gdgt

It was easy, it worked, and it didn't complicate matters by making deal with anything resembling a scary hospital procedure.

For those who need to check their blood pressure often, the iHealth Blood Pressure Monitor delivers.

Other self-inflating blood pressure meters cost anywhere from about $50 to almost $150. That puts iHealth's $99.95 unit right in the middle, but it adds the benefit of being able to e-mail stats to a practitioner and view collected data over time.

What the BP3 gives you is very simple: the ability to keep tabs on your blood pressure throughout your life, rather than at periodic visits to the doctor. It's a change in the way we do health, bringing monitoring into the home and making it understandable.

If you don’t already have a charging dock for your iPad or iPhone, the iHealth would be a more practical choice, and at $99.95, it’s a better overall value.

Though iHealth Lab has delivered a usable and generally worthwhile new accessory in the BP3 Blood Pressure Dock, the price, dock design, and app implementation are all off the mark—each in ways that just a little extra adjustment could help.

At $99.95, the iHealth Blood Pressure Dock is definitely better for the budget-conscious, with its combination of a lower price, double function as a dock, and internal rechargeable battery.