I had gifted an OMRON BP measuring instrument to my Ma in law (She was horrified when she learnt about the gift, had to convince her to take the gift positively) who had BP related issues. Till now has been working Ok as told by Ma in law. The readings compare almost with the ones at the regular doctor's visits.

Forgot the model no, its been 4 years now.

Confirmed with my wife (she's a doctor), she told the same things as have been mentioned in the posts here.

1. The reliability of electronic ones is questionable and also depends upon how tightly the strap is placed and position of it. The sensor in the stap should be able to detect the presence and absence of pulse so as to accurately measure systolic (upper) and diastolic (lower) pressure reading.

2. The traditional mercury column type are the most accurate ones, but you need to have a stethoscope with that to detect the blood pulse. The whole setup is comparatively bulky and a second person is needed to take readings. Its not difficult to learn how to use the setup. The brand she's using since her first year in college (2000) is Pagoda (Elite Surgical Industries) for Sphygmomanometer and Microtone for stethoscope.

Her suggestion is to get the traditional setup (as false reading from electronic may be risky) and the person who is with your father most of the times (probably your mother) can be trained within half an hour to use that. For this you may seek help of your family doctor.

Thanks for the help guys. Finally got it.
Total cost Rs 980. Pagoda make. Don't know if its genuine but its working fine. Meter cost was Rs 775.
Turns out that measuring the blood pressure is not such a big deal after all. Its easy. And was startled by the amount of sound stethoscope is able to transmit. Even a scratch on it rang in the ears like anything.
So should I start an ownership thread on it?

^^
I think the readings will also depend on the hearing ability of the person taking the reading? I mean if two persons take the BP for the same patient, and one of them is a little hard of hearing, can the readings differ?

Not really.
The stethoscope does really transmit sound very well.
And its rather simple. Point at which you start hearing the beats. And the point at which you stop hearing it. I hope thats how it is supposed to be done . Infact my dad started using it all by himself. Still my sister is training mom also.

You have two options - mercury or digital.

The former are cheaper and the best, but need to be serviced every three years because of ixidation of the mercury.

Modern digital ones are excellent. Must get a major brand like Omron. Cast is about 5000 and need no skills of the operator. The old aneroid ones were hopeless, but the modern ones are all load cell based.

And I can see the stethoscope is Microtone.

Ownership thread is awaited.

What do you mean by elbow strap? Do you know a model number which has one? How does it help?

He must be meaning the forearm strap one. This is a 3" wide (inflating) strap that one puts ~1" above the inside of the elbow.

You could also look a Beurer (Germany) BP measuring unit (automatic inflation and measuring). I have one that I had bought 20 years back - still going strong. I found it to be more accurate than an Omron bought in Japan 10 years back.

What about calibration? BP measuring equipment (both automatic and manual) loses it's accuracy and has to be calibrated every couple of years using a calibration machine. So any one of these companies have a calibration service?

AFAIK no re-calibration is required. The sensor has very little drift, and the physical deformation is too small to cause any significant change in measurement characteristics.

http://www.omron-healthcare.co.uk/Se...ty--Repair.asp

http://www.beurer.com/web/aus/service/faq/faq.php

Please read carefully. Beurer doesn't talk of calibration. Omron 'recommends' it, doesn't make it mandatory - probably as a protection against legal hassles.

Both of them 'recommend' it. Obviously it's not mandatory. Is there a reason why you think this is not necessary?

As I wrote earlier, the modern pressure sensors which are the heart of these boxes really don't need recalibration. The servicing will only look for blocks in the air path (with removable straps) and may check for cracks & leakage due deterioration of plastics. At the same time they may compare it with a standard setup.