V02 Analyzer in my basement?
Today I bumped into a Vo2 analyzer on ebay for under $500. The URL is super long, but if you do a search on Medgraphics Cardio2 I think you'll see it. I'm no Dino (under the bus you go), but I do love data and I could get some cool measurement with my own Vo2 analyzer. My question is, do the physicians among us think I could figure out how to use this thing? I do sport a terminal degree about half of which was spent in math and stats classes. I am very good with mechanical things (do car repairs on the driveway, do all my own bike work, can fix most things), I worked as a programmer, and I read instructions as the last possible resort. Other than that, I'm pretty much an idiot. What do we think?
My second question is, is it really possible to purchase a functioning Vo2 analyzer for under $500 or am I likely looking at something that needs calibration and maintenance, requires expensive consumable parts or materials that I cannot obtain, an expensive paper weight? Medical equipment is just not my area of expertise.
Comments
A couple of points:
1. Yes, I feel sure that you could figure out how to use it. You probably know more than most of the techs that run them in Drs. offices.
2. as a Sports Medicine physician and someone who had undergone a medical VO2 test on the bike, it generates lots of Data that is useful medically but not really useful for training purposes.
3. the machine requires cylinders of gas (O2 and Nitrogen I think) and calibration several times during each test cycle and each of the calibrations uses fairly expensive consumables.
4. It is possible that you might need a prescription to purchase some of the supplies.
5. Unless you just have $500 that you can burn (and the expectation to burn another 3-500 getting it going) you can probably get much more training bang for your buck using the money elsewhere.
6. Repeat after me "Maximum Return on investment"
An alternative is to get one done at a physicians office and see how it compares to the value generated by TrainerRoad.
All of this is expecting that you would only be testing yourself. If you can start an underground business testing all of your triathlon buddies, you might be able to even turn a profit.
Do you have a powermeter?
If not, step away from the Breathalyzer 9000 and buy a PM