How to keep your Meter & Testing Strips safe in hot weather

I called One Touch to get the lowdown on how to care for our meter and strips in hot weather or at the beach.

Here are the great tips that she gave me:

• Keep your meter away from water!
• Place your meter and strips in a beach bag and cover the bag with a towel to keep it from getting too warm inside.
• The meter likes to be kept under 86 degrees F.
• Do NOT let direct sunlight shine on the testing strips.  This can ruin the enzymes in the strips.
• When testing, use an umbrella to shade the strips.
• If the meter gives an error due to temperature, you need to take it inside to cool off.  Maybe you could go to your air conditioned car or a nearby restaurant or store.  It should only take a few minutes to bring down to room temperature.
• When you come in from your day at the beach, sit your meter and strips on a table and let cool to room temperature before using.
• Be sure to use your test strip solution to check your strips whenever necessary.

Meter Accuracy Problems

We have used the One Touch Ultra2 since Andrew was diagnosed.  Overall I've been satisfied with the accuracy.

Last week was different.  I had Andrew test before bed and it read 190!  Andrew very rarely goes that high so I knew to retest him.  The next reading, 1 minute later, read 85.  I took it again one more time on a different meter and it agreed with the second reading.

What if I would have given him a correction for the 190 when he was really 85?!?!?!?  That thought scares the heck out of me!

When I called One Touch, they give me the spiel about the 20% error allowance.  190 to 85 is definitely more than 20%!  I hate the fact that we have to put up with 20% in the first place!  They had me check the meter with testing strip solution and everything came out ok.  The man proceeded to tell me that everything is checking ok and that the meter is fine to use.

Did I just hear him correctly?  

I started to get huffy at this point.  I told him, "What if I would have corrected him on the 190 when he was only at 85?"  I certainly do not feel comfortable using this meter and would like a replacement.

Thankfully they sent me a new one, but it really makes me double guess all of Andrew's numbers.  Have any of you experienced this with your meters?