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Recommended blood glucose meter

J

jamesrbg

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hello all
I'm newly diagnosed type 2
I was hoping I could get some advice on a good BG meter. I've had a look through some other posts and a popular meter seems to be the SD code free, however some seem to question its accuracy.
I would be really helpful to me if anyone could let me know what they use, what they think of it and how much the strips are ( if you're self funded). I don't really want to pay a fortune for the strips, I'd rather spend more on a meter and less on the strips but I don't know if it works like that.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

James
 
jamesrbg said:
Thanks. What are the cost like for your strips?
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The Accu-Check Model has a cassette which holds 50 tests. It doesn't use strips. The cassette costs around £20 and expires after 90 days from the first time you use it. You also have to buy lancettes, but these are relatively cheap.
 
I have a Codefree and an Accu Chek Mobile. The AC Mobile cassettes are £27.99 retail from Boots. That is for 50 tests.
The Codefree are about £7 something, with big discounts if you buy in bulk.

As you need an awful lot of strips, the Codefree is very popular on this forum. I prefer the AC Mobile for its convenience in not having strips as such, so no danger of handling contamination. It also comes with an Accu Chek Fastclix lancet pen. The lancets are contained in a plastic drum which is inserted in the pen, so you also don't see or touch the lancets. I use the Fastclix pen on the Codefree, too. However, the cassettes are expensive.
 
I've been very happy with the Bayer Contour XT. It runs 7 tests on each sample, and gives the average. It's very consistent, and strips cost about 50 cents (euros) each. Not the cheapest, but reasonable.
 
Spirit Health care seem to have some
Bluetit1802 said:
I have a Codefree and an Accu Chek Mobile. The AC Mobile cassettes are £27.99 retail from Boots. That is for 50 tests.
The Codefree are about £7 something, with big discounts if you buy in bulk.

As you need an awful lot of strips, the Codefree is very popular on this forum. I prefer the AC Mobile for its convenience in not having strips as such, so no danger of handling contamination. It also comes with an Accu Chek Fastclix lancet pen. The lancets are contained in a plastic drum which is inserted in the pen, so you also don't see or touch the lancets. I use the Fastclix pen on the Codefree, too. However, the cassettes are expensive.
Click to expand...
Many thanks
Some really good information there.
 
jamesrbg said:
Spirit Health care seem to have some.
Click to expand...

Yes, a new kid on the block with a TEE2 meter. The strips aren't much more than the Codefree. Various forum members are trying it and it does seem to read about the same as the Codefree, which is higher than some other meters. But who is to say what the true reading is? It is all part of this mysterious game called diabetes.
 
I had been using the contour xt recieved free from bayer now acensia. I have last month purchased a contour next one off ebay for £10. They both use the same strips which I purchase from ebay for less than £10 for 50.

I love the blutooth transfer of results on the next one to the app on my phone and the app makes it so easy to keep track with an alarm I can add to remind to test again in 2 hours. I can set my own targets, even take pictures of my food and make notes.
 
I find the codefree to be reasonably accurate for readings around 5.0-5.5 over 6 and its off the scale inaccurate and below 5 it can be very inaccurate too.

The Tee2 seems to read slightly more accurately for readings up to 6.0.

The accu check mobile is my preferred meter, but as said is an expensive hobby.

I generally use the accu check for morning fasting numbers due to its perceived accuracy and then the tee2 during the day to identify trends.
 
I use the SD Codefree and am very happy with it. Strips are around £7.50 for 50, or you can buy in bulk and get discounts.

Don't really know how accuracy of one meter over another can be determined- if two readings are different, there's no way to tell which is more accurate and all meters have a margin of error.
 
Does your doctor's surgery give out meters for free if they do try one of them then no excuse for not giving you test strips (hopefully)?
 
Dairygrade said:
Does your doctor's surgery give out meters for free if they do try one of them then no excuse for not giving you test strips (hopefully)?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input.
My doctor's surgery are reluctant to give me a meter for some reason. Something to do with being a type two and the medication being Metformin, saying that it won't make me go Hypo. If this is right then fair enough but I would still like to keep track of what causes highs and lows from a diet point of view. I have recently put in a second request and will know on Monday.
 
Yes that's true for some unknown reason some health profesionals say type 2 diabetics don't need to test how the hell your supposed to know what's going on is beyond me but being type 1 on 4injections a day I haven't really gone into it all I can say is keep pressing for a meter if no result afraid you may have to buy one there's a lot of good meters out there try to get one with cheap test strips have a look at others blogs to see what their using PS I use a nexus Rx supplied by surgery. Hope all goes well let us know?
 
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