Review: Dario Smart Meter

Spoiler alert - the Dario Smart Meter is pretty awesome.

I was contacted by Dario a few weeks ago to trial out their latest blood glucose meter and I was pretty excited to try it - mostly because I've been using the same glucose meter for the past few years and I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to the latest tech stuff!

So this is the equipment I've been using since 2013. It's a Contour Next meter, test strips in a separate container and a lancet. All of this fits into a nice little black bag which follows me around all day, every day. Previously I used a standard Contour meter which is the Next's older brother.

Upon receiving the Dario Smart Meter I was a little confused on actually how to use it as it was so different to what I was used to. As you can see, it bears no resemblance to the Contour meter.

It's a very sleek design. An all in one product. The lancet is at the top which requires you to pull down and then push on one side to prime and then trigger. You can remove the orange lid to change lancet's and adjust how deep the needle goes. At the other end is where the blood glucose strips are kept. After a small amount of time however, it was familiar.

Source: http://mydario.co.uk/smart-meter/

On the side of the device is where it gets interesting. The Dario Smart Meter uses your smart phone (this was tested on an iPhone but it is available on Android) to read and record your blood glucose levels. Open the app and put the meter into the headphone jack. From there it'll instruct you to insert a drop of blood and away you go!

(Lovely little 5.3 there....not bad for when I was filming!)

You can easily see what your levels have been over the past day, 7 days, 30 days and 90 days as well as allowing you to see what an estimated HbA1c may be - which I'm sure would be very useful. As I've only been using the device for a couple of weeks I'm yet to really experience the benefit of this but I'm sure it's one I'd be very interested in. In fact, the app has loads of data to look at to see trends and have a great insight into your overall diabetes management.

The strips themselves cost £9.95 for a pack of 50 which is reasonably priced compared to other devices in the same market and Dario have confirmed that should your GP prescribe them they are available on the NHS here in the U.K as outlined here: http://www.advancedtherapeuticsuk.com/dario-smart-glucose-meter

Source: http://bit.ly/AdvancedTherapeutics

The only downside I've found and whether it's just because I'm so familiar with my old equipment but using the Dario seems to take much longer, or at least I'm more aware of the time taken to measure my blood glucose. This may just be because I've spent 4 years with my Contour and only a couple of weeks with my Dario but I was more aware of opening the app, getting everything out and reading it all.

Despite that, I love the product. It's much easier to carry around than an entire bag full of supplies. It looks better and being able to connect it to my smartphone and have all my data easily available is brilliant. What really excites me is that the world seems to be slowly starting to address the present day needs of a diabetic and Dario have made a very good stride forward.

If you're interested in purchasing the Dario Smart Meter please click here: http://bit.ly/AdvancedTherapeutics

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