I have four meters–Freestyle Freedom Lite, Accu-Check Aviva, One Touch Ultra 2 & One Touch Ultra. Tested them against a lab test today. The Freestyle was closest to the lab results, with the One Touch Ultra 2 being second, but there was only a difference of two points between them. The Accu-Check Aviva was around 23 points higher than the other three & about 20 points higher than the lab results. I’ve always found the Accu-Check to be high, compared to the others, when I’ve used it to double-check any strange readings I’ve had.
P.S.
Meant to include if anyone has tested their meters against lab tests & what you have found. Thanks.
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.
Thanks for sharing. I ordered the freebie Contour & was wondering about this one. Interesting about the Contour strips.
The TrueTrack calibrated just fine… 6.2 vs 6.0 from the lab.
Thanks for letting me know.
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?
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/TRUEtrack-Clinical_eval-accuracy-TT077.pdf
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.
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?
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.
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.
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 st vs st 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.
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.
Dear Debbie. Yes. $10 per hundred was a good deal. Too bad Wall Street lost all of the insurance company money.
Dear Andy.
Yes the US is bewildering if you try to understand it logically. You have to analyze it by thinking who would loose if they had universal health care. One group is the lawyers since there are next to no medical lawsuites in Canada. Which profession runs the US politics? Yes, they do, et voila!
Also if I would have been Rick Waggoner logically I should not mind that the Govt picks up my health costs. But no that would be Communism and since 1945 they spent about 20 trillion defeating Communism you cant have it of your own free will, logical. But the Wall street boys and the car companies have enjoyed the trillion dollar bailout so far and they will need much more. Is this Communism?
Thanks Andy and everyone. Next time I check, I’’ use the same little finger 3 times and see if there is a big difference. My strips for my meter use to cost only $10.00 a month for 100 strips. Of course I use about 200 strips. Now with this PPO and I have the high option plan on my husband’s insurance, (United Healthcare). I knew some stuff had changed, but this was a SURPRISE TO ME!
Yes, 100.00 bucks, it is consider a 3 tier instead of a 1 tier. Each tier from 1 -3 you have to pay a co-payment for your prescription. one being low and 3 being high. I guess, I better go check my freaking medicine like my transplant med and such. It seem ok at the time.
One thing bad about insurance, they can change the tiers on any medication at any given time. I guess, I bettter be thankful at least I have some sort of insurance.
Oh, speaking of China. While I was in my Fall classes, I took Model African Union and found out that China is helping Africa.They are going to loan money, to them for exchange for their minerals. The Untied States is pretty upset with China right now. Here is the webpage.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1658_assignment_2008/page8.shtml