My roommate has a tendency to high blood pressure, and needs to
monitor it frequently at home.  Over the past couple of years, he has
bought 3 different automatic monitors.  None of them seems to be
particularly accurate, especially over time.  He has also tried doing
it himself with a pressure cuff and stethoscope, but feels it is too
subjective and difficult.

My hope is that by spending some more money, my roommate can obtain an
excellent, reliable monitor for home use.  (Buying some kind of
hospital model that costs multiple hundreds or thousands of dollars,
though, is not an option.)

What I want is a list of at least 3 home blood pressure monitors
(brand and model) that have been highly reviewed by trustworthy
sources.  I would also like to see links to those sources, or if they
are paper sources, references.  (I would accept 2 sources, or 1 if no
more are available.)

My preferred types of sources would be organizations like the AMA,
hospital groups, etc.  A second tier might include magazines like
"Consumer Reports" or "Prevention".  I am not interested in non-expert
reviews, like on Amazon, or paid placements, like on About.com.

Hello Tamkins-ga,

I located the following clinical review of blood pressure monitors:
This was performed at the Blood Pressure Unit, Beaumont Hospital,
Dublin 9, Ireland. The publication type was a Validation Study.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11230071&dopt=Abstract

Clinical review:
Blood pressure measuring devices: recommendations of the European
Society of Hypertension
 
By: Eoin O'Brien, professor of cardiovascular medicine a, Bernard
Waeber, professor b, Gianfranco Parati, associate professor c, Jan
Staessen, lecturer d, Martin G Myers, professor e,  on behalf of the
European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Blood Pressure
Monitoring.

British Medical Journal 2001; 322:531-536 (3 March)

You may read the full text study here:
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/322/7285/531


The following Automated blood pressure measuring devices for self
measurement were recommended using the protocols of the Association
for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation and the British
Hypertension Society.

Omron HEM-705CP20            Recommended
Omron HEM-722C26             Recommended 
Omron HEM-735C26             Recommended 
Omron HEM-713C27             Recommended 
Omron HEM-737 Intellisense28 Recommended

Out of the 21 automated blood pressure measuring devices for self
measurement that were evaluated, only the above five were recommended.

You may see the complete list of automated blood pressure measuring
devices for self measurement that were evaluated in this study with
their relevant recommendation here:

Source: Table 4
http://bmj.com/cgi/content-nw/full/322/7285/531/T4


Here are three of the above models that are available for online
purchase and fill your requirement in price as well.

Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor Omron HEM-737
Price: $130.00
http://accessoryave.com/autbloodpres.html

Omron HEM-705CPN Latest Version
Price: $119.95 
http://store.yahoo.com/ampr/omautbloodpr.html

Omron HEM-705-CP Digital Blood Pressure Monitor with Printer
Price: $109.95
http://www.bloodpressuremonitor.bz/omron_digital_monitors.asp


Search Criteria:

National Library of Medicine
Pub Med 
Froogle


Thank you for your question and I hope this response has provided you
with the information you were seeking.

Best Regards,
Bobbie7-ga

Thanks so much.  This service is really invaluable.

Thank you for the nice rting and tip. I am glad to have helped.
--Bobbie7-ga

additional advice to tamkins,

please note that a person's blood pressure varies over the whole day,
the blood pressure measuring device only detects the thing for the
moment,
also it is important to record the heartbeat in association to the
blood pressure.  The extra info help to correlate and moderate any
decision as to whether the person is potentially in a stage of danger
or not.  But it is best to record the figures and let a medical doctor
do the diagnosis