Another contributor once expressed concern over his Accu-Check since he thought it might be inaccurate. He and I tried to find out just how accurate our respective meters were so we each contacted our suppliers and asked what the actual concentration of the control solutions were. Leaving aside the thread which was about 80 posts long we learned the following.
His Accu-check reads about 1.3 mmol/l high
My SD Codefree reads about 1 mmol/l high in the lower range but goes haywire in the upper range.
My Freestyle Freedom Lite is very accurate in the lower range and about 2 mmol/l high in the upper range.
The lower range being below 10 (3.8 solution) and the upper range being in the high teens.
All of which is a bit academic unless you want to frighten your nurse. She expects my readings to be taken with the Freestyle so if I use the SD I knock one point off.
The SD is the cheapest to run by far if you have to pay for your own test strips. From memory, if you get the VAT taken off they are less than £6 for 50. Being a cheapskate I sometimes use the SD for this very reason.
Most people are concerned about accuracy but research by Zurich University which compared most available meters suggests that none of them are completely accurate.
One very strange thing came out of our testing. The other contributor found that his test solution was 6.7. This figure was supplied by Roche and not by measurement. The tolerance of his test strips quoted on the package was also 6.7 at the low end and this was not involving the meter at all. Our conclusion was that since the meter was prone to reading high the manufacturer played the advantage rule with his tolerances.
There are lots of meters out there but these are the only ones we looked at. (Other meters are available).
For the other insomniacs among you
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=33985
