What's the best Meter to buy?

I can see you are against buying strips from ebay ursus. It is my choice to do so. I keep detailed spreadsheets showing me trends over the last three years, so would know if I had a batch of dodgy strips. As I say about 50% of the strips have been prescribed to someone else, so if they were ok for them, they are ok for me. What i don't agree with is other diabetics making money out of their prescribed and not used strips.

Devil and the deep blue sea.
If the strips are from people who have been prescribed them, then the strips are good but the NHS ie the taxpayer has already paid. On the other hand fraudulent strips are funding a criminal industry.
I think it is interesting to compare with the ebay results for my country(Fr) with the UK.
For the last year very few strips have been prescribed to T2s in France so people are in a similar position to those in the UK. Today there are only 2 offerings on Ebay for 'bandeletttes de glycemie', both from private individuals. Woe betide you if you are a business claiming to be an individual in France . This compares with 243 for glucose test strips in the UK. (similar diabetic population)Survelliance of ebay in France would probably be considered excessive in the UK but it does stop a lot of frauds.
I have had to buy strips and have consequently paid the price in UK and French chemists. I get 6 a day, as a T1 (.5)); fine for every day but nowhere near enough when you run a marathons and do daft things like backpacking in the mountains. I've had to buy extra and haven't always been able to afford all I would have liked to buy.
I think if I had to buy strips all the time , I would go for the SD meter or, like Hana, at a lower cost, direct from the manufacturer.

I've said this loads of times, but if you get a meter from Abbott Diabetes Care [I have the Freestyle lite, but tey do several types] you have access to their wonderful patient support service. I bu my strips from them at about £15 per pack of 50. P&P is free by first class post. I order by phone andd am registered on their system, so it's quick and efficient. I've always got the correct order within 2 working days and often next day.
I used to think all the meter suppliers would have a similar service, but they don't. Getting strips for my Mother's Contour was much more complicated and expensive.
Hana

))Denise(( said:

I can see you are against buying strips from ebay ursus. It is my choice to do so. I keep detailed spreadsheets showing me trends over the last three years, so would know if I had a batch of dodgy strips. As I say about 50% of the strips have been prescribed to someone else, so if they were ok for them, they are ok for me. What i don't agree with is other diabetics making money out of their prescribed and not used strips.

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Well, Denise, you clearly know what you are doing and are able to identify problems with measurement when they arise. My concern is that there are a lot of people about who simply don't understand the issues.

It makes me think of the scandal in China, when a milk-formula manufacturer added chemicals to baby milk to increase bulk - illegally I might add - and killed and seriously injured a number of children and babies in the process.

I suppose it's a case of "buyer beware" but I would much prefer there to be strips available at reasonable prices from outlets where their source can be traced back to the original manufacturer.

ursus262 said:

I suppose it's a case of "buyer beware" but I would much prefer there to be strips available at reasonable prices from outlets where their source can be traced back to the original manufacturer.

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So would we all Ursus but it doesn't happen like that does it? I am one of those that have bought strips from Ebay purely because I am not in a financial position to buy from elsewhere. I have had strips and a meter given to me from an extremely kind member of this forum and it is due to the fact that I was able to test, my levels have come down.

We could all debate on the rights and wrongs of it but some of us have no choice unfortunately.

Must just add that Hana's idea of the Abbot meter is a good one, much cheaper than the rest but £15 is still out of my reach. I am now looking to get an SD Codefree, cheapest of the lot it seems.

I appreciate your concerns ursus262.

I buy my SD Codefree strips from Ebay, the UK distributor has a page there. Is it the private sellers you are worried about, rather than the distributors who also use Ebay?

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/310354761742?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&cbt=y

this is who I use - HomeHealthUK. They were very good when I phoned them with queries.

Before I got my strips on prescription, I bought mine from Amazon and never had a problem. Now my GP has reduced my unlimited strips to just 50 a month, I went onto Ebay and bought a 'job lot' for my Accu Chek aviva and they are fine, no sign of any prescription sticker. I would just say watch the seller, read the feedback carefully and then make your choice. I just can't see the point in paying £25+ for 50 strips if you can get them cheaper. That said, I would be absolutely fuming if I got some strips that had initially been prescribed, and therefore they were being gained on script, for profit.

[edit to add] My first meter was an SD codefree, I found it read a little higher than my Accu Check.