Ryan W.—August 18, 2023
I've tried a variety of home blood pressure cuffs and this is definitely my favorite. My first was one with a unit that would sit on a table, then the hose connection to the actual cuff. Solid, accurate, but a clunky pain that made me less likely to check my blood pressure (I have treatment resistant, idiopathic hypertension so frequent checks are smart). Second one was a handy little wrist unit, but accuracy was a little hit and miss and it was very finicky about positioning. This is best of the first two. Normal BP cuff positioning so that part is easy, but a light and slim package that makes it a breeze to use. I'm not taking a star off for it, but in the effort to design pretty, Apple-esque devices, the result has been a screen that isn't super readable. I'm young so no big deal, but I could see older folks having some difficulty with reading their results. Otherwise, I'm definitely loving it and think it's been a worthwhile splurge (because let's face it, this is definitely the priciest consumer BP cuff around). Read more
Customer—December 20, 2023
I loved everything about this device, very cool, sleek, convenient, but today I realized it was telling me my BP was 20 points higher than it was at the Doctor's Office. I searched online and quickly found multiple people with the same problem, despite Withings boasting its accuracy in clinical trials etc. So I watched their little video and read their full directions, and it turns out the white electronic shell is supposed to go on the inside of your arm, and your palm is supposed to be face up. When I did this, my BP instantly showed correct (meaning, pretty much what the Doctor's measurement was). So overall 5 stars, but "easy to use" I put 3 stars, because this has caused MANY people problems and many returns, when all they had to do was either fix this design flaw or give better directions. When I set it up with the app, I don't recall the directions saying put the tube on the inside or the palm face up. Missing this small detail caused 20 extra units on my BP, to no fault of my own. It's awkward to put the tube on the inside so wouldn't expect that as the correct usage. Overall great product though, I love everything about it besides this design/instruction flaw. Read more
Maximillian C.—December 28, 2024
I got this BP cuff because I loved the idea of having my BP readings automatically logged every time I took them, in a place where I could easily review the history--similar to my Withings Body Fat scale. The thing is, I have now learned that, for an indeterminate amount of time (quite possibly, over a year), I have now been getting incorrectly-high readings. I only learned this because, after a year of high readings, but always much lower ("good") readings at most doctor's visits, I finally brought my cuff into the clinic, and compared the readings. The doctor's office was still reading my "normal" BP, but the Withings BPM Connect was reading high. This, mind you, was after I finally DID have a high reading at the doctor's office (may have been an outlier), and, based on the history of high readings from my BPM Connect, my doc put me on BP meds. Yep! So for all we know, my BP hasn't really been that high for most of the past year, but the Withings made it look so consistently bad that we thought I needed intervention for my high BP. Now, I'm using my old Walgreens/HoMedics BP cuff again, and I'm seeing that it's consistently reading my BP as similar to what the doctor's offices were reading, which is like 20 points below what my BPM Connect is reporting my BP as. So I figured it was pretty clear my BPM Connect needed repaired, and THAT brings me to the support experience, which is where my opinion of Withings has suffered what may be irreparable damage... So a month ago, I spent 40 minutes chatting with a support rep a month ago, trying to get this fixed. All kinds of questions, and things to try, and then I was left with homework--I had to have someone ELSE try both BP cuffs, and see if THEY also got different readings. I did that, but I forgot to reply to tell the rep I had done it, honestly, because I was subconsciously dreading wasting more time with this... and my fears were apparently completely founded. So they closed the old ticket without telling me, and I opened a new ticket today. The rep read the history of the old ticket, and worked with me, but I literally spent over 1.5 hours on the chat with him. THIS time, I had to take a video of me taking my BP with the cuff, and upload it to him. But the chat system only allows 20MB attachments, so how the h*** am I supposed to upload the video to him?!? So then he asked me to EDIT the video, to shrink it down. What?!? Who knows how to do that?!? If they're asking for videos, why don't they have a tool that actually allows people to upload normal-sized videos?!? So then I decided to just upload it to YouTube, and send him the link. Over an hour and thirty minutes later, I'm still chatting with him, and still no answer. I told him I need to get back to work, and he said he needed to "coordinate with [his] senior team member to help us resolve the issue." So I have now spent over TWO hours working with Withing support, and STILL, I'm unable to use my BPM Connect. And its false readings may have literally led to me getting put on BP meds, because it made it look like there was a long history of higher BP, when really, the one high reading in the clinic may have been a one-off. I don't know what's causing this BP cuff to give such incorrectly high readings, but 1) if a medical device can give you grossly incorrect readings, the vendor needs to give you clear instructions on how and how often to check its readings. And 2) when a customer demonstrates that the device is giving incorrect readings, you shouldn't give them a million hoops to jump through to get it fixed. I have very little spare time, and so having my time wasted carelessly is one of the things I hate the most. Withings has now earned a place on my blacklist for their support/warranty process being so onerous, and wasting so much of my time. Read more
