Hi @Lovejoy00 This big a discrepancy isn't normal and for an experienced person like you it would seem unlikely that you ate/drank something that would make your BG that high.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'go with an average of 8.6'. In fact since you took the 7.6 reading first I don't know why you even bothered to take the 2nd reading at all.
Personally I don't have 2 different meters both with up-to-date test strips, but even if I did I couldn't see me double checking a reading a reading which was around what I expected/predicted it to be.
Unless you get more discrepancies I would just treat it as being a bad strip/contaminated test site for the 2nd reading. Even if you do get more discrepancies, it could just be a bad batch of test strips - these things do occasionally happen.
Whilst those numbers appear to be a long way out, given the accuracy tolerance of home finger prick meters (+/- 15%), they could be the same reading.
If your very accurate reading was 8.6, a home finger prick meter that complies with the UK standards of accuracy could report anything from 7.3 to 9.9.
I would never expect to meters to say the same thing.
This is why it is recommend to stick with one meter all the time.