Analyze Your Own Blood Alcohol Level with the Breathometer

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Do you like to drink, but constantly worry about being over the legal limit? A new device created by Charles Michael Yim called the Breathometer will solve your problem. The small, simple plug-in device attaches to your phone for a quick reading of your blood alcohol level in a flash. The units are available for pre-order through Indiegogo.
 
I think that I read an article about a guy who brought a Breathalyzer to a party a long time ago.

You would think that it would make you more responsible; letting you know when you've reached the legal limit.

In this story, the guy became incredibly popular at this party for the opposite reason. People were competing to see who high over the legal limit they could blow.

That seems like that should be in their commercial.
 
I hope they have a good legal team backing them. "I need $10,000,000 in emotional damages from my DUI because the breathometer said I was under the legal limit".
 
Mayson said:
I think that I read an article about a guy who brought a Breathalyzer to a party a long time ago.

You would think that it would make you more responsible; letting you know when you've reached the legal limit.

In this story, the guy became incredibly popular at this party for the opposite reason. People were competing to see who high over the legal limit they could blow.

That seems like that should be in their commercial.
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To be fair, this happened even with regular breathalyzers. People will use tools stupidly all the time. Personally, I always used them just to be sure, as a bigger guy the effects of alcohol were less pronounces for me. It was handy to have a breathalyze to really know where I was at and if I was legal to drive. I say this is great if it is accurate.
 
You don't have to be legally drunk to be significantly impaired while driving, so it's not much of a safety device. It's more of a way to laugh at how drunk you are or get as drunk as you are legally allowed to, and then drive. Yea that's nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8LuM92Twm8
 
niconx said:
You don't have to be legally drunk to be significantly impaired while driving, so it's not much of a safety device. It's more of a way to laugh at how drunk you are or get as drunk as you are legally allowed to, and then drive. Yea that's nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8LuM92Twm8
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It's useful, because you at least know where you stand legally. If I leave a bar, i don't know if I'm at .4, .6, .8 or 1.8. I'm pretty sure I'm never at the latter. And frankly, I never feel like I couldn't easily get home, but that doesn't mean I'm under .8.

And honestly, while those tests show impairment, who drives obstacle course when they come back from a bar? I certainly don't recall having a problem stopping at a stop sign. And parallel parking is generally what I do, before I go to a bar, not afterwards.

Regardless, I think this is a good thing.
 
While you may think this device is good, what it does is already what was mentioned.
People try to get over the limit, and laugh it off.

Lots of bars had these kind of devices, and they all had to remove them because of the 'games' people play with them.

Also, how accurate would this thing be, if it says your fine, and you slam into a family, killing them all, what is the excuse going to be ? My device said I was fine ? :rolleyes:
 
Mayson said:
I think that I read an article about a guy who brought a Breathalyzer to a party a long time ago.

You would think that it would make you more responsible; letting you know when you've reached the legal limit.

In this story, the guy became incredibly popular at this party for the opposite reason. People were competing to see who high over the legal limit they could blow.

That seems like that should be in their commercial.
Click to expand...

Cryptic1911 said:
Here's the best breathalyzer story ever:

http://www.tuckermax.com/stories/the-famous-sushi-pants-story/
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Is it wrong that I feel neither of those stories are something special? Whoopty-friggin-do, people who are going to drink excessively will find an excuse to drink excessively, what's wrong with using a breathalyser to do it?

People have been using drinking games forever as an excuse to get completely wasted. Not having a breathalyser hasn't stopped people from drinking until they pass out in the past.
niconx said:
You don't have to be legally drunk to be significantly impaired while driving, so it's not much of a safety device. It's more of a way to laugh at how drunk you are or get as drunk as you are legally allowed to, and then drive. Yea that's nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8LuM92Twm8
Click to expand...
It's a way to make sure you get home legally, if you have a problem with the legal limits, that's a separate issue.
nilepez said:
It's useful, because you at least know where you stand legally. If I leave a bar, i don't know if I'm at .4, .6, .8 or 1.8. I'm pretty sure I'm never at the latter. And frankly, I never feel like I couldn't easily get home, but that doesn't mean I'm under .8.

And honestly, while those tests show impairment, who drives obstacle course when they come back from a bar? I certainly don't recall having a problem stopping at a stop sign. And parallel parking is generally what I do, before I go to a bar, not afterwards.

Regardless, I think this is a good thing.
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If you feel so impaired that you wouldn't feel comfortable parallel parking (assuming you were competent enough to parallel park sober) but still feel comfortable enough driving home, I must say I have little faith in your judgment. Yes, people don't intentionally drive obstacle courses on their way home, but if something happens like a drunk pedestrian is stumbling down the road, you can't magically regain your faculties and become a competent driver again.

I should get myself a breatho some time, personally even after a few drinks I usually feel like I could drive but shouldn't and don't, even though I should be a bit below the legal limit... but I'm the sort of person who likes to minimise risk while driving, I don't trust I feel any worse than the people who think they're fine to drive home.
 
