ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The YHE BP Doctor Med is available for $259 in silver.
- Blood pressure results are within 5 mmHG of a blood pressure cuff, the battery lasts a week, and basic health tracking is available.
- The watch is extremely sensitive to movement, there’s no GPS for accurate activity tracking, and sleep tracking is limited.
The US government estimates that nearly half of adults in the country have hypertension, and only 25% of those have it under control thanks to diet, exercise, and medication. Unfortunately, I have been diagnosed with hypertension and take one pill a day to try to help manage it. I’ve also dropped my weight back down to my college weight this year, a loss of 20 pounds, and I am trying to keep it under control. Still, some tech couldn’t hurt.
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YHE Technology uses inflatable dual cuffs in a watch form factor to measure your blood pressure. The company claims it can provide results within 5 mmHg of an approved blood pressure monitor.
I’ve been testing the YHE BP Doctor Med smartwatch for a few weeks now. When I’ve been able to get a measurement, it has indeed matched my Withings and Garmin blood pressure cuffs.
Most people do not track their blood pressure at home like they do other metrics, such as weight, because it just isn’t as convenient to find an accurate blood pressure arm monitor and measure your levels regularly. There has been talk online that Apple may add this functionality to the Apple Watch. Given how many people wear an Apple Watch, I think that would be fantastic.
Samsung provides blood pressure monitoring in other countries, since this functionality hasn’t been approved for use in the US yet. Samsung’s approach is to use a standard arm cuff blood pressure device to baseline the Galaxy Watch and then repeat this calibration on a monthly basis. The company then uses algorithms and the sensors on the back of the watch to measure your blood pressure. This has been shown to be fairly accurate.
The YHE BP Doctor Med is an attractive watch with a metal silver bezel, brilliant AMOLED display, and two buttons on the right side. The watch band is backwards with the clasp end on the bottom of the watch, but the band is comfortable to wear. The two buttons are a bit awkward to manipulate because they are positioned on a downward angle on the right side of the watch body.
The back of the watch is the part that stands out from every other smartwatch, with two inflatable cuff compartments used to measure your blood pressure. One cuff runs the length of the back of the watch, with the other running along the bottom length of the watch band. When you initiate a blood pressure measurement, both cuffs inflate slowly thanks to the small solenoid valve inside the watch.
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Unfortunately, despite sitting as still as I can in a quiet room, I am only seeing successful measurement of my blood pressure at about a 20% rate. The watch regularly stops the inflation and sends a notification that an unstable signal is present. When it works, the blood pressure reading is accurate. That said, the frustration of regular failures may end up causing more stress than it’s worth.
The watch also measures sleep and activity, there’s a weather app, and you can set alarms. Sleep tracking is basic with deep, light, and awake phases, while supported activities are limited to walking and running with no GPS.
YHE offers an accompanying BP Doctor app for your smartphone that collects the data from the watch and shows it to you in detail. While there is an option to export your health data to share with a doctor, that requires a VIP membership that costs $49 per year.
ZDNET’s buying advice
The YHE BP Doctor Med smartwatch provides an accurate, portable blood pressure experience and if you need to capture your blood pressure on the go on a regular basis, then it may be worth the $259 price. Unfortunately, the inconsistency in successfully completing a measurement makes this a watch I will not use and can’t recommend. Instead, I’ll continue using an arm cuff on a regular basis.
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