Use AlphaTrak2 . . . but want to have human meter as a backup

[JeanW]

Which of the human meters do most people like best? There seem to be lots of choices.

Please help me decide.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

It's totally a personal choice so it's hard to name just one.

Before WalMart discontinued them, the Relion Confirm and Micro were definite board favorites. They took the tiniest sample size and the strips, although not the cheapest, were still affordable.

Now the Glucocard01 Sensor from ADW is the exact same meter as the Confirm, but you have to make sure you order strips in time for them to be delivered to you so you don't run out.

When picking a meter, there are two main things to look for....the required sample size and the cost of the strips.

 

[JanetNJ]

I have a ketone meter that can also read glucose as a backup.

 

[FurBabiesMama]

I also have a ketone meter, Keto-Mojo, that could be used for glucose testing as needed (though, to this point, I have never needed a backup meter).

 

[Beck and Philly]

I liked the NovaMax Plus that I bought for ketones so much that I considered using it as my primary for glucose as well instead of my Alphatraks. I had just ordered a large supply of AT strips so I didn't, but it worked well.

 

[membeth]

I also like the NovaMax Plus, which I use for checking for ketones. I tried using it as a backup for blood glucose and while it's easy to use, the numbers on human meters are way, way off from the AlphaTrak2, so cross-checking the numbers to try make sure they my AlphaTrak2 was correct didn't really work. If that's what you mean by backup, an alternative is checking your AlphaTrak2 against your vet's. Doing that let me confirm that my AlphaTrak2 is working and my cat is just peculiar. (I know there's control solution made for this purpose, but the range of results is 100 - 185, which was too big of a spread for me to be comfortable that it validated anything.)

 

[injuredrabbit]

Thanks for the advice, even though I know this is an old(er) thread. I just got my gift cards from Walmart after only having purchased the Relion Micro less than two months ago. When they offered the refund they told me that even though they have discontinued the meter, the strips will be available forever. Well, that was a lie, because they're not even LISTED on their website anymore. So I just went ahead and ordered the Glucocard. The price of the test strips is a real deal-maker or -breaker for me. I got a 'free' pet meter with some test strips from my vet, but discovered that to buy more test strips I'd be paying a buck apiece!!!! With the number of times I test my guy daily, that is just not within my budget (nor is it within most people's, I'm guessing). It's just like the cheap printer bait and switch where you pay more for the ink cartridge replacement than you did for the printer!