A New Player in the Blood Glucose Meter arena - BGStar®

We have been trialing the BGStar® from Sanofi for the past two weeks. And we love it.

Much to the excitement of my 13 year old, our trial iBGStar® is now on its way and, as much as we like the BGStar®, I know that it is going to be put aside for its’ highly exciting, technologically advanced sister as soon as the delivery man gets here.

So, I only felt it fair to review the lovely little BGStar® before the razzle, dazzle of the new toy takes over.

The BGStar® is a fantastic little unit. It got its first big tick when I realized how easy it was to set up. We had it ready to use in a matter of minutes. The BGStar® is slimline and easy to handle and has a large, easy to read display which can be backlit at the touch of a button. It draws up a tiny blood sample (0.5 microliters) at the speed of light (well, it seems that fast anyway) and the visual countdown and beep indicate when the test is complete (6 seconds).



Look at that cute little smiley face

Our favourite function on the BGStar® is the smiley face that appears on the screen when your BGL is within range – a range that you set according to your own parameters. You can also set Hypo and Hyper Alarms to suit your own individual requirements. Reminder alarms can also be set. Pre and post meal tags can be added with each sample to help you and your team assess your blood glucose patterns.

Statistics are also easy to access on the BGStar®. 14 day Stats as well as 14, 30 and 90 day averages can be found at the touch of a button. By using mealtime tags, you can easily view pre and post mealtime averages and you can easily access trend graphs for 3 day, 2 week and 1 month periods.

Unfortunately, as with most Meters in Australia, it doesn’t test blood ketones.

The lancing device isn’t too bad. It has 8 settings, making it easier to get a lancing level that is just right for you. We have used it a couple of times and C doesn’t mind it at all.

We are however, rather attached to our Accu-Chek Fastclix and Multiclix. I firmly believe that they are the gentlest lancing devices for our little ones fingers. They also alleviate the need to touch any exposed needles when changing the lancets. Even though the drums are more expensive, they will certainly remain as our “prickers” of choice.

While it’s true that we have also become very comfortable with the “no strips” concept using the Accu-Chek Mobile, going back to a canister of strips wasn’t nearly as annoying as I thought it would. The strips do not require coding. Strips will be available through your NDSS agencies later this week. The cost of 100 strips is $2.40 with a Health Care Card. The NDSS code is 145.

Blood samples are analysed using patented, state-of-the-art Dynamic Electrochemistry®.

“Dynamic Electrochemistry® is an innovative technology which extracts a spectrum of information from the blood that is inaccessible to traditional electrochemical methods. This new method compensates for many interfering factors that can often distort blood glucose results, helping to ensure accurate and reliable blood glucose readings. A complex signal detects and corrects common errors for accurate performance”

The BGStar® testing range goes from 1.1 to 33.3 mmol/L and it will store the previous 1,865 test results, including the date, time, and meal time tag (if enabled) with each reading.

For those looking for a new, accurate BGL Meter and not hanging out for the iBGStar®, I’d say give this little beauty a go. I think her lovely smiling face will be a fantastic incentive for the kids especially.

BGStar has now been released in Australia and should be available at most pharmacies. You can call 1800 BGSTAR (1800 247 827) or go to the BGStar Australian Website for more details - http://www.bgstar.com.au/web/.