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BAC Testers

ctwo

ctwo

Merely Rhetorical
Joined
Feb 5, 2015
Location
auf der motobahn
Moto(s)
motato
Name
Heyou
I'm curious about consumer testers such as


I believe the below is the exact same but has been tested and certified. Am I wrong and does this even matter? I would expect the device would need regular calibration to produce any substantive data.


Does the "DOT & NHTSA Approved | FDA 510(k) Cleared" mean diddly squat?

P.S., I do not drink and drive. I have a zero tolerance policy. I'm looking into this for other reasons, so I can do what I can do, when I can.
 
Does it really matter? If one has been drinking, one should not be driving.
 
I want one just to see how drunk I am while camping. Maybe even to have when my kids are of drinking age to show them how little it takes to get in trouble.
 
I’d give a call to your local PD to see what they might recommend.
 
Breathalyzers can detect some presence of alcohol in the air passing through it, but it can not directly measure blood alcohol concentration.

For true BAC, you'd need a phlebotomist and a lab.
 
ST Guy said:
Does it really matter?
Click to expand...

Yes it does. Don't be so idealistic. You do know DUI is a real issue in our society, right? If I am there and I can show someone a bit of reality, it might save a life or few.

The C6 has been compared SxS with a calibrated unit that is in service. They match. I would get that one but if the certified one has any additional value, I'd pay for it. But I suspect it's the exact same hardware, the extra cost is just for some letters in the documentation. Maybe they have stricter testing standards and specs. That would be worth it to me. Not just a cert.

I only care about an accurate reading.
 
I use them all the time for work.
It's indeed true that the most accurate number will come from a blood draw, but these things work pretty damned good.
The ones we have need to be calibrated every few months, depending on their use and demand. There's a prompt telling you when you need to recalibrate.
 
I wanted to ask, a 250 pound man goes into a bar at 6pm, has 8 shots over the course of 6 hours.

Is he OK to drive to work at 6am the next day?
 
My brother has one (like the second one). At the end of a party you can test yourself and decide to hang out and drink water for a while, or call an uber... your choice. But at least you have the option of knowing.
I've seen a lot of people use it.
 
ctwo said:
I wanted to ask, a 250 pound man goes into a bar at 6pm, has 8 shots over the course of 6 hours.

Is he OK to drive to work at 6am the next day?
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd say he'd be zeroed out by then.

Using very rough math, and assuming 8 normal sized shots and not double shots, each shot will approximately raise BAC 0.02%. A person of that size will also approximately metabolize alcohol at 0.02% per hour. So 8 shots over 6 hours should leave him with approximately 0.04% BAC at midnight. Of course, that can depend on food consumption and how spread out the shots were. If the last 4 or 5 were within the last hour, he'd be higher. If evenly spread out over time, probably around 0.04%. Either way, by 6 am I'd expect 0.00%
 
Last edited:
bojangle said:
Yes, I'd say he'd be zeroed out by then.

Using very rough math, and assuming 8 normal sized shots and not double shots, each shot will approximately raise BAC 0.02%. A person of that size will also approximately metabolize alcohol at 0.02% per hour. So 8 shots over 6 hours should leave him with approximately 0.04% BAC at midnight. Of course, that can depend on food consumption and how spread out the shots were. If the last 4 or 5 were within the last hour, he'd be higher. If evenly spread out over time, probably around 0.04%. Either way, by 6 am I'd expect 0.00%
Click to expand...

For whatever reason, 0.052% at 5am. The shots were higher test (47.5%). Maybe a few heavy pours?

Now I know.
 
This is what we are using at my agency:

https://www.intox.com/product/alco-sensor-fst/

We use it for the preliminary test for alcohol. It's results are usually within 0.01 of the results for the calibrated machine we use in the station. The difference could be due to many factors, including the time gap between testing in the field and in the station.
 
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