Top positive review
535 people found this helpful
Beats existing devices...by a mile.
By George Dawson on Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2023
I have an Apple Watch, 2 automatic blood pressure devices that record heart rate, and an oximeter that measures both oxygen concentrations and pulse. I need to know if I am in atrial fibrillation and more importantly - what the ventricular rate is. I had a recent cardiac procedure and for the first time realized that the watch and the blood pressure devices may have been measuring the atrial rate rather than the ventricular rate. The first sign I had of that was my palpable carotid pulse and the oximeter pulse were about half as much as what the watch and BP devices were measuring. The difference between atrial and ventricular rates on a regular 12-lead ECG are obvious. When I heard that Kardia had a 6-lead ECG that was inexpensive and easy to use at home - I decided to try it. The credit card sized device is easy to use. It does take some practice to record smooth wave forms but that is no different than the Apple Watch. 30 second ECGs are recorded and easily converted to PDFs that can immediately be emailed to your doctor or clinic. I was recording and emailing them within 10 minutes of opening the box. I have included an image of an ECG tracing I made on September 15, 2023 showing normal sinus rhythm. The only downsides I have noted so far are minor and they include: 1: Extra services are for sale including additional algorithms for ECG interpretation. I can read ECGs so I did not consider that to be a big issue. It might be for a person who wants more than the very basic readings that do include atrial fibrillation. You can also consult with a Cardiologist through this app for a fee. 2: Deleting ECGs - the app gives you the choice to accept or rerecord ECGs during the initial save step. If you do save - there is no way that I can figure out to delete the files. It is easy to rapidly accumulate a large file of ECGs and I have not figured out how much memory these files are using. There are online instructions on how to delete the files but they do not appear to work for this specific device. 3: Getting used to doing the recording - to do the 6 lead ECG you needs to hold the device between the finger and thumb of your right and left hands and against the knee or ankle area of your left leg. If you waver too drastically the recording is rejected and you have to try again. A 6-lead ECG doesn't have chest leads - all of that information is not there. Regular 12-lead machine run by a tech is less likely to have significant artifacts so signal to noise is greater with a 12-lead ECG. Bundled into the cost of the 12 lead is a more extensive algorithm and a cardiologist read of the tracing. It is also important to remember that the ECG contains a lot of information and expertise interpreting it. In my opinion it is best to use it in collaboration with a physician who is following a known problem or suspects a problem rather than to think that it can be used as an independent diagnostic tool. All things considered this is a very innovative, practical, and easy to use device that produced superior recordings at home that can be used by your personal physicians.
Top critical review
30 people found this helpful
Your mileage may vary
By Turquoise Waters on Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2025
Just bought the 6L version. Already having issues. This version requires three points of contact, left knee or ankle and the fingers. Even when device is pressed firmly to my knee, the device still doesn’t recognize that contact. And without the three connections, it obviously doesn’t work. So then have to remove shoe/sock to access ankle, seems to work there, but that way is not as convenient for me, it’s easier to just pull up my pant leg. One thing that I didn’t see mentioned in the website description is if you want further in-depth readings, you need to upgrade in the app, for an additional $11.99/ month. But conveniently that isn’t mentioned until you’ve ripped open the box and set up the device and app, reducing the chance of return. I don’t like the app either. It pushes more to have you upgrade, with limited free options. So trying to find the free sections you can actually use requires weeding thru all these annoying pay to use options. Since I’ve already paid $50 more for the 6L v the 1, I was not happy when I opened the app and discovered I’d have to pay even more to use the device fully. I guess it’s a good device, but honestly my heart episodes usually only last seconds, so by the time I get my phone and the app opened and get the device ready - trying at my knee or rushing to get my shoe and sock off to get a good connection, the moment has passed and I just get a normal reading.😣. It’s great we have gadgets like this available to monitor our health at home, but unfortunately for me not sure how many helpful scans I’ll be able to get.
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