Blood Alcohol Testers - Getting Smarter

Personal blood alcohol testers - or personal breathalysers - keep getting better and cheaper. They may not yet have the capabilities of the devices used by professionals, but they can still provide an excellent role in screening drinkers.

The best blood alcohol testers use infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography technology. They are expensive and generally are not portable. 

Next down is the fuel cell model, and it is generally one of these that you will encounter if stopped by the police when out driving. These too are not cheap - think $500 or more - and few individuals would buy one for personal use. A particular feature of the fuel cell blood alcohol tester is that it has the ability to screen out non-alcohol substances, making for a very accurate reading.

The models that have come into prominence in recent years are based on semiconductor oxide sensors, and as this technology advances the testers have increasingly been able to offer more advanced features at lower prices. In particular, they are increasingly able to measure air samples from the lower part of the lungs. Other benefits include low power consumption and small size.

In fact, the semiconductor sensors have become so accurate that some of these testers are approved by the Department of Transportation, and law enforcement departments now use them as preliminary blood alcohol screening tools. (Though a disadvantage is that they require far more frequent calibration than fuel cell models.) An example is the AlcoHawk Elite (pictured) from Q3 Innovations.

You can learn more and get the latest prices at the Breathalyzer.Net website. See also my report Guide to Buying the Best Breathalyzer and my Breathalyzers resource page.

February 16th, 2007

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