Best glucose meter
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Welcome, Ramesh! I use both a One Touch meter and one marketed by Wal-Mart called Relion. There are many of us who will tell you their favorite. I use the Relion mostly since I have to buy my strips but most of us get their strips thru their health insurance, so the cost of the strips isn't a major thing to them. I'm sure they will be along soon. Glad you found us and hope to hear more from you!
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I use Accu Chek. It is within 2-4 points of my doctor's reading every time. I must not do something right with the Walmart Relion because it was reading 40-50 points different than the doctors and I would have been in bad shape if I was using that to take insulin with my meals.
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I use an Accu-chek Aviva but recently got a free Bayer Contour w/ 50 strips to have a back-up.
Broke out the meter 2 days ago and it matched my Aviva once, but since then with comparison testing it's considerably lower, showing my fasting in the 80's while the Aviva shows at least 10 points higher. This morning it said my fasting was 82, the Aviva said 97. I think the Aviva is more accurate and has not had the swings the Contour has had.
This is anecdotal, just 2 specific meters, but it's consistent w/ the review Shanny posted the link for.
Broke out the meter 2 days ago and it matched my Aviva once, but since then with comparison testing it's considerably lower, showing my fasting in the 80's while the Aviva shows at least 10 points higher. This morning it said my fasting was 82, the Aviva said 97. I think the Aviva is more accurate and has not had the swings the Contour has had.
This is anecdotal, just 2 specific meters, but it's consistent w/ the review Shanny posted the link for.
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Wow. Thanks for this post! I have been trying to find this by myself and couldn't get enough data.
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I used One Touch Ultra 2 for years because my insurance provider prescribed the test strips. It worked fine and in back to back tests was very consistent.
Now I use the TRUEresult meter and find it to be excellent. Bigger easier to handle strips and they draw a very small sample. Best of all there is no meter coding.
Now I use the TRUEresult meter and find it to be excellent. Bigger easier to handle strips and they draw a very small sample. Best of all there is no meter coding.
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Yes, this whole matter of meter inconsistency has been driving me crazy. For three months my fasting appeared to be rising, ending up in the 120s and 130s. Since I'm only pre-diabetic, I needed to know if I was crossing the line. I changed strips, I changed batteries, I changed meters. Now I'm still confused.
At one point, the new meters were showing such low fasting numbers (90s) that I thought maybe I wasn't really even pre-diabetic after all. Then I cheated and even the lower-reading meters went in the undeniably diabetic range.
My fasting this morning, if you believe my new Contour USB, was 84. And it was 76 before I went to bed! Do I believe those numbers? I'll wait and see how the next cheat goes.
I called the manufacturer because I couldn't figure out how to do something and learned that this is the old model of the meter and I could get a new model for free, which, of course, I accepted
, so, in a couple of days, I'm going to confuse myself even more.
At one point, the new meters were showing such low fasting numbers (90s) that I thought maybe I wasn't really even pre-diabetic after all. Then I cheated and even the lower-reading meters went in the undeniably diabetic range.
My fasting this morning, if you believe my new Contour USB, was 84. And it was 76 before I went to bed! Do I believe those numbers? I'll wait and see how the next cheat goes.
I called the manufacturer because I couldn't figure out how to do something and learned that this is the old model of the meter and I could get a new model for free, which, of course, I accepted
, so, in a couple of days, I'm going to confuse myself even more.Hmmmm. I wonder if this is the answer. I just came across this link:
Plasma Glucose Meters and Whole Blood Meters | Joslin Diabetes Center
I'm going to go figure out what my meters measure.
Plasma Glucose Meters and Whole Blood Meters | Joslin Diabetes Center
I'm going to go figure out what my meters measure.
Darn. Thought that was the answer to the mystery. I was thinking of lining up all my meters and testing them all fasting, at the same time, the next time my husband goes away on business. (If I do it while he's home, I'm sure he'll have me committed!) Maybe instead I'll just use the cake test: If 2 tablespoons of cake with frosting push me over 200, then the meter isn't stuck in low.
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I couldn't be trusted alone with the cake!
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I've heard people testing liquids with their meters. You could mix some sugar in water, then test all the meters at the same time. One thing about this method is that it would be more consistent than blood. But be sure you don't overdo sugar - otherwise all the meters will test "HI"
Hubby's not home yet, so I did a post-prandial test of all the meters I have strips for. Here are the results, in order of increasing numbers.
03/07/14 9:57 pm
82 True2Go
85 Nova Max
86 Freestyle Flash (out-of-date strips, though)
89 Contour USB
105 Relion Prime
I'm hoping that the Contour Next USB arrives soon so I can play this game again
03/07/14 9:57 pm
82 True2Go
85 Nova Max
86 Freestyle Flash (out-of-date strips, though)
89 Contour USB
105 Relion Prime
I'm hoping that the Contour Next USB arrives soon so I can play this game again
But they are all within the allowed [email protected]% it seems to me. What is the point? We don't usually look so much for numbers but trends in them. Which is why I stick to the same usually.
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From a personal standpoint, the only advantage that I can see with testing a few meters against each other is to determine that they are all within the acceptable margin of error. I have a habit of buying the cheapest strips that I can find. Sometimes that means buying Prime strips, other times I am able to buy 10 vials of 2GO or Nano strips for less than Prime strips, when I find them online. I test a lot and my blood sugar still has a tendency to become unstable easily, so I keep my testing requirements high.
Because we run things tight with money, whenever I am getting low on strips, I start searching for the cheapest that's currently available and then buy several vials.
My meters have been tested against each other many times, and because they have, I don't have to worry that whichever one I am using would be faulty. While I am currently using the Prime and my Nano (for my required 1/2 the week that I have to use my doctor's Nano), I see that one of the places I buy from is running a sale on Advantage strips, so that might be the supply I buy next. While I admit it may not be ideal, at least I know that the meters are reliable when tested against each other (as Mara did, above).
Call it the tightwad in me - I always go with the deal.
Because we run things tight with money, whenever I am getting low on strips, I start searching for the cheapest that's currently available and then buy several vials.
My meters have been tested against each other many times, and because they have, I don't have to worry that whichever one I am using would be faulty. While I am currently using the Prime and my Nano (for my required 1/2 the week that I have to use my doctor's Nano), I see that one of the places I buy from is running a sale on Advantage strips, so that might be the supply I buy next. While I admit it may not be ideal, at least I know that the meters are reliable when tested against each other (as Mara did, above).
Call it the tightwad in me - I always go with the deal.
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