If anything can make having diabetes "fun", it's the cool toys I get to play with. While I don't consider myself within the normal confines of geekiness, I'm one of those folk who feel lost without multiple computers and a broadband Internet connection to-hand, and the ability to capture and analyze data up the wing-wah. (Whether or not I actually use that ability, or use it consistently, is another story.)

Managing diabetes falls right into the obsessions of a data wonk.

That said, one of the toys I've been drooling at for a while has been the Bayer Contour USB meter. While I'd never used Bayer meters before, and Bayer is not on my insurance company's list of "approved vendors" for meters and strips, the idea of having one small device, not having to spend an extra $30 for a data cable (and possibly an extra $30 on top of that for software, or a monthly fee for a Web-based upload-and-analysis site membership), and having a meaningful log to-hand at all times... enticed me. The $79 initial outlay (plus cost of strips to test with) did not.

As occasionally happens with the bells-and-whistles meters, CVS had the Contour USB on sale last week for $10. (A similar sale two years ago put a One Touch Ultra Smart in my hands for $29.99 instead of its usual $79 price tag.) On top of that, Bayer gave me a $5 coupon to use for that particular meter and I had some CVS ExtraBucks sitting there to be used or lost -- so I ended up getting the meter for about the cost of enough additional test strips to run a set of side-by-side tests.

I'm not going to wax poetic on the lit, color display that appears as primitive as my CGA computer monitor from 1990 and video arcade Pac-Man games, or the built-in USB connection that requires the (included) extension cable because the meter is so wide that directly connected, it blocks access to all the other USB ports on the computer. The color display is novel in the glucometer market, my computer recognized the device right away, and except for having to disconnect the device in order to update the desktop version of the (included-and-licensed) Glucofacts software, happily installed itself on my 64-bit Windows Vista Sony Vaio.

For all its compactness, the Contour USB has a larger footprint than my Freestyle Lite -- it's closer in size to the much larger One Touch Ultra Mini. Add to that the oversized strip container (while intended for 50 strips, with only 25 included with the meter, the vial could easily hold 100 strips or more) and the long (but smoooth) lancet device, and this thing is not going to fit in my bicycle jersey pocket. It won't even fit into my little neoprene "meter and ID" case. Add to that the advisability of packing along the two-part (USB extension cable and wall-wart) charger, and you're packing more size and weight than most of us want in our diabetes cases.

Once everything was set up and the meter charged, it was time to test it out. With blood on the strip, the user must select one of three statuses (before meal, after meal, or no-status) before the meter will display the reading. At that time, there is an option to add additional pre-loaded notes. These notes are pretty basic: time after meals (in quarter-hour increments from 15 minutes to 3 hours), "sick", "stress", "don't feel right", and "activity". Unlike the Ultra Smart, there's no way to add in more information about a specific activity, its duration, and/or calories burned, or information about the meal one just ate. (On the other hand, the up-and-down arrows make it so tedious to add that information into the Ultra Smart that it's Not Worth The Effort unless you're pumping, in which case you probably have a Ping anyway.)

Side-by-side with my Freestyle Lite, I've been finding the Contour USB has been giving me readings that are anywhere from spot-on to 20 points lower than my reference meter. Now, considering that the estimated A1c that OnTrack Diabetes (my Android-based log) provides is somewhat lower than what my labs have been reading, I have to presume that the Freestyle is reading lower-than-actual -- which suggests that Bayer's technology is consistently underestimating my blood glucose levels by significant amounts. For someone who runs the relatively tight range of 80-150, this is a significant variation that -- if believed -- could result in seriously deleterious treatment options. I can only guess (and not happily) what that might mean to someone whose normal range is much broader than mine. That said, The Other Half is reporting that his Contour USB has been running in virtual lockstep with his Freestyle Flash -- so, like my readings, your mileage may vary considerably.

I've not looked too carefully at the Glucofacts software yet -- I'd been waiting to have a reasonable number of data points to upload, and/or indications that the device needed recharging. I did bring up the desktop application this evening and upload about 25 readings (though I still haven't figured out the charge life of the internal battery -- memory effect could become a very real issue over the life of the product). The interface is clean and straightforward, and there's an option to edit the readings -- that is, to add comments beyond the simplistic options offered on the device. While hovering over a reading will give you its time stamp in more detail than the time-period split-out in the logbook view, it's analysis is limited to pre/post-meal and a maximum of five time periods per day. In the first analysis, Glucofacts is not an electronic logbook program for data wonks. That said, it looks simple, useful, and usable for the average person with diabetes.

Based on the way I collect and use data, the Bayer Contour USB meter feels like a version 1.0 -- a very polished version 1.0, but an initial-release all the same. To make it truly useful for me, it needs to be about a third smaller, with a VGA or higher resolution display and full onboard graphics -- but for that, the new attach-to-your-smartphone devices would do half again as well (except for the additional steps of mounting/dismounting the meter and the resulting meter's greatly-increased footprint). And of course, I need the readings to be reliable and accurate enough to use. Still, if your care team likes to download and look at your logs on-site, you could do a lot worse than to choose the Bayer Contour USB.