OneTouch Ultra 2 Glucose Meter Review

The One Touch Ultra 2 Glucose Meter is perfect for someone who likes, or needs, to have the ability to track their blood sugar readings closely. Advanced storage and testing features allows you to really see how food affects your glucose.

The meter also features a “best in class” meter set up and operating tools, so you can worry about other things than working your diabetes glucose meter.

I really like this meter for everyday use. It is priced reasonably well and offers most functions you can need.

Key Advantages

• Flexible Programming. The meter can track pre/post meal tests and allows you to add comments about a particular meal or food item you consumed. This allows you the benefit of really understanding how your diet affects your health. This is very beneficial when tracking your results with the data management software.
• Gentle Testing. Lifescan develop a gentler lancet device for less painful testing. We will note that actual user feedback is mixed on this issue.
• Back Light. The meter has a backlight to make testing in lower light conditions easier.
• Simple Operation. All OneTouch ultra glucose meters have what we call a “best in class” feature. They have special tutorial videos/still pictures that really make learning to operate the meter very easy.

Disadvantages

Feedback on the Ultra 2 is generally positive. Some users do complain that accuracy is a factor, while others claim it is great. We did not find any data to suggest the meter has any accuracy issues. If you don’t need the advanced tracking features, then you could get by with a smaller streamlined meter.

Test Strips

The Ultra 2 uses the OneTouch Ultra Test Strips. The strips are compatible with six other OneTouch meters so it they have great cross compatibility.

To Compare the BEST prices on strips, check out our Test Strip Price Comparison page.

Bottom Line

The Ultra 2 has some advanced features but the “best in class” product tutorials are very helpful in getting you up to speed with the meter.

The cross compatibility of the test strips also make this meter a good choice if you want to own multiple meters from the same manufacturer. We also liked the backlight feature.

Other Considerations

All One Touch glucose meters have access to 24/7 customer support if they have questions or problems using their meter. The LifeScan website provides good general diabetes resources.

Their free premium service (if you are a customer and register) is even better. OneTouch Gold provides personalized exercise and meal planning, has dozens of diabetes articles and thousands of recipes.

One Touch glucose meters all can use the company’s diabetes management software. The software is not free, as customers must purchase the software and data cable in a bundle. While this may seem different than other manufacturers who usually give the software away, it really is a distinction without a difference.

The software and cable bundle cost approximately $29.99. However, other companies give the software away for free, but you can’t use it unless you have the data cable which cost approximately $25 to $30 dollars. Essentially, you have to pay about $30 dollars to use management software no matter what glucose meter you have.

Technical Information