O2 Oximeter

[Houman]

Hi,

Am I wrong to think I don't need to buy an aviation certified Oximeter ?, just a normal one would do ?.

I usually buy my stuff from aircraft spruce Canada, but their checkmate oximeter is very expensive, I was going to buy from Walmart or a pharmaceutical company, they are less than half price, but on the other hand I don't want to gamble with my life or my family life.

So would a normal oximeter would work in altitude ?

Thanks for advice...

[Marauder]

Yep, that is what I use. I carry two of them and periodically will compare them.

[Houman]

Yep, that is what I use. I carry two of them and periodically will compare them.

The expensive checkmate or walmart pluse oximeter ?

[Marauder]

The cheap ones...

[DrBill]

I got mine from ALDI on sale for $20.   ALDI is a low price grocery chain around here.  I've compared it to those in hospital and doctors office and it's always within 1 unit.

 

BILL

[Houman]

good idea, I will ask tomorrow at my local pharmacy and Walmart.. I'm guessing it will work for my 8 year old son as well. I rather have one on his finger all the time if I decide to go high...

[N201MKTurbo]

The way a pulse ox works, it really can't give an incorrect reading. So a cheap one is as good as an expensive one.

They compare the IR transmission VS the red visible transmission at the peak and valley of arterial blood flow. The algorithm has been well known for decades. All you need is a photodiode, an IR LED, a red LED a small micro controller and a display. All very cheap these days.

[Mooneymite]

God equipped us all with a really cheap oxymeter:

If your fingernails have a bluish tint, you don't need an oximeter....you need Oxygen!

[N201MKTurbo]

That is what an oximeter does, it measures how blue your fingernails are.

[aviatoreb]

The way a pulse ox works, it really can't give an incorrect reading. So a cheap one is as good as an expensive one.

They compare the IR transmission VS the red visible transmission at the peak and valley of arterial blood flow. The algorithm has been well known for decades. All you need is a photodiode, an IR LED, a red LED a small micro controller and a display. All very cheap these days.

 

Right - but they are cheap not because they are so simple, but because they are in huge mass production - the ones you get from Walmart I mean.  Enjoy the economy of scales.

[Amelia]

My pulse oximeter was a bequest from a dear friend who quit smoking last year...RIP. Works fine, especially when I have spare batteries for it.