WithingsBPM Connect - Digital Blood Pressure Cuff & Heart Rate Monitor - Blood Pressure Machine Arm Cuff, FDA Cleared, FSA/HSA Eligible, IOS & Android

I compared my results on the Withings BP against a professional grade WelchAllyn ProBP 3400 series ($900) calibrated handheld blood pressure monitor. The cuff size makes a difference, I used a size 11 (25-34cm) cuff vs. the “one size fits most” built into the Withings BP. I connect the Withings to one arm and the WelchAllyn to my other arm careful to get the same height and arterial alignment. I ran 5 tests then swapped arms and tested 5 more times. Based on the WelchAllyn ProBP it looks like the Withings is the systolic readings were normally within 2pts of accurate but the diastolic readings were off by an average of 4-5 pts. Pulse was within a 1-3 beats. They WelchAllyn was much faster and more accurate because it utilizes the SureBP NIBP measurements that take the readings during cuff inflation vs the Withings that is measuring during deflation. The Hillrom FlexiPort Blood Pressure Cuff is more accurate because it is sized to my arm but it’s meant to be put on my a care giver and putting it on yourself is tricky, but with ability to quickly disconnect the cuff and swap to another cuff it is meant more for a hospital environment. The Withings cuff is easy to put on yourself but I don’t think it is as accurate, also the screen is facing out when you put it on correctly, poor designed choice for an at home blood pressure monitor. But it’s integration with the Withings App is excellent. Overall I’d give it 4.5 stars, with the only negatives being the screen facing outward when correctly placed, the accuracy being a bit off 2-3%, and the cuff tends to constrict more than it need to leading to a slower reading and a bit more painful than necessary. For the price and the App integration I’ll round 4.5 up to a 5 star rating. I also had the original Withings blood pressure cuff I bout 10+ years ago that ran on AAA batteries and this new rechargeable and WiFi version is an order of magnitude better. I even dig how small it rolls up, yeah it’s 5-stars.

I've tried a variety of home blood pressure cuffs and this is definitely my favorite. My first was one with a unit that would sit on a table, then the hose connection to the actual cuff. Solid, accurate, but a clunky pain that made me less likely to check my blood pressure (I have treatment resistant, idiopathic hypertension so frequent checks are smart). Second one was a handy little wrist unit, but accuracy was a little hit and miss and it was very finicky about positioning. This is best of the first two. Normal BP cuff positioning so that part is easy, but a light and slim package that makes it a breeze to use. I'm not taking a star off for it, but in the effort to design pretty, Apple-esque devices, the result has been a screen that isn't super readable. I'm young so no big deal, but I could see older folks having some difficulty with reading their results. Otherwise, I'm definitely loving it and think it's been a worthwhile splurge (because let's face it, this is definitely the priciest consumer BP cuff around).

I got this BP cuff because I loved the idea of having my BP readings automatically logged every time I took them, in a place where I could easily review the history--similar to my Withings Body Fat scale. The thing is, I have now learned that, for an indeterminate amount of time (quite possibly, over a year), I have now been getting incorrectly-high readings. I only learned this because, after a year of high readings, but always much lower ("good") readings at most doctor's visits, I finally brought my cuff into the clinic, and compared the readings. The doctor's office was still reading my "normal" BP, but the Withings BPM Connect was reading high. This, mind you, was after I finally DID have a high reading at the doctor's office (may have been an outlier), and, based on the history of high readings from my BPM Connect, my doc put me on BP meds. Yep! So for all we know, my BP hasn't really been that high for most of the past year, but the Withings made it look so consistently bad that we thought I needed intervention for my high BP. Now, I'm using my old Walgreens/HoMedics BP cuff again, and I'm seeing that it's consistently reading my BP as similar to what the doctor's offices were reading, which is like 20 points below what my BPM Connect is reporting my BP as. So I figured it was pretty clear my BPM Connect needed repaired, and THAT brings me to the support experience, which is where my opinion of Withings has suffered what may be irreparable damage...So a month ago, I spent 40 minutes chatting with a support rep a month ago, trying to get this fixed. All kinds of questions, and things to try, and then I was left with homework--I had to have someone ELSE try both BP cuffs, and see if THEY also got different readings. I did that, but I forgot to reply to tell the rep I had done it, honestly, because I was subconsciously dreading wasting more time with this... and my fears were apparently completely founded. So they closed the old ticket without telling me, and I opened a new ticket today. The rep read the history of the old ticket, and worked with me, but I literally spent over 1.5 hours on the chat with him. THIS time, I had to take a video of me taking my BP with the cuff, and upload it to him. But the chat system only allows 20MB attachments, so how the h*** am I supposed to upload the video to him?!? So then he asked me to EDIT the video, to shrink it down. What?!? Who knows how to do that?!? If they're asking for videos, why don't they have a tool that actually allows people to upload normal-sized videos?!? So then I decided to just upload it to YouTube, and send him the link. Over an hour and thirty minutes later, I'm still chatting with him, and still no answer. I told him I need to get back to work, and he said he needed to "coordinate with [his] senior team member to help us resolve the issue." So I have now spent over TWO hours working with Withing support, and STILL, I'm unable to use my BPM Connect. And its false readings may have literally led to me getting put on BP meds, because it made it look like there was a long history of higher BP, when really, the one high reading in the clinic may have been a one-off.I don't know what's causing this BP cuff to give such incorrectly high readings, but 1) if a medical device can give you grossly incorrect readings, the vendor needs to give you clear instructions on how and how often to check its readings. And 2) when a customer demonstrates that the device is giving incorrect readings, you shouldn't give them a million hoops to jump through to get it fixed. I have very little spare time, and so having my time wasted carelessly is one of the things I hate the most. Withings has now earned a place on my blacklist for their support/warranty process being so onerous, and wasting so much of my time.