In last few years there have been a lot of changes in glucose meters. In earlier glucose meter it was required to drop blood on reactive paper after that wait for 1 minute, rinse in water & then compare paper’s color’s with the color chart. With advancement in technology now the glucose meters have become very convenient to use. There are many different types of meters available in the market & choosing the right one is quite important. While selecting the glucose meter the basic factors to look into are ease of use, accuracy & convenience.

How these meters work

Glucose meters work according to 2 methods which are electrostatic & optical. In optical method the process involves reflective light measurement for checking the glucose level and was used in many older meters but the accuracy was not always consistent. The other method involves use of electrostatic technology & measures voltage level by using electrochemistry for checking the level of glucose in the blood.

There is now a new & better glucose meter available which works on DSP or digital process signals and is called dynamic electrochemistry. It has proven to be more useful in accurate as well as consistent measurements as compared to the meters based on static electrochemistry and reduces the impact of factors such as double dosing, dirty finger, chemical interferences or lack of blood on the readings.

Comparing glucose meters

For selecting a BGM one of the important factors is accuracy as it measures the level of glucose in blood. The other factor is consistency as it tells us how repeatable glucose meter is. We can say that accuracy will be good only if the accuracy remains the same with every single check. The next important factor is the easy usability. As you will have to use it many times during the day, the meter should be easy to use. The meter should have clear display with large numbers for easy reading, should be compact and easy to carry and handle. It should also have backlight to read in low outside light & have enough memory to store the previous readings. A good meter should also have small sampling time.

After you have selected the right meter to purchase there is some good news for you that you can also get them for free.

You can ask your doctor, many times medical or pharmaceutical representatives give some sample testing kits to doctors & your doctor can very well give you one of them. Big pharmacies such as Walgreen or CVS have coupons using which you can get a free glucose meter. Health insurance is another way as with Medicare you get coverage of 80% on diabetes testing supplies & includes testing strips, glucose meter, batteries & lancets. There are some also companies which provide free glucose meters and testing kits as part of corporate and social responsibility and by doing a bit of research you can easily find such companies. There are also many companies which provide big rebates on the purchases and the price comes to almost a negligible amount after the rebate.

Please click here to get your diabetes meter at no charge