seconds, two oximeters only dropped to 95%. Maybe they would get there with more time but it's a dramatic difference. For sleep apnea, they would likely completely miss the event.

In this case, I want at least one accurate oximeter, so I want a genuine one, but it's difficult here in Indonesia. A Beurer OP 30 oximeter that sells for $20 on Amazon is $69 here from the official Beurer store, and their $40 model is $102 here. Some of that difference is 20% tax. There is no official Contec of Wellue store. Our largest online platform has non-brand "official stores" but they often sell cheap knock-off Chinese products as well, so I don't trust them to only have genuine devices. It's annoying. Buying the Beurer would be simplest but irks me to pay over two times the real price.

image 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1qwmq7Er60
image 2:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe7R_alfs7c
image 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvxjcNuMmiE The slower response could be due to averaging over a longer period (presumably done to provide stable readings).

Another test, just holding breath. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSC2o1iwHWU
I bought the $14 Yuwell in this video because it is a major Chinese medical manufacturer with an official store here, even though it's not FDA cleared. The reading sometimes bounces around a lot but I can bring it down to 87 by holding my breath and see it go up and down, so it definitely responds, but unknown accuracy. I ordered a non-name $1 oximeter from an official store. I'm interested to see if it responds at all. There's CMS50D lookalikes (no-name and branded) from $1 to $40 and up. Are they all exactly the same or are some real, some oem and some fake?

I now plan to import the Wellue O2 Ring (plus one of their regular ones) but it would take time to get here and through customs.

[chunkyfrog]

Yeah, it gets really tricky, depending on where you live.
We even have sticky places in the US.
Greed can happen anywhere.