I was just searched around for all the different meters and I am interested to know what types of meters everyone here are using and their appreciation and criticisms regarding the meter. I will go first.
I am having accu-check compact plus, overall I like it. It has a 16 strip drum, so not having to insert each strip or code the meter. Actually I am in my second meter of this type; my first meter is dropped and got broken. What was weird though was there is little place to hold the strip in place for the reading. It has features to upload your codes to the computer but I never tried it yet. If there is an error code of 27 ever comes, try cleaning the little optic. I wasted lot of test strips to figure out this.
Prior to accu-check I was using a FastTake meter which I liked at that time, it need a lot more blood to check and the results took a minute, so the fasttake was a step up in how quickly it checked. But I hate to code the meter.
Anyone had any bad experiences they want to share and keep people away from certain brands/model and why?
But these days, they are all about the same with very slight feature differences but I still I want to know what I am missing?
I am using OneTouch Ultra 2 they are simple to use, and what the pharmacist recommended this when I was first diagnosed. All that sell diabetic supplies in my town carry the strips so handy for me.
My sister given me OneTouch Ultra meter when I was first diagnosed. But test strips are expensive & my doctor let me know the Walmart brand’s “ReliOn” which was half the price for the strips.
The only trouble I've had is that since we don't have central heat in our old house, our bedrooms aren't heated. I was keeping the meter on the nightstand & testing before I ever got out bedding in the morning just a precaution against dawn phenomenon. I started getting error readings, so I did some investigation & came to know that the meter didn't like the 30-40° temperatures in that bedroom.
Dlife.com always has a free meter ad. I received by first free Accuchek in the mid 1980's, it was a big clumsy looking meter. Whenever a new model is introduced the company sent me new meter and asked for my evaluation of the meter. Once I saw an ad on Dlife for a free Free Style meter and I ordered that and asked for two additional meters to have one in my bed room, one by my computer and one in my wife's purse useful when we are away from home. They sent me the two extra meters. My doctor allowed me to get strips for 10 tests per day. But I want to test more so I bought Walmart's Relion BS meter for $9 and the box of 100 strips costs around $40. The strips cost is less than half compare with others. Relion meters are quite good and give me numbers much similar to Free Style. I have not had any problems with any of the meters I had used.
So I use Free Style till the shipment of strips is gone, then use Relion until the next shipment of Free Style reaches me.