Withings Launches $100 'Thermo' Contactless Thermometer for No-Hassle Readings

[Beerstalker]

As a doctor and most importantly as a parent of two children I will tell you this: these types of devices don't work. You measure five different times and you will get 5 different readings.

You say this, but every doctor's office, and hospital I have been in over the last 5 years or so have used non-contact thermometers to check temperature. Including my doctor appointment last week and at the hospital for the birth of my second child last month.

I agree that many of the cheap ones sold at Walmart and Toys R Us aren't very accurate, but I don't believe they are FDA approved.

Contactless:

Shows thermostat rammed against baby's head.

I believe the contactless is talking about the actual temperature sensor. The sensor is recessed inside the housing so it does not contact the skin, so it doesn't need to be cleaned/disinfected etc. and should stay working longer. The housing does contact the skin so it can help keep a set distance between the skin and sensor to keep readings more accurate.

 

[urbanlung]

Why do all things need an app? Water bottle! There's an app that says how full it is! Thermometer! It has bluetooth! You don't need to surgically implant it!

I see zero advantage over the traditional one:

Temperature in isolation, unless extreme are somewhat meaningless. Apping temperature measurement makes complete sense, it means you can see an individuals temp pattern throughout their average day and then determine whether that trend has been breached. The term normal temperature is misleading, temp depends on al sorts of factors such as age activity, time of day, etc. Having an app record all these trends for each individual makes the term meaningful in a way it could not be before. The price however is a bit on the steep side, no doubt others will provide cheaper solutions. Come on Lidl!!

 

[Dowjohnny]

As a doctor and most importantly as a parent of two children I will tell you this: these types of devices don't work. You measure five different times and you will get 5 different readings.

Another doctor here and i absolutely second this!
[doublepost=1468953738][/doublepost]

You're the doctor. And I've never owned a non-contact thermometer. But looked into them and a lot of what I read was that they were pretty accurate.

"The non-contact infrared thermometer is a reliable, comfortable and accurate option for measurement of temperature and is very useful for the screening of fever in the paediatric population. More studies are recommended to support the evidence found in this study and compare its accuracy with more complex devices."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21651612

But would be happy to see more data on them.

The study is looking at the use in hands of professionals that follow strict SOP. Used by a panicking first time mother with her child throwing a tantrum - different story

 

[C DM]

Another doctor here and i absolutely second this!
[doublepost=1468953738][/doublepost]

The study is looking at the use in hands of professionals that follow strict SOP. Used by a panicking first time mother with her child throwing a tantrum - different story

How would a different (more "typical") thermometer that requires even more patience and focus on the part of the parent and child be of help in a situation like that, and potentially not come up with bad results as well due to being improperly positioned, moved during measurement, not held long enough, etc., etc., etc.? Seems like the technology is just fine and just needs to be properly used, which is no more complex (and perhaps even less complex in various ways) than using a different (again, more "typical") thermometer.

 

[Dowjohnny]

How would a different (more "typical") thermometer that requires even more patience and focus on the part of the parent and child be of help in a situation like that, and potentially not come up with bad results as well due to being improperly positioned, moved during measurement, not held long enough, etc., etc., etc.? Seems like the technology is just fine and just needs to be properly used, which is no more complex (and perhaps even less complex in various ways) than using a different (again, more "typical") thermometer.

I can just speak for my own experience and that clearly points away from devices like that. Personally i would consider a typical thermometer easy to use.

We will see how the long term data will turn out. Maybe people really will manage to use it right. I really would LOVE this to work, i like tech like this.

My favourite:

 

[palmerc]

I get the skepticism of the 'connected' thermometer vs. a cheap one purchased in a drug store, but I think it is important to recognize that this technology could be useful in a couple of ways... one is patient history as stated by the patient or guardian, trying to remember the specifics of an ongoing issue for accuracy is quite difficult and error prone, where this device could really help provide accurate information to the physician as to date/time-duration-temperature. This is especially true if someone suffering from a chronic condition that requires regular reporting of such information. The second scenario would be as part of physician records, especially in a hospital setting.

 

[2457282]

I had no idea we had doctors on an Apple rumor site. very interesting.

My girls are all grown up and moved on in life. but when they were girls, we always used the ear device. Wasn't perfect, but they were okay with this versus the under the tongue version.

 

[AlliFlowers]

I had no idea we had doctors on an Apple rumor site. very interesting.

My girls are all grown up and moved on in life. but when they were girls, we always used the ear device. Wasn't perfect, but they were okay with this versus the under the tongue version.

Went would you be surprised to have physicians on an Apple site? They aren't allowed to have iPhones?

 

[2457282]

Went would you be surprised to have physicians on an Apple site? They aren't allowed to have iPhones?

Totally allowed to have iphones or any other tech toy of their choosing. I just assumed most here were in the IT business or closely related. Mostly I see geeks and hacks like me, not doctors and stuff. That is why I find it interesting. Was not being derogatory in any fashion.

