Onetouch Ultrasmart BG Meter

[Oradev]

I am thinking about getting one of these. I wanted to know what your opinions on it were. I currently have the Accucheck Compact and I'm pretty fed up with it. If anyone has one, let me know what you think.

Thanks
Adam

[LauRa Lu]

hi, this may not be much help, but the first meter i used was a onetouch model...not sure of the exact name but it was really bad, it constantly gave me incorect readings which was obviously really annoying! I now have an accucheck advantage and it just seems so much better.

like i said this probably wont be much help to you...it's just what i prefer, i've only been diabetic for 6 weeks so i'm sure i'll be experimenting with many more metres in my time.

[Oradev]

One other thing. Does anyone know where I could fine a coupon for this meter?

[lgvincent]

I think Tony has this meter so why not ask his opinion? I bought one recently but I haven't used it yet because I've been trying to buy some glucose strips on e-bay and they run anywhere from $35.00 to over $60.00 for a box of 100 there and it's just to expensive for me.
A rebate/trade-in certificate comes with the meter which offers a $20.00 rebate and a $30.00 meter trade-in allowance with a non-OneTouch meter. The certificate that came with my meter expires December 31, 2004. An original sales receipt is required.

[Oradev]

Has anyone seen the Freesytle Tracker. That is a pretty cool meter/PDA. It's too bad that Handspring makes the PDA. If Palm made it, I would be all over it.

[lgvincent]

I've seen it and would LOVE to have one but the price is a lot out of my reach. I can't remember if it's $300.00 or $400.00 so will have to check but I think it's in the $300.00 range. I've seen a refund of $60.00 to $75.00 but it's still too steep for me. Maybe a little down the road?!?

[LauRa Lu]

you should try getting it from the uk, i'm pretty sure they're way cheaper than that here. :eek:

[lgvincent]

Okay, $299.00 plus shipping and a $75.00 rebate for a total of $224.00 plus shipping for the rechargeable one at http://www.therasense.com/tracker/
The battery operated one is $249.00 plus shipping and offers a $55.00 rebate.

[dpav]

Hello
I just got this meter last month. It has given me reading from 200mg/dsl to 154mg/dsl down to 125mg/dsl all with the same finger and all within a 3 minute time period. I personally feel that ALL plasma meters are highly irregular. If there is one that will at least stay constant you can make a good judgment from that point. But if the meter keeps giving a wide range of reading as mine has done over the past two months, I would not trust it to try to use it for tight control. I have a One touch Profile that I have used for the past 6 or 8 years. I am not sure how long. But it is always consistent. It is also fairly close to the real readings according to my Lab tests.
I have 4 Plasma meters all have given me irregular readings.
Maybe someone here has a plasma meter that keeps a constant reading. I'd trust that one over the Ultra Plus any day.
Sorry for the downer. I have had too many meters not work, I love gadgets, and the Ultra smart was a disappointment
Don

[lgvincent]

Yes, I saw your earlier posts and fear I may have wasted my money in buying the meter. It LOOKED like an interesting meter. I just didn't think about it being unreliable.

[dpav]

Yeah I had the same dissapointment
I love gadgets, and this had my eye. I did not even=n think that it might not give steady readings. I loved the gadget stuff. Oh Well. So much to experience.
I hope some manufacturer decides that accuracy and steady constant readings are more important than their bottom line.
Take care
Don

[Jon]

My son uses the One Touch Ultra Smart. It is a good meter. It cost about $100.00, with a $50.00 rebate if you trade in your old meter. Maybe you could pick up a used meter somewhere cheap and send that in if you are not ready to give up your existing meter.

We started with the One Touch Profile, which was a good meter, but it took a long time to get the results. We switched to the One Touch Ultra, which is much faster and still gives accurate readings. I then bought him the Ultra Smart, because it had so many extra features that you can record, such as illness, excercise, how many carbs you eat, how much insulin you take, etc. If you are not going to use these extra features, you should save yourself $50 and go with the Ultra.

[Tony]

I had stop using the ultrasmart at the begining of winter. I went back to the ultra. Because it is small enough to keep in my pocket when I'm at work.

dpav,

Are you talking even if we are to use the meter in whole blood, we are still going to have this problem? Or is it when the meter is set for plasma. What meters do not have the plasma reading?

Anyone else had this problem?

[lgvincent]

I thought most meters gave readings in whole blood. I've got a Prestige meter that gives me the option of readings in plasma or whole blood but the others do not (as far as I'm aware). The only meters I have offering readings in plasma only are the UltraSmart and the QuickTek.
Tony, I'm curious to know why you stopped using the UltraSmart meter, if you don't mind my asking.

[rzrbks]

I've got the OneTouch UltraSmart as part of my InDuo system and I like it very much. Takes a teeny amout of blood and results in 5 seconds. (Do wish it had a light for use in the dark--can't hacve everything though)

Plus, when the original meter/injector developed a crack in the case ( I think the CDE gave me a used one) InDuo sent another one--they have been very helpful. The original carry case was developing problems so Induo sent me two new ones.

Their customer service has been wonderful AND, AND, they aren't another of those companies that out-sourced their jobs to another country. A BIG plus in my mind.

