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Price History for BACtrack Breath Alcohol Detector Keychain Ultra-Portable Breathalyzer BT-KC10
Statistics
Current Price
$14.39
September 18, 2024
Highest Price
$14.39
September 15, 2024
Lowest Price
$14.39
September 15, 2024
Since September 15, 2024
Last price changes
$14.39
September 15, 2024
BACtrack Keychain Breathalyzer Description
QUICKLY & EASILY ESTIMATE YOUR BAC – Proprietary Advanced MicroCheck Sensor technology delivers reliable, accurate BAC results you can trust
EASY TO USE – One button operation means you simply power on your keychain breathalyzer and begin testing in seconds. It’s that easy!
TAKE IT WITH YOU ANYWHERE – The ultra-compact BACtrack breathalyzer keychain easily fits in a pocket or purse, making it a great portable breathalyzer for any occasion.
OPTIMAL BREATH CAPTURE – The innovative fold-out mouthpiece ensures only your breath goes into the alcohol tester, while other airborne pollutants are kept out.
BACtrack Keychain Breathalyzer Specification
Specification: BACtrack Keychain Breathalyzer
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer
No
Product Dimensions
3.2 Ounces, 6 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
Item model number
BT-KC10
Department
unisex-adult
Batteries
1 AAA batteries required. (included)
Date First Available
November 7, 2011
Manufacturer
True Fabrication
Country of Origin
China
BACtrack Keychain Breathalyzer Videos
BACtrack Keychain Breathalyzer Reviews (4)
4 reviews for BACtrack Keychain Breathalyzer
3.8out of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
2
★★★★★
1
★★★★★
0
★★★★★
0
★★★★★
1
Write a review
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★★★★★
Scarlett Flores –
Does. Work after two years bought back in May 2021 I stopped. Using it after a year and tried again and now it won’t work. I opens it and cleaned it out nothing.
So either buy the 3 year warranty or have. It for a little lol
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Lauren –
I made my friend use this before leaving a party. His BAC measured .08 which is the legal limit in my state. He got pulled over and blew a .18 so it was pretty far off.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Ginwraith –
This is an update to my original review from over five years ago. My unit lasted for over 5.5 years before it would display only ‘0.0’ during a test. Everything else worked so I assume the sensor finally wore out and/or it needed a factory calibration. (Note: BACtrack recommends periodic factory calibrations, but at $19.99/each it’s simply not worth it for a $25 unit.) The BACtrack Keychain was definitely a cost-effective, reasonably-accurate solution for me at the time. But in the interest of greater accuracy and lifecycle costs, I decided to replace it with a more expensive, more accurate self-calibrating unit with a user-replaceable sensor. That said, I still give it a five star rating based on my overall five year experience.
I first saw this device in a comparison test of breathalyzers in the April 2014 issue of ‘Car and Driver’ magazine. It tested as well as – in some cases better than – a unit costing 5x more. The device feels well-made for the price – not especially rugged but not cheap either. It operated as-described. It comes with a Duracell AAA battery as pictured. The instruction manual is clearly written and the table describing effects of increasing levels of alcohol was informative.
I have no way of verifying the unit’s accuracy but it seems to work properly, displaying roughly proportionate increases in BAC when consuming alcohol. After 15 hours with no alcohol it registered a BAC of 0.00. After one shot and a fifteen minute wait it indicated 0.03. After an additional 3/4 bottle of beer and fifteen minute wait I tested at 0.04.
In the FAQs, when queried where the unit was made, BACTRack customer service responded, “We do all our design, testing, calibration and quality assurance here in California” but for whatever reason omitted that it is also “Assembled in China” as printed on the packaging.
Overall I recommend this device: it feel adequately constructed for the price, seems to work as advertised. I can see it being fun at parties and could save your license!
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
★★★★★
Johnny –
The Keychain Breathalyzer is really a great value, but like any measuring device, you HAVE to understand a little science and how to properly use it.
When I first got this little doodad, I put the battery in and went hog playing around with it, drinking with some buddies.
The next day, it started acting really funny. It would turn on and start counting down, and then shut off almost immediately. If I left it alone for several hours, I could do a test, but then it was unable to do another test. Sometimes I could do a test and it gave me the ‘Lo’ message. I thought the battery was dead. I checked the battery with a volt meter, and the battery didn’t look dead at all. I thought I got a lemon… and then I got a new battery. Now it’s fine.
