Customer Reviews

METRIKA A1CNOW+ WITH SAMPLER HbA1c Blood Monitor w/sampler, 10 Test Kit

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been using this home test product for about 2 years and have had the opportunity to benchmark it against laboratory tests. It is always within a 0.05% agreement. I like being able to monitor my progress and this allows that at a reasonable cost in both dollars and time.

The new blood sampling procedure is greatly imporved over the inital method. The system works well and reliably.

I dislike several of the merchants that require it to be sold only to medical professionals or with a prescription only. I applaud both Amazon and the merchant for keeping it available to an end user.

I purchased this hemoglobin A1c tester and as the first gentleman said, read over the instructions at least twice so that you don't goof up the test, but you get the results within 5 minutes. I had purchased the Biosafe and had sent the sample in over two weeks before going on line and finding this product. I got the Metrika A1c Now tester and had the results in 5 minutes and I still have not received the results from Biosafe that was mailed into their inefficient labs over 3 weeks ago. On July 27th it will be a month, how long does it take to get your results from Biosafe???? Save yourself the aggravation, spend the money, get the Metrika A1c tester, so you get 10 tests, its worth it. Consider the cost of the Biosafe, the WAIT..............time, the uncertainty and the Metrika is worth it's cost because you know the same day within minutes what you hemoglobin A1c is and what you need to do to get you diabetes under control. I just wish it was some way that you could preserve the testing unit because you only test the hemoglobin A1c every 90 days and you end up with 6 tests that you can't use because the box states that it expires in one year. That was the only draw back, if you have some diabetic friends maybe you could test them and get some of your money back that way? Who knows.....

I purchased A1cNow for two major reasons:

- I was just diagnosed with Type II about 90 days ago with an HbA1c of 8.1. I was/am clearly overweight, poor eating habits and little exercise. I was prescribed Metformin 500 mg 2x/day. After about a month, my fasting glucose was still not within acceptable range (90 to 110 mg/dL) so my dose was increased to 750mg 2x/day (which did the trick). Like most of you, I realized that a 30 minute visit with my GP doctor was not going to answer all my many questions, so I did extensive research about Type II. What became very clear to me was that HbA1c or glycated hemoglobin was the real culprit responsible for the long term problems associated with diabetes. So the 2-4 finger sticks per day were very informative about my condition, it was clearly not telling me everything I wanted to know. I even went so far as to download the data from my glucose meter into a spreadsheet and "analyzed" the data every which way to estimate my HbA1c. Of course I knew deep down inside that at best this was just giving me some trend info and at worst was telling me nothing. And then I found this product and have used it two months running now and I feel much better informed and feel much better knowing. By the way my HbA1c has now declined to 5.8 (YaY).
- The second reason for my purchase was the fact that my Meformin dosing has changed 3 times (500mg to 750mg and now back to 500mg just recently as my HbA1c is below 6 - we shall see how that goes over the next month). The accepted protocol for a new diagnosis or if the patient changes doses and/or medication is for a new blood test every 90 days. Seems reasonable except for the following information from a number of clinical studies done over the last 15 years (do a Google search and you can find these):
o HbA1c is not static and actually reverses at about 1/8 the rate in which it occurred.
o HbA1c will change to a new higher or lower level in about 30 days based on an average higher or lower average glucose level.
o HbA1c is primarily affected by the previous 30 day average glucose - about 50%. 25% days 31-60 and 25% days 61 to 120.

Given the above, it is reasonable and informative to test every 30 days given certain circumstances. In my case I have changed my dose 3 times and I continue to lose weight/fat (still have a way to go before I my weight/fat is "normal"). This product for use at home is certainly a much better way to do this rather than going to the lab - at least for me (and that is assuming my HMO would actually agree to let me use the lab every 30 days).

I will be able to use all 10 tests before they expire at the end of the year and be a much more informed patient - and the average cost of about $17 per test is certainly reasonable per month. I can not say what the future will be - assuming I reach a normal weight/fat and my condition is stabilized, there likely would be no need to test every 30 days and going to the lab a few times a year would actually be a great thing. Good luck to all of you!

From reading about this product around the web and its professional use only designation, I was expecting the product to be more complicated to use. While slightly more complicated than using a blood glucose meter, I had no trouble using the meter and obtained results consistent with my lab results.

As a newly diagnosed diabetic, I find my steadily lowering A1c results to be a great help in maintaining the life style changes I am trying to make. Being able to find out what is going on after medication changes and as you expand your dietary choices is well worth the money to me. As the "three month average" results are actually weighted towards the more recent weeks, I feel that once a month testing is helping me to better understand this disease,

The only reason this review was not a five star review is the expiration date. It appears that you will only get a full year to complete the tests if the meter is brand new to the supplier. My meter only had 9 months left before expiration.
This would not be a problem in a professional setting as any Doctor's office would expect to do more than one or two tests a month. For me, it will result in one wasted test. Still worth the money

This product originally was sold as a single-use meter and one test, for a street price of about $25. The meter was disposable, but only because it had been deliberately designed that way. It just performed the one test in the first five minutes and then stayed alive for about four days. If you could have turned it off, you would have been able to take several tests with it, provided you could get the test strips.

I used the product for about two years and was very satisfied with it. I guess they couldn't justify the single-use meter, but it was what you really would want if you're a diabetic who intends to test A1C at an interval of four to six months. They didn't make any announcement, just stopped marketing the single-use test and put this 10-use test in its place, but limited to one year.

It would have been fairer to the customer to make it four uses for $80 to $100, if it only stays in date for a year.

As you get to be a diabetic for a while, you see that an awful lot of people are trying to make a buck off your disease.