Just got this a couple weeks ago. I was very hesitant at first because of all the terrible reviews. Overall I am happy with the monitor other than the cost of test strips which is almost the same as buying the whole kit again.

Set up directions were fairly obtuse. I was able to eventually figure it all out on my own though. To activate Bluetooth to pair it with your phone in the app, you have to hold both buttons down at the same time and that was not made clear at all.

Otherwise, it is easy to use the strip with a small droplet of blood, and it downloads it to the app as long as you have the app open. If it weren't for the ridiculously high cost for the test strips I would give it a 5 star. The lancets from alphatrak are crazy expensive too, not sure why that is. I got a box of 300 for less than $10 and their refill of presumably 100 was $17.

Alphatrak, please make your strips more affordable! I may end up getting a different device if you won't.

My dog was diagnosed with diabetes and the Vet said to order the alphatrak unit. However, they weren't aware that it has been upgraded to the 3. Personally, I find it impossible to setup and had to take it to the Vet for help. She was familiar with AlphaTrak 2 and thought this was much harder. Even she had to go online and download the full manual to do the setup, and with an incredible amount of difficulty, she managed to get it up and running. We used the test solution and it tested in the spec. When I got back home I noticed that the date was wrong again and tried to go through the setup again... it's bloody impossible. It is not intuitive, it doesn't want to save settings you put in (the date just keeps going back to 2022 no matter how many times I select 2023 and hit M to save. The quick start guide is useless, the full instruction manual isn't much better and it doesn't explain how to navigate from one screen of settings to the next. So you are left hanging on what to do next. How do you go from the blood glucose screen to the date screen for setting it up... you would think it was automatic but it's not. I haven't figured out the secret of it and neither did my Vet. Only by accident did she manage to get to the date screen. So I've ordered a different brand in the hopes that another model might be easier to setup and use. I don't need Bluetooth so that for me is useless option. All I can say at this point is this unit will be the one you want to take a hammer to. If for no other reason than to gain a bit of satisfaction at the torment it puts you through setting it up.

Edit: I'm increasing my initial rating of 2 stars to 4. My Vet did a glucose curve on my dog and wanted me to follow-up with my own for another 2 days while we try and get his insulin dosage right. I noticed that the readings that I'm getting were consistent with the readings the Vet was getting so I'm a bit more comfortable with the accuracy of this unit (which was more important to me than the setup fiasco). I do believe that they really need to take a look at their instructions again and rewrite them as if the person using this knows nothing (which is me). It would solve a lot of problems and probably only cost them 1/2 page of additional information in the manual they don't provide you (you have to download it).

I bought this to monitor my diabetic cat.. I didn't have a problem setting it up but when I used the testing solution it came back out of range. Nothing is expired. Everything is calibrated correctly yet it doesn't read correctly. So unfortunately I can't test my diabetic cat now... I'm going to order more test strips because you can't buy them in stores anywhere and hopefully then it will work. So I'm not sure yet... EDIT: The glucose monitor works fine. I'm not sure if I skipped a step, but I called the company and they helped me figure out the problem. They were really nice and very helpful. The glucose monitor works great.

Not gonna lie, today's been a whopper. It's been a long string of incidents like what just happened...I was worried about my dog's sugar levels, so I got out the (brand new) checky kit to make sure she was ok. But I'm clumsy so I dropped the unit right into her water bowl, then in my haste to yank it out and dry it I dropped it and punted it across the kitchen where it slammed into the counter on the other side. I picked it up and heard a rattle and was sure it was toast. As it happened, I just knocked the plastic casing loose. I sat it in front of a fan for 30 minutes to dry it out, then checked it against the control solution...it was like nothing ever happened, and my dog's sugar was right on the money. I'm stunned this thing still works, but it's perfect.

Also, in case you're curious, the updated version is worth it. A bunch of handy new features and easier to use than the last version. I was skeptical but I'm sold.

This has been instrumental in managing my dog's diabetes. It takes a few tries to learn just how much blood is needed, but that would be true for any monitor. It has saved quite a bit of money as having a glucose curve done in-office would cost about $150 each time. Considering curves need to be done every 2 weeks until the insulin dosage is dialed in, I would have spent $900 just for that (it took 6 curves) and more for periodic tests through the years to monitor it. I like having this on-hand in case she starts showing signs of low blood sugar. I don't have to guess, i can test her and know immediately what's going on.