Ascensia Contour Blood Glucose Meter

Drawing your own blood is as pleasant as it sounds. Not very. Luckily I am not diabetic, I just have a tendency to become hypoglycemic and I have a meter to verify that I have low blood sugar if I feel hypoglycemic. So, I test maybe once a month or less.

As it applies to other aspects in life, it also applies here. One. If you have the good equipment, it makes it easier.

I have tried many meters I have received free and this is one of the best.

The Ascensia Contour is slightly larger than a deck of cards and is a pearly blue color. It comes in a kit that sells for approximately $30.00. The kit includes: Ascensia Contour Blood Glucose Meter, 5 Ascensia Microfill Blood Glucose Test Strips, Ascensia Microfill Normal Control Solution, Ascensia Contour Quick Reference Guide, Ascensia Contour User Guide, Ascensia Clinilog Record Diary, Carrying Case, Ascensia Microlet Adjustable Lancing Device with 35 Lancets and Alternate Site Testing Clear Cap.

Upon opening the kit, after I carefully unpacked everything, I read the quick reference guide and set the meter up in less than 5 minutes. It was really easy to set up, enough so that a older child or an elderly person could easily set up and operate this meter with ease.

The first use was easy too, considering I have never used a meter that is so automatic. I first performed a control test to make sure the machine worked properly. This was a breeze! I just removed a test strip from the bottle, inserted the strip, waited for the flashing strip on the screen, and applied the control solution. The result came up in 15 seconds and it was perfectly in the range.

I did the same thing again, this time applying blood. Getting a blood sample was very easy using the Microlet lancing device. I simply took off the lancet cap and inserted a lancet. Then I twisted off the lancet cap and replaced the cap, with either the clear cap or gray cap. I used the gray cap for finger testing. I then chose my depth setting and cocked the device.

Once it was ready, I positioned it on my fingertip and depressed the button. I could hardly feel the prick and when I removed the lancing device, there was a perfect little blood drop which I then touched the strip to. In 15 seconds, I got my result.

The whole process was easy and next to pain free. I think this meter is a great step up from some of the older, less advanced models. Below are a few things that I feel makes the Contour superior to some.

One thing I have noticed that makes this meter stand out from the crowd is that is fully automatic. The Ascensia Contour meter eliminates the two main things that cause unreliable results and wasted strips. The Contour automatically codes the test strip so that you dont have to. The Contour also automatically senses if the solution applied to the strip is blood or control solution, so that there is no forgetting to press the button to mark a control result which in turn messes up your whole week average results.

Another problem with alot of meters is that you can't delete test results. That is a problem because if you gave the meter to another person, hadn't used the meter for a long time and wanted to start fresh, etc, your old results were on the meter permanently.

Overall, the Ascensia Contour eliminates many common problems with other meters and just simplifies meter use. With other ones, you have to remember did you code, did you specify control, etc. With the contour, you just simply pick the meter up and test.