Every have a bad tester? Also, anyone use the Bayer Contour USB model tester?

Matt recently got the new Medtronic pump, and the tester that communicates with it is the Bayer Contour USB.

Once this week, it registered at 20. Another time, it was so low that it didn't register. In both cases, he was very coherent. The first time, we dumped carbs into him. The second time, I thought it was strange and double checked him with an older tester. It said he was 100. I grabbed another tester, which said he was 110.............So, obviously the Bayer tester is crap.

Has anyone ever had a bad tester?

Has anyone ever had a bad experience with this one?

 

We were using Contour Link meter but since once it showed 20 and 15 when I double checked (it is in mmol) I don't trust it anymore. Yes, it is convienient to use it with MM pump but I thound Accu-check to be more accurate in my eyes. We had to switch to it as Countour Link was no more compensated for us, but now I am really happy it happened this way So I still have one box of Countour Link strips, but even don't want to open it now. Maybe other have better experience but I also heard other parents to question its accuracy.

 

Do you have calibration solution for the Bayer Countour? Our accu-check was giving us inaccurate numbers, but I calibrated it and it took care of the problem.

 

Make sure that you have the right strips for the meter. The Medtronic pump in the US uses the Contour Next Link USB meter not the plain Contour USB. If your endo or pharmacy accidentally clicked or filled Contour strips instead of Contour Next strips then you might get bad readings. I don't know about other countries but I'm assuming it would be the same.

 

We use the Contour Next Link USB meter with my sons Medtronic pump and have had a few random low numbers like that. Usually a second check yields a different result on second check. We will usually confirm a low or high blood sugar with a second check for confirmation before treating. Overall I like the meter because the rechargeable battery lasts a long time without charging and that it has USB to upload meter and pump data to the Carelink site on Medtronic site for reporting. Sure beats the days we use to do manual logs!

 

eh? what? You can calibrate meters now with solution? I didn't know that. I thought the solution just checked to make sure that the meter was reading in the proper range, but didn't actually do anything.

 

We use the Contour next link usb with contour next strips, I have not had any issues with it. We use the control solution on every new container of strips, to verify they are okay to use, once in a while we get a bad one, just toss it and get replacements from bayer. We have tested the same drop of blood with 4 different meters just to see differences between them, all were different, with about 80 points between the highest and the lowest. Contour next link came in at the lowest. We have done this numerous times, even using 2 of the same brand of meters with strips out of the same container, and still get different numbers.

We always recheck any number that just don't make sense...a low# that she doesn't feel, or a high# that's just completely out of place

 

Now I'm not sure... When we were still using our Accu-Chek meters (we now use the meter built in to the OmniPod PDM), I'd use that solution every now and then; I thought the control solution actually calibrated the meter, but I could be totally wrong.

 

No, it doesn't calibrate and it's called a control solution. It has no affect on the meter but it is at a known concentration and can suggest if either the strips are bad or the meter or both.

 

Well, that's what I thought. I didn't know if she had something new that I hadn't heard of before. Guess not. :beaten: