Loose Lips - Thoughts on Relion Prime

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carfurby (GA)

carfurby (GA)

Member Since 2012
I recently bought a Relion Prime to see if it could replace my Relion Confirm. I also needed a backup meter. To me the Prime doesn't seem to be made as well as the Confirm. I have been testing over the weekend with both meters to see if the results are close. They have been anywhere from almost the same to 50 points different. I am wondering why they are so far apart. Lyresa posted in Furball's condo on Saturday about speaking with Arkray and they mentioned the Prime is having a lot of software problems.

Does anyone else use the Relion Prime? What are you thoughts about how well the meter works?

ETA: The Prime also seems to need more blood than the Confirm. It seems easy to get a low blood error, which happened once when the strip was full of blood (the same amount that got a reading before).
 
I bought a prime to have as a backup too, but when I tested it against my relion ultima, the numbers just weren't close enough, or consistent enough for my comfort level. I know that I have seen others post about it's accuracy, and making the switch. Hopefully they will weigh in today.

Have a good day,
Kathie
 
ReliOn meters were made by Abbott. Abbott is also the maker of the AlphaTrak. I compared the AlphaTrak and the Ultima and never got a wide variance in the readings. The Prime was manufactured by ARKRAY. I purchased the Prime due to the cost of the strips. I have done numerous tests and have had a variance of 40-50 points every time.

I spoke with ARKRAY and was told not to use the same blood sample. Use a different blood sample within 10 minutes of the first test with my Ultima reading. That did not produce any different results than the same sample test - 40-50 points. They are sending me a control solution to verify the meter's accuracy. They offered to replace the meter. Since my kitty likes to hit the 20s and 30s. I am not comfortable with the Prime readings.

I have not received the control solution. I have also conducted a test with a friend who is diabetic and uses a different meter. There again there was a large variance.

I have a second Ultima (back-up) and it runs consistent with the meter I use daily.
 
The Prime is the same as the Arkray Vital, right? I switched to the Vital earlier this year to use as my main meter (mainly because of the price of the strips), and so far I haven't had any major problems with it. I do know that doing side-by-side comparisons with any two different meters can make you crazy, though, because chances are you will get a pretty wide variance. For me, I'm going for consistency within the one meter, and I recall that those who share their guidance on doses do prefer to see everyone using just one meter for the bulk of testing.
 
Like Amy, we also use the Arkray Vital and have never had any isses. We switched over a year ago from the Bayer Contour. I have never done the side by side because I see what it does to people. :lol: We just compare within the same meter as well and go with that.
 
I have been using the Prime for me and Spot for a few months now. I did one comparison test when I first bought them and they were something like 20 points off. That was the first and last time I did a test because I wasn't going to drive myself insane! I only use the Prime. Some problems that I have had with it tho is that it does use a tad more blood then the micro and occasionally I need to redo a test. Another one is that sometimes it just turns off for no reason at all. I have burned a few strips from these incidents but truthfully, with two diabetics in the house and $9 for 50 strips...I can afford to burn a few strips.
 
I've been using the Arkray Vital since May of this year. I see one comparison on my ss that says 167 (OneTouch) 145 (Vital) luckily I went back to the One Touch later that evening as he had a 38 at +9. I did not do a comparison test using the Vital on that low numger.

I do get more errors with the Vital because of not enough blood, but I find the price difference in the strips is huge, and I am happy enough with the Vital.

The picture I see on the WalMart's website of the Prime does look like a cheaper meter than the Vital, but I have never actually looked at it in the store.
 
SOME of the ReliOn meters may have been made by Abbot but others were made by ArkRay. MY ReliOn confirm was made by Arkray, not abbot. The Prime meters are indeed also made by ArkRay. I started having problems with my Confirm but I think I've about 'used it up' thus the issues. They are sending me a replacement. The Confirm & Micro take 3mol blood while the Prime and many others take 5mol. While the 2 numbers don't LOOK all that far apart, that's truly a lot more blood.

