Ease of home testing units?

[jeffp]

For those who are doing home testing... What are your opinions on the unit you are using so far as accuracy, ease and need of calibration, maintenance, and cost and availablity of the testing strips. I'm currently in the early stages of getting together data on units and such to submit my pettion to the insurance company for one. I figure the more the merrier. Thanks

 

[geebee]

Jeff,

I have an INRatio and love it. Here is a link to a recent thread on testers.

http://www.valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9622

Hope this helps.

 

[Karlynn]

I have the ProTime. It seems to be accurate, with no need to calibrate. Last Wednesday my ProTime was 2.6, my card's Coagucheck was 2.3, which is in the acceptable range for differences. Not happy that my INR is lower than I like it.

The ProTime is big. I haven't had to travel with it though. My dream is to have my insurance company call me up and say "We'd just love to buy you a new INRatio."

 

[geebee]

Karlynn,

Have you tried asking the insurance if they will approve another machine? It can't hurt to ask.

My INRatio machine is coming to Fermilab with me if you want to "play with it"

 

[bvdr]

I've got the ProTime unit and it usually works just fine. There have been times when some of the supplies I received did not work and ERROR means I have to do it all over again. When I contacted QAS a packet of 4 was replaced without charge. My unit does not hold a charge for very long but when it also works plugged-in so it has not created any problems. At the time I got mine the prices between units were very similar.

 

[perrybucsdad]

I've got the ProTime unit and it usually works just fine. There have been times when some of the supplies I received did not work and ERROR means I have to do it all over again. When I contacted QAS a packet of 4 was replaced without charge. My unit does not hold a charge for very long but when it also works plugged-in so it has not created any problems. At the time I got mine the prices between units were very similar.

Betty,

I found that the 5 channel test strips work better than the 3 channel ones. In fact, All I ever use now are the 5 channel ones as the 3 channel test strips constantly error on me. When I was talking with QAS about this, they said that many of the clinics that use the Protime monitor will only use the 5 channel ones.

 

[bvdr]

Thanks, Perry. On my next order I will request the five channel. It is too expensive not to make each one count.

 

[Sagebrush]

Love my pro-time unit!!! Insurance has been good ...knock on wood. Only have an error once every two or three months. The only complaint is that it doesn't hold a charge very long...probably have to charge it every 8 uses. I have traveled with it on planes and it has never been a problem on my carry on bag. I did test it against a blood draw test and there was only .2 difference.