Tudz said:
If you feel so impaired that you wouldn't feel comfortable parallel parking (assuming you were competent enough to parallel park sober) but still feel comfortable enough driving home, I must say I have little faith in your judgment. Yes, people don't intentionally drive obstacle courses on their way home, but if something happens like a drunk pedestrian is stumbling down the road, you can't magically regain your faculties and become a competent driver again.

I should get myself a breatho some time, personally even after a few drinks I usually feel like I could drive but shouldn't and don't, even though I should be a bit below the legal limit... but I'm the sort of person who likes to minimise risk while driving, I don't trust I feel any worse than the people who think they're fine to drive home.
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Tudz, I don't know if I could or not. I literally never parallel park on the way home. NEVER. Missing a drunk person is a pretty lame example. Yes, I'd probably need to see a shrink if it happened, but if a drunk person stumbles in front of my car, isn't it maybe a bit more that persons fault than mine, if I am not legally drunk, while that person can't walk? Never mind that than in 4 decades that I've been driving, that scenario has never EVER occurred.

Frankly, I can only think of one time where I drove home where when I got home I thought, i probably shouldn't have driven home; however, I do not know if I was legally drunk then or any of the other times I've driven home. How would I know? I'm a car without a speedometer.
 
nilepez said:
Tudz, I don't know if I could or not. I literally never parallel park on the way home. NEVER. Missing a drunk person is a pretty lame example. Yes, I'd probably need to see a shrink if it happened, but if a drunk person stumbles in front of my car, isn't it maybe a bit more that persons fault than mine, if I am not legally drunk, while that person can't walk? Never mind that than in 4 decades that I've been driving, that scenario has never EVER occurred.

Frankly, I can only think of one time where I drove home where when I got home I thought, i probably shouldn't have driven home; however, I do not know if I was legally drunk then or any of the other times I've driven home. How would I know? I'm a car without a speedometer.
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Yeah, I didn't mean to guilt trip you or anything, maybe you're fine, I have no idea. I just have little faith in peoples' abilities to determine what is safe and what is not. The number of people I know who have lost their licences driving well over the legal limit OR any sane limit is scary and I know 2 people who have had serious accidents driving home when they're too tired. One ended up in a tree and was luckily not hurt, another was left a paraplegic. One of my sister's friends died when an idiot going stupidly fast lost control and jumped the median strip, landing on top of their car.

I'm not one to jump up and down and say you shouldn't drink and drive AT ALL or you shouldn't EVER drive when you're tired or you should NEVER use a cell phone when driving... what scares me is the utter lack of good judgment some people have when it comes to driving.

I've slept in my car before because I didn't want to drive home and couldn't be arsed catching a cab back and forth. It scares me that some people either lack the judgment required to realise they shouldn't drive or simply lack the regard for other motorists and pedestrians to drive anyway (even if those pedestrians are drunk idiots themselves).
 
Tudz said:
Yeah, I didn't mean to guilt trip you or anything, maybe you're fine, I have no idea. I just have little faith in peoples' abilities to determine what is safe and what is not. The number of people I know who have lost their licences driving well over the legal limit OR any sane limit is scary and I know 2 people who have had serious accidents driving home when they're too tired. One ended up in a tree and was luckily not hurt, another was left a paraplegic. One of my sister's friends died when an idiot going stupidly fast lost control and jumped the median strip, landing on top of their car.

I'm not one to jump up and down and say you shouldn't drink and drive AT ALL or you shouldn't EVER drive when you're tired or you should NEVER use a cell phone when driving... what scares me is the utter lack of good judgment some people have when it comes to driving.

I've slept in my car before because I didn't want to drive home and couldn't be arsed catching a cab back and forth. It scares me that some people either lack the judgment required to realise they shouldn't drive or simply lack the regard for other motorists and pedestrians to drive anyway (even if those pedestrians are drunk idiots themselves).
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I have had a few times where i was too tired to drive and did (no alcohol involved)....2 come to mind, but there may have been others. For drinking, I just think this canbe good. Those who want to use it as a drinking game are going to do it, but for me, I think this is a useful tool. Maybe I'm just over confident. I really don't know. Hell, it could even be used to tell me whether I need to slow it down (or cut myself off). That said, i certainly have friends who drink too much and drive (in one case probably an alcoholic), but there's nothing I can do about that.
 
So my issue with the device is that they're selling it as an accurate BAC test. As far as I know, you need the ones that you put your mo
 
adrift02 said:
So my issue with the device is that they're selling it as an accurate BAC test. As far as I know, you need the ones that you put your mo
Click to expand...

