Clinical-use EKGs. Get the 6-lead, there's no good reason to get the single lead. Having a 6 lead is an order of magnitude better than just a single lead. If you have any cardiac issues, get this! No debate. Nothing to think about. It's a fantastic, easy-to-use, reliable and CLINICALLY ACCEPTED 6 lead EKG and a very inexpensive price. The battery lasts around a year or more and is easily replaced. It's the CR2016 (same size as the CR2036 but thinner, and may not be as easily found in stores as the more common CR2036 so best to order some online and keep them as back up. The store for like 10 years...) You upload Kardia software to your iPhone/Android and it syncs easily with the device. There's a section for "notes" which you can use the phone's dictation option to dictate notes. Better: buy two. Keep one at home in the medicine cabinet or wherever you store items for quick access, and another for your purse/pocket for when you're traveling or out and about. I've been in the clinical medical device industry for 40 years- this is a great product, that works well, and delivers clinically-valid results to your doctor; it is inexpensive and well made. No reason not to have one if you are dealing with any and all cardiac issues. You don't have to sign up for their service if you have your own cardiologist or GP. The software works with or without a "subscription" (which is really only about having access to a cardiologist who will "read" you EKG and give you a determination.) The software will make a "possible xxx" diagnosis for you. The main point is that you shouldn't be buying this "for the heck of it" or to "see if I've got anything." If you suspect you are having cardiac issues, you should already have gotten you derrière to a doctor, preferably a cardiologist. If you already have consulted with your physician/cardiologist, then you already know - or suspect - what's going on, and you would be following your cardiologists advice from here on out and this is merely gathering additional data for further clinical analysis/study. In either case, the Kardia-generated "possible diagnosis" should confirm what you and your cardiologist already suspect, or at least provide more data for your clinician to make a more accurate diagnosis. Read more
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Doctor-Approved Gadget That Lives in My Purse Because My Heart Likes Drama, and I Like Data. This little heart monitor is seriously impressive. I keep mine clipped inside its case to my purse so it’s always with me — because you never know when your heart might decide to go rogue. When my PCP noticed my pulse racing, I pulled this out, ran a quick reading, and boom — it confirmed tachycardia. My attending physician was impressed enough to order a full EKG just to verify, and it matched perfectly. It’s easy to use, quick, and gives accurate readings that even earned a doctor’s thumbs-up. For anyone who wants peace of mind between appointments, this is worth every penny. Basically, it’s like having a tiny cardiologist in your handbag — minus the co-pay. ❤️ Read more
CON: My husband purchased this for me as I am recuperating from injuries and cannot leave the house. We used it and my Pacemaker went crazy. An important message like this should be prominently displayed on the front page. No clicking. PROS: for those who do not have a Pacemaker this is a great product. It was simple to use and produced a good result. Where he took it to our doctor and the nurse looked at it thoroughly she said do you know you cannot use it with Pacemaker? Oops! Or packaging mail for a return and I guess the nice case we also purchased it isn’t here yet. It’s a shame the south because my pacemaker can be used with an MRI, you just have to turn it off which which has to be done by a professional at the MRI center. Read more
I have an Apple Watch, 2 automatic blood pressure devices that record heart rate, and an oximeter that measures both oxygen concentrations and pulse. I need to know if I am in atrial fibrillation and more importantly - what the ventricular rate is. I had a recent cardiac procedure and for the first time realized that the watch and the blood pressure devices may have been measuring the atrial rate rather than the ventricular rate. The first sign I had of that was my palpable carotid pulse and the oximeter pulse were about half as much as what the watch and BP devices were measuring. The difference between atrial and ventricular rates on a regular 12-lead ECG are obvious. When I heard that Kardia had a 6-lead ECG that was inexpensive and easy to use at home - I decided to try it. The credit card sized device is easy to use. It does take some practice to record smooth wave forms but that is no different than the Apple Watch. 30 second ECGs are recorded and easily converted to PDFs that can immediately be emailed to your doctor or clinic. I was recording and emailing them within 10 minutes of opening the box. I have included an image of an ECG tracing I made on September 15, 2023 showing normal sinus rhythm. The only downsides I have noted so far are minor and they include: 1: Extra services are for sale including additional algorithms for ECG interpretation. I can read ECGs so I did not consider that to be a big issue. It might be for a person who wants more than the very basic readings that do include atrial fibrillation. You can also consult with a Cardiologist through this app for a fee. 2: Deleting ECGs - the app gives you the choice to accept or rerecord ECGs during the initial save step. If you do save - there is no way that I can figure out to delete the files. It is easy to rapidly accumulate a large file of ECGs and I have not figured out how much memory these files are using. There are online instructions on how to delete the files but they do not appear to work for this specific device. 3: Getting used to doing the recording - to do the 6 lead ECG you needs to hold the device between the finger and thumb of your right and left hands and against the knee or ankle area of your left leg. If you waver too drastically the recording is rejected and you have to try again. A 6-lead ECG doesn't have chest leads - all of that information is not there. Regular 12-lead machine run by a tech is less likely to have significant artifacts so signal to noise is greater with a 12-lead ECG. Bundled into the cost of the 12 lead is a more extensive algorithm and a cardiologist read of the tracing. It is also important to remember that the ECG contains a lot of information and expertise interpreting it. In my opinion it is best to use it in collaboration with a physician who is following a known problem or suspects a problem rather than to think that it can be used as an independent diagnostic tool. All things considered this is a very innovative, practical, and easy to use device that produced superior recordings at home that can be used by your personal physicians. Read more
