Vein finder is a medical device that helps health care professionals find the veins quickly and easily. It can map the veins directly on the surface of the skin in real-time.
But which brand should you choose? and what you should be looking for in a vein finder? We are here to answer these questions.
- How to rate a vein finder? Vein image quality, price, features, and ease of use
- 1.VeinSight Vein Finder
- 2.Accuvein
- 3.VeinViewer
- 4.CMS Medical
- 5.iism
- Comparison Sheet
How to rate a vein finder?
If you’re in a hurry and just want a quick summary, here’s the section for you. Since there are many important complications and nuances in our analyses, however, I recommend reading the whole article before you do anything rash, like sending me a stern letter of disagreement.
Based on online information and market research, we rated each vein finder using four criteria: Vein image quality, features, ease of use, and price.
Vein image quality is the most important thing we should consider when we plan to purchase a vein finder, there are many other vein finders that cannot be included in the list because of their poor image quality, which just makes the whole device useless or even causes unnecessary pain for patients.
Features of a vein finder are also clinically relevant, other than regular features like adjustable brightness and color, there are also some interesting features as saving vein images and showing vein centerline.
Ease of use is what we feel most directly, especially when we purchase a vein finder, we plan to use it every day. It should be portable, light weight, long battery working time, and really help us.
Price We are noting trying to find the cheapest vein finder here, but we do think the price is an essential factor we all need to consider.
#1 – VeinSight Vein Finder VS500
The latest model VS500 from VeinSight is for sure the vein finder with the most interesting features and great performance. VS500 has two unique features, one is saving vein images and exporting the image to a computer, another one is the vein centerline.
Features:
- Saving vein images – You can save real-time vein images in VeinSight vein viewer VS500. You can check the saved image directly by projecting vein images or you can also connect the device with a computer and export it to a PC. It will help patients and medical staff compare vein images before and after the procedure.
- Vein Centerline – To help medical staff locate the veins with a higher success rate, they developed the vein center line function. Venipuncture is just getting easier and easier while improving the experience for both medical staff and patients.
#2 – Accuvein Vein Light
AccuVein is located in the USA, his vein viewing system is the world’s first handheld, non-contact vein illumination solution. It is built on AccuVein’s proprietary technology as embodied in its patent portfolio which includes dozens of patents covering a broad range of imaging and medical diagnostic technologies.
AccuVein employs two lasers: an invisible infrared and a visible red, these two lasers work in tandem to provide a real-time image of the subcutaneous vasculature up to 10mm deep. Laser has stronger penetrability, therefore, AccuVein is able to present a vein image with higher quality. As a lightweight and handheld device, AccuVein is convenient to use and could work for all body types and skin tones.
Features:
- Good Vein Image
- Auto shutdown setting
To get the high-quality image, you should also pay a price much higher. It should be noted, the laser is harmful to human body, we shouldn’t look directly into it, therefore, AccuVein couldn’t be used near the patients’ eyes, and it’ll be better if medical staffs reduce the stare time. At the meantime, AccuVein has less personalized settings.
#3 – VeinViewer Vein Viewer
VeinViewer belongs to Christie Medical Holdings, Inc., a global company based in Lake Mary, Florida. Christie Medical Holdings is revolutionizing patient care and healthcare economics through the innovation of light-based technologies.
VeinViewer mainly has two models, VeinViewer Flex is a handheld device that is larger and heavier than AccuVein, VeinSight Vein Finder, and CMS vein finder, it’s not friendly for the handheld operation, VeinViewer Vision2 is their latest model which is connected with a stand equipped with an articulating arm. VeinViewer uses near-infrared technology to project a clear vein map on the surface of the skin and allows you to see blood patterns up to 15mm deep and clinically relevant veins up to 10mm.
Features:
- Image storage and export
- Multiple modes like different window sizes, colors for option.
VeinViewer could store and export the vein image to PC which is convenient during the clinic procedure, and although vein image projected by VeinViewer is not as good as AccuVein, but it’s already pretty good. However, the battery could only work for 2 hours, which will cause great inconvenience. Besides, his price is pretty high.
