Why the difference in meter readings?

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Deb and Pepper

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I have 2 different meters. I use the Walmart ReliOn Confirm (1 month old). I also have a Walgreens TRUEtrack meter that I just now opened.

Out of curiosity, I decided to compare readings on the two meters. I set up the Truetrack then did the control test, doing it on BOTH meters with the SAME drop of control. I got these readings:

Confirm: 112

TRUEtrack: 195

I then did a poke and took readings on BOTH meters from the SAME drop of blood. I got these readings:

Confirm: 74

Truetrack: 58

Why the big difference? Which one is right?
 
well first i think the solutions are different for each meter no?
and second i'm not surprised about the different readings. there is a variance between meters. the thing to do is to just use one meter and one meter only.
you are looking for trends...more even than numbers.
after a few weeks of data collection you will see how the trends are what really matter.
 
I do use the same one, the ReliOn is the only one I have used until tonight. The reason I decided to compare them is I am about to run out of strips for my ReliOn and I can't get more till tomorrow about 5pm. I now have 2 strips left till then. I ordered them 2 days ago but they don't arrive until tomorrow. I would have been fine if not for all the extra testing I did the last 2 nights (I ordered 200 this time and will reorder when I open the last bottle from now on and this won't happen again). nailbite_smile

They do use different controls. I wasn't using the control to test my ReliOn, only to compare the different reading on it. I thought they would be close to the same, not 120 units different testing the same drop. Then when I tested the actual blood drop, I still got a 16 unit difference.

I want to test more tonight because I just lowered his shot and he is rather low right now, but I will need to use the new meter to do that until I get more strips tomorrow for my usual meter. I just can't believe there is that much difference between the two meters.
 
all meters have a +/- 20% so 16 points difference on actual blood is virtually the same number. Don't know for sure but I would guess the big differnce you got earlier was because of the difference in the control solution.

Mel, Maxwell and The Fur Gang
 
The Walgreen's TrueTrack was my first meter -- it has gone into the trash a LONG TIME AGO because it was crap. We wasted so many test strips on errors that it drove me nuts.

We now use the Maxima AST or Maxima Infinity and like it much better.

The Relion is a great meter used by many here. I personally don't like Walmart, so I buy the Maxima supplies online.

The Relion has high marks from Consumer Reports.

All meters do have a +/- 20% accuracy range -- which is "Good Enough" to keep humans and cats safe.

Your Tests:
Confirm: 112 TRUEtrack: 195

112 + 20% = 134
195 - 20% = 155

Ranges don't quite overlap but these used the True Track control solution -- which may be different from the Confirm's.
Diabetic humans need a control solution. If you are not diabetic, you can use your own blood for a control solution.

With Blood sample:
Confirm: 74 Truetrack: 58

74 - 20% = 60
58 + 20% = 70

So the "true" blood sugar is in the overlapping range 60 to 70.
 
WOW!!! Didn't know I could use my own blood as a control. Thanks. I will do that tonight (after I get more ReliOn strips) and see what that tells me. I really like the ReliOn tester, no coding, smaller sample needed.

Thanks too for explaining the +/- 20%. Makes more sense now and I can see they aren't all that different when you add/minus the 20%.
 
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