 

[techwhiz]

Contactless:

Shows thermostat rammed against baby's head.

Exactly.
Contactless would be the IR/Laser device I use to check my steaks on the grill.

 

[Beerstalker]

Contactless:

Shows thermostat rammed against baby's head.

Exactly.
Contactless would be the IR/Laser device I use to check my steaks on the grill.

It does work like that. Like I said before the sensor itself does not touch the skin, it is recessed in the housing. The housing touches the skin so it knows that the sensor is a set distance away from the skin for better accuracy in results.

Look at the CNet article, or others and you can see pictures that show the sensor being recessed inside the housing.
http://www.cnet.com/products/withings-thermo/

 

[radiology]

Temperature in isolation, unless extreme are somewhat meaningless. Apping temperature measurement makes complete sense, it means you can see an individuals temp pattern throughout their average day and then determine whether that trend has been breached. The term normal temperature is misleading, temp depends on al sorts of factors such as age activity, time of day, etc. Having an app record all these trends for each individual makes the term meaningful in a way it could not be before. The price however is a bit on the steep side, no doubt others will provide cheaper solutions. Come on Lidl!!

You are absolutely right in your comments regarding temperature. but 99.9% of people won't use this or other thermometers as you suggested. I have a daughter that has a condition that gives her a fever once a month and this has been going on for quite some time. By now we have tried all sorts of types and brands hoping that they will give an accurate and consistent measurements, but that doesn't happen. I have talked about this to several collegueas who are pediatricians and at the end of the day they don't recommend any particular type of thermometer and see no reason to spend $100 on something like this. this is a long discussion and this tech forum is not the right venue. To me, I will include this device in the same category that I included the fancy toothbrush featured on an MR article in the recent past. That category name is not worth it.

 

[nutmac]

Why do all things need an app? Water bottle! There's an app that says how full it is! Thermometer! It has bluetooth! You don't need to surgically implant it!

I see zero advantage over the traditional one

One big advantage is record keeping, which could be useful when the baby is sick and you measure often to check whether the medicine is working. When you have your arms full with a sick baby, you don't always have the luxury of remembering or writing things down.

Regardless, $100 is rather excessive.

 

[Dynamite_Rave]

Made from the company that is notorious for their baby monitoring cameras to disconnect more times than it stays on and gives you nothing but gray blank blocks of camera feed!

 

[Kajje]

Both are wireless radio frequency links. Hence my use of the generic term.

I wasn't ridiculing your terminology, sorry if it came over that way. I was actually backing you up and emphasizing your point about this device being somehow... unnecessary.

 

[Cwolk]

Good product. But of course, they price it way too high for any normal person with no extreme need for an ultra precise thermometer to buy.

 

[Manderby]

It does work like that. Like I said before the sensor itself does not touch the skin, it is recessed in the housing. The housing touches the skin so it knows that the sensor is a set distance away from the skin for better accuracy in results.

Look at the CNet article, or others and you can see pictures that show the sensor being recessed inside the housing.
http://www.cnet.com/products/withings-thermo/

That technology raises the question if it works on dark skin tones too...

 

[Keane16]

Another doctor here and i absolutely second this!
[doublepost=1468953738][/doublepost]

The study is looking at the use in hands of professionals that follow strict SOP. Used by a panicking first time mother with her child throwing a tantrum - different story

Thank you for the clarification.

Much like a lot of what's posted on MacRumors the extreme view points can skew things. @radiology said "As a doctor and most importantly as a parent of two children I will tell you this: these types of devices don't work. You measure five different times and you will get 5 different readings." - this made it sound like they are useless.

What you say makes much more sense. So for non-baby use cases it seems safe to say they are decently accurate.

 

[alexgowers]

People will buy stuff if it's made, withings makes some good products but this one is a solution looking for a problem.

Babies don't care about being touched and the underarm ones are much more accurate as you are getting full contact and truly getting body temp not SURFACE temp. To spend so much on a thermometer seems truly retarded.

Owning a WiFi withings scale I love the idea of connected devices that can map progress and show you trends so you can be aware of body fat and weight. However if they added your body temperature to the scale I would ask what the point was!

 

[C DM]

People will buy stuff if it's made, withings makes some good products but this one is a solution looking for a problem.

Babies don't care about being touched and the underarm ones are much more accurate as you are getting full contact and truly getting body temp not SURFACE temp. To spend so much on a thermometer seems truly retarded.

Owning a WiFi withings scale I love the idea of connected devices that can map progress and show you trends so you can be aware of body fat and weight. However if they added your body temperature to the scale I would ask what the point was!

This ain't getting the surface temperature. It's actually getting the core body temperature from the blood supply (while underarm is certainly less exposed and retains more of the body heat, that would still be in line with surface temperature, just from a more protected surface).

 

[LlamaLarry]

Deshydratation? #comeonman