I dont have a lot of experience with meters, but I have a Freestyle Freedom Mini and it uses a really really teeny tiny sample to test. Which is a bonus for me as I dont bleed much!
And the lancet really is painless to use.
I get my strips on prescription but if you have to buy them you can get them direct from the company for £15 a pack, which is a lot cheaper than the shops who charge upwards of £25. Not as cheap as the Codefree but Freestyle also replace other consumables like Cables, lancet device and batteries for free, as well as control solution so this is a bit of a bonus. As I said I have very little experience of meters so dont know if all companies offer this as standard!