Whenever you’re going out, you never know just how much alcohol you get to take, so it’s always a good idea to carry the best breathalyzer with you especially if you’re going to be driving yourself to and fro. It’s part of being a responsible adult, and is something that helps decrease the amount of accidents that we have as a result of drunk driving. A good example of a personal breathalyzer that you can go for is the alcohawk pro fc fuel cell breathalyzer. It retails for about $90, and uses about the same technology found in police breathalyzers. Care to find out why it features on our list of the Best Breathalyzers? Make sure you get to the end of this Best Personal Breathalyzer review.
Why We Like It – Alcohawk Pro
The Alcohawk Pro is meant for anyone who would want to always keep an eye on their alcohol blood level, so that they never find themselves drinking way past their doctor’s recommendations, or see whether they’re fit to drive after a night out. A slimmer version is detailed in the Alcohawk ultra slim digital breathalyzer review.
- Pocket Sized
- Comes with 3 included mouthpieces
- 3 Digit Readout for improved accuracy
- No app integration
Performance
You can bet that the alcohawk pro fc fuel cell breathalyzer will always yield an accurate reading, as it happens to use the same technology that’s used by police grade breathalyzers. It uses fuel cell technology, where the alcohol gets oxidized through an electrochemical process, and the current that is produced gets measured. This process is quite different from the PRISM technology that is used by the alcomate premium al7000, but it also happens to be approved for use by US law enforcement, so it’s just as good. Another technology common in high-end breathalyzers is found in the Sentech isober 30 review.
Size
The Alcohawk digital breath alcohol tester is almost as small as a car key remote, and weighs only 84 grams with batteries. You’ll be able to carry it without even noticing it’s weight, and since the mouthpieces are also detachable, you’ll find it easy to place in your pocket. The bactrac s80 breathalyzer on the other hand happens to be slightly heavier, weighing about 136 grams with batteries.
Battery
You will need two AAA batteries to keep the Alcohawk Pro professional breathalyzer running, but when you buy it as new, it fortunately does come with its own set of batteries. This means it’s pretty easy to get it powered up and working. The unit will however take about 15 seconds before you can blow on it, and this happens to be slightly longer than the 10 seconds that you’ll have to wait for with the bactrac trace breathalyzer.
Life Span
You’re advised to calibrate the Alcohawk pro fc fuel cell breathalyzer after about every 200 tests, or about every 6 to 12 months depending on which one comes first. With regular recalibration, it should be able to last through thousands of tests, and since it’s also got a sleek ergonomic design coupled with durable construction, it should be able to sustain a couple of drops to the ground.
Value
The LCD display on the Alcohawk Pro gives a 3 digit readout, and is also backlit for easy visibility even at night. It’s fuel cell accuracy technology allows for a test range of .000 to .400% BAC, so it’ll even be able to detect trace amounts of alcohol in your breath. The breathalyzer will sound a warning when the test result is above 0.050%, so you’ll be able to know immediately whether you’re OK for driving or not.
Alcohawk Pro Wrap Up
With the many different kinds of accurate breathalyzer fuel cell devices in the market, it might be pretty difficult to pick out what would be the right pick for you before looking through some of their product details. The Alcohawk Pro is an affordable alternative that’s pretty easy to use.
