thoughts on a personal breathalyzers (1 Viewer)

[moleculo]

I'm talking about something like this. Seems to me like a price point of <$50, it might be worth having in your car, just to be sure you are good.

I know I'm good to drive after two drinks. What about three? What if those two drinks were high gravity craft brews? What if I am on an empty stomach? Sometimes, I think I've been close to 0.08 before driving, and in hindsight I may have been over. I think having something that can give a quick check before driving could be a good thing.

These things are readily available, and relatively cheap (especially when compared to a DUI conviction or, Heaven forbid, an accident). Really, the only reason not ho have one is some sort of stigma - i.e. "do I have that much of a problem that I need this?" Screw that.

 

[3C's]

I bought an Alcohawk unit a couple years ago out of interest. Just to get an idea of where I was after X number of beers. I used it once to convince a friend to let a sober person drive him home. That alone made it worth it.

 

[Cjw_55106]

Everytime I use mine, the numbers are blurry. Ive always made it home.

 

[Zow]

In terms of accuracy, they're far less reliable and precise than the testing methods used by law enforcement. It also likely provides no legal defense and would, I fear, encourage people to drive more often when around the limit than to discourage them to do so.

If you're an average size male and intend on having more than a couple drinks, it's just not worth even contemplating driving afterwards.

 

[Plorfu]

I have the Excelsior Pro 300X. It's small enough to fit in a gym bag and actually looks pretty nice, too, in case you're with clients.

 

[sartre]

I was a little surprised to see these being sold in my local Costco.

 

[Guest]

In terms of accuracy, they're far less reliable and precise than the testing methods used by law enforcement. It also likely provides no legal defense and would, I fear, encourage people to drive more often when around the limit than to discourage them to do so.

If you're an average size male and intend on having more than a couple drinks, it's just not worth even contemplating driving afterwards.

Agree. A couple friends used them. Became more of a party game than anything. Would error on the side of caution if you are within .02 or something.

I think you're also supposed to wait a certain amount of time after your last drink to test. I could see someone blowing .07 and thinking "Hey, I'm good". Reading might be different 20 minutes later.

 

[Buckfast 1]

I had one back when I was in college, but it seemed like it was really unreliable. It would frequently show a reading over 0.08 after a single beer. And it topped out around 0.15, which really ruined the fun of having drunken BAC competitions. Perhaps the technology has improved over the last decade or so, but I wouldn't trust a personal use breathlyzer if I felt like I was close to the legal limit.

 

[George Jefferson Airplane]

I use one to gage how my dates are going.

 

[RUSF18]

I take the approach that if I need to be sure I'm good, I'm not good. Just not worth it. Get in a bad accident that is in dispute but you know isn't actually your fault, cop smells booze on you, and you blow just below the legal limit...you've avoided getting locked up but you're not winning that fight over fault. Or the cop books you for reckless driving. Or you've opened yourself up to a civil suit.