Recommendations for pulse oxymeter

[AndreiC]

 

At the end of the month I’ll be flying across the Sierras and the Rockies. I have an oxygen system, but my pulse oxymeter (cheap thing made in China, ordered from Amazon) never worked right. Most times it does not sense my pulse at all. 
 

Do people have a recommendation for a good, relatively inexpensive pulse oxymeter from Amazon or the likes?

[McMooney]

shrug, i just grabbed an inexpensive one from Walgreens, 

Garmin watch does it also but it's so slow i never bother

[Fly Boomer]

8 minutes ago, AndreiC said:

good, relatively inexpensive pulse oxymeter

Think about getting more than one -- different makers.  "Cheap" may be the same as "inaccurate".  Having more than one gives you a better chance.

[Fly Boomer]

2 minutes ago, McMooney said:

Garmin watch does it also but it's so slow i never bother

Do you have to tell the watch to do it, or can it do it continuously?

[GeeBee]

The Walgreen's unit is exactly on with my doctor's expensive unit.

 

[DonMuncy]

I have never found the cheapos to be any more or less accurate than the good ones.

[Ragsf15e]

There’s also a ring you can wear to continually monitor it.  That’s a nice addition.  Sorry, I don’t have a link.

I use oxygen on all flights above 8k now and feel so much better for it.

[WilliamR]

I have the Wellue O2 ring. It vibrates when it gets below a certain level (80% I think). Really like it. I also occasionally wear it at night to see how much I move and my heart rate (not real worried about my oxygenation while asleep). There are a million O2 rings on amazon that all have some pretty good functionality and are unobtrusive.

William

 

[Pinecone]

I have the ring and a typical finger one.  
 

wear the ring. And check with finger unit every so often

I will try to look up the ring I have and post it later

[kortopates]

I use the ring when flying solo, it goes on my thumb where it’s the least obtrusive to flying. you can program the alarm to what ever you want. Mine’s at 88% to alert me of an unconnected O2 supply. But with 2 pilots, >95% of the time i just use a regular one periodically.

For the regular finger unit i use a Nonnin unit from the same company that manufactures medical ones. It uses a lookup table to notice accuracy. i am not worried about accuracy though but being rugged enough that a drop won’t break it. Some of the cheap ones will fail if dropped, whereas my Nonnin has suffered many drops over many years and is doing fine.


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[Rick Junkin]

2 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Do you have to tell the watch to do it, or can it do it continuously?

I have the D2 Mach 1 Pro and in "Fly" activity mode it monitors O2 saturation constantly. It also has settable alarms. I can't speak for the other models.

[Rick Junkin]

3 hours ago, AndreiC said:

 

 

At the end of the month I’ll be flying across the Sierras and the Rockies. I have an oxygen system, but my pulse oxymeter (cheap thing made in China, ordered from Amazon) never worked right. Most times it does not sense my pulse at all. 
 

Do people have a recommendation for a good, relatively inexpensive pulse oxymeter from Amazon or the likes?

There are less expensive options, but here are the devices that back up my Garmin watch, and the ones used as primary for me and my wife before I got the watch.

https://www.amazon.com/Wellue-O2Ring-Wearable-Sleep-Monitor/dp/B08HDGBF7P/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=X2HJ7W8ZH70K&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4z1D0UnsVu9BtojFcycmnbGO7vtbWxeWH0_L2BzFBRAcFcimLvOE2kpgJp9oL8Z0tvE2fND70odY-u3VgqcZ4v7nGuzq8HRBm4oxYRfXFUKYeUGOePTDK5z33eP1dQr_RV7bPzfMyfKQ9ZYHE6uHZ3cnG0YW3h39a3Z6ugvLrZzYx3xw0FyWzLHWkC0wSw5ziGt_nOZ4uRPBuJa4RR-Nwlg7kqv2qri0Wr-Dh0zbr0NB7LEqQdWbin6SVoc1z_FrKbmwfzFIIfYmcZ3PzKxUo-wyErW-p8-BPbevRYTAIMk.LrKoxsSR1UFhBZScDWLTwDb-ZXgNqCiff5uCZZXeucU&dib_tag=se&keywords=wellue+o2ring+oxygen+monitor&qid=1715201555&sprefix=wellue%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Masimo-9901-B-MightySat/dp/B00RT9RQXY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2A534X3AHI2KE&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.OORd9prNNFbNkzEgHra5Wc6TTHBTXvbkCol_8UGnoISLiHDvZseEb15L4VAi-6_gql2swIgV92gPx12O-LE0RmfrLpwkDDvXNNQ0tX4u_ocsAozO3f83FU3FXT6HI05JScwfXj1LWZjnbKxYZxXPLy3P7pManpN3KlrAgtL3fJGsS4MFPgIWmZFTqakHFTmuZ1z9bTSoT_2ZIN4PxvM5Fj01eW-x9WARjlxnpcStyeze2RBeAcbL8EUxbCHtlIWFK7pwgA0_-6v0Sq3JPuPZHPfnCCeCO55MAmYlU0BTwwo.NxKLkKSoO6GGgkURD7Pud0rwRxzEFqS68dXLgtLwxHo&dib_tag=se&keywords=maximo+pulse+oximeter&qid=1715201647&sprefix=maximo%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1

Cheers,
Junkman

[201Mooniac]

1 hour ago, kortopates said:

For the regular finger unit i use a Nonnin unit from the same company that manufactures medical ones. It uses a lookup table to notice accuracy. i am not worried about accuracy though but being rugged enough that a drop won’t break it. Some of the cheap ones will fail if dropped, whereas my Nonnin has suffered many drops over many years and is doing fine.

