THE GOOD: It is a well built unit with 2 user memories and audio (spoken) output. You can select options when the audio will engage or you can disable it. I have disabled the preliminary instructions on placing the cuff and left the results audio on as I find it helpful when I am not feeling well. The pulse rate is very accurate and I like that it has the "Irregular Heartbeat" feature as I take many medications for my illness. (see "THE BAD" for the only reason I knocked a star off the score)

THE BAD: I had my reservations about the blood pressure accuracy since it was showing numbers that neither an older monitor was showing. So I purchased an inexpensive wrist cuff monitor and measured it against the BPA-260-CBL and both of the other monitors were lower by 9 points on both the Systolic and Diastolic. So I took this unit into the store where I bought it (at $10 more than the Homedics Store - $100) and used their public blood pressure monitor and it showed about 10 points difference higher on both measurements, the pulse was accurate though.
So I took all of my BP monitors in with me to the Drs Office and used their calibrated unit and it verified that both the Systolic and Diastolic were 9 points higher (3 checks), but the span was correct so I thing this one just need calibration.

BOTTOM LINE: I really enjoy using this monitor more than my old one and if you are needing one for someone that doesn't know what a good/bad blood pressure measurement is then this is for you. It also comes with a USB cable that supposedly connects to Microsoft HealthVault but I amd going to script it where it will just export into an Excel Spreadsheet (which should have been one of the options to start with since not everybody is comfortable placing their medical records on Microsofts servers.

-Fred Dunn

3/5/11