#4 – CMS Medical Vein Finder VF20
VF20 is designed and manufactured by CMS. It employs harmless near-infrared light to project in real-time the map of veins on the surface of the skin. With two kinds of supports, mobile support and fixed support, it can meet the requirements of variant scenarios during clinic operation. VF 20 could be applied for all kinds of patients and skin tones, and participate in the entire Pre-, During and Post-access procedure to improve the success rate of puncture.
Features:
- Affordable Price
- Multiple modes like different window sizes, colors for option.
VF20 of CMS Medical may be one of the best affordable Infrared vein finders in the international market with a pretty high-quality vein image, therefore, it’s one of the most cost-efficient vein finders. With the humanized design, VF20 takes medical staff’s needs into full consideration. Besides, 4 hours’ battery working time makes VF20 a good helper of medical staff. What else can you ask for in this price range?
#5 – iiSM
iiSM was established in 2017 by a Korean chemistry researcher Seung Min Jin. Vein Probe of iiSM is different from vein finders we just mentioned. Instead of projecting directly vein image on surface of skin, Vein Probe shows vessel map on a screen. Vein Image quality is pretty high. However, it will cause extra difficulty for nurses, they have do the venipuncture for their patients while staring at the screen.
Features:
- Brightness adjusted automatically
- Touchscreen
- Freely rotating Camera
iiSM has two main types of vein probes, both of them are not portable, desk type is only aimed at the arm part of patients, especially lower arms, and the stand type has mobile stand. Besides, continuous running time of vein probe is 1.5h which is much lower than other brands in our sheet.
Conclusion – Comparison Sheet
Difficulty of venipuncture disturbs human for a very long time. With the development of technology, more and more vein finders of different brands appear in the market and try to solve this problem. How to choose from variant products becomes an important question. As far as principle of device is concerned, there are two mainstream technologies, the near-infrared light and laser, the laser has undoubtedly better penetrating power and is capable to display more clearly the vessel image, however the risk of the laser should also be concerned because of special character of medical device which will be applied directly for a human. There are other devices who employ stronger LED light to make the vein display clearer, but this kind of vein finder won’t be much useful during the clinical application because of limitation of technology. As for display modes, they display directly on surface of skin or on a screen, the screen mode may divert nurses’ attention during the venipuncture and cause extra difficulties.
For a vein finder, the quality of vein image is a basic evaluation criteria, so we choose among a mass of brands 5 products whose vessel map could be helpful during clinical application. We select their most advanced model and make a further specification comparison on this basis, including weight, brightness adjustment, color selection, size switch, display mode etc. Here is the comparison sheet. Hope it helps in your choice.
| Light Source | Weight | Display Mode | Different Window Sizes | Variant Colors | Various Brightness | Inverse Mode | Fine Mode | Depth Mode | Auto Shutdown | Vein Image Storage and export | Vein Centerline | Stand | Chargeable in the Stand | Battery Working Time | |
| VeinSight- VS500 | NIR | Lightweight, Portable | On surface of the skin | 3 | 5 colors ( cyan, green, natural, red, blue) | 5 brightness | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Mobile. Fixed, Table Stand | ✓ | 5h |
| Accuvein
AV500 |
Laser | Lightweight, Portable | On surface of the skin | 1 | 1 color (green) | 3 brightness | ✓ | × | × | ✓ | × | × | Wheeled and Fixed Stand | ✓ | 2h |
| VeinViewer-
VeinViewer Vision2 |
NIR | Non-portable, connected with mobile stand | On surface of the skin | 3 | 3 colors (green, yellow, white) | 1 brightness | ✓ | ✓ | × | × | ✓ | × | Machine connected with mobile stand | ✓ | 2h |
| CMS Med-
VF20 |
NIR | Lightweight, Portable | On surface of the skin | 3
|
5 colors (Green, Red, Natural) | 3 Brightness | ✓ | ✓ | × | × | × | × | Wheeled and Fixed Stand | × | 5h |
| iism-
VPism-C |
NIR | Non-portable, connected with mobile stand | Screen display | 1 | Monochrome (black-and-white) | Automatic adjustment of brightness | × | × | × | × | ✓ | × | connected with mobile stand | ✓ | 1.5h |