[lgvincent]

The UltraSmart meter DOES have a light. I don't have mine with me but I know there are 3 large buttons above the 5 smaller buttons on the meter. Press the large button on the right until the light comes on. It seems like the button has "OK" or something like that on it. I'll have to look at mine and see. I think you hold the button down for about 2 seconds or so and it will come on. I wish it would do like the Accu-Chek Complete and come on automatically every time you turn the meter on (as long as the batteries are strong enough to operate the light) but I think it has to be turned on every time you want the light.

[rzrbks]

The InDuo version of the UltraSmart only gots two buttons--

M..............................C

cause the major focus of this puppy is that you have the injecting device and B/G meter in one unit

[lgvincent]

Oops! Sorry.

[rzrbks]

lgvincent

Oops! Sorry.

No prob. At first I just thought I was too thick to understand but telling me about the extra buttons helps me see......see?

[Tony]

lgvincent,

I needed to keep my meter in my pocket when I'm at work. Because of a very good friend I had to give up the ultra smart. She made me keep my meter in my pocket. This way I wouldn't have any more error messages from the cold weather and I could test more. The ultra is a little smaller than the ultra smart.

Now I don't know if I should be looking for a new meter because of dpav's report on this meter.

[lgvincent]

Did you get readings which you consider inconsistent? The only plasma meter I've used so far is the QuickTek by HypoGuard. I bought it because it and the strips were so cheap. I can't afford to check my blood sugar multiple times in a short period of time so I've always thought it was giving a reliable reading. However, I did look at a One Touch Profile meter and saw where the owner had checked multiple times and gotten a broad range of readings. For example, once he check his blood sugar and it gave a reading of 84 at 7:30 p. m. and 119 one minute later. Another time he got a reading of 221 at 7:24 p. m., 113 two minutes later, and 91 two minutes after that. Another time, he got a reading of 148 at 7:06 p. m. and 93 two minutes later. Since the Profile meter gives a reading in whole blood, I have to wonder how accurate those meters are too. I've noticed using the Prestige meter that I can get different results depending on how quickly I insert the strip into the meter so I have to wonder if there is this a problem with plasma meters only, the maker of the One Touch meters only, or all meters.

[Tony]

I didn't think anything of it until I read the post from dpav. So last night I did three test in three mins. of time.
And here are the results,
176,257,209.

I would hate to bolus for a 257 if I'm at 176. But then my true reading(what ever that is) could of been higher. Because I bolused for 200 and that bolus did not bring me down for the morning.

I have my meter set for whole blood and not plasma.

WiseWords had posted some info on meters and I can't find it now. Does anyone know where that post is?

[Tony]

Ok I found wisewords post on meters (http://www.diabetesforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=1228)

[lgvincent]

Is it possible that the meter is defective? Perhaps you could call One Touch and try to find out what is wrong.

[Shalyndria]

rzr,
Hey, have they come out with a new Induo? I used that before going on my pump, but it was the Ultra meter and not the Ultrasmart.

About the BG reading thing...
Your meter could very well be reading wrong; however, you should know that when you test the same finger consecutively many times the milking required to get the blood out can affect the reading. The best way to test your meter is to compare it against a lab glucose, which uses only plasma.

Shy

[frannydorm]

I use the OneTouch Ultra and the OneTouch UltraSmart meters, I started with one of the BD meters which gave me crazy results. You can change the UltraSmart from plasma to whole blood as I found out by mistake. When I uploaded the results in the software it gave me all sorts of warnings. I had to call the company and they explained it. As you can tell I'm very much a novice, but I love being able to see my progress and print out results for the Doctor. How do I know if my results aren't accurate?

[Belinda]

I take my ultra's to the Dr. on occasions and they test relatively close to their BG reading. I love it but am going to ask for a smart just because I want to try it out. Hopefully he will have one for me.

[pacon]

Originally posted by rzrbks
Plus, when the original meter/injector developed a crack in the case ( I think the CDE gave me a used one) InDuo sent another one--they have been very helpful. The original carry case was developing problems so Induo sent me two new ones.

I have an InDuo, but I don’t use it. But I use InNovo (the insulin injecting part of InDuo). I’m sorry to say but the case cracks now and then. They are still usable when cracked, for a while. I have cracked five of them for the last three years, but I will continue using InNovo, at least until something better gets around, because I like the function. Novo sends me a new one quickly every time it happens, and I always have a spare at home.

[lgvincent]

How does one change the readings of the UltraSmart to whole blood? I've seen nothing in the instruction manual and it states that the readings are plasma calibrated.

[Tony]

Originally posted by lgvincent
How does one change the readings of the UltraSmart to whole blood? I've seen nothing in the instruction manual and it states that the readings are plasma calibrated.

Ok that explains some things. My mistake.

How do we find out what meters are whole blood? So the whole blood meters are more accurate?

[Harold]

To answer the first question if your using insulin go for it, or if your on just oral meds there are features you will not use. Personally I find the meter a bit limited as to what you can input, such as how you feel when you test. It needs a wider range of choices, but the software does give the option of inputing anything. However I never remember by the time I download the readings. I've been using the Ultra Smart since last spring and there are newer models out now with more features. I would shop around if I was looking for another meter today.

