Drager Alcotest 3820 Breathalyser Review

Kenn Muguna Avatar

Written by:

Updated 11:21 pm

Expert Rating

92

If a lot of us were able to keep track of the amount of alcohol we take, maybe even those who tend to be irresponsible when drinking just might turn over a new leaf. For this to happen, you would need to be able to test your own breath alcohol concentration level at will, and to do this, you would need the best breathalyzer. The Drager Alcotest 3820 breathalyser would be a great way to start off, but if you’re in the market looking for the Best Breathalyzers you can get, be prepared to spend a lot more than the $153 that the Drager Alcotest 3820 will cost you. Care to see if it could be the Best Personal Breathalyzer for you? Make sure you get to the end of this review.

Why We Like It – Drager Alcotest 3820 Breathalyser

The Drager 3820 Breathalyser is perfect for anyone who would want to have an accurate reading of their blood alcohol content level in %, mg l or even mg/100ml. It is able to store your previous 10 results, and only has a short warm up time of 4 seconds before its ready for use. What if you could have a lightweight and small model that can tell you when you will become sober? Read the Breathometer breeze breathalyzer review.

Pros
  • Battery replaced during recalibration
  • Warms up in 4 seconds
  • 2 Year Limited Warranty
Cons
  • Relatively expensive

Performance

The Alcotest 3820 delivers your blood alcohol test results in just a few seconds, and boasts of the same kind of technology that is trusted by law enforcement worldwide. It’s got a pretty fast warm up time of less than 4 seconds, (faster than the Alcohawk Pro) and shows a read out of up to 3 decimal places. It uses an electrochemical sensor that’s pretty accurate in its results, and will only require calibration whenever you happen to use it for slightly more than 1 year. If you need a device with 6-months replacement warranty, open the Eek brand digital breathalyzer review.

Size

The Drager Alcotest 3820 is probably as large as the typical phone, but still small enough to place in your pocket and carry around without any trouble. It weighs about 127 grams, making it only slightly heavier than the Alcomate Premium Al7000. It also comes with a safety cap for easy movement, and has a small LCD screen where the results get displayed.

Battery

The 1 CR-123 battery on the Drager Alcotest Breathalyzer will allow for up to 1500 breath tests, so even if you used it every day for a year, it’ll still have some charge left over to see you through to the next year. You’ll also always know whenever the battery is about to die through the on screen LCD display, and whenever you take it for recalibration, you’ll also have the battery replaced.

Life Span

The electrochemical sensor used by the Drager 3820 allows for a measuring range of between 0 to 0.500%, while the sensor itself has got a life span of more than 1 year. You don’t even need to keep track of the date that you’ll need to recalibrate the sensor, as a reminder will pop up on the breathalyzer’s screen whenever it’s time for replacement – this is something that you’ll definitely not find on the bactrack s80 breathalyzer.

Value

With the Alcotest 3820, you can be sure that there’s no residual alcohol or exhaled air that gets left inside the Alcotest 3820, so you can always be assured of accurate results whenever you get to use it. The unit also keeps a record of 10 of your previous blood alcohol concentration results, so you’ll be able to monitor your progress over time to see whether or not you’re making improvements.

Drager Alcotest 3820 Breathalyser Wrap Up

The Alcotest 3820 only comes with one button, so after use, it’ll power down and shut off automatically after 120 seconds. It also has a number of different menu languages, so you’ll be able to set it to English, Spanish, French or German depending on your preferences.