One is obviously screwed up. Use the control solution (each one should have come with its own) and perform a check on each. I don’t know anything about Medtronic, but one of my Accu-Checks went screwy once and they sent me a new one pretty quick, for free, and had me send the faulty one back.
Actually, these readings are not that out of whack - meters are all going to have a 10-20% error rate… Sucks - but that’s how it is. Frustrating, to be sure.
It IS frustrating and crazy-making, which is why I don’t confuse myself with two monitors anymore. I can use the BD to load my bgs to my Medtronic pump or I can use the One Touch Ultra to synchronize my bg with my Dexcom CGM. I choose the One Touch since I can enter bgs manually into the pump.
I just referred someone to David Menosa’s website which has numerous articles on so-called meter ‘accuracy’ and FDA standards (or not).
Good numbers, btw. I’d believe the One Touch myself. BD is discontinuing its pump and it may have something to do with widespread reports of its unreliability. But that’s just hearsay.
Terry
I’ve seen the articles on the acceptable accuracy of glucose meters, and its really unfortunate that they are not/can not be more accurate. When you’re trying to maintain “tight control” a difference of 77 and 90 can be the difference between correction or not (my pump will subtract 0.2U for a reading of 77 and nothing for 90 – not a big deal, but a difference).
I only use the OneTouch (because it’s smaller). This was just a little experiment 
I know I can test twice, once right after the first, and get readings like 93 and then 88, but from 90 to 77? Seems a bit much to me. Just outside of what I would consider a “normal” difference.
But then, that’s between the same meter, or two of the same make and model, so I guess I can’t really venture an opinion.
Yeah, it’s frustrating and 90 and 77 makes a difference in # of carbs or whether you’d need carbs at all… It’s totally tiring.
I used to frequently test with two different meters and they were never the same. So, I just stick wth the same one and use control solution a couple times per month. Saves a lot of head banging.
I have had a couple flukey meters. Way off even with the anemic 20% standard.
The control solution ALWAYS read within range even when the meter was 25% higher than lab. So I don’t think it’s worth much.
My Ultra Smarts match each other pretty closely. They are always lower than my AccuChek was.
You’d think that since the cost of name brand test strips has gone up 40% in the past 8 years they’d have improved the accuracy, wouldn’t you.
You’d also think that in a world where you can buy a desktop computer that was $2000 9 years ago for $400 they’d have brought the price down.
Nothing like a captive audience that ISN’T organized for political action.
The sad thing is that so many people with Diabetes think that the ADA is fighting their battles for them. Have you heard a word from the ADA about the importance of improving meter accuracy and bringing down the cost of test strips?
No, I didn’t think so. Look at who funds them. . . . .
The unreliability of meters really pee’s me off! I have 3 here at the moment: one I trusted for years but need to calibrate… one I know I can’t trust and don’t use, and a new one that seems ok. But technically I can’t trust any of them. The allowable differences are just too high 
The scariest thing is when you lay them all out side by side and test with them all using the same drop of blood from clean hands. They barely ever make sense of each other
I can’t trust my own feelings either - I’m no good at guessing where my BG is unless I’m really high, or really low.
I wonder if all these meter making companies are putting too much effort into making pretty little things that go fast. If an accurate meter needs to be bigger, slower, whatever - I don’t care, give me it!!
That’s really a shock. I’m sitting pretty at 80 or 96, but at 64 I’m reaching for a juice box or a bottle of glucose tabs.
Leah,
You certainly put things in perspective. I suppose that in order to have truly accurate home meters, we’d have to take them in and have the calibrated with professional grade equipment once in awhile.
BUT . . .
It’s not twenty-five years ago and the day will be coming soon when most diabetics won’t even know they couldn’t test their own blood. We should be able to see some improvement in technology, or at least and EFFORT to improve the technology. Car manufacturers and electronic manufacturers don’t stand still - why to meter makers stay with ‘good enough’?
Jenny is right, though - it will take concerted political/consumer action to identify the most accurate meter and make the manufacturers pay in the marketplace.
Now if we could only get the insurance companies to come along . . .
Kristofer is right about trying the control soultion but over the years I have found the samething if I use 2 different meters even when I do that so what I was told was to stick with one I trusted and not to use 2 different ones b/c it would confuse me everytime.
Terry,
That is so true! I appreciate what my insurance company does cover for me, otherwise I would be paying a whole lot of money on strips. Having said that, I get tired of my insurance changing covereage on meters. Just when I get used to one, they stop covering it, and I get sent a new one. They are now not covering the freestyle meters or the lifescan meters. I’ve heard the freestyle is pretty accurate, but because of the out of pocket price, I’ll never know. I don’t have the money to afford me any other options.
I can only imagine what they cover as far as pumps go…do you think they change pump providers as easily as BG monitors? Talk about a potential probem there…
I’m always afraid they will pull coverage on me for something and I will wind up with a large bill later.
OH TOO TRUE LEAH!!! Good point I remember that all to well! Also having to drink a ton of water before I ate breakfast for that 2nd urine b/c according to my dr at the time the 1st wasn’t any good! GOD how after looking back on it I really hated those days!!!
I would believe BOTH of them. The readings tell me that maybe I’m getting a little (especially if I haven’t eaten in a while).
Diabetes can be frustrating so you have to learn to live with it. If you get frustrated, which will cause stress, which is not good for us. Understand that it’s a 24/7 365 type of frustration, so learn some stress management techniques, you need them.
who does fund the ADA, out of curiosity? it’s funny, i consider myself a social/political activist, yet i’d never thought of my diabetes in that way…thanks for the kick in the head : )
Here’s an annotated list of who funds the ADA:
http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2006/08/ada-nutritional-guidelines-keeping.html
In case you think I’m paranoid, consider this: in the 40s and 50s the cigarette companies were the chief funders of the American Cancer Society. Not so coincidentally during those years the ACS kept telling people “further study was needed” though scientists had proven that cigarettes caused cancer in the 1930s. This is documented in a new book called “The Secret History of the War on Cancer”.
These corporate interests that profit from diseases have a long history of taking over the organizations who are supposed to be fighting those diseases. That the ADA as of last week did not mention the word “Carbohydrate” on the web page they publish on the topic of “Tight control” and that they still define tight control as a blood sugar of 180 mg/dl two hours after eating tells me all I need to know about the power of the junk food companies who sponsor (i.e. fund) them to set the ADA agenda.
I think they are putting effort into smaller meters, smaller drops of blood, and faster, because this is what the average customer cares about. I find the old OneTouch Profile, which gives whole blood results and takes 45 seconds after you put several quarts of blood on the strip, to be much more precise than the Ultras. However, when I recently tested my 3 Ultras, they gave almost the same numbers, and my Ultra also gives about the same numbers as the FreeStyle.
David Mendosa wrote about a huge klunky meter that is supposed to be superaccurate but isn’t yet available. If it ever is, I suspect it won’t sell well, because everyone wants colorful, small, and fast.