[acb-diabetics] The Prodigy Voice Vs. the Solo

[Mike Freeman]

Nancy:

Each meter has advantages and drawbacks.

First, the Prodigy. It has the advantage that absolutely every function on
it is accessible. It also has the advantage that its controls are very
distinctive by touch. This is also a disadvantage in that the meter tends to
turn on when controls are bumped as when the meter is in a purse. The
Prodigy case is a train-wreck in that it doesn't protect the meter
sufficiently IMO and I use a different case that's actually a lady's
cosmetic bag. The other disadvantage to the prodigy is that one can get
erroneous readings from too little blood on the strip. However, if a reading
seems out of whack, just take another reading.

Second, the Solo V2. Its advantages are that it has a hard metal case that
holds the meter and all supplies except lancets which can be stored in a
baggy and tucked under the meter. One can also tag readings as being before
or after meals or just readings. But the principal advantage is that the
strips have two electrodes so one is somewhat less likely to get erroneous
readings than with the Prodigy and one usually gets an error message if
there's insufficient blood on the strip. The disadvantages (and they're
show-stoppers for me) are that there's no "say display" key that voices
what's on the screen at any time; thus one must go into memory even to hear
the reading one just took. But the *real* show-stopper is that when
reviewing readings in memory, while both date and time of readings are
displayed on the LCD screen, only the time of readings is voiced. Thus, one
must immediately log readings or infer the date from the sequence of
readings. This is such a disadvantage to me that I'm still using the
prodigy. Supposedly, this and other problems will be fixed in the next
firmware release.

Bottom line: I've received both good and bum readings from both meters and
IMO one is no more accurate than the other. The Solo has the better case and
a few more doodad functions (it has an alarm to remind you when your next
test is coming up but IMO if you don't know that, you're pretty out of it!).
And it also speaks Spanish -- the Prodigy does not. But its controls would
be tougher for those with limited dexterity than those of the Prodigy and
the real drawback is that it doesn't say the dates of readings when
reviewing memory.

If the updated Solo fixes this one drawback, I may shift to it. But unless
and until this happens, I'm still using the prodigy.

HTH!

Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: acb-diabetics-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-diabetics-bounces at acb.org]
On Behalf Of Nancy Ungar
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 8:46 PM
To: acb-diabetics at acb.org
Subject: [acb-diabetics] The Prodigy Voice Vs. the Solo

Hi.  A friend of mine asked me which of the 2 meters is more accurate.
She's thinking of getting either one of these meters.  
I have both of them, but I haven't used the Solo meter yet, would you
believe? Which meter gets the most votes and why? This might help me use the
Solo.  Thanks.  Nancy Ungar _______________________________________________
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