Most reliable glucometer

I have alpha trak, freestyle freedom lite(was using when first came home)
have onetouch ultra smart and one touch ultra mini(mom gives me her sample ones I use on myself as diabetes in family. I only have strips for the alpha trak

Will buy any brand meter/strips just ANY help on what works the best with your experience?

All meters will have a certain error percentage which is expected. The thing is to find one that you can afford. the strips are not inexpensive, sadly. Honestly, I'd ask the vet for her thoughts, and then head over to CVS, Walgreens, Target and/or Walmart and see what the pharmacists can recommend.

I use One Touch on myself and they're pretty accurate to the A1C - but I have insurance. How many strips would you have to use per day or per week? That may made a difference while you're looking. I honestly don't think you'll see a huge difference in quality between one and the next - it seems the big deal is how big a sample you may need to draw. A pharmacist can help you determine which ones require the smallest sample. Also, I'd ask the pharmacist to help you to find the finest needles for the blood testing.

She wanted the vet one only used($75 for 50 strips). I want to test more often and that would be WAY to much. I am testing every 3 hours(9 am-9pm) but plan to drop back once we get him better on. Hes ranging from me giving sub q and maxing the meter to being at 60. I did notice a new pattern today with the readings-insulin maxes out at about 6 hours tops and then he raises. Man how do you do this if you work? even PT!

I bought the freestyle freedom lite and got some strips off shelf and off amazon so will see. Was using that when his meter was in order as the loaner was broken. if the ones off amazon are good then that will keep tests to .50 a test.

I heard one vets using walmart brand and was curious if anyone used that(relion?) no strips to be found at counter or shelf so got a bit nervous. Yes they are cheap but if I can't easily go grab them its no bargain to be switching meters cause I may end up with some out of line results.

I hate that the freestyle dont suck the blood up(same with the "cat" model)
Plan to stay with the vet one another batch then start double dipping the one sample.

The lancets at moment are 28 and going to get smaller ones(can you tell this was aimed for a dog not a cat?) my moms are 33.

Thanks for your reply. This is unknown animal wise...but well known human wise as moms been diabetic for about a decade(um wow just realized its been sooo long)

I know I mentioned before that I used the Freestyle with no problems, other than the lack of a very high/very low reading.

A friend of mine with a diabetic cat uses the One Touch and loves it. She finds it really accurate (the only reason I didn't get one was that I was worried my boy was Hypo at 11:45pm and the Frestyle was the only one available at the 24hr pharmacy ).

The meters usually aren't a problem - it might be worthwhile just calling a couple of the companies and telling them your story - they may very well just ship you a free meter or three - it's the strips they want you to consistently buy. Heck, keep an eye out for health fairs - it's amazing the samples you can get at some of those.

Did you say even the pharmacist at Walmart didn't have strips? do you have a Target around you?

One touch strips 'suck' pretty well, at least on my fingers.