One Touch Ultra Mini Glucose Meter By Jessica Ne on Jan 11, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

During my pregnancy I was one of the unlucky few to develop Gestational Diabetes. I knew absolutely nothing about glucose testing or the variety of meters out there. My doctor ordered the one touch mini and said that it was very easy to use.

The meter is very small and comes with it's own case. They also give you tons of books and information about the meter and testing in general. It has a large screen and it is very portable. This is not a complicated machine. After the date and time is set you are ready to go. The strips it takes are very small and take very little blood. The needle is also very small and relatively painless. It does take a little while to figure out what setting between 1-9 the needle needs to be at in order to get enough blood. It comes with a clear cap that can go over the needle as well. That makes it possible to test by using your arm or palm.

I tried testing on my arm and palm and it did not work for me. I also thought that it hurt just as much, or more than the finger. Even though it takes a while to set up it is a pretty easy tester to use. In all it took me about 3 minutes to prep, test, and clean up. One problem I had was that the case that comes with it is not big enough. If you have to test multiple times a day, it is hard to fit the testing strips, needles and meter inside. The bag needs to be refilled often. It would also be a little easier if the testing strips were already inside the machine. Even though it is meant to be portable and easy, you always need a flat surface availible to get everything ready.

It only takes the meter about 5 seconds to come up with the results so that is great. It also has a great memory. I never had a problem with it messing up or losing memory and I never had to change a battery.

I would recommend this meter as an extra one or for occasional use. For every day use I would probably go with a better one with a bigger case and easier to set up for testing. For me it was perfect because it was inexpensive and I only had to use it for a few months. I tested 3 or 4 times a day and if I had to do it for longer than that it would start to get annoying having to refill the case each day and have a hard surface to set it up on. Other than that the price is great and it is worth it if you don't mind a little bit of a hastle.