An evaluation and comparison of Reflolux II and Glucometer II, two new portable reflectance meters for capillary blood glucose determination

The Reflolux II and the Glucometer II, two new battery-operated portable reflectance meters (PRMs) for blood glucose measurement have been evaluated for accuracy, precision and ease of operation. Both PRMs are pocket-size and simple to use. The calibration of the two instruments is fundamentally different, but in both cases the calibration data are provided with the reagent test strips and require minimal operator participation. The analysis time is 50 s for the Glucometer II and 120 s for the Reflolux II. The Reflolux II has a measuring range of 0.5–27.7 mmol/l, which is superior to the 2–22 mmol/l range of Glucometer II. Both PRMs had excellent correlation ( r > 0.97) and minimal bias when compared by regression analysis to a laboratory method on capillary and whole blood samples. The precision of the Reflolux II was marginally better than the Glucometer II with coefficients of variation less than 6.57% for the Glucometer II and less than 5.21% for the Reflolux II. Neither the Reflolux II nor the Glucometer II offer significant advantages one over the other, both are adequate for their designed use, and both are distinct improvements over their predecessors.