- Hey there everybody, it's Phil.
So, I've been running around downtown
doing errands and stuff, and it's as good a time as any
to play with one of those products
that I've been using for months now, and I love it.
I'm glad I finally get to show it to you.
Before I do, though, do me a favor.
Go subscribe to the channel, turn on notifications,
'cause you're gonna wanna share this with people,
you're gonna wanna share this with your friends,
anybody who you know who has been
watching their health a little bit lately, as I've been.
So let's go back inside and check out this product
that's probably the best 100 bucks I've spent all year.
(casual rock music)
So one of the smartest things I've done
over the past year or so was get a doctor.
And it turns out that after 10 years in a newspaper
and another seven years traveling the world
and running this crazy Android site,
I have high blood pressure.
Who could've seen that coming?
And high blood pressure is one of those things
that they wanna take care of right away,
just because that can lead to
a whole bunch of other problems,
so let's just nuke it first thing.
And for that you take some pills,
and you also wanna start keeping track
of your blood pressure and making sure
it's not still too high.
Now, a couple ways to do that.
One, you can go to a grocery store,
they've got these free things all over the place,
you've seen them.
But I wanna do it at home,
I wanna be able to do it every day,
and more important, I wanna be able to keep track of it,
not just in my head, not just have a general idea of
whether things are high or low.
But I wanted to have some actual data
that I could take to the doctor
and maybe get rid of some of this medicine.
That would be great, right?
So I started with the Withings Blood Pressure Cuff.
It's wireless, it ties into the whole Withings ecosystem,
which I already use for my scale at home.
It does a really good job of just
keeping track of everything
on a day to day and monthly basis,
so I can see trendlines.
I can look at the day to day if I want to.
It just makes it really simple,
and it was an ecosystem I was already in.
So this is the Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Cuff,
and it kinda looks a little space-agey.
You have all the components in this little
metal tube right here.
That includes the batteries,
that includes a little motor to inflate the thing,
that includes all the electronics.
And then it works thusly.
You just stick it on your arm like so.
Now, to use this, you will have to have
some sort of smartphone or tablet component.
So you fire up the Withings app,
get this to talk to that,
and then you're in good shape.
So, when you wanna take your blood pressure,
all you have to do is put the thing on,
so that the metal tube is running down your arm like that,
push the power button up top,
and that's going to trigger the phone app
to launch on its own, which is pretty cool.
So now that it's launched on my phone,
I just hit start,
and it's going to start taking my blood pressure.
And just like a normal cuff, it's going to inflate,
it's gonna get a little tight.
Not too horribly, terribly tight,
but it will inflate.
And there it goes.
And then we just wait a few seconds
while it does its thing.
And I can actually follow along on the phone here,
it tells me what the pressure is.
And you have two options while you're doing this.
You can just take a one and done,
it takes one reading and stops
and says, alright, here's what it is,
and maybe it's high, maybe it's low.
Or, it will take three readings and then average those out.
Couple things I like about this
when it gives you the measurements.
It actually gives you the numbers.
So, right now, as I took this, 140 over 86.
That's a little high.
It also gives you the heart rate,
79 beats per minute.
It tells me, high blood pressure stage one,
and gives me a little straight face.
Not a frowny face yet, that would be bad.
And then it gives you a little explanation,
what is high blood pressure?
It's actually just how hard the blood is pumping
in your veins.
And if you want, it will give you
a reminder for your next measurement.
So, if you wanna do it every day,
if you wanna do it every six hours, whatever.
Totally up to you.
I generally just do it once or twice a day.
So once you've recorded it,
it's there in your Withings dashboard.
You can see it alongside things like like your heart rate,
blood pressure, heart rate, blood pressure,
weight, if you take your weight.
It'll count your steps if you want it to.
It also works with things like Google Fit.
It works with Apple's Health Kit.
So that's a very nice tie-in
and another reason why I like this.
The cuff itself I pretty much like.
This one's real simple to take off and on
all by myself.
And I get it right the first time, every time.
There's also a little micro USB plug up underneath,
so if you want, you can plug it in to a phone
and do it directly and not deal with Bluetooth.
I haven't done that at all, though,
but it is an option if you wanna do it.
So that's it.
Pretty simple product, it's 100 dollars, it's not cheap.
You can certainly get blood pressure monitors cheaper,
but this one is a little more high tech.
I like that it's just almost totally self-contained.
You do have to have a phone with it.
I do like that everything is here,
right there in that little metal tube.
The batteries have lasted forever.
I've had this for about six months now,
haven't had to change them out yet,
which is pretty impressive.
I didn't think it would last that long,
especially with as much as I've been using it.
But the double A batteries inside have been,
just champs, just great.
I love that it all ties in to the Withings ecosystem,
which I've been a part of anyway,
because I've been using it for a scale.
So that's it for the Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Cuff.
This has probably been one of the best 100 dollars
I've spent over the last year.
I needed to check my blood pressure on a regular basis,
but moreover I wanted to have the data
so I could show my doctor,
here's what it is on a daily basis
and not just when I come into your office.
And actually, I was able to get off
a little bit of the medicine I was taking,
'cause I've been exercising, and eating better,
and all that stuff,
but I had the data to back it up,
and I didn't just walk in there and tell my doctor,
"Well, you know, I think I'm feeling a little better.
"It feels like it's down."
'Cause I don't know.
Now I actually have the data that I can show him.
He says, "Oh yeah, that looks great, cool.
"Let's try something different."
And that's what we did, so 100 dollars well spent.
It's been a really good product.
Even though it's Bluetooth
and Bluetooth can be a little finnicky sometimes,
99% of the time, this has worked perfectly, every time.
So do me a huge favor.
This'll help keep my blood pressure even lower.
Be sure give this video a thumbs up.
Be sure to go share it with somebody you know
who might have high blood pressure,
if they're out of shape a little bit like I still am.
I'm working on it.
But if they could use a little more help, show them this.
Maybe that will help encourage them
to keep better track of their own health,
of their own blood pressure.
Subscribe to the channel.
Be sure to turn on notifications
so you see every new video.
And that's super important this time around,
because our next one's going to be
another wireless blood pressure cuff.
It competes with this one.
Does a couple things a little bit differently.
Is it better, is it worse?
We'll find out, stay tuned.
See you later.
(casual rock music)