Glucose monitor recommendations

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Stacy & Asia

Stacy & Asia

Member Since 2017
Looking for glucose monitor recommendation. It would be nice if strips were cheaper than the alphatrak strips ($1+ per). I see that a lot of people are using Relion? Is that only available from Walmart? We don't have a Walmart in NYC. If I ordered it online, can I only get the Relion strips from Walmart as well (as opposed to a local pharmacy, Duane reed, rite aid, Walgreens)? It would be nice to know I'm not reliant on the mail to get testing supplies. Any other recommendations?

The main reason I'm switching is because the protocol was done with human monitors, second reason is the price. Thanks all. :)
 
Toebeans said:
Looking for glucose monitor recommendation. It would be nice if strips were cheaper than the alphatrak strips ($1+ per). I see that a lot of people are using Relion? Is that only available from Walmart? We don't have a Walmart in NYC. If I ordered it online, can I only get the Relion strips from Walmart as well (as opposed to a local pharmacy, Duane reed, rite aid, Walgreens)? It would be nice to know I'm not reliant on the mail to get testing supplies. Any other recommendations?

The main reason I'm switching is because the protocol was done with human monitors, second reason is the price. Thanks all. :)
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Take a ride to Secaucus Walmart. ;). Really any human meter will work, just pick one with a 0.3 sample size. Relion is definitely one of the cheapest if you are sure to always order backup strips. I always make sure I have an unopened back up JUST in case.
 
I bought my first monitor from walgreens and I really wouldn't reccomend it. It required too large of a blood sample (so multiple pricks) and often gave me error messages (but I didn't know better as it was my first time using a monitor). Then after a couple of weeks it just stopped working at all, all error messages, every time. I ordered the relion confirm from walmart (I don't have one very close by either) and just got it about a week ago. World of difference! Smaller sample size, reliable and much less expensive for the strips. I just reordered from them so I am sure not to run out of strips. 100 strips for $35 and free 2 day shipping
 
Food for thought regarding mail order:
I had to get my strips mail order as even human strips were really expensive here in Spain. What I did was always keep 100 spare strips in my hypo kit. That way I had a bit of a buffer(delivery was usually Bout 10days).

Additionally after George swiped his meter into a water fountain I got another spare human meter from a local pharmacy (freestyle freedom lite/ nice small sample easy to use, numbers run a little lower with George), but that was my backup meter at 0ver1€ a strip too spendy, but worst case I could always grab some strips if I was desperate and rider hadn't arrived.
 
The Arkray Glucocard 01 is available at ADW American Diabetes Wholesale. It is the same meter as the Relion Confirm. In fact, Walmart puts its brand name (Relion) on the Arkray Glucocard 01. You can get a free meter kit when you buy 200 strips at ADW. Here's the link:
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/4045/arkray-glucocard-01-blood-glucose-monitoring-kit

I have a number of the Arkray meter kits (because I always order the free one when I need to order strips--you get a pack of 10 strips included in the kit). If you send me a Private Message ("conversation") with your name and mailing address, I will send you one (but you'll have to buy more strips yourself). In any event, you'll be able to see if you like the meter.

p.s. Having lived in NYC for most of my life, I always liked the fact that no Walmarts were there.
 
Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I was looking at reviews on Walmart's site and several people noticed they read high or have a pretty significant 30 point difference and others said tested the same as a lab test. Does anyone here have experience with that? Do you think it's the meters themselves that maybe some are great and some are defective or the testing strip batches are inconsistent?
 
I can only speak from my limited experience but I haven't had any problems with that…if you check out my spreadsheet top half was with my old meter (true metrix air) and the bottom half is with the relion, no elevated numbers
 
Toebeans said:
Does anyone here have experience with that? Do you think it's the meters themselves that maybe some are great and some are defective or the testing strip batches are inconsistent?
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ALL meters (even pet meters) are allowed to vary from "professional lab equipment" by up to 20% by the FDA

Personal glucose meters aren't ever going to be exact, but they're all we have and the people here have been using them since the beginning of the board (1996) and do fine with them.
 
The important things when choosing a meter.....sample size and cost of strips

That's one of the reasons so many of us use the Relion Confirm or Micro....they take the tiniest sample size and the strips are affordable

The best meter in the world is no use if you can't afford to test often enough to know what's truly going on inside your cat's body to keep them safe
 
Chris & China said:
The important things when choosing a meter.....sample size and cost of strips

That's one of the reasons so many of us use the Relion Confirm or Micro....they take the tiniest sample size and the strips are affordable

The best meter in the world is no use if you can't afford to test often enough to know what's truly going on inside your cat's body to keep them safe
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Very true, but if there were evidence to suggest one meter is more accurate than another, I would use that one even if the strips were a little more costly (and test just as often).
 
Toebeans said:
Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I was looking at reviews on Walmart's site and several people noticed they read high or have a pretty significant 30 point difference and others said tested the same as a lab test. Does anyone here have experience with that? Do you think it's the meters themselves that maybe some are great and some are defective or the testing strip batches are inconsistent?
Click to expand...
Those people probably don't understand that there is always a meter variance of up to 20%. So say your cat is at 100... A meter could read it as low as 80 or as high as 120.
 
Toebeans said:
Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I was looking at reviews on Walmart's site and several people noticed they read high or have a pretty significant 30 point difference and others said tested the same as a lab test. Does anyone here have experience with that?
Click to expand...

Before I started testing Chino's BG, I got a Relion Confirm, a NovaMax, and an AlphaTrak2. I tested my own BG when it was high and when it was low several times with all 3 meters to compare and found that the 2 human meters were within 2 mg/dL of each other each time, so I consider it to be a reliable meter. When I first started giving Novolin R, I was testing every hour or every 2 hours after a dose and the +2 and +4 were often within 1-3 mg/dL of each other until we reached a certain dose. If you have doubts, you could test twice in a row and see how close the readings are.

If a reliable meter starts to act inconsistent, it could indicate a low battery, and older/expired test strips can definitely give unreliable readings.
 
When I started, I went to a local pharmacy and they gave me a free One Touch meter if I bought the strips. The strips are very expensive in pharmacies, almost as much as Alpha Trak. I loved the meter because it always tested within a few points of lab results (I would test right before the blood was drawn). I would use EBay and made a goal to get 100 strips for $33 or less, and that was hard and required lots of patience and trying and bidding and trusting of the sellers, but I never ran out because I always started searching way way before I was about to run out. Eventually, I turned to ADW and got their free Arkray Vital meter with the 200 strips. I would usually get a double order, and as soon as I was into the last 4 boxes (200 strips), I was making my next order, so I never ran out of strips (scary :nailbiting:). If you have to rely on mail order, I would encourage you to do the same,,, always order more at least a week before running out.
 
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