I’ve done a couple of posts in the past in which I’ve talked about testers- how they seem to be lagging technology wise, how treatments have advanced since the days of the reflolux and Nic has talked about the relative benefits and pitfalls of meters in this post about a month ago but I’ve I’ve been meaning to write a post on the new FreeStyle Lite for a while now so here goes…

being diabetic Not that long ago I learnt via Nic that there was about to be a couple of new meters coming onto the NZ market which included the FreeStyle Light, a snazzy little meter that she had used before in the UK and which is all over North America.

The FreeStyle Lite is smaller, fast, uses a tiny amount of blood, has a torch to light up the strip in the dark and is back lit. Plus, Abbott has found a way of making the strips so that there is no need to have a calibration process so I found myself thinking that I’d like to get my hands on one of these and try it out. Their release co-incided nicely with a visit to my endo so a couple of days before I called the guys that make them for some more information to find that they were absolutely lovely and I was sold – at least for a trial. Script in hand, I sent off for my strips and about 3 weeks ago I started using the meter (having finished my accu-chek strips).

So, having now had a decent stint with it I thought it was time to summarise my experience:

POSITIVES:

  • Quick – this meter is just as fast as anything on the market if not faster.
  • TINY! I was out last week in a bar and it was so easy to pop in my pocket with my pump and it didn’t look like I’d stashed some left-over dinner in there!
  • The light. I didn’t expect to care too much about this feature but it turns out that it’s actually super handy. I reckon a diabetic came up with that idea.
  • Super small amount of blood
  • No calibration needed
  • Cheap at only $15 and
  • It seems to me to be more accurate than the Performa which is a big thing for me
NEGATIVES:
  • The pottles are tiny and I can’t get my shovel sized fingers in them!
  • You have to take out the strips then turn them around to put it in the machine (small point but frustrating never the less)
  • It seems a lot slower to absorb the blood onto the ’stick’ and
  • It’s ugly as all hell. Sorry but it’s true isn’t it.
All in all, I like this meter a lot though so until something better comes along I reckon I’ll stick with my FreeStyle Lite (I’ve named him Gary) and wouldn’t hesitate recommending it to you to try – what have you got to loose apart from the $15 to get one?
- Aaron

By Aaron on 23 September 2009 at 6.50 am
Posted in Technology & Equipment
This post has 18 comments so far. Add yours here, or trackback from your own site.