If you’ve ever been to the hospital or were at a particular type of doctor’s visit, you’ve probably been subjected to pulse oximetry. In this non-invasive method for monitoring oxygen saturation, a sensor is placed on a fingertip or earlobe (infants have to have it placed on their foot) that then passes two wavelengths of light through the body part to a photodetector. The changing absorbance at each of the wavelengths is then measured, allowing for an assessment of the adequacy of oxygen level in the blood.

The Easy@Home Areta Pulse Oximeter is an FDA-approved fingertip device that provides an inexpensive and simple way for you to perform pulse oximetry at home. In fact, this device not only measures your blood oxygen saturation levels in a few seconds, but also your pulse rate.

In the package you get the pulse oximeter main unit, a carrying case, a neck/wrist cord to attach to the carrying case, two (2) AAA batteries to place in the main unit, and a detailed double-sided instruction sheet.

Although that instruction sheet is suitably thorough and includes a description of pulse oximetry, operating principles, and more, all you really have to do is place the sensor on your fingertip, press the power button, and look at your measurements. Once the pulse oximeter is on, you can press the power button again to switch between its four display modes. A long press enters the settings screen.

Of special note is the Easy@Home Areta Pulse Oximeter‘s display, which is a high quality OLED type that’s easy to read. This is important because there’s a lot of useful information on the tiny screen, including a plethysmogram (wavy lines measuring changes in volume), battery indicator (looks like a cell phone battery indicator), pulse rate (smaller numbers in beats per minute, 25BPM – 250BPM range), functional oxygen saturation of arterial hemoglobin (large numbers as a percentage, 0 – 100%), and a bar graph. The bar graph corresponds to your pulse beat, with the height of the bar graph showing your pulse strength.

If you’re at all interested in tracking this type of data or the Quantified Self in general, I can’t recommend the Easy@Home Areta Pulse Oximeter enough.

Thanks to Easy At Home Medical LLC for the review unit.