Customer Reviews

FreeStyle Freedom Blood Glucose Monitoring System

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having recently been diagnosed with T2 Diabetes, I opted to get this system over the one my wife has mainly because of size. The real surprize was not only the size of the glucometer but the size of the test amount of blood; no need to waste a test strip for "calibration"; the bells & whistles that come on this little bugger! If you don't think a little thing like the size of the test sample make a huge difference, you haven't tried this thing. With my wife's system, it takes FIVE times the size of the sample the Flash requires. That means a relatively deep and painful stick... I know. I tried her's out. She tried the Flash and will be switching over at the beginning of next month.

The actual test time takes a tad longer than my wife's current system. Two seconds more. Big deal! Gimme painless anyday.

My son was diagnosed type 1 at age 23 months. The endo sent us home with a meter that required an enormous amount of blood. I saw Freestyle Flash advertised and decided to give it a try. The sample of blood needed for this meter is incredibly tiny! No more screaming (by my child) while we're trying to get huge amounts of blood out of my little guy's tiny fingers. I've seen some people complain (on other sites) the meter takes 7 seconds for a reading. (like that's a long time??) I don't care that it takes 7 seconds to get the results, I do care my son likes it much better than the first meter! The only reason this meter didn't get 5 stars is because of the nature of the product ~ I don't think it can ever truly be totally "painless".

On the plus side, (the only star), the device take less blood than the meter I was used to. On the minus side, even after careful setting, calibrating, coding, etc., even on the same drop of blood -I got carried away after things didn't make sense-, the readings (three of them) were off by over 30 (THIRTY) PERCENT. For blood glucose control that is not acceptable, as matter of fact, it is dangerous. I threw the piece of junk away and rather give a little extra blood every day.

The Freestyle Freedom (as with all Freestyle monitors) allows alternate site testing which translates to little or no pain. Testing on arms or thighs is much less painful than continually pricking your finger to obtain a blood sample. Anyone working in an office knows how painful it can be to type on a computer keyboard after pricking your fingers multiple times. Alternate site testing eliminates this problem.

Freestyle Customer Service (now Abbott Diabetes Care) is absolutely the best. Reps are friendly and helpful and will do everything possible to resolve any problem you may have. Recently my Freestyle Flash became a doggy chew toy (don't ask, lol) so I decided to call Abbott to see if I could get a discount coupon for a new meter. Imagine my surprise when they sent me a brand-new Freedom meter at no charge. It arrived 2nd day air (again no charge) and I was able to quickly resume testing.

Joining Abbott's Friends for Life program gives you a Lifetime Warrenty, Free Lifetime Meter Upgrades, a Welcome kit and more. All of this at no charge. I cannot say enough good things about Abbott's customer care. It is without a doubt exceptional.

The meter itself is easy to use and comes almost ready to use from the factory. You only need to enter the test strip code into the meter and you're ready to begin testing. If you choose, you may set up to 4 daily alarms to remind you to test on time; helpful to those with a busy lifestyle. If you want to track your glucose readings by computer, the software is free at the Abbott website. For a small charge, data cables are available (either USB or Serial port) which allow fast and easy downloading of test results into the software.

I've been a Freestyle customer since shortly after their products came to the market and was concerned when Therasense (the company which produced the Freestyle meter) was purchased by Abbott. I am happy to say that Abbott learned many things from Therasense and neither the products or customer service have been degraded.

This product easily deserves more than 5 stars but it's the best rating I can give here at Amazon. If you are not sure which product to buy, you will not regret any of the Freestyle products.

I've had a number of problems with my glucose monitor.

The ten test strips that came with it seem to have been bad even though the expiration date was still good. They gave me high readings and also widely varying readings with the control solution.

Abbott customer service was very responsive and when I told them about the problem they sent me 50 test strips and two more bottles of control solution at no charge. They even offered to send a replacement meter.

The new test strips have given me readings within the normal range, about 10-20 points below the first batch of test strips. They also give fairly consistent readings with the control solutions (within 5%).

What worries me is that I did three tests on the same finger prick within a few minutes and one of them was way off from the others.

It's very easy to use and requires very little blood which I like. It seems to be accurate enough for a general reading but I don't know if I'd want to stake my life on it.

I bought this based on some reviews that it requires less blood sample and compact unit. BUT when I tried, it was HIGHLY inaccurate. As soon I received it I took 3 tests within 2 minutes to make sure it is reasonably accurate, it really scared me. Three readings are not even close to each other. I followed the instructions to feed the blood sample only on oneside of the strip and also I am aware that blood glucose levels may vary slightly even within few minutes, but this meter showed different values between 130 and 210 !!! That is a difference of being normal and diabetic. Then I checked on a healthy person which also showed significantly different readings within minutes.

I agree with Thomas Huber's feedback it is dangerous too to have such varying results. I should have followed his feedback before purchasing it to save time.

This meter is a slightly older model (newer models have "lite" in name) but is every bit as accurate. The BIG PLUS -- the test strips are much cheaper than those used in the "lite" models.

This item is very easy to use. I was surprised at being able to get results with so little blood!

I sent this to my brother and it helped immensely.

Does TheraSense FreeStyle Blood Glucose Monitoring System come with some test strips? I had to rate this system otherwise I can't ask the question (I haven't tried this system yet).