I had a hard time finding 12.7mm BD needles that were reasonably priced. I always buy BD so I have no experience with other brands.
What are other brands of pen needles and syringes that people like?
I order these. I’m not sure if they’re available in the U.S.
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These Unifine Pentips appear to be a lot cheaper than BD in the US for long pen needles (1/2", 12.7mm):
https://www.amazon.com/Unifine-Pentips-29G-12MM-Needles/dp/B01KP0C1CE
Made by Owen Mumford: they are a reputable medical equipment manufacturer.
I can’t tell you how to find the other brands of pen needles or the BD needles, but I will say that we had a long conversation once at a wedding brunch with somebody who works for BD in the sharps department, and they explained clearly the engineering that goes into creating a BD pen needle, and we’ve never wanted to use another brand since. It really is one of the moments that upgrading to the name brand paid off. Prior to that we’d tried whatever generic was at the pharmacy and EH found them more uncomfortable once we made the switch.
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@Michel, due to cost and my absurd (at the time) Rx deductible, I would purchase Caretouch brand pen needles from Amazon. They are generally $9.00/box of 100 and work as well IMHO as the BD brand. For syringes, I went to my local Walmart where I paid ~$13.00/box of 100.
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My favorite pen needles are novofine, although I don’t see a 12mm available, I think novofine edges out bd in terms of overall quality and comfort for pen needles
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I think the key here is that @Michel is specifically looking for 12 mm needles rather than the standard 4, 6, or 8 mm ones. BD used to make 12.7 mm needles, but my understanding is this length has now been discontinued (probably why they are hard to find and expensive).
Also, just to clarify @TravelingOn’s point, Owen Mumford is a European company so not as well-known in North America as BD (which is American). But they are definitely still a “brand-name” product as they have been making lancets, lancing devices, pen needles, and pens for decades now.
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Is 9.5mm (3/8") long enough? May sound odd, but BD TB syringes com in 1ml size in that length. I’ve used TB syringes for other uses, like growth hormone injections.
Same here.
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@Michel, saw a listing on Ebay for 6 boxes of 12.7mm syringes… They are not BD, but they may work for you.
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@elver, do you reuse pen needles more than once? If so, how do the CareTouch do on reuse? I am preparing the last spreadsheet for the out-of-insurance insulin thread.
Also—I can’t find ReliOn pen needles anymore: Walmart must have stopped making them. Do you know what the best choice/price is at Walmart these days?
I have also bought regular insulin syringes at Walmart btw.
@Michel Walmart only has syringes these days, but as always anything can happen. The cCaretouch brand is OK for 2-3 injections IMHO, then they start to hurt. If I am pinching pennies I use syringes even if I have kwikpens. Use the Walmart syringes 4-5 times at least, if not all day ( I was a 10-12/day injector on mdi )
@elver, are you saying that because of the price differential btw pen and vial insulin? Or am I misinterpreting you?
@Michel sorry…I am terrible at explaining things. If I was pinching pennies, and regardless if I had kwikpens or vials of insulin I would use a syringe. The syringe I could use all day, and extract that last 10 or so units from the kwikpen that never gets dosed otherwise. The pen needle and syringe price is a wash based on what I buy, but I am not able to get as many injections from the pen needle before it starts to hurt as I can from the syringe (reusing them). It’s also being able to get each and every unit possible from whatever vessel is holding my future.
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