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BP monitor takes the pressure off your upper arm (hands-on)

This gadget from Omron Healthcare is worn around your wrist, displays the time, tracks your steps -- and monitors your blood pressure, too.

Ashlee Clark Thompson Associate Editor
Ashlee spent time as a newspaper reporter, AmeriCorps VISTA and an employee at a healthcare company before she landed at CNET. She loves to eat, write and watch "Golden Girls" (preferably all three at the same time). The first two hobbies help her out as an appliance reviewer. The last one makes her an asset to trivia teams. Ashlee also created the blog, AshleeEats.com, where she writes about casual dining in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Omron Healthcare's newest blood pressure monitor has all the trappings of the other smart watches we've seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year. You wear the device around your wrist, it displays the time, counts your steps and tracks your sleep. But unlike the other wearables on display at CES, Omron insists that their product is first and foremost a blood pressure monitor.

All the smartwatches and fitness trackers of CES 2016 (pictures)

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The back of the Omron blood pressure monitor has a button you push to start taking a blood pressure reading.

Ashlee Clark Thompson/CNET

The company is displaying the blood pressure monitor, along with a more traditional upper-arm model, at CES 2016. The wrist monitor will be available at the end of 2016 for $200. Omron says the product will let folks with severe high blood pressure keep better track of their numbers in a more discreet way. The Omron's app will also keep tabs on your blood pressure readings so you can share the info with your doctor.

To take your blood pressure, you turn your arm palm-up as you would with a traditional blood pressure monitor. You elevate your arm, press a button on the strap of the monitor and the inside begins to inflate around your wrist (like when an arm cuff begins to tighten around your bicep).

Features

  • Tracks steps, calories and sleep
  • App can send medication reminders
  • Blood pressure readings are time stamped

Want more information about CES 2016? Follow our coverage here.