Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gerri on September 5, 2008 at 6:12pm

P.S.

Meant to include if anyone has tested their meters against lab tests & what you have found. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by David Lamb on September 5, 2008 at 9:57pm

My One Touch Ultra, Ultra 2, Mini, and Ultra Smart, and my Contour (2 button) have always been reasonably close to my lab calibrations.

I'm currently trying a True Track and I'll calibrate it next week.

I've used 3 different Accu-Chek Avivas and they've all read seriously high. The one I had lab calibrated was 19.6% high. I won't use Avivas any more.

I tried the AgaMatrix Wave Sense Keynote (called iTest in Canada) because it is promoted as being particularly accurate, but mine failed to live up to the hype. My first one calibrated at 22% high, and its replacement was 26% high. I won't use them any more either.

Note that Contour accuracy depends on which strip you are using. Ascensia now has two different strips available; Microfill and Contour. Both types work with the old 2 button Contour and with the new 3 button Contour, but only the Contour strip with the new Contour meter give you 5 second testing. The new Contour with the original Microfill strips and the old Contour with either strip take 15 seconds. I seem to remember the stated accuracy is worse with the fast test.

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on September 5, 2008 at 10:29pm

Thanks for sharing. I ordered the freebie Contour & was wondering about this one. Interesting about the Contour strips.

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Permalink Reply by David Lamb on September 14, 2008 at 10:17pm

The TrueTrack calibrated just fine... 6.2 vs 6.0 from the lab.

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on September 14, 2008 at 10:49pm

Thanks for letting me know.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on December 28, 2008 at 6:25pm

Dear David.

That is fascinating that you True Track reading was accurate with the lab test. The only time I tried it the precision or repeatability( i.e. 3 readings at the same time from the same finger should be quite similar.) was awful. That was about a year ago they may have improved things. The precision and accuracy of my 60 second Ascentia years ago was unbelievably good. But they stopped making the strips. The 5 second test time has decreased accuracy and precision.

Interesting to read that the accucheck is always seriously high. Is it consistently high or usually high and sometimes low. If it is always high you can compensate a bit but if it is not consistent then it is like playing Russian roulette.

We should do 3 tests from the same finger at the same time as our lab work and keep on reporting the results under topic of "glucose meters". Maybe then with a lot of data we could see if any meter is better than others. I still have about 200 strips of Accucheck needless to say I will not be purchasing any more. I am wondering if I should throw then in the garbage?

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Permalink Reply by Andy on January 1, 2009 at 5:47pm

I just obtained a TrueTrack, and was interested that it read .7 mmol less than the OneTouch (I am in Canada and don't know what that converts into the US, but a 6.5 is considered good and a range from 5.5-7 is very acceptable).

I found an interesting link (I suspect the makers of TrueTrack paid for the study), which seems to indicate that all meters tested are with in a pretty acceptable range.

The study is here at http://www.hdidiabetes.com/our_products/downloads/bgm_true_track/TR...

I am pretty fastidious in wanting my tests to be as accurate as possible, so I would be interested in others who have experience with either of these products.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on January 2, 2009 at 2:49pm

Dear Andy. My true track was horrible too much variation between same time same finger readings to be usable but this was 1 year ago.

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Permalink Reply by Debbie on January 2, 2009 at 1:43pm

First, how are you testing your meter against a lab test? Is that where you go in for a fasting lab and they draw blood and then you use your meter?

Second, I just found out that my insurance will start charging 100.00 bucks a month for my Acuu-Chek strips instead of 10.00 being's it is on a 3 tier range as of the new year. They want us to change to one of these meters of course with the Doctor's approval:

FreeStyle Lite, Free Style, One Touch Ultra, One Touch or Precision Xtra. Of course they will furnished the pump. The strips should only cost 10.00 month for I guess 100 strips?
I guess beside meter checking accuracy, what meter is best from these listed?

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Permalink Reply by Andy on January 2, 2009 at 2:21pm

Debbie, I just tested the TrueTrack against the OneTouch which I was previously using.

I am not on a plan, and the TrueTrack strips cost virtually 50% of the costs of the OneTouch ($40 vs. $80), so that was my motivation to change.

Are you saying that it costs $100 in the U.S. for 100 strips???? Wow... I thought it was a lot here! Thank god we have a universal health care plan that can't cancel due to pre-existing conditions, and at no extra costs to us.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on January 2, 2009 at 3:09pm

Dear Andy.

Price sure is a consideration when you have 0 insurance although you wonder if we buy more Chinese stuff will we loose all of our jobs and need to bail out everyone with our non-existant tax dollars.

Try and do 3 true track readings same finger same time 3 different pricks if you can stand the pain. From this we can get an idea if the precisionhas improved. Comparing meters is comparing s**t vs s**t does not tell you anything about accuracy only a lab comparaison will. If you could do the 3 test strips at the same time as the lab blood test then that would tell us about precision and accuracy. A way to see the difference is to visualized a dart game. If you consider the bull's eye as 100% accurate. And throw a bunch of darts, the way the darts bunch up is precision and how far the average dart position is from the bullseye is accuracy. If you meter behaves like a closely bunched group of darts that are far from the bulleyes but always the same percentage to the right then that would not be accurate but still usable as you could correct the readings. Alternately is the darts are scatered all around the bullseye with the average being dead on that would be accurate but the precision would be bad and you could only used such a meter by taking several readings and taking the average. At a buck a piece and an insulted finger this is possible but not fun.

10 years ago my Ascentia was unbelivable. The center position was always 5% less than the lab results and the readinds were within 3% of their mean. With this meter you could really manage your diabetes. The reason why it was so well behaved is that it took 60 seconds to mke a measurement instead of the 5 seconds needed now. The modern meters are all 5 seconds and are all s**t.

WE should be quiet about things being cheaper in Canada.

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Permalink Reply by Andy on January 2, 2009 at 4:21pm

Anthony... you know, I am probably as conservative a thinker that there is, and I cannot for the life of me understand the rabid opposition in the States to universal, single pay healthcare. My girlfriend, now working here in Canada, is a nurse who worked in California for 20 years, and she sees the difference in the quality of healthcare the general population has in Canada compared to the U.S.

Anybody who says, "But you have such long waiting lists" is thinking in terms of hips and knee replacements. From personal experience, when you need it, the healthcare and specialists are there in spades. I pity those who are in HMO's down in the States... talk about restrictions.

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