Are you suffering from diabetes? Did you know the fact that monitoring the blood glucose level is the most vital step in treating and managing diabetes?
You must be thinking of visiting a hospital or a medical laboratory to do these blood tests. Well, thanks to the modern technology. You no longer need to visit the “laboratory” to do the blood glucose tests. You can monitor the blood glucose level in the comforts of your home or office. All you need is a glucometer.
Wondering which glucometer to buy?
On November 14, we celebrate the World Diabetes Day. So I thought why not do a review of one of the most trusted and accurate blood glucometers available in the market. I’m talking about the Accu-Chek Active glucometer. We shall see the unique features, pros, cons and steps on how to use this glucometer.
Features
- Accu-Chek® Active meets ISO 15197: 2013, the newest and stricter global performance standard for accuracy
- Easy to use even for vision impaired diabetic patients. The 2 button navigation makes it super easy.
- Fast and accurate result in less than 5 seconds.
- Memory function stores 500 test values.
- Displays the average test value for the last 7, 14, 30 or 90 days.
- Data transfer with micro-USB to your computer allows you to keep a record of the blood glucose values and evaluate the trends.
- Ability to tag the values as pre or post meal.
- Warning signal when the blood sample obtained is insufficient.
How to use the Accu-Chek Active glucometer?
Using a glucometer is easy once you get over the fear of “blood”. Ideally the 4 basic steps of getting a blood glucose value includes :
- Inserting the test strip
- Obtaining the blood sample
- Applying the blood sample to the test strip, and
- Reading the result
I recommend you to watch the video below for a detailed explanation on how to use the Accu-Chek Active glucometer.
Pros
One of the biggest benefit of this glucometer is the design of the unique lancing device. The softclix lancing device has been proven to be the most “painless” technology to be used in a lancing device.
There is no need to load single lancet every time before testing. A drum containing 6 lancets can be loaded easily which helps you prevent accidental pricks and waste time.
Another big plus point of this glucometer is it’s ability to memorize the blood glucose values. Syncing the stored data from the device to your personal computer is also possible. This feature can be used by your doctor or healthcare provider to monitor the trend of your blood glucose variations. This can be a big advantage for your doctors in starting and maintaing the right type of diabetes treatment.
The test strips compatible with Accu-Chek Active glucometers are easily available for both online and over the counter purchase.
Out-of-meter testing is also possible which is useful in hospitals.
Cons
The package comes with 10 strips. But, keep in mind that an additional 100 strips will cost you around 1500 INR.
The battery will last for an average of 6 months only.
Additional 100 lancets will cost around 500 INR.
Accu-Chek Active is thus, not at all economical.
You must always remember to change the “coding chip” every time you replace a strip package.
No “read aloud” feature.
Verdict
Buying a glucometer is a big step in the right direction if you are planning to take control of diabetes. Accu-Chek Active glucometer will provide you accurate results, but at a higher cost compared to the other glucometers available in the market.
If budget is your issue, check out other brands like OneTouch and Omron. On the other hand, if budget is not an issue, and if you are planning to buy the glucometer for a hospital, go for the Accu Chek Active.
If you’re looking for a glucometer with USB support, check this sleek device from the healthcare giants Bayer.
Make the most out of every single drop of blood that you spill by using an accurate glucometer. I have been using this product for the past 2 years and it has never failed. I have many diabetic patients too who have been using this glucometer without any issues at their home.
You can buy the Accu-Chek Active glucometer at 1345 INR from Amazon by following this link.
