Omron HEM-432C Manual Inflation Blood Pressure Monitor

Suggested Retail Price: $34.99

Rating: 6/10

Product Specs

• Manual style
• Cuff size is 9 to 13 inches in circumference
• Runs on 4 "AA" batteries (not included)
• 1 year warranty 

Features

• 30 memory units with averaging
• Comes with instruction manual

Disadvantages

• Minimal features
• Cuff doesn't fit large arms
• If not inflated properly, can give inaccurate readings

Review

The Omron HEM-432C is the best selling manual blood pressure monitor on the market today.  Even though it's a popular blood pressure monitor, it definitely is not for everyone.  It has very few features and is more difficult to use than the typical automatic monitor, but with a very low price it will still be an appealing model to many.

Unlike almost every other Omron model, the HEM-432C can be a bit difficult to operate.  The first thing you'll notice is that it doesn't support the use of an AC adapter, and needs 4 "AA" batteries to operate, which unfortunately are not included.  However, this isn't so bad because the batteries should last for quite some time.  Additionally, some people have problem with the d-ring cuff.  Since it can't handle an arm size bigger than 13 inches in circumference, people with large arms will be unable to get an accurate reading.  Also, manual blood pressure monitors can be more difficult to operate for an accurate reading than automatic monitors.  If the amount of inflation isn't just right, the blood pressure reading can easily be 20 plus units too high or low.

Since this is such a cheap blood pressure monitor, there are not too many extras.  The most advanced feature of the Omron HEM-432C is that it has 30 memory units with averaging, but that is much less that some other Omron blood pressure monitors which have up to 200 memory units.  Also, be aware that it lacks such features as irregular heartbeat detection, a hypertension indicator, separate hypertension detection, and multiple user modes.  And the included warranty is only for 1 year, while other Omron blood pressure monitors have warranties as long as 5 years.  However, this model is both cheap and reliable, so the warranty won't be all that important.

Although this certainly isn't the most advanced blood pressure monitor, some people will still appreciate it.  If you are comfortable using manual inflation and don't care about extra features, and just care about measuring your blood pressure, the HEM-432C will be just fine.  And with its low price, there isn't much risk.  Still, if you don't have and prior training using a manual blood pressure monitor, this model can be difficult to use correctly.  If this is your case, you're much better off spending a little bit more on an easier to operate monitor.