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LifeScan’s ‘Mini Meter’ Goes Easy on the Checkbook

David Mendosa

Dec 1, 2006

One of the Least Expensive and Smallest

LifeScan promotes its new OneTouch UltraMini meter for people with diabetes who don’t have health insurance coverage.

It’s that inexpensive.

But my guess is that even more people will use it as a second meter to carry in their purse or pocket.

It’s that small.

One of the Least Expensive and Smallest

The UltraMini is both the least expensive (at a suggested retail price of $19.99) and one of the smallest meters (about four inches long and one inch wide and weighs just over an ounce) on the market. That’s comparable to the Sidekick meter by Home Diagnostics.

The UltraMini is especially attractive as a traveling meter for people who already use a LifeScan meter at home. It uses the same OneTouch Ultra test strips as do the other U.S. LifeScan meters. These strips are covered by more health plans at the lowest co-pay than any other.

Beyond being inexpensive and small, the OneTouch UltraMini is simple to use. It’s for people who might otherwise feel overwhelmed by the demands of managing their diabetes and particularly challenged by meters with a lot of functions.

The OneTouch UltraMini is for those people who prefer devices that do just one thing— and do that one thing well. Besides its screen, the OneTouch UltraMini has just two buttons.

How Accurate Is It?

A LifeScan spokesperson told me that the UltraMini is equivalent to the company’s UltraSmart meter in terms of accuracy and precision. My comparison tests bore out that claim. Like the other Ultra meters, the UltraMini requires just one microliter of blood, so you can test on alternative sites— like your forearm or palm—as well as your fingertip. It takes just five seconds to give you your blood glucose level.

What’s your preference in a blood glucose meter: low cost, small or simple? With the OneTouch UltraMini you can have all three.

The Ultra2 Meter

If you want more features but the same stats, accuracy and precision as the UltraMini, another new LifeScan meter might be the one for you.

The OneTouch Ultra2 meter lets you flag and identify a specific blood glucose result as coming from a “before meal” or “after meal” test. Another feature lets you tag specific results with preset comments that can later provide insight, such as what may have caused a too-high after-meal blood glucose result.

Categories: Blood Glucose, Diabetes, Diabetes, Meters

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