A1cNow is a home testing kit for HbA1c. The test requires a drop of blood and allows you to get a good reading of your HbA1c level within a few minutes.
The kit allows you to get an up to date HbA1c reading between the official HbA1c tests from your healthcare team.
The A1cNow kit should not be used, however, as a replacement for the tests you get from your health team.
Summary
Overall, the test was swift, easy and provides a very clear, useful result.
- The process was quick
- The kit has been designed to make things easy.
- Result given as a numerical figure is very useful.
- The instructions are fairly clear and simple but rely on the user’s intuition to correctly interpret the images and a little more wording could help to improve clarity.
Getting set up
The design of the kit made the set-up fairly easy. The instructions are image based than word based. Whilst the images well laid out, they rely on people’s intuition to make sure they open the right pouch in the right order. It is important that the cartridge pack is not opened too early.
Our user had no problem with setting up but felt that some additional words to accompany the images might have helped.
Lancing device
The lancing device worked as intended. It requires a fairly solid push into the finger. This might perturb some people that are squeamish about finger prick tests, however, our user didn’t have an issue with this.
Blood collection
The lancing device worked as intended and the blood collection tool is well designed.
The part of the process that presented a small issue for our user was that the instructions could have been a little clearer in the use of the blood uptake tool. Our user missed that the blood uptake tool needed to be held horizontally rather than vertically to draw blood.
Reagent mixing and sample application
The reagent mixing and sample application parts of the process were clear and very easy to carry out with minimal fuss.
The meter provides a five-minute countdown on screen after the sample is applied. The user noted that this was useful.
Result
The result is given in numerical form which is very handy. The result remains on screen for up to an hour which should provide more than enough time to note it down.
The result received by our user was in line with their level of control.
Summary
Overall, the user was very impressed with the product and would have no hesitation using it again.
If you are someone that wants to obtain an HbA1c reading in between your official HbA1c tests, the A1cNow presents a good option.
