FAQ | BREATHALYZERS BY ALCOMATE

If you drink, you can always be safer by using a breathalyzer. If you don't drink, you may know someone close to you that does. Without a breathalyzer, you can't be very sure about how drinking alcohol relates to your specific Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). There are generic weight charts available, but they are only vague approximations and do not account for the differences in body chemistry from person to person. Only with a breathalyzer can you know for certain. Even if you don't drink yourself, you may have a parent, a child, a friend or a close peer who does. Maybe you are hosting a party where alcohol will be served. Whatever the case, don't let your loved ones fall victim to the heavy fines, criminal records and even possible loss of life in the face of alcohol-related tragedies.

BAC stands for Blood Alcohol Concentration and is a percent (%) measure of alcohol in the blood; it is also correct to use g/dL (grams per deciliter) as a more formal unit of measure instead of %BAC. A breathalyzer is able to calculate this percentage using only a breath sample because of the precise relationship between alcohol in the blood and alcohol metabolised into the lungs from the bloodstream. This is also why it is important to make sure the mouth is clear of contaminant (including alcohol) so that the breath sample contains pure lung air, or as close as possible.

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Every state in the US currently defines a BAC of 0.08% or higher as criminal when operating a motor vehicle. If the driver of a motor vehicle is under the age of 21, most jurisdictions practice a Zero Tolerance policy, set at 0.01% or 0.02%.

All breathalyzers lose accuracy over time (usually in one year or less), and the current fix for this loss in accuracy is manual re-calibration.

Manual re-calibration is a flawed process, because the actual residue buildup and functional degradation inside the sensor cavity is not addressed at all; re-calibration simply re-programs the electronics inside the device to "re-teach" it to show better results with this now-degraded sensor.

After several re-calibrations, sometimes after even the first one, the sensor may have degraded too far, at which point re-calibration cannot even be performed and the device is now just a useless paperweight.

These flaws are all completey erased by the introduction of PRISM Technology. With the AlcoMate Revo, AlcoMate Premium and AlcoMate Prestige, once the sensor becomes degraded so that it loses accuracy, you can literally remove and discard the existing module containing the sensor and replace it with a newly manufactured, pre-calibrated sensor module in its place. Replacement is quick and easy, and replacing the module is the only way to restore true "day one" accuracy to your device.