To those who have seen the “it was working great the first night, and then it quit on me” reviews, this is what’s going on:
RELIABILITY:
This device seems power hungry, and I have a feeling that the AAA battery can’t immediately produce the power it needs, so it needs to harvest the energy slowly while not in use so that it can do a test. I didn’t like that this behavior isn’t explicitly explained in the manual. The manual does say to wait a few minutes between tests. If you don’t follow this, it will actually kill the battery. If you played with it non-stop all night and it won’t work anymore on a seemingly good battery, replace the battery and use it properly. It will function perfectly. This is something that should be clearly addressed in the manual, and I think would eliminate the negative reviews that I have seen.
Realize, this device was designed for a responsible drinker who wants to stay safe. That person will use it perhaps 4 times at most throughout an evening.
ACCURACY:
I’ve never been able to measure and track the phenomenon of BAC, so I had no idea what to expect. I looked at a table of BAC’s, drink units, and body weight/height to see what a standard drink should do to me. I did a proper test, where I had 1 drink unit (1 12oz can of beer in this case) and waited 20min to do a test. It matched the table perfectly. And it’s very consistent. If I repeat a test, it is always within 0.01 of the last.
You don’t necessarily have to wait the full 20 minutes, but there are caveats. If you are still absorbing alcohol in your GI tract, yet have absorbed all of it in your mouth and throat (you ate a big meal before drinking), the reading will be low because you haven’t absorbed everything into your system yet (it will continue to rise even if you don’t have another drink). If you’re still absorbing alcohol in your mouth (ie. after a sip of hard liquor), it will read high because the alcohol takes longer to absorb through your mouth and throat. You can rinse your mouth and do a test to get a ROUGH idea anytime, but if you want to be sure about your reading, wait 20 minutes. If 20 minutes isn’t possible and it’s important, your environment isn’t healthy.
CALIBRATION:
The official website says that it should be sent for calibration after 6mo – 1yr. Closer reading of the manual confirms what many professionals in the BAC field will say: Every Month. The manual states that under ‘average’ use, it will need to be calibrated after 6mo – 1yr. But under daily use, it may need calibration as often as once a month.
I will periodically see what it reads my BAC 20 min after 1 standard drink, and send it off when it looks inconsistent or off.
CONCLUSION:
BAC was a much simpler concept in my head until I started reading and got this doodad. You have to learn a little science to understand what is going on. But it will help you understand that “feeling OK” is often not good enough.
Really, this tool is most useful if you understand how alcohol interacts with your body. Breathalyzers are not a surefire or definitive way to measure ‘drunkenness’ because they are an indirect measurement that can be affected by many factors. However, if you would like a tool to give you a rough idea of what you can handle, and have the knowledge to understand what factors are at play, it’s a damned educational gadget that I would recommend to anyone interested in some learnin’.
At $30, it’s a great deal. If you need more accuracy, or whatever, spend the money for a fuel-cell breathalyzer and get it calibrated every month. The BACtrack keychain is a good “back of the envelope” tool that can be very educational.
Helpful(0)Unhelpful(0)You have already voted this
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Scarlett Flores –
Does. Work after two years bought back in May 2021
I stopped. Using it after a year and tried again and now it won’t work. I opens it and cleaned it out nothing.
So either buy the 3 year warranty or have. It for a little lol
Lauren –
I made my friend use this before leaving a party. His BAC measured .08 which is the legal limit in my state. He got pulled over and blew a .18 so it was pretty far off.
Ginwraith –
This is an update to my original review from over five years ago. My unit lasted for over 5.5 years before it would display only ‘0.0’ during a test. Everything else worked so I assume the sensor finally wore out and/or it needed a factory calibration. (Note: BACtrack recommends periodic factory calibrations, but at $19.99/each it’s simply not worth it for a $25 unit.) The BACtrack Keychain was definitely a cost-effective, reasonably-accurate solution for me at the time. But in the interest of greater accuracy and lifecycle costs, I decided to replace it with a more expensive, more accurate self-calibrating unit with a user-replaceable sensor. That said, I still give it a five star rating based on my overall five year experience.
I first saw this device in a comparison test of breathalyzers in the April 2014 issue of ‘Car and Driver’ magazine. It tested as well as – in some cases better than – a unit costing 5x more. The device feels well-made for the price – not especially rugged but not cheap either. It operated as-described. It comes with a Duracell AAA battery as pictured. The instruction manual is clearly written and the table describing effects of increasing levels of alcohol was informative.
