Which Pulse Oxymeter Should I Buy?

Does anyone here have experience to share that would help me select an oxymeter for home use? Because I have a very old CPAP I have no downloadable data to help me figure out how my treatment is coming along.*
I found the "Acc U Rate® bluetooth enabled CMS 50F PLUS Wrist Pulse Oximeter (Ver 3.7) with SnugFit probe" on Amazon for less than US$150.
Most of the cheaper units have poor reviews or lack (I believe) the features I think I want: it has to store data that can then be offloaded onto a PC for review and storage.
If you use such a device, please tell me if you recommend its performance.
Thanks,
Doug

*My travel machine stores no data that I know of, and my stay-home machine uses a credit-card-size plastic card for data. I once had, but have lost, a card reader peripheral. I also once had software, but it stopped working when I upgraded Windows versions years ago. Anyone know any way I could get the data from this old card-system CPAP onto a Windows 7 PC?

dvejr wrote:Does anyone here have experience to share that would help me select an oxymeter for home use? Because I have a very old CPAP I have no downloadable data to help me figure out how my treatment is coming along.*
I found the "Acc U Rate® bluetooth enabled CMS 50F PLUS Wrist Pulse Oximeter (Ver 3.7) with SnugFit probe" on Amazon for less than US$150. ]?

I suggest you go to aliexpress.com and buy either the cms50f or the cms50i from whoever sells it cheapest, you should be able to get either of them for under 100$.

the F and I are similar, the I will save multiple sessions, the F will only save one recording session.

I wouldn't worry about bluetooth (the fw or iw versions) I have a cms50iw and the bluetooth has never come in handy.

dvejr wrote:I have a very old CPAP

Wow, I would put the oximeter money toward a new CPAP machine. Oximeters are a poor tool for managing CPAP therapy. It's much better to have a data-capable machine and use SleepyHead to manage your therapy.

You might be able to significantly fine tune and improve your therapy with a new machine. An oximeter is a crude way to attempt it.

I bought the CMS50f recording wrist oxymeter which records 1 night and uploads to sleepyhead newer versions. I like the software that comes with it to look at oxy results alone. When uploaded to Sleepyhead it creates synced graphs along with the others so you can see what happened in sync.

That said, I found I get artifacts when I turn over in the night and the readings temporarily go to zero which alarms if you have it on. I used it nightly for over a month to make sure I was okay during good and bad nights then only periodically. That only because I got unsafe levels during my first sleep study. If I had a significant medical need for constant monitoring I'd say this isn't it. A stationary model with leads taped to your finger would reduce the artifacts and possibly provide several days recordings. But that's bigga bucks.

Lots of places sell them and I got mine at http://www.coopermedical.com/

I have both the 50F and the 50Iw. I agree with Palerider, the bluetooth was neat to play with when I first got it but I haven't used since. It is basically only good to monitor your O2 in realtime with the PC software. The only differences between the "F" an "I" models is the "I" can store up to 5 sessions as opposed to 1 and it has a perfusion index chart. I've found that you can stitch sessions together in Sleepyhead with the 50I model.

SGearhart wrote: The only differences between the "F" an "I" models is the "I" can store up to 5 sessions as opposed to 1 and it has a perfusion index chart.

The F doesn't have the PI? I didn't know that (not having an F)

the I can save more than 5 sessions, it may be based on time, I know I've had 10 short ones in mine, while testing and getting data samples for jedimark.

ChicagoGranny wrote:

dvejr wrote:I have a very old CPAP

Wow, I would put the oximeter money toward a new CPAP machine. Oximeters are a poor tool for managing CPAP therapy. It's much better to have a data-capable machine and use SleepyHead to manage your therapy.

You might be able to significantly fine tune and improve your therapy with a new machine. An oximeter is a crude way to attempt it.

I agree 100%...Put the money towards a new (or gently used) CPAP.

ChicagoGranny wrote:

dvejr wrote:I have a very old CPAP

Wow, I would put the oximeter money toward a new CPAP machine. Oximeters are a poor tool for managing CPAP therapy. It's much better to have a data-capable machine and use SleepyHead to manage your therapy.

You might be able to significantly fine tune and improve your therapy with a new machine. An oximeter is a crude way to attempt it.

Good point Granny! The money should be spent toward a new machine. You can always get your doctor to order a multi-night oximetry study if there is any reason to think there is a problem with lung function. Most DMEs loan the equipment and prepare the report free of charge.

