Most accurate recording SpO2 sensor?

I feel like the Wellue O2Ring isn't very accurate and fluctuates up and down even when I just sit awake.

What other devices record and are more accurate?

YouTakeMyBreathAway wrote: ↑

Mon May 08, 2023 11:11 am

I feel like the Wellue O2Ring isn't very accurate and fluctuates up and down even when I just sit awake.

What other devices record and are more accurate?

I found it was more accurate when I placed on a larger finger, so it was a bit more snugged up. Seemed to get more consistent results that way.

That's good to know. I'll keep it on my thumb - not in possession of any larger fingers unfortunately.

I have the O2Ring and have compared it to a couple finger tip oximeters I have and it is usually fairly close. I do find that over the course of wearing it at night, it occasionally gives some questionable readings, such as fast spikes of O2 sat drops. I'm not sure if the drops are real, as they mostly don't seem to show up in OSCAR (I don't know if OSCAR has the resolution to display fast spikes or not).
I had the O2Ring prior to going on CPAP and its data was what I brought to my doc for a diagnosis of possible apnea for which he scheduled a sleep study. I look at the O2Ring data daily in the morning and if something appears wonky I'll grab the SD card out of the CPAP and load it into OSCAR along with the O2Ring data. I'm not too concerned about the accuracy of the O2Ring, but more its ability recognize episodes of O2 sat fluctuations that I can then import into OSCAR to see what else was going on.

My thumb works best in most oximeters.
I wear ladies large gloves and medium unisex nitrile gloves.

I switched from the base of my thumb to a kids O2Ring and attaching it at the tip of my ring finger.

My SpO2 is now really stable throughout the night except for when I turn on my back and right as I fall asleep. My baseline also increased from 96-97% to 98-99%.

My theory is that the base of the finger is not an accurate place to measure SpO2 levels for some people, likely due to differences in thickness of the skin in that area and differences in perfusion to that area from person to person.

I have the O2Ring and have compared it to a couple finger tip oximeters I have and it is usually fairly close.

I'm not sure "fairly close" is acceptable in oximeters. The range of "normal" is from 94% spO2 to 100%. So if the reading is consistently off by 2 or 3% spO2, it's not "just" 2 or 3%. It's off up to 50% of the normal range. That's a big difference.

I took my brand new Dr Talbot's (Target) oximeter along to a doctor's appointment.
It read exactly the same as their expensive professional meter.

Janknitz wrote: ↑

Fri May 19, 2023 12:08 pm

I have the O2Ring and have compared it to a couple finger tip oximeters I have and it is usually fairly close.

I'm not sure "fairly close" is acceptable in oximeters. The range of "normal" is from 94% spO2 to 100%. So if the reading is consistently off by 2 or 3% spO2, it's not "just" 2 or 3%. It's off up to 50% of the normal range. That's a big difference.

Seems these devices are not expected to be as accurate as some might believe they are, looks like a bit of a crap shoot comparing readings:

The typical accuracy (reported as Accuracy Root Mean Square or Arms) of recently FDA-cleared pulse oximeters is within 2 to 3% of arterial blood gas values. This generally means that during testing, about 66% of SpO2 values were within 2 or 3% of blood gas values and about 95% of SpO2 values were within 4 to 6% of blood gas values, respectively.
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/saf ... munication

I've been very happy with this one.... ( Same phone app as O2 ring ) -
https://www.viatomtech.com/checkme-o2 - Available on Amazon