Glucose test strips and meters

[Bobby T]

What do you guys think of the side kick all in one system and other meters?I use the one touch ultra test strips but they a $1 a piece and when I run out is very expensive.I picked up a 50 pack of the side kick test srips for $20 buck and it doing the job so far.Why is their such a price difference?

[EeyoreButterfly]

I don't know why there is a price difference. My guess would be that the larger companies probably have larger research and development programs that cost more money. If you look at companies like One Touch, they have a wide range of meters, some of which are very advanced.

Several companies have programs that can help you with the cost of your test strips.

Freestyle has the Freestyle Promise Program ( FreeStyle Promise™ - Diabetes Resources For Your Lifestyle (http://www.freestylepromise.com) ). Through that program I got my choice of meter and I only pay $15 a month for my prescription (two hundred strips). I thought I saw a post here where they stated that One Touch has a similar program. It might be worth looing into.

[sable_032592]

don't know where you're from bobby, but as far as a price difference, it could be that some meters get results faster or the strips use less blood or that the cheaper machines aren't really blood plasma machines... i don't know... my pharmacy sells their own brand of strips and machine, but it's about the same price as the name brand ones... when i buy 102 strips, i pay around $90 (cdn)... i know if you buy 25 it's more than $1 a strip and around a $1 a strip for 50, but the more you buy, the cheaper per strip it is...

[Riannon]

Wow ... I'm glad my job gives me the health coverage it does! I only pay $5 a month for my strips (100 if my GP writes the script and 200 if my endo does)! That's all I pay for my son's, too, and he receives 300 a month because his school nurse leans toward the paranoid side.

I switched over from FreeStyle Flash meters to OneTouch UltraSmart and UltraMinis (we're now up to 8 after our pump rep stopped by today with an early holiday gift for my son ... our rep is AWESOME!!!!) when my son went on the OneTouch Ping pump. (Used to be the Animas pump ... evidently OneTouch was more widely recognized ...)

Actually ... I haven't looked at strip prices in a while ... probably should next time I go fill them ...

[cyberus]

Until recently I used a True Track, the cousin of the Side kick and was quite happy with it, due to the lack of insurance and the price of that line it was working.
However comma pause, due to the fact its a whole blood tester I was getting results lower than a1c reflects (not that I am unhappy with my latest numbers mind you) my doc suggested switching to a blood plasma model, and gave me a list. One of the listed ones is the Breeze 2 meter which my poll gave mixed results but I am quite happy with AND there are several sites (not to forget E-bay) that you can get strip discs at prices comparable to the True Track/Sidekick line.