Product Description

The AlcoMate Premium is a powerful, reliable and easy-to-use breathalyzer that calculates %BAC from a breath sample. The Premium features patent-pending PRISM technology (replaceable sensors) in order to avoid the cost and time of traditional mail-in calibration service, as well as an Easy-Replace Sensor Panel that makes swapping modules easier than ever. With a compact and modern design, the Premium can handle your personal and/or professional breath alcohol testing needs in a convenient, ultra-portable package.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9038 in Health and Beauty
• Brand: AlcoMate
• Model: AL7000
• Released on: 2007-12-11
• Dimensions: 1.50" h x 5.00" w x 9.50" l, .57 pounds

Features

• DOT/NHTSA Approved
• FDA 501(k) Pending
• No calibration (PRISM technology)
• Law Enforcement Grade
• Accuracy +/-0.01 at 0.10% BAC

Customer Reviews

Good brand, bad product
I purchased this unit as an upgrade to my AL6000. The AlcoMate brand has been, for me, the most accurate and reliable consumer brand in BAC testing. Supposedly, this AL7000 was even more accurate. I was thinking of replacing my old AL6000 anyway, so I figured I'd try it. Right out of the box, it looked and felt really nice! That assumption went out the window the first time I tried to use it with alcohol in my system. After 3 drinks (and waiting over 30 minutes, as recommended), it told me I was at a .000 BAC. Curious, because I sure felt a bit more buzzed than that. So my friend tries it after drinking 5 beers (and waiting 20 minutes). He gets a .000 reading! So he tests again after the unit resets. Now he gets a reading of .020. Definitely NOT accurate AT ALL. My AL6000 has ALWAYS been extremely accurate, so I was very disappointed in the AL7000's inaccuracy. I have since returned it and continue to use my reliable and accurate AL6000.

Not reliable
We purchased this with the goal of checking our teens. I was OK with a small margin of error, but what I found was that this device was not reliable at all.

Essentially I tested as follows:

1. Consumed 4 beers within 1.5 hours
2. Waited 30 minutes from the point of my last beer
3. Tested

The results were continually a BAC of 0.0%

This of course is not satisfactory as I would want to know if my kids had consumed as much.

I am not sure that there is a good consumer priced solution, but this is certainly not it.

As a side note, I did email the manufacturer and never received a response. So not only do you get a dysfunctional product, but you don't get any customer service.

Reproducible results and convenient
My wife and I have owned this for a few weeks and have used it a couple dozen times. It seems very solidly made and the readings seem reasonable, given our alcohol intake, and reproducible (within about a 5% range). A suggestion that seems sensible, although not in the instructions and I can't prove its importance, is to take in a moderately deep breath, hold it for 5-10 seconds, breath slowly out and then start to breath into the breathalyzer without stopping your expiration. This would seem to best assure a reproducible measurement of an equilibrated air sample from deep in your lungs and not from the trachea, which could represent fresh air that you have just inspired.