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I am not quite ready for a pump, but am in the market for half of the solution, a continuous blood glucose monitor. Any diabetics here have a recommendation for

I am not quite ready for a pump, but am in the market for half of the solution, a continuous blood glucose monitor. Any diabetics here have a recommendation for an affordable out of pocket continuous blood glucose monitor? (Without insurance). I have an iPhone 13. Which is the best value for money? I am looking for something affordable. I can pay a reasonable amount monthly for consumables for it.

jablongo 3y ago
The best brand is Dexcom (G6 or G7). The Abbott one is cheaper but has disadvantages. Either one will be way better than nothing if you have diabetes. Without insurance dexcom will cost you like $260 a month via one of these mail order distributors: https://rapidrxusa.com/products/dexcom-g6-sensors-3-pack https://rapidrxusa.com/products/dexcom-g6-sensors-3-pack Do your part as a consumer and shop around a bit to drive prices down... good luck!
- protomolecule 3y ago
  Could you elaborate why Abbot's Freestyle Libre is worse?
  - user_7832 3y ago
    As someone using a freestyle Libre 2, I’m also curious. From what I know, I think the main reason is that the Libre needs NFC vs the Dexcom’s Bluetooth… except that Abbott recently updated (!!) the software and now Bluetooth works at par as the dexcom. Some people have better sensitivity with one or the other I agree, but both are fairly solid. The Libre is smaller though, so I prefer that.
  - sebdei 3y ago
    I would definitetly recommend the Dexcom G7. As I come from the libre3 I have to say that the G7 overall feels more sophisticated, yet alone the overpatch they send with each sensor will help keeping the sensor on my arm. In the past the libre3 often just fell of during my swim training. Further, libre3 is often just not supported by third party apps or pumps or other. They do not provide an official API, that might be helpful for tracking your clucose. Back in the days I used and contributed to https://github.com/timoschlueter/nightscout-librelink-up https://github.com/timoschlueter/nightscout-librelink-up to periodically fetched my sensor data from librelink and stored it my nightscout, that runs on my server at my home. That helped a lot, but it was more than a hack.
  - sgmoore 3y ago
    I have read a few people who say they prefer the dexcom because the freestyle is pre-calibrated and Abbott's software doesn't allow you to calibrate the device. (I've never tried the dexcom and am very happy with my libre)
protomolecule 3y ago
I picked Freestyle Libre after asking around a few endocrinologists (60 euros for a sensor that lasts two weeks), but curious what others have to say.

jablongo 3y ago

The best brand is Dexcom (G6 or G7). The Abbott one is cheaper but has disadvantages. Either one will be way better than nothing if you have diabetes. Without insurance dexcom will cost you like $260 a month via one of these mail order distributors: https://rapidrxusa.com/products/dexcom-g6-sensors-3-pack https://rapidrxusa.com/products/dexcom-g6-sensors-3-pack Do your part as a consumer and shop around a bit to drive prices down... good luck!

protomolecule 3y ago
Could you elaborate why Abbot's Freestyle Libre is worse?
- user_7832 3y ago
  As someone using a freestyle Libre 2, I’m also curious. From what I know, I think the main reason is that the Libre needs NFC vs the Dexcom’s Bluetooth… except that Abbott recently updated (!!) the software and now Bluetooth works at par as the dexcom. Some people have better sensitivity with one or the other I agree, but both are fairly solid. The Libre is smaller though, so I prefer that.
- sebdei 3y ago
  I would definitetly recommend the Dexcom G7. As I come from the libre3 I have to say that the G7 overall feels more sophisticated, yet alone the overpatch they send with each sensor will help keeping the sensor on my arm. In the past the libre3 often just fell of during my swim training. Further, libre3 is often just not supported by third party apps or pumps or other. They do not provide an official API, that might be helpful for tracking your clucose. Back in the days I used and contributed to https://github.com/timoschlueter/nightscout-librelink-up https://github.com/timoschlueter/nightscout-librelink-up to periodically fetched my sensor data from librelink and stored it my nightscout, that runs on my server at my home. That helped a lot, but it was more than a hack.
- sgmoore 3y ago
  I have read a few people who say they prefer the dexcom because the freestyle is pre-calibrated and Abbott's software doesn't allow you to calibrate the device. (I've never tried the dexcom and am very happy with my libre)

protomolecule 3y ago

I picked Freestyle Libre after asking around a few endocrinologists (60 euros for a sensor that lasts two weeks), but curious what others have to say.