What's the best Meter to buy?

[tangram]

Suggestions for a testing meter please, Im off to buy one tomorrow and their are so many available...another minefield, also how difficult are they to use and what is the ongoing expense??

Thx :crazy:

 

[))Denise((]

Most of the meters are about the same. It depends on who is buying the strips and where you are getting them from as the price of them varies.

If you are paying full price for strips at the chemist or an online chemist then the GlucoRx meter has fairly cheap strips.

If you are buying your strips from ebay, then for most machines you can get the strips for around £10 for 50.

If you are going to get your doctor to prescribe strips, then I would choose one on the main brands of meters like Lifescan One Touch or Accu-Chek Aviva.

 

[Anonymous]

I use an Accu-Chek aviva but then I get prescribed strips. Get a meter that has a quick test - my one does itin about 3 seconds. My old meter took 30 seconds which is much too long. Also, the lancets are in a rotating barrel thing which means that you change the lancet needle much more often.

The Accu-Chek Aviva has an infra-red port for uploading to a PC but the software and USB reader costs £24 and the software is pretty rubbish. I think the meter itself is only £15 ish in Boots.

 

[tangram]

Thx for the advice, I have seen some at Boots that have a cassette and no strips ?( I will have to buy the strips) They are slightly more expensive so what is the difference please?

 

[borofergie]

Thx for the advice, I have seen some at Boots that have a cassette and no strips ?( I will have to buy the strips) They are slightly more expensive so what is the difference please?

I wouldn't buy one (again). The cartridges are very expensive compared to the strips, and the meter is kinda bulky.

Don't buy your strips from the chemist. I'd recommend buying them in bulk from ebay (but then I have low moral standards). If you do that you can probably get the cost down to about 20p per a test.

 

[David Rider]

Hi ref your meter if you go onto the site for Accu check compact and look on line you will see that there are many site's on there that can supply the meter free. Ive used the o0ne for some time and have found it the best. its what it say;s compact and very easy to use. there is details for you to get the strips freom your local surgery.Good luck and hope that you get on with it and find it as good as I did.____ Dave.

 

[borofergie]

Hi ref your meter if you go onto the site for Accu check compact and look on line you will see that there are many site's on there that can supply the meter free.

Ignore the cost of the meter, and don't fall into the trap of getting a "free" meter that has expensive strips. The meter manufacturers are like heroin dealers, they're trying to lure you in cheaply, so that you'll end up spending a fortune on their strips for the next 50 years.

You'll have diabetes forever. The only thing that matters when choosing a meter is the cost of strips.

 

[Unbeliever]

I get some strips o prescripion for my one -touch ultra meter. I am finding more and more "duds" amongst the srips and they need a fairly large bloood sample so couldn't recommend this.

I got a free meter from Spirit healthcare and but est srips from them . They have jus gone up by 25p to £12;75 for fifty. Never had a dud test srip and need oly a small blood sample.

I was also give a free bayer contour but couldn't afford the strips.

 

[captainlynne]

I use the Freesyle Lite from Abbot (got it free from them) and buy strips directly from them. Price of strips has just gone up, but still about £15 for 50. Their customer service has always been excellent.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't buy your strips from the chemist. I'd recommend buying them in bulk from ebay (but then I have low moral standards). If you do that you can probably get the cost down to about 20p per a test.

I really must say something about this because it worries me very much.

Any BG meter, and the test strips that go with them are basically medical devices under the In-Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Directive. They should only be supplied by the manufacturer directly, or through pharmacies or hospitals under prescription. Buying off e-bay gives no guarantee that the seller is legitimate or that the meters or strips sold are of an acceptable standard.

I work within the MD industry, and have heard of some situations where our products have been sold in poor condition and which could, if used, have presented dangers to the patient.

I really must stress that ebay is NOT the place to buy diabetic aids.

Dave

 

[catza]

I have to disagree with your blanket dismissal of all eBay traders as a source for legitimate diabetic supplies as one of the sellers on there is the UK supplier of the SD Codefree and I have always understood that they are a totally legitimate supplier. I doubt they would appreciate your branding them as less than legitimate.

If you are saying that the SD Codefree does not meet acceptable standards I would be grateful if you could explain why and maybe give us some evidence as quite a few of our member use this meter as its price undercuts all the other makers strips.

 

[borofergie]

Any BG meter, and the test strips that go with them are basically medical devices under the In-Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Directive. They should only be supplied by the manufacturer directly, or through pharmacies or hospitals under prescription. Buying off e-bay gives no guarantee that the seller is legitimate or that the meters or strips sold are of an acceptable standard.

Eh? Sealed pots, with correct use-by dates on the side? Do you think that manufacturers are in the habit of letting seconds get into circulation? I doubt very strongly that anyone would go to the expense of manufacturing counterfeit strips. The strips are electronic - if they are in bad condition they'll throw up an error message.

I work within the MD industry, and have heard of some situations where our products have been sold in poor condition and which could, if used, have presented dangers to the patient.

