Libre 2 Plus trial v Dexcom 1+ trial

Hi all - apologies if some of this has been covered already but I'm fairly new to the forum and diabetes.

My Libre 2+ arrived to day and after some minor trials and tribulations I got it attached to my arm and connected to my Samsung.
After 60 minutes it beeped to say it was now activated.
As is new users wont (I imagine) I monitored readings continuously for several hours and constantly checked to ensure it hadn't fallen off.

The readings were sort of in line with my fingerprick ones recently, but then an alarm that my reading was low at 3.9. I hastily checked with real blood and it read 5.9 so hmm, and 10 minutes later the "low" reading cleared and rose to in-zone.

1. I wondered if this is something to do with bedding in the device or a random quirk that I should expect?

2. At the end of 14 days does it switch off? or cease to work ? Nothing to say in otherwise decent instructions.

3. If I wish to continue are there "deals" or a standard premium for all users? Again no information

Still early days/hours for me but I really hope it helps me monitor the readings better and act accordingly. Not quite sure as yet if I can afford it.

Replies/comments much appreciated

IanBish said:

Hi Pete.

1. CGMs can take a day after insertion to settle down
2. It will cease functioning and will tell you to insert a new sensor
3. There are subscriptions, but I got various free trials, and generally bought mine ad-hoc

Click to expand...

Thanks Ian

Lakeslover said:

If it’s the libre 2+ it lasts 15 days rather than 14. It will tell you it’s going to end, and then stop. They can take a little while to bed in, but even then for me they read around 0.5 to 1 lower than blood testing at low levels, and the same amount higher at high at levels. But it’s still a really good indicator of trends, and good for testing tge impact of different meals,

If you chose to fund them you can get them vat free….if you buy from abbot there is a box to tick to say you are entitled and just a little info to complete.

Dexcom usually have a free trial as well.

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Thank you

Further to this thread if anyone is interested.

15 day trial completed ok and I was generally happy with the sensor etc which consistently read 0.2 lower than pinprick readings.

I bought my 2nd sensor from Chemist4U in the UK who sell at already discounted rates free of VAT. Incidentally I asked Abbott about relief from VAT and their response was to contact my tax office.

Update Day 3.
Readings seem to be consistent after initial fluctuations on day of fitting. My concern is the alarm activating randomly sometimes after 20 minutes or several hours. The alarms are not triggered by lost signal nor high or low readings so why?
I've turned off the high/low alarm now but the spurious alarms continue and I wonder if this is a fault or a common occurrence I haven't seen previously.
Your comments greatly appreciated.

Further update on 26 March 2026

My 2nd Libre 2+ sensor abandoned after 5 days because of random unexplained alarms/alerts. Losing a lot of sleep and patience.

Started trial with Dexcom 1+ yesterday.
Lot of fluctuation thus far and big gulf between fingerprick and Dexcom corrected with recalibration this morning.
Already prefer the app and options available.
Big pluses for me :-
No need to scan sensor
Can suppress "loss of signal" alert for 20 mins so it's more likely to be a real issue.
More data to analyse and manipulate.

Fingers crossed
Pete