I checked out your profile before answering which says you are T1..
As you said your BG increased slightly etc since stopping your lantus, background insulin actually take a couple of days to fully burn out the system even though after the first 24 hours they might not have much effect on the BG, but can prevent DKA setting in...
You need to replace this background insulin with something, there are several older Isophane insulin both Human and Animal (the cloudy ones) which you can replace with.. T1's can't survive on quick acting insulin alone.. Unless you want a lot of hassel..
I use a insulin pump, brillient piece of kit, but does have one draw back, it uses only quick acting to do both the background and the food you eat.. I can detach my pump anytime I want or for as long as I want but if I'm going to have it off for longer than 2 hours, I've got to bolus the missing basal, then I have to bolus the missing basal every 2 hours, otherwise I can go into DKA very quick..
Under normal circumstances you wouldn't expect to see ketones below 12mmol/l and BG's here or above needs ketone checking, but some diabetics are more resilient than others so could get quite high before they experience any ketones..
But you can must admit rare go into DKA at a normal BG levels.. This generally happen if it's going to when you already suffered a period of illeness, such as after you've recovered from a bug etc.. I had this while I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, BG hit 8mmol/l I went into DKA, and DKA is something that once you've had once you never want again..
As to whether the keton meters are better than ketosticks, not sure the meter are in some ways yes more accurate but can be missleading so you do have to know how to interpreate the results probably...
Yes Ketosicks, are based on a time lag, but in generally this time lag doesn't make the greatest of difference if you following the sick day rules plan, you see an hint you start making correction to your BG if they are high to bring them back into the normal range, plenty of fluid to flush them out, keep checking until sorted..
But as I said, if you are T1 and you've stopped your background insulin and having replaced with another type, then you need to see a doctor straight away otherwise you are going to hit serious trouble very soon