Draeger breathalyzer Alcotest 5820 review for professional screening

The product sheet lists EN 15964, NHTSA and FDA conformity depending on configuration, along with CE marking. On the federal side, NHTSA added the Alcotest 5820 to its Conforming Products List of Evidential Breath Measurement Devices in a Federal Register notice of November 2, 2017, describing it as a hand-held unit with an electrochemical fuel cell intended for mobile or stationary use. The same notice explains that devices meeting the evidential model specifications also meet the specifications for screening devices. A listing tells you the device met NHTSA's model specifications; whether a given agency or employer may use it for a particular test depends on its own rules, and DOT programs follow the procedures in 49 CFR Part 40, which our guide on dot breath alcohol testing explains.

This is equipment for trained operators: police screening at the roadside, agencies that already run Draeger devices, and organizations with a formal testing procedure and a calibration program. The PIN protected configuration menu, test numbering and memory exist so that results can be traced and settings cannot be changed casually. Passive sampling lets an officer check the air near a person without a mouthpiece, which is a feature of enforcement work rather than personal use. If you want to understand how police devices differ from personal testers, see our police breathalyzer guide.

• In the USA the maker labels it for law enforcement purposes only, so it is not sold as a personal tester.
• Regional maker listings mark it End of Sales, which affects service life planning and parts.
• No numeric accuracy figure is published on the product sheet.
• Mouthpieces are proprietary slide and click parts, individually packaged, sold in packs of 100, 250 and 1,000, with or without a non-return valve.
• It has no app and no Bluetooth feature described on the sheet; configuration is done on the device without PC software.

The sheet names wet gas or dry gas calibration as the methods, which means a simulator or a certified gas cylinder handled by a trained person. The maker sheet gives no calibration interval. Instead, an internal clock warns or deactivates the device when its service interval ends, so the interval is set within the program that runs it. A third party test lab summary for EN 15964 lists a 3 month calibration interval as a test classification item, but that is not a maker recommendation. Our guide on calibrating a breathalyzer explains how gas and wet bath methods work.

Compared with consumer fuel cell testers, the 5820 adds traceable memory, protected settings, passive sampling and an evidential NHTSA listing, but it trades away availability for private buyers. Most readers who want a dependable personal tester will be better served by a fuel cell model from our fuel cell breathalyzer category, and the fuel cell vs semiconductor breathalyzer page explains why the sensor matters. Employers should start with the professional breathalyzer category, and everyone can compare current picks in the full ranking.