Customer Reviews

Microlife 3AC1-PC Premium Blood Pressure Monitor With IHD-MAM & PC Download

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The British Hypertension Society gave this monitor their highest possible rating for accuracy (A/A). That was the selling point for me along with the fact that it includes a USB connection and software.

The software that is included is very informative and is designed to also be used by medical professionals. (It can store patient data for an unlimited number of patients.) Graphs, tables, and averages for systolic BP, diastolic BP, and heart rate are provided for any given date range and can be further divided to only show morning or evening readings. I also liked the fact that the software can set the time and date on the blood pressure monitor.

The blood pressure cuff is comfortable and easy to place on my own arm. I have had this device for 2 weeks now and continue to enjoy using this device several times a day.

In a nutshell, I could not be happier with this BP monitor. Though it costs more than other automatic BP monitors, it is a much better value because of all the advanced features.

I read of the complaints about the USB connector, and while it's not a standard mini-USB connector, but I don't find it to be a problem. It's certainly better than what I've seen on some digital cameras and cell phones.

Build quality is very impressive, and the Mulitple Average Mode, where the monitor takes 3 readings then averages them is very useful. I can confirm that the Irregular Heartbeat Detector works quite well. I have a rather ragged pulse wave and every single time this monitor's found it. A friend tried it and it didn't flag them as having an irregular heartbeat, so it's reading correctly. Despite my irregular heartbeat, it still manages to get the correct blood pressure & pulse readings so far. Not sure what the lowest it can read, but my pulse was down to 46 and it still read properly.

The software which comes with the unit is quite good, but is obviously meant for a physician's office, not home use. It appears that the original design was that the physician's office would get the software and the patients would get these BP monitors and bring them in for their appointments and upload them then. Once you've navigated your way around the software, it is quite good, giving you a few other features like Mean Arterial Pressure and Pulse Pressure, along with graphs, histograms, etc. The BP monitor is good, but the software makes it great.

**Update Nov 2009***
Well, I've had this unit for 3+ years now, still going strong. I wish they had software for Mac and wish it had a standard-sized USB port, but otherwise still very satisfied with this BP monitor. Over those 3 years I've had some very low BP readings and yet this monitor still produced accurate readings. The cuff inflation of this unit is a bit uncomfortable at times, but it's never left a bruise like some of the drug store & hospital BP cuffs do to me. Probably due to my not-so-healthy body.

This monitor is very accurate - less then 1% above real numbers (like 121-by-80 instead of 120-by-80) during the special test we ran on it. It also looks good. It is difficult to connect special little USB connector to it, so I normally keep it connected on this end, and connect it to my PC when I want to transfer data to PC.

Out of the box, the device was straight forward to use and the software was easily installed. I have used the device for about 1 month and was impressed by it's comfort and accuracy (I compared the results obtained from the monitor with those determined with a cuff/stethoscope). The monitor allows you to record several days results and to download these values to your computer at your convenience. If I could suggest product improvements, I would make the USB connector to the monitor larger (or use a wireless scheme) and provide a mechanism for multiple users of the same device (not easily done with the current unit). Overall, I found the monitor to be excellent. FYI ... I have been an EMT for 6 yrs.

It works great...much better than the Omron I had.
It's fast and accurate...and I like the feature it has that
takes the average of three blood pressure readings.

I'd been using a wrist BP monitor with memory, but wanted the date/time stamp, liked the idea of the PC download since I usually take my BP at my desk, and thought an arm cuff may be more accurate.

I used this machine right out of the box with just a glance at the "quick start" guide. It's very user-friendly and easy to master. The accompanying software is unimpressive, though it should be nice to print out and take to my next doctor appointment. I was surprised by how everything fit in the included small case - should be great for travel. The standard cuff fits just fine even though I thought I'd be borderline for the larger cuff. You can't miss with the guides and instructions printed right on the cuff for proper fit.

This is a very good blood pressure machine if you intend to use as a standalone device. The USB cord that comes with the kit allowing you to connect to your home PC is junk. The USB connector for the PC side is a standard USB connector which works fine - the connector to the blood pressure machine is the most fragile connector I have ever seen on consumer electronics. I had to use a 15 power magn glass to see the 4 tiny, tiny pin connectors that you have to plug into in order for it to work with the computer. I'm a computer guy - so connectors are all in a days work - this one would be hard to hook up in a lab with good eyes - I can't think of my mom trying to plug it in at 70 years old.

Avoid if you are buying to use with a PC until they fix the connector to a standard plug that anyone can push in. I took my back to Costco.

This is the best home blood pressure monitor that I have seen. It is accurate, easy to use and has a computer input to present ata. GOOD JOB Microlife!!!!

The logic built into the monitor is very reliable and intelligent. The build quality is very good, battery life is great. In general, a great purchase. The PC interface works pretty well, although the software is a little clunky and non-standard.

Takes very accurate readings if you follow the instructions. However, I bought this particular model for it's compatibility with my PC. Never got to use it because the cheap plug that connects the Monitor to the PC was inoperative out of the box...They need to get a fix for that 2 cent plug ASAP!!!