Nonin Fingertip Pulse Oximeter

We bought this when my wife was leaving the hospital with a pleurex catheter and the doctors were concerned about her oxygen usage.The nurses in the hospital used a Nonin similar to this, just a bit faster (and 3x the cost). My insurance company approved a rental pulse oximeter that cost about $500/MONTH to rent. (This is one reason insurance is so high). My cost for one month of the rental was almost the cost of purchasing this one. No brainer. This works perfectly, is more than fast enough (just a few seconds), and was able to help tell us when we could call the doctor to consider removing the catheter - a very important concern for my wife.The kicker is that I still have this to keep track of any possible additional issues, and the kids like checking to see who can hit the highest number.If you need a pulse oximeter, I strongly recommend the Nonin.

I purchased this Pulse Oximeter in blue from Concord Health Supply on Amazon, not really knowing how accurate it was likely to be, but wanting some ability to watch trends on my sPO2 levels during exercise. I ride a recumbent trike 3 days a week, about 150 miles/week, and 3 days a week I am at the hospital Cardio-Pulmonary rehab facility for an hour of monitored and supervised exercise. The hospital is a large regional trauma center, and has excellent equipment and facilities. Concord shipped as advertised, and the GO2 arrived in good condition.I have taken this GO2 unit in with me to each of the last 6 appointments at the hospital, and compared it to the hospital equipment during all phases of exercise - resting to 130 bpm exercise. The O2 reading has agreed exactly with the numbers on the hospital equipment 90% of the time, and the rest of the time disagreed by 1% before eventually matching. The heart rate indication has never been more than 2 beats off from either the hospital's monitoring station, or from the 3 lead ECG portable transponder I have to wear during my appointments. The cario-pulmonary staff were impressed with the sixze, weight, accuracy, and ease of use of the Nonoin GO2, are planning on buying a number of these units for patients to wear at their exercise stations without having to go to the monitoring station for sPO2 eadings.I also had occasion to test the Nonin customer service department late one Friday afternoon with an unusual question. I want to mount this GO2 on my trike for a Challenged Athlete 1/2 Ironman this October, as it is important I stay within the heart rate and O2 parameters the Doctor's set for me when they gave me the OK to train for this event. My problem was that the surface of the GO2 case is so soft that the mounting tape squares couldn't stick to the case. I e-mailed customer service, and within 15-20 minutes the product manager had emailed me back, saying that she was going to have the engineering department contact me.during routine housWithin 1 hour the Engineering manager had emaied me, stating that this was a 'fun question', and offering some insights into different types of industrial strength materials that were generally sold through business supply sites, rather than general consumers. When I e-mailed him back that I needed an industrial velcro or mushroom lock tape so I could move the GO2 between my training and my racing trikes, he said that he would have the engineer who designed the case contact me late this week when he is back in the office. I am really impressed by the customer service at Nonin, especially regarding an off-beat and unusual application like mine.All told, this little device will do exactly what I want, and my experience so far is that it is backed by a solid company with great customer service.UPDATE 2014I have used the Nonin GO2 every day for just short of 4 years. It has accompanied me during the run and bike stages of triathlons and half ironman events; during 3x a week cardio pulmonary rehab workouts; and during routine activities at home. It always has agreed very closely with the professional units at the hospital - even better than the heart rate capabilities of my $400 Garmin 910 tri gps watch!It has finally developed a failure! The black rubber/silicon on the back and around the colored face of the GO2 has started to stretch and sag away fro the meter. The factory says there is no known fix for this. Truthfully, the GO2 still works fine, and continues to match readings with the Hospital professional equipment. It just doesn't look very nice, and has flaps of rubber/silicon that hang out about 1/4" from the body of the Nonin. Can't really complain considering the variety of workouts and weather conditions it has been through - this is more of a testimonial to how reliable the device has been than a complaint that it is starting to wear out after 4 years.I notice some reviews on pulse oximeters complain that they don't work well (or at all) when your fingers are cold. True - cold fingers mean restricted blood flow, and less blood flow means it will be tough for the oximeter to measure anything. It isn't just the Nonin that has this issue.Improvements I would like to see include replacement of the little bar graph at the bottom with a pleth graph like on some other Oximeters. The bar graph is useful when I was starting to develop different cardiac arrhythmias (bi/tri Gemini, etc). I could see the pauses in the bar graph when watching it closely, but it would be easier to see if it had a ECG-like graph that showed the intervals between 5 or 6 beats, instead of having to time the moving bar for each beat. Pleth graphs look like ^^^^^^ (but if you are having skipped beats, something like ^^-^^-^ or ^-^--^^)It would also be great if it had memory and USB output to record the readings from a workout - some other oximeters in the 50-60 dollar range have this capability, and don't seem to be much larger or more battery hungry than the Nonin. It would be easier to convince a cardiologist that you are still occasionally having irregular heart beats if there was a print out that they could see.

This is a wonderful and accurate device for monitoring oxygen levels, pulse and strength of heartbeat. I measured it against a professional hospital quality oximeter and it compared accurately well. It just takes a few seconds longer to produce the result. The readout lights up automatically when your finger is inserted and is very easy to read, even in complete darkness. You can keep it on to watch the levels change while resting or while exercising. It doesn't appear to be waterproof, so DO NOT take it while swimming or showering.I'm grateful to Nonin for making this available and affordable. The fact that it is made in the USA clinched my decision to buy this one. I purchased a case for it to take with me when traveling.Thanks also to Amazon for availability and reviews in making purchase decisions.10/2013 UPDATE: I didn't use the Nonin for about 2 years. When I just started to use it again, it turned on, but couldn't get a signal. I put fresh Duracell batteries in, cleaned the battery terminal with alcohol (although there was no battery acid in it), and called the company. They had no solution because it was out of warranty. I won't pay this price again for a pulse oximeter.

I wanted a pulse oximeter to use while flying at high altitude and for checking blood oxygenation during outdoor athletic activities.I originally purchased the Concord Fingertip  Concord BlackOx Fingertip Pulse Oximeter with Carrying Case  but the OLED display was hard to read in direct sunlight. So I returned the Concord and replaced it with this Nonin. The Nonin has an LCD display with excellent backlighting and is very readable in all light conditions. The backlighting is automatic and only comes on under dim lighting conditions.While I had both the Concord Fingertip and the Nonin I compared them in operation. The Nonin is much quicker to display a reading than the Concord, and the build quality seems to be higher. For outdoor use I think the Nonin is the best choice because of the LCD display. An LED or OLED display isn't readable outdoors.

Nice unit. I opted for this over the more colorful descriptive units to monitor my O levels while hiking in the mountains. Works just like I expected it to; it is a little sluggish when your hands are cold though. This unit is weather resistant; one of the main reasons I went with this brand. The battery is easy to replace and uses a standard AAA battery. I read many reviews and so many of them were dissappointed with other brands and repeatedly suggested "just go with the Nonin." It's a bit more money but it feels right and doesnt need any special shielding outside. The lighted back panel is handy in low light conditions. It's automatic and only comes on when it's to dark to see. You can get a pouch for it, I just keep mine in the backpack with a tether attached for easy removal.