FreeStyle Lite Blood Glucose Monitoring System Diabetic Meter Kit

QUICK SUMMARY: This FreeStyle blood glucose monitor is very easy to use. It has a big, digital LCD display (with a light, too!), so it's easy to see the read-outs, even without my eyeglasses. It has helped me correlate the foods I eat with my blood glucose levels in the morning and at night. Highly recommended!WHAT I LIKE:- Compact, much smaller than other models that do the same thing- Very, very simple to use. Just create a pinhead-sized drop of blood on your finger, and dab at it with a test strip already inserted into this monitor to get a reading in just a few seconds.- Gives pretty consistent results. Whenever I've had an unusual reading that I didn't expect, I have re-tested one or two more times to see if the first result was spurious or not. Generally, the second or third readings are very close to the first reading.- Comes with a little, zippered, black travel pouch that can carry everything you need: this monitor, a vile of test strips, about a dozen lancets, and a dozen alcohol pads to clean the test site. I love that it keeps everything together and, after I zip it closed, everything stays put.- I have rarely needed it, but it does have a light to illumine the LCD display.- It remembers, I think, about 400 test results- It has an easy way to annotate a test if you use the included control solution to verify the system is working properly- The kit came with a vile of 10 test strips, so you can begin testing immediately after you receive this kit- The included paperwork says this monitor is accurate to +/- 5% of the actual blood glucose level about 68% of the time, and it's accurate to within +/-10% of the actual blood glucose level 95% of the time. That level of accuracy was good enough for my purposes.- I was surprised how easy (and virtually painless) it is to draw a tiny sample of blood from my finger. The lancing process is almost foolproof, in fact.HINT: Order more test strips from one of Amazon's resellers; they're half the price of your local pharmacy!!WHAT COULD BE BETTER:- There appears no easy way to import the test results into a computer. It would be great to have a micro USB interface so all these test results could be uploaded to Excel.COMPARED TO A LAB'S A1C TEST: To determine the approximate accuracy of this device, I took two glucose measurements daily for about two months -- once in the morning before I ate or drank anything, once more two hours after I began eating dinner. Then, I took the average of all those measurements and compared that result to the A1C test from the lab that does the blood work for my doctor's office. The difference between the lab's A1C test and my two-month, twice-a-day-measurement average was 6, with the A1C reporting the slightly higher value (Note: to compare the A1C percentage, I had to use an online calculator to convert my A1C percentage to an equivalent mg/DL value used by this FreeStyle meter). A difference of only 6 mg/DL between the A1C and my 2x daily testing average is a very insignificant difference, and proof that this little device really is accurate when you take measurements over time.CONCLUSION: This monitor has helped me understand how my body processes different foods I eat with a degree of accuracy. I'm glad I bought it!

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the test strips are way too expensive. I feel like they're using the disposable shaver model where they'll give you the machine, but the blades are outrageous. At .50 (or more) per test it can become quite expensive if you're testing many times a day. I'm pre diabetic and I've already blown through 60 strips (kit includes 10 + 1 50ct bottle) in just 2 weeks. Doing the math says I'm well over $60 a month just for the strips. Ah well... what can you do? This is still the best deal around.P.S. I've heard there is a generic manufactured test strip that is far cheaper. I don't know how accurate they would be, or if they could hurt the machine.

I really like this meter a lot. It's small, streamlined, has a light when you need it. The clunky lancet device has been my personal favorite for several years, so it's nice to have another one. The clear cap is great for alternate site testing. The case isn't my favorite - it's floppy and a tight fit, although it does work, but I'm actually using a larger kit I got a while back from an Accu-check Active meter.I've used a lot of meters, and some were certainly better than others. I believe every single one either claimed to use the smallest blood sample or said something like "tiny" sample size. This one - the FreeStyle Lite - uses the smallest sample size I've experienced. I usually prick the side of a high, and I've blown a lot of strips over the past few years, sometimes due to a not large enough sample, others due to having to get the blood on a particular spot on the strip. I haven't manged to blow a sample from my FreeStyle Lite yet - heck, I haven't even had to had to get a little more blood on it during the allotted time. I'm often still surprised at how quickly the strips get the sample. Yes, the strips are expensive, but for me, they're definitely worth it, partly as I'm no longer blowing strips and throwing them away unused.As far as computer connectivity, I talked to Abbott support about this. FreeStyle lite owners must use the CoPilot Health ManagementSystem software, not the FreeStyle Auto-Assist that it says to use on the FreeStyle website. The cable one must buy in order to hook this monitor up to the computer is pricy at around $32, and I haven't gotten it yet but I do plan to.The kit I bought came with 10 strips, 10 needles and control solution, which was very convenient, but I hear that from here on out the kits won't include the strips or control solution.This is my favorite glucose meter out of the many I've owned and used. The results are good, it looks nice, has the features I need including my favorite poker (good for thigh testing with clear cap), a lighted screen and it's easy to use if you download the manual in PDF format (I prefer a downloadable manual as it's easy to search). And the small sample size the meter requires is REALLY small, a huge plus for me. The strips are expensive, so if money is an issue, you might want to try a different meter. Otherwise I recommend this meter enthusiastically.

My insurance company will only pay for Freestyle testing strips. When my old Freestyle meter started acting up I didn't trust the readings. I knew I could get a new one free from the insurance company but that would take time so I decided to quickly order one from Amazon Prime while I waited to get the one from the insurance company because I needed to track my readings on a daily basis. I was delighted with this meter. It is smaller and works just fine. I finally got my free one (several weeks later) but I like this small one much better. It was inexpensive and came with 10 free strips and some free lancets. I like having more than one meter because I sometimes question odd readings and want to check up on them by having a second meter. Amazon makes both the strips and the actual meters inexpensive enough to purchase extras as need.I don't take insulin so I suppose accuracy is not as important for me as it is for those calculating their insulin dosages but I like to monitor my readings to keep my glucose in tight control.