i'm looking to buy an affordable(<$100) breathalizer for various uses. Does anyone have any insight or recomendations

 

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/837f/

 

looks decent, does it have a replaceable mouthpeice? looks like it in the pictures, i'd prefere that since i'm sure friends will want to try it which is part of the fun

 

http://www.q3ats.com/product_info.php?products_id=108

Mouth pieces and all.

 

Buddy of mine just got one at staples for like $8. No idea how accurate it is. Better than nothing though. You take it through a calibration stage before you blow.

 

Please share, what's the intended uses? I always it would be fun to have at a party..

 

its wonderful to make bets to try and guess how drunk someone is...

 

My understanding is that they're all inaccurate as hell.....

 

really? i've been looking at the ones that are dot approved or otherwise, more or less its just for fun. but to be 100% honest i've been logging the smoking habits of people at work and the state gov't states that on average about 1 beer and hour is the legal limit. Well my study is that i'll be able to drink 1 beer/hour and maintain a legal alcohol limite of .08 or less during a 10 hour work day. .08 is what they say is the legal limit and 1/beer/hour will keep you safe.......well we inted to waste a saturday afternoon and plan on testing it with various weight people. i want to prove i can drink 1 beer/hour at work

 

This is my understanding as well. Lets just say that the once the cops uses are a bit more then $8. I have undertood that it is quite easy to detect if you have alcohol in your breath or not. The correct amount is a whole other level of accuracy and technology.

And with the risk of sounds deadly boring: Be careful: "legal limit" is not the same as "good idea".

 

I would think the factors that would affect this are:
1) the amount of blood you have - someone with 2x as much blood would be able to drink twice as much (blood/alcohol)
2) metabolism of alcohol

Everyone gets affected differently so impairment wouldn't have anything to do with BAC. BAC is just easier to test. I met a guy years ago that was a freak of nature and didn't get affected by alcohol. I watched him down a 12 pack during a party and have no effect. I would have liked to know what his BAC was. Perhaps it decreased faster than he could drink. When I go out and have drinks at a restaurant (I'm 40 and way past the time in my life when I go out to bars) I limit myself to one as soon as I sit down and one during dinner. You will never see me get a 3rd because the risk is just not worth it.

 

From toying with a real intoxilizer and Breathalyzer. The Bac on our $120 pocket ones is usually on average about +/- 10-20% off from out 2600 dollar to 5600 dollar machines. (Which have to be calibrated monthly by a licensed person who works for the company of the intoxilizer or breathalyser, they are on a prepaid GSA contract.) The pocket ones are a good idea though to give you a ball park figure if your good to drive. And if you got pulled over what you would blow. Bear in mind though, all it can measure is whats in your breath. And by that I mean you could act stone sober and still blow well over a .10.

 

Breathalizers available are mostly for "entertainment use" IMO. I had a rather expensive one and there was alot of factors to keep in mind while using them. For example, in college as a party favor we used to take 151 shots and breathalize ourselves to see who could get the highest Blood Alch level. The only time the thing was accurate was like 30 minutes after drinking (otherwise your breath was saturated with alcohol and would throw off the readings). Another issue is that the thing would become a bit "saturated" after heavy usage. Keep in mind, mine was a bit dated now so I'm not sure if they have made leaps in technology.

As far as being pulled: I was stupid in college (see above) and got pulled after a ton of 151 shots. Well I passed all the damn tests (alphabet, line walking, counting backwards), but I can tell you right now, my BAlch level was much higher. For all those offended by my stupidity, I do not drink and drive now. I drink and metro.

 

i picked up an alcohawk from woot.com a while back. it never says I'm drunk. even when i can hardly walk.

 

that unit sounds a lot like me

 

I own a bar and I have one of these here, I sees alot of use and works fine.

 

This man owns a bar and is located within my driving range... Looks like I found my next vacation spot haha.

 

spring rolls around, im thinking VA beach FTW, whos with me?

 

"VA beach meet and chug, hotel recommended."

 

www.LongShotsVA.com

Shamless plug...