Ultrasmart meter

[lelggren]

Today, the Lifescan rep came into my work, and gave me a free ultrasmart meter!!!! YAY!!!! I love free stuff :) :rock: Anyways, he wants me to try it out and see if I like it or if it seems too technical. Does anyone have any particular opinions on this meter? I have been using the Flash, and I like that one. But, when I did a test to see what the accuracy was between the two, the flash read 17 points higher. If I end up liking this meter, then I may make it my primary meter. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks!! :dancing:

[JediSkipdogg]

I have used the UltraSmart since it came out. Prior to that I was using the Ultra for quite some time. I love the UltraSmart and all the items it has built into it. Personally, I don't use half of them due to my laziness, but it's a very nice meter. The backlight on it is phenominal and makes it very easy to read the screen at night, although there is no light on the strip like the Flash has. I'm not sure what batteries the Flash takes, but I know the UltraSmart takes two AAA batteries and I just replaced them for the first time last week in almost 2 years.

The biggest different I think you will notice between the Flash and the UltraSmart is the blood sample required. The Flash only required .3 uL of blood whereas the UltraSmart requires 1.0 uL of blood. That may make a huge difference and you do need to fill the strip completely up or you may get an error 5 (which we all have gotten and all hate.)

If you have anymore questions ask away. I'm about to get an Ultra II in the next few weeks for free and test one of those out for a short period of time.

[lelggren]

I have used the UltraSmart since it came out. Prior to that I was using the Ultra for quite some time. I love the UltraSmart and all the items it has built into it. Personally, I don't use half of them due to my laziness, but it's a very nice meter. The backlight on it is phenominal and makes it very easy to read the screen at night, although there is no light on the strip like the Flash has. I'm not sure what batteries the Flash takes, but I know the UltraSmart takes two AAA batteries and I just replaced them for the first time last week in almost 2 years.

The biggest different I think you will notice between the Flash and the UltraSmart is the blood sample required. The Flash only required .3 uL of blood whereas the UltraSmart requires 1.0 uL of blood. That may make a huge difference and you do need to fill the strip completely up or you may get an error 5 (which we all have gotten and all hate.)

If you have anymore questions ask away. I'm about to get an Ultra II in the next few weeks for free and test one of those out for a short period of time.
Yes, the rep was talking about that too today. He said he is going to bring me an ultra 2 also when he comes in next. I did notice the HUGE difference in the blood sample. I got spoiled with the Flash. It will be back to the milking of the finger....lol :) But, I do like the features in it. On the flash, even when you download it, you don't have the choice of entering exercise or illness or anything like that since they stopped using the copilot sofware. I think that my dr will like seeing what I was doing and when.

What have you noticed about the accuracy? Has it been pretty good for you? I worry about it being so off from the Flash because I worry that maybe I've been getting mis-read all this time.

Thanks :)

[JediSkipdogg]

Since all I have used in the last 5 to I can't remember when years is the Lifescan line of meters. Therefore I can't attest to the accuracy of it compared to others meters since I've never used anything else in a while. I'll say I feel it's pretty accurate with what I'm feeling. Maybe someone else that has used both could be more help in that area.

Also, you need to remember that you could have gotten a 17 point difference if you did 2 tests back to back on the same meter. Meters have a pretty large tolerance rating and 17 points would seem to fit in that level.

[arath13]

FLASH is very accurate. My wife had Gestational diabetes and a big problem with Gestational is Hematocrit. Hematocrit can play havoc on meters but the FreeStyle/Flash is the only meter that is unaffected by Hematocrit. Plus, its technology is much more advanced than the amperometric meters.

Ultra is a good meter but FLASH is still leading the way!!!!!!!!

:ahhhhh: :ahhhhh: :ahhhhh: :ahhhhh: :ahhhhh:

[arath13]

I forgot to say this. I saw a study today from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Albany Endocrinology group. The study was comparing accuracy between Ultra and FreeStyle vs LAB(YSI). In a nutshell FreeStyle was 15% more accurate than Ultra and 50% easier to get blood on 1st sticks.

I will try to find it and post it.

OUT!

[psilocybin]

I forgot to say this. I saw a study today from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Albany Endocrinology group. The study was comparing accuracy between Ultra and FreeStyle vs LAB(YSI). In a nutshell FreeStyle was 15% more accurate than Ultra and 50% easier to get blood on 1st sticks.

I will try to find it and post it.

OUT!

wow, news to me, i always thought onetouch had the best accuracy. well looks like i will be changing meters i use =]. i just want a cozmonitor!

[gettingby]

I've been using my Ultra for a while now and I have to say that I have never doubted it's accuracy.

[condensr]

I use an UltraSmart, have since they came out. I love it.. I recently got a Flash from the endo's office to try out. Its OK, but I think I prefer the Ultramart for one reason..

With both meters, if you get enough blood to test w/o error, but still not quite enough, they will read high. I mean REALLY high, like 70-100 pts. With the windowed test strip on the Onetouch Ultra/Ultrasmart, you can see if you didn't get exactly enough blood. With the Freestyle strip, you can't. I know the freestyle isn't supposed to start the test until it has enough for a sample, but this is just what I've experienced. When I've gotten these really high numbers before, I've retested immediately with both meters (for a comparison) but a bigger sample, and they show a much more normal reading.

I'd use the regular Ultra or an Ultra 2, but I really like the 3000+ test memory that the Ultrasmart has. The Ultra has a 150 test memory, and the Ultra2 a 500 test memory. I don't really use the carb/excercise feature of the Ultrasmart. The averages are nice though.

I heard there will be an Ultrasmart 2 coming out soon, someone on here actually said it, but I have not been able to find any info on it.

Say, how are y'all getting the Ultra2 meters gratis?

[lgvincent]

I've found the Flash to be very accurate, within 2 to 3 mg/dL of the lab reading, but the UltraSmart has run as much as 35% higher than the lab results. When I use the UltraSmart, I tend to see the paramedics more often because I take extra insulin because it tells me that my blood sugar is higher than it actually is.

[Funnygrl]

When I test my Flash against the lab it is always dead on.

[Dewey]

It's kind of like pumps.....each person has different preferences. I've used many different meters (Accu-Check Active, Ascensia Contour & Dex, BD Logic & Link, Freestyle Flash & Cozmonitor, Precision QID & Xtra, Lifescan One Touch II, Profile, Ultra & UltraSmart, <Glucochek S.C., Glucometer M - both Old School> and Reli-On & Reli-On Ultima, etc..), and have found many to be within close range of one another.

The things I love about the UltraSmart are that the meter allows users to input glucose levels (i.e. if they run out of strips & test with an alternate meter), the software has always worked well & is appealing. There are only three things I'd change & they would be:

1. Put in a light to light the strip in dark places (like the Flash)
2. Make strips that required a little less blood (it's not a big problem or anything, just have experienced some wasted strips cause I didn't get enough blood on them in time).
3. Reduce price of strips

Like Jedi said, I haven't used all the features on it, and they can be handy at times when you want to track trends & the like. Overall, Lifescan is a good company and has been around for a long time.