Yesterday I started using a Dario Blood Glucose monitor. It came with 150 strips, so I will give it a try until those 150 run out before making any decisions.
If you’re not aware, the Dario is a meter that comes in a cool “container” that holds the lancing device, strips and a little dongle thingy that you plug into your iPhone. I just got started and did a test before bed and right when I woke up. The iPhone app has some cool analytics stuff and I’m interested to see some of the graphs it comes up with in the future.
I’m curious if any other TuDiabetes users have used this meter. My exposure has been limited, but I find that using my iPhone to also be my meter has been clunky and I don’t have a good rhythm yet. Does that ever get better? Also, do you find your iPhone battery draining quickly?
I like the Contour Next automatically sending my number to my (Medtronic) pump, and it’s reputed to be one of the most accurate meters in itself. But I’ve gone hybrid as regards CGM (I use a Dexcom, not Enlite) so I’m not totally wedded to the Medtronic ecosystem, much as they try to keep you corralled. And there are a lot of things that intrigued me about the Dario when I first heard of it a while back. Definitely interested to hear from others who are using it.
I have the Dario meter, but have only been using is as a supplemental meter (I use the Livongo meter most of the time). I see what you mean about it feeling “clunky” to use with the iPhone – takes a bit of use to get the mechanics right, I think. I love the small size of the Dario and the all-in-one (except for the phone) aspect of it.
I took the Dario along with me on a long bike ride – I have a carrier for my iPhone, though I have to take the phone out of the carrier to test. The small meter made taking it along effortless, plus the very small sample size meant that I had a meter that actually worked, despite my sweaty hands! I like this meter, though for now, I think the cost will be a bit much for me to use it as a primary (unless I can get insurance coverage for it).
i noticed that you can now get unlimited strips through Dario for $25/month if you pay yearly and $30/month if you pay quarterly. That seems quite reasonable especially if you stick 6-8x per day.
’m thinking about buying this meter and their unlimited strips plan because Medicare covers strips poorly. For $25/month (paid yearly), I could get this meter. Wondering your experience with how accurate it is and also if having a case on your phone hinders the ability to plug in the module?
Having to plug a dongle into Iphone every time you need a bg reading. Wow, not sure I want to deal with that.
Some of the Medisense meters were almost that small. I’m thinking of the Medisense pen meter, and it had it’s own (tiny little LCD numbers) display built in.
I’ve used one of these Dario meters as a quick substitute for my Contour meter for about 2.5 years. It isn’t as consistent as the Contour, but it almost always is within 20% of a Contour reading, which I occasionally use at the same time. The Dario will read high if the blood it’s measuring has a high vitamin C level. Vitamin C is pretty hard to avoid here in the USA, but I find that asssuming a 10% high reading will give me a good number for comparing with my G6 sensor most of the time. I don’t use it for fine tuning my sensor, but it gives a quick ball park check on the G6.
I had to do some cutting on an Otterbox case that I had on my iPhone 6, in order to plug the dongle into the phone. The cheap case that I got for my iPhone 12 doesn’t restrict the lightning connector the way the Otterbox did, and I can use the Dario without any case modification.
Ah, good to know! I appreciate the feedback. I have been using a Freestyle Libre Sensor but not being on insulin, I pay for that out of my pocket and it has risen to $75/month at CVS, so was thinking about going back to fingersticking. The Dario is appealing since I stick 6-8x/day and they have unlimited strips for $25/month. A bit unsettling about the vitamin C issue (also supposedly an issue with the Freestyle sensor although I can’t tell it - my fingersticks are always higher than the sensor). I take megadoses of C for other reasons, so wonder. Perhaps I’ll try a Contour meter for the heck of it or possibly do both and see what gives. I’ve been using a cheap Reli-On meter from Walmart but my readings are pretty far away from the Sensor so no sure about it. Good to know about the case. I have a cheap wallet type case for my iPhone 12, so I don’t think the dongle issue will be an issue if I go that route.
I will say that 20% is not too good - hoping for maybe 10% at the most. But it’s not a perfect world…
The Contour has a reputation of very good accuracy, so you would multiply the reading of 80 by 1.2 to increase the reading by 20%, getting 96 as 20% greater.
I just measured the Dario dongle to see the case requirements. The opening in the case needs to be at least 10mm by 15mm if the case is more than 5mm thick. If the case is thinner, no cutting should be necessary.