I have no way of verifying the unit’s accuracy but it seems to work properly, displaying roughly proportionate increases in BAC when consuming alcohol. After 15 hours with no alcohol it registered a BAC of 0.00. After one shot and a fifteen minute wait it indicated 0.03. After an additional 3/4 bottle of beer and fifteen minute wait I tested at 0.04.
In the FAQs, when queried where the unit was made, BACTRack customer service responded, “We do all our design, testing, calibration and quality assurance here in California” but for whatever reason omitted that it is also “Assembled in China” as printed on the packaging.
Overall I recommend this device: it feel adequately constructed for the price, seems to work as advertised. I can see it being fun at parties and could save your license!
Johnny –
The Keychain Breathalyzer is really a great value, but like any measuring device, you HAVE to understand a little science and how to properly use it.
When I first got this little doodad, I put the battery in and went hog playing around with it, drinking with some buddies.
The next day, it started acting really funny. It would turn on and start counting down, and then shut off almost immediately. If I left it alone for several hours, I could do a test, but then it was unable to do another test. Sometimes I could do a test and it gave me the ‘Lo’ message. I thought the battery was dead. I checked the battery with a volt meter, and the battery didn’t look dead at all. I thought I got a lemon… and then I got a new battery. Now it’s fine.
To those who have seen the “it was working great the first night, and then it quit on me” reviews, this is what’s going on:
RELIABILITY:
This device seems power hungry, and I have a feeling that the AAA battery can’t immediately produce the power it needs, so it needs to harvest the energy slowly while not in use so that it can do a test. I didn’t like that this behavior isn’t explicitly explained in the manual. The manual does say to wait a few minutes between tests. If you don’t follow this, it will actually kill the battery. If you played with it non-stop all night and it won’t work anymore on a seemingly good battery, replace the battery and use it properly. It will function perfectly. This is something that should be clearly addressed in the manual, and I think would eliminate the negative reviews that I have seen.
Realize, this device was designed for a responsible drinker who wants to stay safe. That person will use it perhaps 4 times at most throughout an evening.
ACCURACY:
I’ve never been able to measure and track the phenomenon of BAC, so I had no idea what to expect. I looked at a table of BAC’s, drink units, and body weight/height to see what a standard drink should do to me. I did a proper test, where I had 1 drink unit (1 12oz can of beer in this case) and waited 20min to do a test. It matched the table perfectly. And it’s very consistent. If I repeat a test, it is always within 0.01 of the last.
You don’t necessarily have to wait the full 20 minutes, but there are caveats. If you are still absorbing alcohol in your GI tract, yet have absorbed all of it in your mouth and throat (you ate a big meal before drinking), the reading will be low because you haven’t absorbed everything into your system yet (it will continue to rise even if you don’t have another drink). If you’re still absorbing alcohol in your mouth (ie. after a sip of hard liquor), it will read high because the alcohol takes longer to absorb through your mouth and throat. You can rinse your mouth and do a test to get a ROUGH idea anytime, but if you want to be sure about your reading, wait 20 minutes. If 20 minutes isn’t possible and it’s important, your environment isn’t healthy.
CALIBRATION:
The official website says that it should be sent for calibration after 6mo – 1yr. Closer reading of the manual confirms what many professionals in the BAC field will say: Every Month. The manual states that under ‘average’ use, it will need to be calibrated after 6mo – 1yr. But under daily use, it may need calibration as often as once a month.
I will periodically see what it reads my BAC 20 min after 1 standard drink, and send it off when it looks inconsistent or off.
CONCLUSION:
BAC was a much simpler concept in my head until I started reading and got this doodad. You have to learn a little science to understand what is going on. But it will help you understand that “feeling OK” is often not good enough.
Really, this tool is most useful if you understand how alcohol interacts with your body. Breathalyzers are not a surefire or definitive way to measure ‘drunkenness’ because they are an indirect measurement that can be affected by many factors. However, if you would like a tool to give you a rough idea of what you can handle, and have the knowledge to understand what factors are at play, it’s a damned educational gadget that I would recommend to anyone interested in some learnin’.
At $30, it’s a great deal. If you need more accuracy, or whatever, spend the money for a fuel-cell breathalyzer and get it calibrated every month. The BACtrack keychain is a good “back of the envelope” tool that can be very educational.