Omron is a very good brand of electrical medical equipment... but i don't think there's all that much in it. I would definitely recommend an arm cuff machine though as opposed to a wrist one as the arm ones give a more accurate result.
My Cardiologist told me to take my B'P at home.
My G.P told me not. Then his Nurse rang me at home for me to trail there for them to take it as they get extra funding if they do it.
The big advantage of taking readings at home is that you remove "white coat hypertension" - where your BP is high simply because someone 'medical' is taking it.
Mine dropped from "better do something" to "reasonable for age" simply by getting accurate readings when I wasn't stressed about being at the GP's.
I got the arm-cuff type from LLoyd's. They had it on special offer £50 for £10. Easy to use, blurb stated ± 3% for accuracy. I have never had it checked against anything.
If you get one you need to take readings at the same time each day, as far as this is possible.
I got one from Aldi a couple of months ago for £9.99. It's the cuff type (although they also sell the wrist type for the same price). I find it quite reliable and after you get the hang of it, it does seem to get rid of the white coat syndrone and give a better reading because you're in a more relaxed environment.
Here in the U.S., we've had an Omron model HEM-712C for over 5 years... works well and calibrates very closely to our Doctor's office one. It's an arm cuff model...
Thanks to everybody for your suggestions and advice. I have been looking at the Omron ones and found several of the arm cuff variety, different prices. I expect I'll go for a middle of the road one. You all seem to be very satisfied with your choices which is very heartening.