CowFish wrote: Most DMEs loan the equipment and prepare the report free of charge.

so I've heard. funny story about going through the DME...

friend of mine got out of the hospital after his cardiac cath... they'd had to put him on supplemental o2 even with his ASV.

I pestered him into getting the doctor, or clinic or someone, to order up an oximetry test, the very one you're talking about.

someone came to the door, dropped off a package. came and picked it up a couple days later.

and the wait began.

by the time that the report made it through all the hoops and crap, I'd *bought* an oximeter from amazon, recorded him overnight, found an oxygen concentrator on craigslist and got him on o2... by the time that doing it your way finally said "oh, this guy has a problem".

by all means, use the DME... if you don't want to know how you did last night.

palerider wrote:by the time that the report made it through all the hoops and crap

From the time my DME picked up the meter until the doctor's office called and said everything was OK, less than 24 hours passed.

You obviously prefer to own an oximeter and that is fine to do so. But you are being specious about the argument against spending money on a CPAP instead of an oximeter.

How long do you think it will take the OP to decide on a model, order it, receive it, load the software, use it, run and understand a report (and drop dead of a heart attack ).

If the OP thinks he is in danger of a heart attack, he should be seeking professional medical help and not ordering a cheap oximeter.

I would put the money toward a new CPAP machine. My previous CPAP model was five years old and when the new one came I was surprised at the improvement.

Midnight Strangler wrote:If the OP thinks he is in danger of a heart attack, he should be seeking professional medical help and not ordering a cheap oximeter..

well, as usual when you start posting....

first mention of 'heart attack' came from you.

must be a funny little world your brain lives in.

Midnight Strangler wrote:From the time my DME picked up the meter until the doctor's office called and said everything was OK, less than 24 hours passed.

You obviously prefer to own an oximeter and that is fine to do so. But you are being specious about the argument against spending money on a CPAP instead of an oximeter.

How long do you think it will take the OP to decide on a model, order it, receive it, load the software, use it, run and understand a report (and drop dead of a heart attack ).

If the OP thinks he is in danger of a heart attack, he should be seeking professional medical help and not ordering a cheap oximeter.

I would put the money toward a new CPAP machine. My previous CPAP model was five years old and when the new one came I was surprised at the improvement.

palerider wrote:well, as usual when you start posting....

first mention of 'heart attack' came from you.

must be a funny little world your brain lives in.

If the OP doesn't come back, I am going to assume you two killed him off.

If I have a vote, it's for a CPAP. Nothing like a new CPAP every five years or so. A recording pulse oximeter - meh.

ButtermilkBuoy wrote:If the OP doesn't come back, I am going to assume you two killed him off.

If I have a vote, it's for a CPAP. Nothing like a new CPAP every five years or so. A recording pulse oximeter - meh.

if the OP had asked for advice about getting a new machine, I'd have pointed him at our resident craigslist expert, and given him a few pointers.

he asked for advice about an oximeter, so I gave him advice about that.

personally, expenses permitting, I'd get both, just to satisfy curiosity, and enable better treatment. *shrug*

palerider wrote:if the OP had asked for advice about getting a new machine

People often ask the wrong question when trying to solve their problems. It takes a bit of genius and patience to refrain from bursting out with answers to questions.

I have noticed that Granny is astute at discerning the proper questions and changing the course of members headed in the wrong direction. (Often pissing someone off in the process. )

She nailed this one early in the thread:

ChicagoGranny wrote: Wow, I would put the oximeter money toward a new CPAP machine. Oximeters are a poor tool for managing CPAP therapy. It's much better to have a data-capable machine and use SleepyHead to manage your therapy.

You might be able to significantly fine tune and improve your therapy with a new machine. An oximeter is a crude way to attempt it.

Good job Granny!

palerider wrote:

SGearhart wrote: The only differences between the "F" an "I" models is the "I" can store up to 5 sessions as opposed to 1 and it has a perfusion index chart.

The F doesn't have the PI? I didn't know that (not having an F)

the I can save more than 5 sessions, it may be based on time, I know I've had 10 short ones in mine, while testing and getting data samples for jedimark.

You sparked my curiosity about how many sessions the 50I will record. The manual stated 5 and you had 10. Although they were short ones, I kept starting and stopping the sessions. The 50I finally declared a memory limit at 15 sessions.

I know, we can all sleep better tonight armed with this knowledge.