Yep, definitely depends on where the study was done. Minneapolis versus New York City. Ha!
But I am also inclined to believe that there is not a whole lot of difference in blood tests for different races. Maybe some possible degree of variation, but certainly not enough to be a deal-breaker for any particular meter.
Meters generally do the same thing, measure glucose oxidase. At some point if there was a huge difference between white or black or Hispanic or Asian races, I think it would have been identified by now.
But there might be many other factors that affect what theyāre measuring. The point wasnāt that different races make meters work better or worse. Why do certain meters work very poorly for me but work very well for other middle aged people? Because every drop of blood is as unique chemically as the people they come fromā¦ which is why I find these studies of their accuracy frequently donāt reflect the reality of their performance amongst a broad and diverse population of real people.
Itās always great to see accessible meters. Hopefully this meter is truly fully accessible and doesnāt just have speech output for the glucose results. Last I heard, there were a grand total of two fully accessible meters available on the US market, one in the UK market, and none in the Canadian market. And one in the US market was the Prodigy, which I gather isnāt that accurate and got poor reviews from most users who could choose which meter they wanted to use, but was accepted by those who had to use it or rely on someone else to test their blood. Accessible diabetes technology is an area where there is a very, very acute need for new products and innovation compared to the general diabetes market.
One thing that does concern me is that accessible meters always tend to be a generation or two behind the mainstream meter market. I donāt understand this. I know that speech is often touted as the main feature of a meter, and so things like Bluetooth or apps arenāt added since those are features of other meters in the line. But to those of us who are visually impaired, speech output is not a āfeatureā of a meter but rather an essential component, just as screens are not viewed as āfeaturesā but necessary components.
So, now while people are moving on to Bluetooth, apps, small meter size, high-contrast displays and being able to really dig into and analyze their diabetes data, those with visual impairments are 10-15 years behind and are just moving into having slightly more meter choice and smaller blood samples. (And the lack of any high-contrast, backlit displays on meters with speech is ironic, since many of us with visual impairments canāt see grey-on-grey LCD displays, regardless of contrast or font size, and really need the high-contrast, backlit displays.)
I know that many of these meters are designed for seniors and so are kept simple. But diabetes is also the leading cause of blindness among working-aged people (ages 19-64 or thereabouts), and this younger population definitely wants accessible, up-to-date technology. If features like Bluetooth were included but were able to be turned off in the (fully accessible) settings menu, that would be a good option.
Apple was able to revolutionize the accessibility of the computer, tablet, and smartphone industry and passively āforceā all other companies to add out-of-the-box speech and magnification to their products. The same is slowly happening with other companies and other technologies. It would be my hope nad dream to see a meter company take the same step to revolutionize the accessibility of diabetes meters (and pumps, and CGMs, and apps, and any other digital devices that may come alongā¦).
Anyway, did not mean for those to become such a long post. Iām in Canada, where we donāt have ReliOn brand, so Iāve never used any of these meters. But I canāt help piping up when the words āspeechā and āmeterā in the same sentenceā¦
Are you going to do a test of the voice meter Scott was offering? I would love to get your feedback on it. You would be able to give a much more thorough review than me, given the fact I have never used one.
I think I was going to get a voice one sent to me from Scott, but I would gladly let you take it if you want to try it out.
Iām not sure if I can, since Iām in Canada. I could look at it from an accessibility standpoint, although I donāt have any direct experience with the other recent talking meters, so I wouldnāt be able to compare it to anything else directly. Since all Iād have are whatever strips came with it, and since all my other meters are in mmol/L, I wouldnāt be able to do any sort of accuracy testing. Iām also not sure how the whole sending-across-the-border thing would work, since its not Health Canada approved (to my knowledge).
I just saw this string. I didnāt have any notifications populate.
Correct. Walmart.com does not ship to Canada nor am I allowed to.
I canāt tell @Eric what to do.
I will do whatever you want and gives a good test for the meter.
I mentioned @Jen because she is visually impaired and seemed like a good candidate. If she wants it, I can send it to her with the strips. But if not, I will do my best to give it a complete examination and offer my feedback.
I, personally canāt send a meter from my company to @Jen.
You can decide what you want to do with your meter. @Eric, you are more than welcome to do what you want with the demo. Itās yours. Iām simply looking for feedback.
@ReliOnAM
Hey Scott, I got the Premier Voice. Thanks a lot!
I will take my time to go the strips and also test under different situations and compare the numbers with some other meters. I will post about it when I have finished the vial.
I have purchased the Relion Premier Blu and I am concerned about the accuracy of the product. I see the data in regards to readings under 100 but I have never had a reading that low. I also have a OneTouch Ultra 2 which was supplied by my insurance company but the readings between the two are separated by as much as 30-40 points. The Relion always registers lower. I have been comparing 2 times a day for over 30 days and I am concerned the Relion may not be quite the device I need for my readings that fluctuate sometimes from 110 to 285. Any advise from the field on what accuracy results you may have experienced on either device?
I have heard from several people that the OneTouch reads higher (@Sam has a lot of experience with their meters, I believe?). I use a ReliOn Prime, though I havenāt compared it to many others (to my free OneTouch a couple of times; and the OneTouch read higher), and I just started using the Blu, and theyāre spot on with each other (and line up with my Libre sensor as well).
@Eric put together this post with some links to studies done on accuracy of various meters you might want to check out to see how your OneTouch rated.
@ReliOnAM: Scott, Really cool to see someone from Arkray not only responding in a forum post like this but soliciting feedback and reviews. Thank you for that!
Being newly diagnosed with T2 & still learning about it & how to manage the condition I have been debating picking up one of these meters at Walmart. I currently have one of the ReliOn prime meters that I have been using and like. I appreciate you guys bringing meters to the market at affordable prices compared to these other companies who seem to have a insurance industry endorsed borderline monopoly going. I particularly like the pricing on your products VS the ācompetitorsā. My HDHP insurance would only cover a onetouch meter to the tune of ~80$ out of my pocket after insurance discounts for a meter, 50 strips, and 100 lancets. Whereas your simple meter & supplies OTC not using my insurance is ~22$. I even called my insurance and asked if I could buy these instead out of pocket but still submit the receipts against my deductible as was pretty much told I was SOL.
I have been debating picking up one of the BLU meters to make tracking easier however some of the reviews made me second guess that until the app had more time to improve and until more reviews came in. The fact that you guys are actively reaching out to the community for feedback & working to make improvements really helps me to remove that doubt that I should get one. When its time to go get more strips I will likely be picking one up. Also kinda cool that it looks like you guys are local to me here in MN.
Being a IT person & general technology nerd myself the idea of being able to make more intelligent use of the data from my meter is a big appeal to me. And if there is the chance that I could help to improve the product for not only myself but the benefit of the community I am all in.
Hi! Do you have any updates for when the app will be usable? And where can I purchase a cable so my doctor can download my results? I really want to make this meter work and for it to be easy for my doctor to retrieve my numbers.
Ha!