Meters! ARGHHH!!!!
 
from talking w/pharmacist and checking online i found. - Relion confirm, mirco and prime are made by Arkray in china. Relion ultima is made by Abbot Labs in U.S.
the pharmacist says he gets the most ? and complaints about the prime related to low numbers not being accurate. here's a link to a report to Relion concerning the prime low number and possible overdose event reported to relion
I like our prime because it's all i know and we don't get errors anymore (anti-jinx) but if it's not reliable at low readings what darn good is it?
I should be getting the prime control solution tomorrow and can post results.
Prime test strips in short supply
I got 2 boxes of strips for the prime yesterday. I was told that they are having lots of trouble keeping them in stock. the talking point is that it's so popular they are having trouble manufacturing enough strips. I was told to make sure i have enough strips to get through till the 2013 because they anticipate running out of stock and not being able to get more until the new year.

just my 2 cents.. and that's what it's worth
mary and oliver
 
I switched from the OneTouch Ultra Mini to the Prime due to the cost of the test strips. I noticed a pretty good difference between the two meters, but rather than drive myself to a padded room, I just switched to the Prime and moved on. I haven't had any troubles with it really. A few times I've gotten a number I questioned, but retesting gave a number +/-5 of the original. I haven't done extensive testing, but I like the Prime. It does seem kind of "cheap" in comparison to the Ultra mini, but I'm not paying over $100 for a box of test strips.
 
I want to clarify a point. I did numerous tests comparing the Prime vs the Ultima because of the variance I received. I am well aware of the variances between different meters. Tuffy is prone to dropping very low. If the Prime read 70 and in actuality it was 20 shooting could be dangerous. I will continue to use my Ultima. Saving a few dollars on strips in not worth putting my cat at risk and incurring a potential large vet bill. That is just my opinion. We have enough problems with the sugar dance and I don't want to create any more. I have an Ultima for my back up meter and they test relatively close in numbers.
 
My main concern is not difference in the readings between the Prime and the Confirm. It is that there seems to be no consistency with the amount of difference with the readings on the Prime. I would think it would always be 50 points off no matter what the reading.
 
I'm finding this interesting because I'm thinking of switching to an Arkray for cheaper strips. I now use a Contour and have an Ultima for back-up. Thanks for the info. The Vital is the one I think that I was thinking of getting but if it takes more blood and is higher, I won't be happy with it. That's what I don't like about the Ultima.

Melanie & Racci
 
My Relion Ultima (which was Stu's main meter and which I haven't used since he passed) says "Product of China" on its back, and also includes the information: "Manufacturer: Abbott Diabetes Care . . . Alameda, CA . . .". I interpret this to mean that although Abbott is the "manufacturer", the meter is not manufactured in the US, but in China. Whether or not this is relevant to the discussion, I don't know. I no longer have test strips for this meter, so I don't know where the strips were manufactured.

My Relion Confirm and Relion Micro were made in China by (or for) Arkray, which is a Japanese manufacturer. These two meters are the Walmart branding of the Arkray Glucocard 01 and Arkray Glucocard 01 Mini. All 4 meters use the same strips (Glucocard 01 Sensor = Relion Confirm/ Micro strips). The strips for all 4 meters are made in Japan. Interestingly, the Arkray Glucocard 01 meter seems to be made in Japan (at least the exemplar in my "collection" was made in Japan). (The Arkray Glucocard 01 Mini in my "collection" was made in China.)

I think that the important thing to keep in mind in this discussion is: where are the test strips for the Relion PRIME made? Why are they so inexpensive? The test strips, rather than the meters themselves, are really the heart of the matter. I would worry about quality control if the strips are in such demand that the orders cannot be kept up with. I would also tend to worry if they are made in China, mainly because I think of Japanese manufacturing as being more "precise" (my opinion; not a scientific fact). Would those of you who use the Relion Prime or the Arkray Vital please check your strips to see where they are made? That might help sort things out.

Ella
 
just checked....the box sez made in Taiwan.
Ok. I just took Spot's +9 with both the Prime (75) and the micro (70). not much of a difference...not sure about the consistency, so I'll do periodic checks here and there. But until then, I'm going to continue to use the Prime.
 
relion prime manual I'm pretty sure this link takes you directly to page 66 of the Prime manual. If not it's the information on page 66 i'm refering to here.
It says that the Prime meter "calibration is plasma referenced". The box for the strips say they are "intended for the measurement of glucose in whole blood"

well, i'm totally confused now. Does the plasma to whole blood thing make any sense?

ohmygod_smile I'm continuing on with my Prime.. in the face of all this information. ohmygod_smile until
i get the control solution and
hear about the difference between whole blood and plasma referencing in meters. great, just freaking great cat(2)_steam
mary and oliver
 
fwiw, i switched to the Prime a few months ago and it has been fine. i actually don't have any gripes about it. i've never even had the problem with inserting the strips that some have mentioned since it's appearance on the market.

i actually switched for a couple reasons. one being that i had used the freestyle flash since my vet recommended it back in 2006 but the good non-butterfly technology strips were/are getting harder and harder to find along with my vet thought my meter might be running a little high here while back when i had one of my kitties in for a visit so i figured it was a good time to change.

and now that someone mentioned a possible shortage coming i decided to go ahead and use the walmart link up top and order a few boxes to make sure i've got some :-)
 
Plasma glucose levels present a more accurate measure of glucose circulating in the blood. Lab tests that measure plasma levels range between 10 and 15 percent higher than glucose based on whole blood.
 