Well they would say that wouldn't they?

But let's be realistic, I am a T2 diabetic who the NHS deems not worthy of providing test-strips (and even explicitly tells me not to test). What possible harm could I come to from a batch of dodgy strips?

I deliberately buy out of date strips for my ketone meter (because they are so much cheaper). They work and give sensible results.

I really must stress that ebay is NOT the place to buy diabetic aids.

I must stress that buying test-strips direct from the manufacturer, at extorionate prices, will make testing unfeasibly expensive.
Obviously there is some risk - but it's probably not much greater than buying them from Boots.

Test strips are deliberately over-priced in order to exploit diabetics. I strongly suggest that people try and get strips at a reasonable price, both for their own benefit, and to reduce the profits of the exploitative MD suppliers. I pay less than 20p a test, Boots would charge me over 50p a test.

 

[BioHaZarD]

I have an accu chek Aviva and an sd code free, I think they are fine especially as the codefree are cheap for strips. I recently got a free freestyle lite and a free glucomen LX plus and both these new ones feel better quality and both take readings lower than the Aviva and codefree. I have settled for the moment on the freestyle lire as its ultra small and very good. I am using the glucomen Lx plus for ketones.

 

[SueR]

I have an Accu-Check Mobile - the all in one with the strips on a cassette - and I love it. It's as it says, 'mobile' and there are no strips to dispose of or fiddle about with. The finger pricker is attached to the side and once you get used to it, it's not too bad. I think it's a brilliant meter.

I have used other meters in the past, but the fiddling about with strips and the finger pricker put me off them.

At the end of the day it's a matter of personal preferences.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a feeling that my remarks may be controversial, but I do stand by them as I think this is an important issue. I just ask people to consider the risks when buying strips off ebay.

 

[))Denise((]

I like my One Touch Ultra machine. I get 150 strips prescribed a year, not enough in my book so I buy the rest from ebay. I'd say that about 50% of the time, the ones I get from ebay, the boxes are sticky from where a prescription label has been taken off. Who are the people selling them? Type 1's who get them prescribed and don't use them or women who have had Gestational Diabetes and since the baby has been born it has gone away.

In my head I'd like to think that it was the gestational women selling them, but my heart I know that many of them come from Type 1's. Some sellers do sell rather a lot of strips, so they must get them wholesale. I've got no evidence that there is any difference in the ones I get prescribed and the ones I buy from ebay (apart from one lot a couple of years ago).

I'd rather not pay the £27.99 that Boots want for them http://www.boots.com/en/One-Touch-ultra ... s_1205538/ (although I probably could get the VAT off them).

Perhaps I could get a SD Codefree, but don't want to have two different meters.

 

[phoenix]

I doubt very strongly that anyone would go to the expense of manufacturing counterfeit strips

It's a lucrative market. I wouldn't be surprised if some fake strips turn up on UK ebay. They have in the US.

In 2006, about one million phony OneTouch test strips turned up in at least 35 states and in a number of countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. These counterfeit test strip kits, manufactured in China, were found to give incorrect readings, with the potential to cause patients to inject dangerous levels of insulin.

Also in 2006,

Johnson & Johnson and Lifescan successfully brought civil actions in a number of countries...The counterfeit test strips were sold via two Canadian companies to a number of U.S. distributors, which in turn ended up in over 700 U.S. pharmacies

and in 2009 Bayer strips were found to be illegally recycled

Nor AmPlastics Recycling Inc. fraudulently sold previously recalled test strips on eBay for $3700 in profits, while Bayer was paying $8000 to recycle the diabetic glucose strips that were recalled by Bayer.17

http://ukpmc.ac.uk/articles/PMC2787054/ ... MVp4.0#b17
( It's big business and these fakers don't 'just' stop at strips the article also describes the huge industry in counterfeit drugs including diabetes medications and insulin leading to many deaths in China and parts of the developing world.)

last detected counterfeit One Touch strips were found in India 2011
PDF contains info on how to recognise these particular fake strips
http://www.lifescan.com/responsibility/ ... erts/india

 

[Anonymous]

This really vindicates my advice about buying stuff of ebay. I have heard of scrapped medical equipment being rescued from skips and recycled without being checked, including ventilators! :shock:

 

[))Denise((]

Ebay is a marketplace of lots of different sellers, selling lots of different things. You pay your money and take your choice. If I was prescribed enough strips, then I wouldn't buy them from ebay, but I'm not worried about buying fakes.

 

[Anonymous]

Ebay is a marketplace of lots of different sellers, selling lots of different things. You pay your money and take your choice. If I was prescribed enough strips, then I wouldn't buy them from ebay, but I'm not worried about buying fakes.

I'm sorry, but your attitude just beggars belief! I'm simply astonished! Supposing those strips were inaccurate leading you to mismanage your diabetes. Of course Ebay is a diverse marketplace, but that's hardly the point is it? If you are using testing strips from ebay not knowing whether or not they are adulterated, then you may just as well not test at all.