AlcoSense Lite Breathalyzer & Alcohol Tester (English/Welsh/Northern Irish Limit) What Car?

Bought this product out of interest as it would be a useful and safe product to keep in the car just in case - if not for me, but for anyone else that might be driving. The AlcoSense Lite is incredibly simple to use with on-screen instructions as well an ample number of replacement tubes. The company appears to be a rarity as in it ensures that the readings are accurate by providing a good quality, affordable product to boast its reliability, while other similar products are arguably not as accurate and cheaper (going by the reviews on Amazon as well as other websites). Very happy with the product so far, although it has only had a few test uses.

Whenever I am driving - I don't drink - it really is that simple - but on occasions where I may have a drink on an evening and then need to drive the next day, I wanted to be extra sure that I would never be in a situation where I could jeopardise myself or others by having alcohol in my system - so this offered the peace of mind to check for myself. Great price and delivery was quicker than expected - and it's so easy to use. After trying the unit when it arrived (it was the afternoon so there was no danger of there being any positive readings) it reported zero BAC as expected - and then on the evening at around 8pm I had a whisky and coke - and checked the unit at 9.30pm and I had a 0.2% BAC - below the legal drink drive limit but clearly registering a presence. Since then I have had great fun in trying the unit after various evenings out on the run up to Christmas (purely in the interests of science and research you understand!) and it is surprising just how few drinks can put you in the borderline safe / unsafe to drive category. This is a great unit - wholly portable (it reminds me of the old Nokia phones in terms of size and shape although much lighter in weight) so there really is no excuse - and it's a great gift that could potentially save someone's life. Dramatic but true! 10/10 Highly recommended!

There is a bit of faff getting it set up but once you have it working it's OK. I wouldn't trust it though and I consider it to be a bit of a gimmick. This breathalyser scores in the range 0.01 to 0.09 BAC (which displays as 0.1 and 0.9 on the readout) and thereafter it just reads "HI". This is to prevent you drinking yourself stupid and trying to record high scores. I tested it out after having 10 vodka shots over a 2 hour period and I registered at 0.8 which is the legal limit in England. That's 10 units of alcohol I had drank and I was flabbergasted by how low the reading was. It was telling me that I was on the legal drink-drive limit but there was no way I would have driven given how bladdered I was. Heed caution with the veracity of the results and basically do not drink and drive.

Quick overview: product looks well made. It’s a bit fiddly to prime or set up, you have to expose the sensor to a bit of alcohol using the parts provided in the box. Once this is done the unit is easy to use and way more accurate than my previous device, which is what I wanted. I trust this unit more than my previous cheaper one. I bought my first tester in a filling station in Austria whilst I was skiing for a couple of months and using the car to get to and from the slopes, it was an impulse buy, not very expensive but I thought I’d get one as I like a beer at lunchtime but had to drive after skiing in the afternoon. It was ok as a guide for that but I was never convinced of its morning after accuracy, but as I say it was only a cheap thing where you blow through a hole in the case onto a sensor. I lost it, and so have been thinking of getting a new one, I’m just about to take the car skiing again, and I drive a motorhome and sail, so morning after testing is also important. I bought thins unit because of the what car ‘best under 40 quid’ review, and it turns out to be British which is a bonus in these times of trying to reduce transport miles. Out of the box the unit looks more complex and detailed than my previous tester, but not unduly complicated. I was a bit surprised by the need to set up or ‘activate’ the sesor, and this is a bit fiddly but straightforward, you pop a drop of alcohol in a little cap provided and cover the sensor with it and wait for the unit to do its thing. Using the device is easy, and you blow through a tube that you pop onto the sensor, which has to be more accurate than blowing through a hole, and sure enough it’s moring after readings are higher, and I assume more accurate. All you need is in the box except for an AAA battery, but it would have been nice if there was a cloth bag to keep all the bits in to avoid losing the small parts (that cap and a pipette with which to fill it), I’m going to order the separate case which I might have done anyway even if a temporary thin bag had been supplied in the box. Overall I am happy that I have a tester that I can reasonably rely on, small enough to fit in my pocket or back pack, but accurate enough to do its job. I like a beer or two, but I don’t want to ulose my driving or yachtmaster license, skiing sailing and motorhoming do attract quite a lot of social activity!