I am thinking of switching to the Bayer USB meter. It is so cute and small. Does it make cool graphs when you plug it into your computer? Are they useful?
Right now I have a One Touch Ultra. No bells and whistles at all, it’s fine.
I have a Macbook - so hopefully it’s compatible.
What I’d love to know is:
Price - any different with test strip pricing? Mine will be covered by insurance, but just wondering.
Accuracy - do you feel it’s a fairly accurate meter?
Incentives - anyone know of a way to get a discount/giveaway to try it out?
Thanks all!
I liked it, the only thing I didn’t really mess with is the graph (which is the whole point). I like being able to write down extra info when I test my sugar (I.e. What I ate, how much insulin I take). My pumps pdm has a meter on it so I ended up giving it away (70 bucks down the drain). New meters don’t do everything I want yet, till then I use apps or piece of paper
Cool. I’m on MDI so I don’t have much of anything right now - I do like being able to look at my averages though so I’m not totally off-base when it comes to my A1c every 3 months at the doc.
There is one on ebay and no one has bid on it $20 - $30, check it out
I use the wave sense app in my iPod touch, check it out, it’s free on iTunes. It gives averages and has cool maps, I like it because I can input the carbs I eat,insulin I take,etc.
As minimed provides the regular Bayer contour Link for the pump, that would be nice if the contour usb could communicate with my pump but it isn’t the case. But it seems a great glucometer. You can bring it in your doctor office and plug it in his PC to see the results. The app is already in the contour usb. It could generates some reports. The only con I find is the price. I think that if a company want that I use their strips, they should provide me a free glucometer …
Anyway, If you try it, share with us your comments !!! 
I’ve had the older contour for years and HATE their software. They just updated it and it’s still bad. I’ve been thinking about the USB one but the software…! I used to have the One Touch and preferred their software. My Doctor likes the new Contour software but I think they have the professional version. I think all the meters are the same as far as accuracy.
I’ve had the Contour USB for about a month and really like it. It records your reading as well as whether it’s before/after a meal, and you can add other notes such as whether you’re sick or have just exercised. I had to pay for the meter, though, and that’s the first time I’ve ever had to do that. The meter plugs into any USB port on a computer and displays graphs, averagesa, and other useful information. It’s very fast—much fasters than downloading from my pump and then importing into CoPilot. The only thing I wish is that it could record more information (like the OneTouch UltraSmart) and also that the information could be exported to other applications like Excel (I can’t figure out a way to do that) so that it could be combined with the information my pump records and stored in one place. I also like that you can use the meter as a USB drive to hold 500 MB of whatever you want—Word files, pictures, music, etc. Overall I really lke the meter, though, and don’t see myself switching back to something else anytime soon unless something even better comes around.
I agree with everyone else that the software has a lot to be desired. One Touch has Bayer beat hands down.
I love the color screen on the Bayer. If the One Touch would come with a colored screen I would switch back in a heart beat.
I do not know about anyone else but I am having problems saving the files as pdfs without printing them out. I get an error message about half to three quarters of the time.
If you want small, cute and give away contact One Touch for their Mini. If you want bells and whistles try the One Touch Ultra Smart.
So they combined the meter with an usb interface and then the values can not be exported by the software. An epic failure in my view. I hope they will improve the software and the stick can be updated.
I’m having problems getting it to print my readings on less than 40 or 50 pages!!! I tried saving to PDF and it went down a couple pages only. I can’t find a setting that condenses it down to a manageable number, I’ve called them several times and have been no help. If anyone knows please let me know. Right now I just let my Doc do it.
I have found that if you can print it it does condense it down to about 2/3 of the pages. I do agree with you the number of pages it uses to print out is outrageous. I would save it to a pdf file and then only print out the pages show when you tested the before or after meals etc. The second half of the pages is the same thing it just lists the times. I found out that if you do not put a note with the test then it is not listed on the 2nd half of the pages.
I bought two Bayer USB Meters. I paid $74 each. (you can get one free now!)
I loved the technology. One day my meter acted very strangely. I contacted Customer support.
Mistake, after gathering information that only stopped at the color of my underwear, I was informed that a “Specialist” would call me back within… 2 hours. SECOND Mistake!!
Three days later while I was cooking Sunday dinner for guests the “specialist” called back. No, I would not stop cooking and start checking my meter, this person spoke BARELY legible English, was insistent that I do what I was told NOW!
Finally I hung up. I am normally a polite, easy going person,I had reached my limit. This was my SECOND experience with a “specialist” I emailed my complaint and experience. Two days later i received what appeared to be a semi form letter with poor grammer.
My complaint was basically ignored. I was told to to call back to the 800 and yet another specialist would help me 24 HOURS PER DAY DAYS per week etc etc
I tried one more time with the same results. Bayer has not responded to my complaints