****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I bought this sensor for a few reasons:1. I wanted something to measure instantaneous CO readings for home to help do my own checks on the furnace and water heater. I didn't want to rely on the typical household CO meter to give me an alert due to the time-weighted-average algorithm they use.2. I do a fair amount of camping and outdoor activities where "things that burn" are involved and I wanted something very portable to check for CO since it is imperceptible until it is too late. I don't use stuff like tent heaters while sleeping, but while awake a heater might be used, or I might cook in a tent vestibule due to weather. Or, I might be in a semi-enclosed space with a propane/kerosene heater and I'd like a way to make sure no one gets sick. Thus, I wanted a way to monitor CO levels just to make sure I'm staying safe and this fits the bill.3. There's a lot of situations where you're exposed to CO and it is nice to have something handy to determine just how much. For example, sitting with a car idling, sitting in rush hour traffic, using a gas range in the house, and the camping activities mentioned above. Since I'm a nerd I want to gather empirical data in these situations to satisfy my own curiosity.This sensor is very, very fun to play with. I've had it for about a week and have been trying to measure everything I possibly can. Originally I was just going to get the sensor, but I decided to get the entire kit so I could use the sampler bulb to stick into the hot exhaust gases of various things. I'm glad I did because I have found way more uses for the sampler bulb than I thought I would - tight spaces, hot exhaust gases, etc. Also, the sampling tube that fits between sensor and bulb is plastic, but beyond the bulb it is metal so you can stick it into hot places and not worry about melting.Operation of this sensor is very simple. There's just a couple of buttons that control on/off, if it is in max mode or not, muting an alarm, and calibrating. I also like the fact you have to press-and-hold the off button for 3 seconds (with an on-screen countdown timer) to actually turn off the device. This does a great job of minimizing any accidental turn-offs of the sensor. The buttons have a very positive push feel to them, and it would be difficult to accidentally press under normal usage. Also, I feel the simplicity of the device layout, the ease of use, and quality of the device shows how much thought the designers put into this - a lot of effort must have gone into real-world usage of this device before it was brought to market.I've only had it for a week so I can't speak to battery life but it uses a CR123A and the manufacturer says battery life is measured in years depending on the amount of alarming that occurs. You are able to just leave the sensor on for a more sensitive, passive monitoring of the air, i.e. there isn't an auto-off. The sensor is about the size of a deck of cards and very portable.I only have a couple of minor things about this sensor. The alligator clip/loop combo is a a bit large compared to the overall sensor size. It is removable, but it would be nice if they were two separate pieces so I could have one or the other attached. This is more of a personal thing - the clip and ring itself is very sturdy and I wouldn't worry about it detaching to whatever I clipped it on. It would be easy enough for me to fashion my own attachment - it is a single screw used to hold it on. The other feature that might be nice is a backlight for the display for reading in the dark w/o using a separate flashlight. Either a way to have it always on or a quick button press to turn the light on for X seconds. I vote green backlight to match the button color. :-)As a side note, Sensorcon makes three versions of this product, and the one I purchased on Amazon is the "low end" version. The next one up (Industrial) has an UL913 certification. The top-of-the-line (Industrial Pro) allows you to program your own alarm levels and modes, although it is not listed as having the UL913 certification on their website. The price jump for each level is only $20 from the previous, but it looks like you need to order them direct from Sensorcon at this time.