I also had the Nonnin units and liked them very much but both of mine ended up dying without any known trauma to the device.  They were kept in the former ashtray in the pilot side arm rest and each one died after about 18 months where they just would not turn on any more.  Both times the company apologized but said they were out of warranty and couldn't help.  I now just use my watch though I'm not sure if it is as accurate.  I figure since I always wear O2 when above 8K (and 5K at night) the accuracy doesn't matter much as I just need a ballpark reading to make sure I'm not getting low.

[AndreiC]

1 hour ago, Pinecone said:

I will try to look up the ring I have and post it later

Thanks, please let me know.

[McMooney]

3 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Do you have to tell the watch to do it, or can it do it continuously?

it automatically measures periodically say once per hour, but to get a current reading you have to change to the screen, sit still and wait for like a minute 

the finger pulse ox takes like 10 seconds, so i never bother to use the watch.

 

if i didn't have the finger pulse ox, it would be perfectly fine

Edited May 8 by McMooney

[Fly Boomer]

11 minutes ago, McMooney said:

it automatically measures periodically say once per hour, but to get a current reading you have to change to the screen, sit still and wait for like a minute 

the finger pulse ox takes like 10 seconds, so i never bother to use the watch.

 

if i didn't have the finger pulse ox, it would be perfectly fine

Best of all possible worlds for me would be something I don't have to futz with to make it talk, something that allows me to set an O2 level below which it alarms, and something that delivers the alarm through my audio panel.

[kortopates]

I also had the Nonnin units and liked them very much but both of mine ended up dying without any known trauma to the device.  They were kept in the former ashtray in the pilot side arm rest and each one died after about 18 months where they just would not turn on any more.  Both times the company apologized but said they were out of warranty and couldn't help.  I now just use my watch though I'm not sure if it is as accurate.  I figure since I always wear O2 when above 8K (and 5K at night) the accuracy doesn't matter much as I just need a ballpark reading to make sure I'm not getting low.

Hope that’s not an omen for what may come, but my first Nonnin lasted at least 8 years and i am on my second one now at over 5 years and its still going strong.


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[Brandt]

I recently saw an independent lab test of various units.  The inaccuracy of many was concerning.  Top performer was the Masimo above.  I just bought one.

[201Mooniac]

59 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Hope that’s not an omen for what may come, but my first Nonnin lasted at least 8 years and i am on my second one now at over 5 years and its still going strong.
 

I don't expect it will as I know many others have had great success with those units but for some reason they didn't last for me.  Maybe something about my usage or environment, who knows but good luck with yours, I really liked them at the time.

[PeteMc]

The basic pulse oximeters are fine, they've been around for quite a while and are all pretty accurate.  But you really need to know your own personal O2 saturation to then decide when you need start using O2 in flight.  The video below is from Dr. Brent Blue, Sr AME and talks about using your numbers. 

At sea level you may have an O2 saturation of 97, so he says at -5 (92) you should consider using O2.  If you drop -10 (87) you must use O2.  But he says his normal O2 saturation living in WY might be 93.  So he should use it at 88 and must use it at 83.  So it is different for all of us and you need to know your "normal" number. 

Video also has a discussion on Carbon Monoxide, so it's worth a view.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOEBoeuyR0U

 

 

Edited May 9 by PeteMc

[Schllc]

I bought the one you wear on your thumb. It works very well and it is comfortable.  
operating the menu is cumbersome bc it is so small. Not sure if there is an app for it though. 
the only grievance is the battery life. It’s well under two hours and it doesn’t function when it’s plugged in for charging. 

[Gone]

I bought a cheap digital smart watch for this functionality. Checked it against my medical pulse oximetry and it is within one percent. So I am good, but I keep the pulse oximeter in the flight bag just in case. 
 

Now checking every 15 mins or so above 8000’ is no big deal. 

[smccray]

5 hours ago, Rick Junkin said:

There are less expensive options, but here are the devices that back up my Garmin watch, and the ones used as primary for me and my wife before I got the watch.

https://www.amazon.com/Wellue-O2Ring-Wearable-Sleep-Monitor/dp/B08HDGBF7P/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=X2HJ7W8ZH70K&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4z1D0UnsVu9BtojFcycmnbGO7vtbWxeWH0_L2BzFBRAcFcimLvOE2kpgJp9oL8Z0tvE2fND70odY-u3VgqcZ4v7nGuzq8HRBm4oxYRfXFUKYeUGOePTDK5z33eP1dQr_RV7bPzfMyfKQ9ZYHE6uHZ3cnG0YW3h39a3Z6ugvLrZzYx3xw0FyWzLHWkC0wSw5ziGt_nOZ4uRPBuJa4RR-Nwlg7kqv2qri0Wr-Dh0zbr0NB7LEqQdWbin6SVoc1z_FrKbmwfzFIIfYmcZ3PzKxUo-wyErW-p8-BPbevRYTAIMk.LrKoxsSR1UFhBZScDWLTwDb-ZXgNqCiff5uCZZXeucU&dib_tag=se&keywords=wellue+o2ring+oxygen+monitor&qid=1715201555&sprefix=wellue%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

 

This. It’s small and easy to keep on for the whole flight vs checking periodically. 

[dkkim73]

4 hours ago, Schllc said:

the only grievance is the battery life. It’s well under two hours and it doesn’t function when it’s plugged in for charging. 

I wonder if anyone has tried the wrist mounted version? Longer battery life, it looks like... Sensor still wraps on the finger.

[Fly Boomer]

11 hours ago, Schllc said:

I bought the one you wear on your thumb

I think there are a couple of those.  Do you recall the brand of the one your have?