Hello, I decided to subscribe to the OneDrop premium service. I wonder if anyone else is having the same problems I am having and have found any solutions. My meter is testing at 50-60 points higher than my other meters. The app will not keep my profile information: diagnosis, gender and date of diagnosis. I cannot “Get started with the experts” the app doesn’t do anything when I click that. Meter doesn’t transfer data unless I force sync it. If anyone has any information that might help, I’d greatly appreciated it. I did email the problems to OneDrop, but I am just so frustrated at this point. I hope I didn’t make a mistake doing this, as I am self pay and I don’t have any “discretionary funds” to waste. Thank you in advance.
I would contact support. I did have the problem with the meter seeming to not sync until ‘forced’, but that went away with the last update. My One Drop shows a little higher than my other meter some of the time, but not 50-60 points. Also, my A1c last time was significantly higher than my meter/CGM, so the old meter may have been too low…
I have noticed one thing with One Drop – the meter is VERY accepting of blood drops that are too small, but it seems to give results that make a bit less sense than when there is adequate blood on the strip - and those “Errors” seem to be in both high and low directions.
Contact their support - takes a little while for them to get back, but I have found them helpful.
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Thank you for responding. I think I have the “bugs” worked out now. I had to uninstall the App and then re-install it. As for the discrepancy readings, that seems better now too. I took your advice and am using a “larger drop of blood”. Support also did respond. 
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I wonder… what meter did you use before One Drop? The one I used before needed a larger drop of blood, but I’ve noticed that some people who come from one that needs less blood have this sort of problem.
I have Freestyle, Bayer Contour, and Relion Prime meters. I do have a question. What is the advantage of using a control solution? Do I need to do that?
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I don’t know about the others, but Freestyle certainly uses a small blood drop…
The control solution is used to verify the accuracy of the meter - to make sure it is operating within specs. I believe it’s recommended to do such a test once a month or so (for all meters). I have not used it nearly that often, in fact, I don’t use the control solution unless i am concerned that the meter has “appeared” to be way out of line. Ask support what they think about how often you should use it – or ask your expert in the app.
Troubling readings again, and I made sure to use different fingers after washing. Relion meter 281. OneDrop 385 on one finger and 312 on the next finger in 3 minutes. I did not give any corrective insulin either. Surely this makes no sense. I have sent several requests to get Control Solution, but I keep getting a response 12 hours later stating “I should let them know if I want the Control Solution”. (I am now out of strips for the Contour and Freestyle and the piggybank is empty, so I cannot buy any more of those, to test against 2 other meters.) 
Have you also asked in the app from your expert? Sometimes they can light a fire under the support folks when a problem needs immediate attention.
I suggest skipping the Control Solutions — there are better options for testing whether a meter is performing properly.
I use a second meter to do a crosscheck, but I do it in a very specific way. First, I take ALL samples from a single pool of blood. I may do a single deep finger puncture or a couple of smaller ones, But ALL blood is taken at one time and carefully mixed together. I learned this from a rep for one of the early meter companies a number of years ago. It does make a difference! Using multiple fingers and even a few minutes in time muddies the water.
This test can tell you if a single meter is repeatable or if two meters are close together. But it cannot tell you if either meter is accurate. For that, you would need a laboratory standard. However, if two meters read consistently close to each other, I have more confidence than I can get from Control Solution.
Thank you for replying. Initially I had used the same large drop of blood to test with three meters and twice with the OneDrop. I got OneDrop values 50-60 and now over a 100 points different. I got an e-mail response from OneDrop telling me I needed to use different finger sticks, and to wash my hands first (as if I didn’t know to have clean hands). At this point, I have done it several different ways and exhausted my supply of Freestyle and Contour strips. They are now going to send me the Control Solution. I wonder why they just don’t include a bottle of the solution in the first place. I am probably driving them crazy with support questions, but I want this to work.
I didn’t think to ask the expert, thanks for the idea,
It is entirely possible that you simply have a bad group of strips. I haven’t had that issue, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. I don’t think the meter itself is likely the issue.
Not sure I’m understanding. If you do multiple samples with your OneDrop, using the same, well-mixed blood pool, what is the spread of results. What was 100 points different and under what test method?
I think test solutions are not automatically included because they have an expiration date and most folks are unwilling to continue paying for fresh bottles. It’s been a while since I looked at this, but test solutions used to have a pretty wide range for what was considered acceptable.
Could you get a diabetic relative or friend to do a joint test with you? Three test strips each from two different meters should give you a good indication of meter repeatability and consistency with each other. As was noted though, either the meter or batch of strips could be the problem. You would have that same issue using control solutions as well.
I’d even be willing to send you a dozen test strips, with a meter if needed, if that would help. But I’m not sure if one-on-one transactions like that are permitted on the forum?
I tested the drop of blood with the Relion prime meter and got 281 with the Relion, OneDrop reading of 387, A 106 point difference. On other separate tests there were 50-60 point differences. They are sending me control solution. I had no idea test strips could be defective. I have only been diabetic for a little less than 4 years and there is a lot I don’t know.
Well, I’ve been at this for a bit longer. Let’s just say the first 50 years are the hardest!
I think getting defective test strips or meters is a rare event these days. I’ve used a variety of meters and the only one I thought was really off is no longer made. And that was so long ago that I can’t recall the name. There may be variability from one vial to another, but nothing like what you are describing. Of course, I’ve not tried the OneDrop, so I can’t comment on that specific brand.
I have used the Relion Prime and while I think the Relion Micro is a bit more spot on, readings from both meters were pretty close and pretty consistent. And they in turn are pretty close with my One Touch meter and strips.
Good luck on getting this all sorted out.
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BG meters are only required to be 15-20% within range of actual BG.
At higher levels they tend to be less accurate, as it often means they are designed to be more accurate in the lower ranges. But will vary by meter because of the different chemical agent and sensing device they use to measure glucose.
So your actual BG may have been around 320, and they were both approximately right.
Generally when I don’t trust the meter reading, I take another test, making sure my hands are clean and dry.
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I absolutely agree that meters become more inaccurate in the higher range. And while the possibility that two successive readings will read at opposite extremes of their error ranges is improbable, if you roll the dice long enough, that will happen. For that reason, when I consider meter/strip consistency, I like to take multiple tests.
But consider a hypothetical “perfect” meter that always tells me the exact correct answer. If I’m in the 300-ish range, I will apply a crude formula, considering when my last food intake and insulin shot occurred. And I will take my extra insulin shot to make a correction. But there is no way I am regularly going to stick a perfect landing from that level. My realistic objective is to get me into a range where I can make a second small correction of either insulin or food. And hopefully that first attempt will put me in the range where meter accuracy is greater and I can fine tune with some confidence.
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I’m a touch late to this. I had enough test strips from my One Touch left so I’ve been comparing side by side with my three-week-old One Drop. Mine are calibrated pretty much the same. Customer support is amazingly responsive. You COULD have a bad device. I LOVE it. I love endless test strips. I used to ration at a dollar a strip (bought the off brands online - which were pretty freaking accurate, btw). I love the app slightly less because it could be a tiny bit more streamlined but it’s a minor thing. I also had to force sync at the very beginning. You can unpair it and pair it again. No issues now. I’m a fan.
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