My Arkray Vital strips are also made in Taiwan. I compared the strips for my Arkray Vital to the picture on the web site of the ReliOn Prime and they look exactly the same. I think my Arkray Vital meter is okay though. I get some errors from not enough blood but I don't see a lot of wonky numbers, that I know of.
 
I feel a bit like an idiot. I've been going on and on about how the Arkray Vital is the same as the Relion Prime. I just bought Prime strips at Walmart, since they're the same price as the Vital strips online but I don't have to wait for them to come in the mail. Yeah....big mistake. The strips fit in the meter, the little drop of blood (or whatever it is) flashes saying it's ready, I poked myself and sucked the blood up with the strip, and ....... nothing. It just keeps on blinking its little light at me. I compared the strips from the Vital and the ones from the Prime and they look exactly alike, until you look very carefully. I've attached a picture of the two strips side by side. The one on the left is the Glucocard Vital strip and the one on the right is the Relion Prime. At the very top, one of the white "lines" is on the right while the other is on the left. Apparently, this makes the meter not able to read the strip. I feel terrible that I've told so many people that the strips from Walmart will fit the ADW meter and vice versa when they don't. I'm hoping Walmart will take back the unopened bottle of strips or I'm out $20 instead of just $10. And, of course, now I don't have many strips left for the Vital meter I use all the time and I'll run out before I can get more in the mail. At least I have my Accu-Chek I use for myself so I can still test him, but those strips are over $1 EACH and I hate using them for Champ since I test him a lot. Well, this has certainly taught me a lesson!!!
 

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Sorry you had to be our test subject...but thanks for sharing that info, Patty!! I hope WalMart will take the strips back, but I have a feeling they won't. When Trix was first diagnosed, I bought a meter there (One Touch Ultra Mini), then changed my mind. It was still sealed in the box and they still wouldn't take it back. I was a newbie...I didn't know anything related to blood couldn't be returned - even when factory sealed - and, true to WalMart employee enthusiasm, no one warned me of that when I purchased it. Hopefully you'll have better luck!
 
Patty & Champ said:
I feel a bit like an idiot. I've been going on and on about how the Arkray Vital is the same as the Relion Prime. I just bought Prime strips at Walmart, since they're the same price as the Vital strips online but I don't have to wait for them to come in the mail. Yeah....big mistake. The strips fit in the meter, the little drop of blood (or whatever it is) flashes saying it's ready, I poked myself and sucked the blood up with the strip, and ....... nothing. It just keeps on blinking its little light at me. I compared the strips from the Vital and the ones from the Prime and they look exactly alike, until you look very carefully. I've attached a picture of the two strips side by side. The one on the left is the Glucocard Vital strip and the one on the right is the Relion Prime. At the very top, one of the white "lines" is on the right while the other is on the left. Apparently, this makes the meter not able to read the strip. I feel terrible that I've told so many people that the strips from Walmart will fit the ADW meter and vice versa when they don't. I'm hoping Walmart will take back the unopened bottle of strips or I'm out $20 instead of just $10. And, of course, now I don't have many strips left for the Vital meter I use all the time and I'll run out before I can get more in the mail. At least I have my Accu-Chek I use for myself so I can still test him, but those strips are over $1 EACH and I hate using them for Champ since I test him a lot. Well, this has certainly taught me a lesson!!!
Click to expand...
Or just do like I did and pick up the super crappy overpriced Relion Prime meter for the Relion Prime strips. I made the same mistaken assumption.

But there are times when I need to pick up test strips at Wal Mart, like in the dead of winter when it's cold and I don't want them freezing during shipping. Or when they are backordered/delayed from ADW.

My Relion Prime strips are different even from those pictured. They have a notch punched out. As much as I'm not crazy about the Vital meter, it's much better than the flimsy Relion Prime meter.
 
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