Review - Omron Evolv BPM (Blood Pressure Monitor

High blood pressure needs to be brought under control and to accomplish this task your doctor might recommend medication and that you start taking your own blood pressure at home. The Evolv by Omron is a new BPM that has all components built into the cuff that you place on your upper arm above your elbow to take your own blood pressure. The unit is a perfect size for travel and home use.

Before you can check your blood pressure for the first time you need to install the 4 triple A batteries that come with the unit. Evolv is not designed to work with an AC power cord and like most new electronic devices it has a Bluetooth app (Omron Connect) that you can download from the Apple or Android store.
Evolv can store 100 readings internally but if you use the unit without the app you can only see the current one. Therefore the available storage is there only so you don’t have to transfer readings frequently to your smartphone.

Once your readings are synced they are removed from the unit. Since removal of the batteries can cause the loss of stored data, you should definitely sync with the app before you replace weak batteries. A set of batteries should last you about 300 readings. If you don’t use the app you should chart your readings in a hand written log. For two people to chart their readings on a smartphone each person would need to have their own free Omron account. You can shut the unit off by pressing the start/stop button or it will shut itself down after 2 minutes of no activity.

Best Features
It is the perfect size for travel, it gives you accurate readings, is very easy to use, and the app can store all your reading by date and time.

Worst Features
If you don’t use the app the only reading you can see is the current reading. For two people to use it with the app each person would need their own Omron account and should also use their own smartphone to avoid the confusion of signing in and out with different IDs. Each time, before you switch users, you would need to first sync data before letting the other person use it. If you don’t perform this sync before you switch users you last readings could end up on the other person’s smartphone. The power switch can easily get pressed if you pack it into a suitcase without removing the batteries. This won’t damage the unit because it will give an error message but probably could, during a long plane flight, drain your batteries.