What happened to edit!? Anyways, the ones where you put your mouth on it are accurate (and expensive), but this kind isn't. The one I had years ago for fun was all over the place and there was a disclaimer for that reason. How will the phone integration help with the BAC sample method?
 
adrift02 said:
What happened to edit!? Anyways, the ones where you put your mouth on it are accurate (and expensive), but this kind isn't. The one I had years ago for fun was all over the place and there was a disclaimer for that reason. How will the phone integration help with the BAC sample method?
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Gives it a silly reason to have an application and cost more than the $5 keychain breathalyzer that I got a few years ago(I think it was from a christmas party), never gave reliable readings(results would be all over the place every time).

xIronCrossx said:
Why not just sit at home and do nothing, no way to get into any danger then! :D
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I dunno about you, but I came to the realization a long time ago that if I need to get hammered to enjoy myself, I could probably be doing something more interesting. I'm not saying a good buzz every now and then is a bad thing, but if your idea of people to hang out with requires getting plastered, well...
 
adrift02 said:
What happened to edit!? Anyways, the ones where you put your mouth on it are accurate (and expensive), but this kind isn't. The one I had years ago for fun was all over the place and there was a disclaimer for that reason. How will the phone integration help with the BAC sample method?
Click to expand...

Hmm... that is a problem. I've always said I'd like to see an accurate BAC tester at every bar...just bring your own straw. If this isn't remotely accurate, then it's useless.
 
The problem is the people who do have overly high BACs that need to get off the road are not the ones who would take time to think about their actions and see if they need a cab or not.
 
I had one of the keychain ones too. It's crazy how much difference there is from person to person for the "legal limit." It's all moot though. If you are over the legal limit it's DWI, if your under the limit, it's DUI. Either way, they got you.

Of course, you can get a DUI from using mouthwash in the morning. You will get a false positive for like an hour after using it. I had a cop show me that lol.
 
nilepez said:
I have had a few times where i was too tired to drive and did (no alcohol involved)....2 come to mind, but there may have been others. For drinking, I just think this canbe good. Those who want to use it as a drinking game are going to do it, but for me, I think this is a useful tool. Maybe I'm just over confident. I really don't know. Hell, it could even be used to tell me whether I need to slow it down (or cut myself off). That said, i certainly have friends who drink too much and drive (in one case probably an alcoholic), but there's nothing I can do about that.
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Yes, if the device can accurately tell you your BAC I think it's a good idea. Recently I was wanting to drive home and hadn't had a drink for a couple of hours and felt a bit tired but not really intoxicated. I would have loved to know what my BAC was to know if I could legally drive home (long drive, so I didn't want to take the chance of being pulled over). So instead I waited another hour before leaving and was even MORE tired than I was before (not unsafely so, just grumpily so, like "damn it I want to go to bed and I have an hour drive ahead of me" :p).

That said, i certainly have friends who drink too much and drive (in one case probably an alcoholic), but there's nothing I can do about that.
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I would never do it unless I thought they were in real genuine danger (and even then I'd probably just throw their keys away), but one of my friends had a family member call the cops on them when they were going to work in the morning after drinking all night. Got pulled over and lost his licence for a while.
 
Ehh, I never need one of these because I dont drink. Though I always end up being the chump to take everyone home lol since I am the only one that doesnt drink. I think its just easier to rotate through people who are supposed to be designated drivers for the night, or have a friend that doesnt drink lol.
 
Will this device have the ability to post my BAC to Facebook and Twitter?
 
I've always made sure that, when I go to a bar or go out to eat at a restaurant, that I know who's driving home. I'm usually the one to do that, basically because I am a large guy, and it takes a lot of alcohol to get me buzzed, let alone drunk.

Even still, I don't generally drink more than 1 serving of alcohol per hour. If you're 150 pounds or above, 1 serving of alcohol per hour shouldn't get you drunk. That advice I think is probably better than a breathalizer you carry around with you.

BTW, keep in mind that if you take a breathalizer test 20 minutes after you have had a drink, you'll test lower than you would if you take the test an hour later. Breathalizers don't work by what alcohol is in your stomach, but your lungs. And that happens as your body starts to break down the alcohol. That's why when the cops stop youand know you're intoxicated, if you act like an asshole, some police officers will make you wait a certain amount of time to maximize the amount of alcohol on your breath before giving you the test.
 
What advantage could this offer over a small breathalyzer that has a small 7 segment type display? This seems pretty ignorant, and is just another ploy to give iPhone users an excuse to pull out their phone to "show off" their creativity and originality... thoughts?
 
nilepez said:
It's useful, because you at least know where you stand legally. If I leave a bar, i don't know if I'm at .4, .6, .8 or 1.8. I'm pretty sure I'm never at the latter. And frankly, I never feel like I couldn't easily get home, but that doesn't mean I'm under .8.

And honestly, while those tests show impairment, who drives obstacle course when they come back from a bar? I certainly don't recall having a problem stopping at a stop sign. And parallel parking is generally what I do, before I go to a bar, not afterwards.

Regardless, I think this is a good thing.
Click to expand...

If your BAC is anywhere near those level and you're still breathing, then congratulations, you're Superman. :D
 
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