USB interface is great

I bought this a month ago, when it was $20 higher than it's all time low.  You can track the price via http://tinyurl.com/noo5s4

Last year I bought a automatic BP reader made by Panasonic.  That unit did not do averages, nor did it log the time of day (morning vs evening) or allow for downloading of readings to my computer.  It was ok, but I really wanted one where I didn't have to jott down my readings and also not have to manually average them. So I started looking for another monitor about a month ago.

I like the download feature on this unit, although until I crack open their DB, I will still end up manually updating my google spreadsheet that tracks my BP readings along with other health/exercise numbers.  The software is sufficient for downloading direct from the unit without any manual entry required, if that is all you need.

The software is ok and easy to install. Once you install the software, you leave the unit off and then attach the cable to download the readings (if I recall correctly).  I think you can store about a few weeks worth of data before you need to start downloading it.  I do this on Sundays so I won't lose data.  The software's graph mode is very useful in helping you spot trends.

The software also allows works for their pedometer Omron HJ-720ITC (also available at amazon: http://www.amzn.com/B000MN92WM).  You can even view both pedometer and BP readings on the screen in a combined view, which can help you see the correlation between activity (exercise) and lower BP.  My google spreadsheet is far more ambitious in that I also track my bed and waking times to correlate that to other readings that I take.

One thing is that you don't need the software to get the averages, those are easily displayed on the unit in a very intuitive interface.  Those averages are also available in morning versus evening readings.  Morning readings are critical in that there are studies linking high BP readings in the morning to increased risk for strokes (http://sciencedaily.com).  However, if you're not interested in software download I  believe the next model down offers all the features of this unit without the additional cost and software download (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009XQUES).

So far it has worked pretty well, although it is finicky about how you put the cuff on.  I have my unit set to do three readings at a time, and if I don't put on the cuff rather snugly and also hold the bottom of the cuff with my other hand, it will error out on the 2nd and subsequent readings.  If it errors out too many times, it will cancel the 3-readings-average mode for that session, so you have to start over again.

I have heard from a fellow user that studies also indicate that people who use such a device tend to do better at reducing their BP over time.

One other nifty feature, that my old monitor did not support, you can separately track readings for two people.  It's a simply mechanical sliding switch that you slide between user A and user B.  That way your averages won't get messed up if someone borrows this unit to measure their BP (as long as you switch it to the other user first).