I have had a couple of readings I swore could not be correct, but rechecking has never given me a reading differing by more than 12 points.

[dpav]

Sorry I have not been around much lately
OK I found a lot of you are finding a lot of problems with all of the meters. I even read one where the Profile was highly varied in readings. That I found interesting. I wonder if this is all strip related. Or are the codes correct when we do the tests. I am checking my new Ultra Smart meter to see if I can change the meter to read whole blood.. Plasma readings are all done by electrolytes in the blood. The whole blood meters measure with a density reading. It seems according to my experiments that density readings seem to be more accurate method so far. If they can make a plasma meter consistent that would be fine. We can make any adjustments with consistency no matter which meter we use. All of the information given here makes me a little scared that manufacturers think that they need not be very accurate with our lives. I bolus for even the slightest high readings above 120. This is the only way I can keep my A1C readings near and at 5.9
I'll keep searching my ultra smart. If I can change the meter readings I’ll do additional experiments and report back what I have found.
Thanks for all of the involvement on this subject it really is quite helpful
Don

[Harold]

The Ultra Smart is calibrated for plasma and I don't know that you can change it in the meter. Since the manufacture has meters that use whole and plasma their software has the option to call readings whole or plasma, but I don't believe this actually changes what the meter reads.

[Shalyndria]

Alright check this link out:

Meter accuracy (http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/article.cfm?sid=2&tid=39&aid=353&sk=5WYW)

dpav,
Are you comparing the whole blood results to plasma results, because you need to compensate something like 12% difference.

Shy

[rzrbks]

Good Read, Shy. Thanks




rzr,
Hey, have they come out with a new Induo? I used that before going on my pump, but it was the Ultra meter and not the Ultrasmart.


I use the UltraSmart strips

[Tony]

Originally posted by rzrbks

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
rzr,
Hey, have they come out with a new Induo? I used that before going on my pump, but it was the Ultra meter and not the Ultrasmart.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I use the UltraSmart strips Ultra and UltraSmart meters use the same test srtips. Which are also used in the Induo.

[Shalyndria]

lol OK Tony, I guess you'd be right; I used the same strips for both my Induo and Ultra meters. :o

rzr, does your Induo let you log carbs, injections, etc. cause that's what the UltraSmart does...and if yours does that well I'll be jealous...

:D

Shy

[Tony]

Originally posted by Shalyndria
rzr, does your Induo let you log carbs, injections, etc. cause that's what the UltraSmart does...and if yours does that well I'll be jealous...

:D

Shy Now why would you be jealous? You have the 512, it does all that for you. Or you are not using that part of the pump?

[lgvincent]

I goofed in my efforts to compare the One Touch UltraSmart and the Accu-Chek Complete meters to lab results. The blood I used for the meters came from the blood sample drawn from a blood vessel in my arm. I didn't think to check blood drawn from a finger.
I don't have the lab results yet (and probably won't get them until next week) but the lab's Precision meter showed 61, the UltraSmart meter showed 63, and the Complete meter showed 42. The odd thing is, the Complete meter showed a reading of 43 seventeen minutes before and I drank some Coca-Cola to treat the low blood sugar so I expected the second reading to be higher but it looks like the Complete may be way out of line with the others. I'll just have to wait and see what the lab results are.

[Shalyndria]

lol yeah my pump does something similar to that, Tony. But back when I was on MDI's if my Induo had done that rather than me trying to fit my Palm inside my teeny tiny little purse I'd have been in heaven...thus the jealousy factor!

Shy

[dpav]

OK I have not been back for a while. I actually do not so much compare the Whole blood meters with the Plasma meters for comparisons. What I do check is if the meters will give a consistent reading within a 1 or 2 minute time period. I have found with ALL of my plasma meters that they ALL have reading from 180 to 150 to 120 within that time period from the same finger. NONE of them have ever read near each other for me. Now the whole blood meters have all read close to each other for me. Every one and every time. the AC and the Glucometer and the One Touch Basic and the One touch Profile have always read consistent readings for me. Every Plasma meter has had not necessarily that great of a spread, yet the ultra smart was that far off. But they all were wide spread enough to where one reading I would do nothing to the highest reading I would have taken insulin. So I do not trust Plasma meters so far. If I had any meter that stayed steady I can adjust.to understand the readings it is giving me. Not a problem there. I simply need consistency with a meter to know what to do with my care.
I might be repeating myself here. I actually wish to find a plasma meter that is accurate. I like the advertisement, no matter how much of a lie it is. The ideas are good.

[Deager]

I just got one recently thru Diabetic Express and after the rebates it was $9.95. They have (had?) them on sale for $59.95 with a $20 rebate + $30 for another monitor (not a One Touch tho) so it cost $9.95.

My husband has been using it for a month now and likes at very much as do I. I regularly download his results which include exercise, insulin taken, and food intake. We haven't gotten any errors (maybe we are lucky?) and give them to the doc so he gets an accurate read of the whole picture.

We recommend it.