Hi there.

I now have two glucose meters (and I hope I'm not breaking any rules in this post! - I couldn't see anything obvious), these are the AccuChek Compact, and OneTouch UltraSmart.

Which do you guys prefer, any why?

I'm genuinly interested in how you guys have found them.

Regards,

Hi Dan!

My daughter uses the One Touch Ultra Smart. She likes it and I bought the cable so I could download the information to the computer. That's okay but the log report prints differently than it looks on the computer screen. On the screen everything is nice and compact and you get one line for each day but when you print it you get one line for each READING....that makes for a lot of lines and a lot of pages! I called the company and they said that's just the way it is. That's probably the only complaint we would have.

How is the AccuChek? Does it require more or less blood than the One Touch? Where do you test? Do you always use your fingertips? My daughter now uses her forearm. Much less painful. I've heard of people using their wrist too but she hasn't tried that. The One Touch allows for forearm testing. Does the AccuChek allow for that?

One touch ultra. The key to the meters is staying with ONe touch or accucheck, I have been type 1 for 18 years and they are the only two companies that have been around. The money is not in the meter its in the test strips. Either company will basically give you the meter with rebates etc.. What I have seen is that if a small company comes up with a better mousetrap one of these companies buys the technology. Minimed (insulin Pump company) Is testing a bloodless meter. You basicaly can insert a probe under the skin and it sends the reading via rf to the meter.

Hi there.
Thanks for the replies.

The AccuChek Compact uses a 'drum' with 17 strips in it, so you don't have to physically insert a strip. It doesn't allow for forearm testing, just fingertips. I'm not sure on how much it requires, but my fingers bleed nicely so I haven't tried it with small amounts!

vortech-bird, how long do they think until this is brought out? I read about this before, and it's something like it will send a reading every 60 seconds wirelessly to the meter, and it'll yell at you if you go under a set level, or over. It sounds absolutely brilliant. If I remember rightly, it's just as painless as a fingerpricker test to insert under the skin, and it can remain there for 3 days or something?

Luckily for me, in the UK, I have a NHS (national health service) 'exempt' card since I was diagnosed with Type 1 which means I get everything free on prescription, including eye tests, foot examinations etc etc etc. Basically everything relating to diabetes, and the resources I need for it...

Many thanks.

I have both. Both of mine allow for forearm testing. I like the Ultrasmart a lot better. The Accu-chek is big a noisy. The Accu-chek also requires a little more blood, and is a little slower. The meter I use most of the time is the Freestyle Flash.

If you a can get a pump its so much like being normal and you can get tight control. I did the shot gig for 17 years and wish i hadn't waited so long. As far as the blood monitor its in testing it will probably be in Europe allot sooner than the US due to the FDA. They have one now you can wear and it logs so a dr can see whats its doing. If they can do that Iam sure its close. If its like the canula for the pump under th skin I don't even know its inserted. Go to www.minimed.com. The whole idea is a closed loop system that talks to the pump viva rf. They have a meter that when you take you glucose test it transmits to the pump.

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Many many thanks for all the views.
The UltraSmart is going to be the one I'm going to be using now. I am just about out of supplies for my accuchek compact, so I've put in a request for the UltraSmart test strips.

The only thing I must say, is that the pen to obtain blood with the AccuChek I find a lot more comfortable than the UltraSmart pen. Although I know you cannot do forearm testing with the pen from the accuchek, I think I'm going to continue using that pen to obtain blood, and then use the UltraSmart. :)

Thanks again, and keep well!

I've tried my fair share of monitors and I'd have to say that between the accuchek compact and the one touch, the one touch would definitly win!

I have the one touch fasttake, which is pretty much similar to the ultra and I could not be happer with that monitor.

The only thing I'm NOT so keen on with the one touch is the lancet device -- instead of using that one I put my accuchek lancet device with the kit and use that one :)

One touch wins by a mile :D

In december i tried 5 of the newer ones out there,
i found two i could get to respond correctly and easily

accucheck compact ( the drumb) and an off walmart brand called redi on the unit responded instantly to the test calabrater strip and was fast and test strips were cheap went and looked for test strips latter (couldn't find any)

Recently i tried One touch Ultra and followed all the instructions but could not get the unit to respond.

i do like the aaucheck soft clicx lancet as well
I would have liked to have one back up the drumbs are 45 for 2 sets of 17

that gets very expensive!

This is the other thread that came up when I Searched for info re the Compact. As yu can see, it doesn't answer my question either. I would like to know how to use it or the website for or name of the manufacturer. Maybe other boards have the info I need. Phoebe

I use the freestyle mini and I really like it. I also talked to my pharmacist and apparently all the new machines can be used for forearm testing. They just haven't all jumped on the marketing bandwagon. In someways, finger testing is better because the skin replaces itself more rapidly than anywhere else. I also have a couple of BD meters that are a bit bigger, a bit slower, and use more blood (the freestyle only needs enough for the head of a pin) but they are accurate too.

Hello Phoebe,

If it's the Accu Chek Compact meter you need the manual for - I did a quick search for you.
http://www.accu-chek.com/products/meters_compact_manual.jsp

You'll need Acrobat's PDF viewer to view the manual, but if you don't have it there's a link on there.
If this isn't what you're after, please let me know. I still have the Compact meter and everything that came with it so I might be able to help.

Thanks so much. I will check the link and let you know. I appreciate this. Today is the day I need the info to give to the caretaker of the person. Thanks for responding. Phoebe

Hi again. I looked at the link and could print off the manual I think. Since it is 27 pages long, I decided to call them instead. They are sending another copy of the manual to the person's home who needs it. It helps to spell Accu-Chek correctly when you search on the Net for it. Thank you for the help. Phoebe

No problem at all; glad it all got sorted for you. :)