Casio Wrist Link Blood Pressure Monitor BP-1B

It's been a while since I posted about the Casio Blood Pressure Monitor range of watches.

So far, I've covered the BP-120 (including different variations), and the BP-300, and today I'm covering probably the lease common of the range, the BP-1B.

The BP-1B is a little different from the others in the range as it is not just a standalone unit. It is called the Wrist Link Blood Pressure Monitor and this is because it has an infrared (IR) data link as well.

Like all of the other BP watches, it measures your pulse using a method called Pressure Wave Transit Time (PWTT). This method makes use of a phenomenon where there is a time difference between the electrical signal associated with a heartbeat and the beating of your pulse which changes in proportion to a change in your blood pressure. The watch measures the electrical signal through the sensors in the back of the watch, and by holding your finger on the sensor on the front (which is the same sensor as the watches with the front mounted pulse monitor). As the signal is only proportional, the watch needs to be calibrated against a normal blood pressure monitor (the type you wrap round your upper arm). With most of the BP range, you need to do this manually, inputting the base data into the watch. This is where the BP-1B comes in with it's wrist link. In the original pack, the watch comes with a blood pressure monitor base unit which has the arm cuff, and does a full blood pressure reading. The IR link is then used to transfer the data instead of using the manual input. More information can be found at this link (link).

The watch uses a 2197 module, and this has the blood pressure calculating mode, along with an alarm mode. Information is shown on the LCD screen which has two lines of standard digits and a dot matrix array along the top. The two lines are a 4 digit display across the middle of the watch (normally showing date), and a 6 digit time display along the bottom. The module instructions can be downloaded from Casio from this link (link).

The design is more rounded than the other BP watches, with the pulse sensor mounted on the right hand side. This is the resin strap version, but there were metal strap versions released as well. I think that this was released in 2001, which would make it the newest of the BP watches.