Blood Glucose Monitoring in today’s day and age is an absolute necessity, given the rise in Diabetes over the past decade. With that being said, a portable glucose meter is essential to keep, in order to evaluate and monitor blood sugar levels of diabetic patients. This allows for quick action, in response to abnormal blood sugar levels.

Having said that, you should never opt for cheap glucose meters, in an attempt to save up cash. It’s an indirect risk to your health, and you should not gamble with that, which is why you should always look for prominent brands in the medical instruments market, such as Accu-Chek.

Introduction and Brief History

Accu-Chek has been in the medical instruments market long enough to make it the top choice for diabetic patients all across the globe. Consequently, the brand dates back to early 1980’s, when the concept of ‘At-home’ Glucose Monitoring started to become mainstream.

With the onset of portable glucose meters, technology started to become more advanced, and fast forward 4 decades, we’re now living in an era where we have advanced glucose monitoring systems, especially if we talk about portable ones.

Having said that, Accu-Chek’s heavily acclaimed Active and the worthy successor Instant, are two glucose meters that you will definitely come across, if you’re on the lookout of buying a new glucose meter for yourself.

Bringing both products to your attention, today, we will compare the two products, and see if the Accu-Chek Instant is worth the upgrade, over the ever so popular Accu-Chek Active or not.

Here’s a brief side-by-side comparison of the two products:

Specifications

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase a service or a product through the links, I sometime earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.

Accu-Chek Active vs Accu-Chek Instant

It is important to note that both glucose meters are excellent choices for patients looking to determine accurate blood sugar levels.

Accu-Chek Active has been reigning supreme, when it comes to top consumer choice; however, the Accu-Chek Instant, which is proposedly the successor to the previous model, introduces features of convenience, but are they enough to make it worth spending the extra money? We’ll cover various comparison aspects to determine a winner.

1. Accu-Chek Active

Features:

Quick view on Amazon
Available in: Australia, Canada, UK and US

• Price: $26.45
• Stores upto 500 tests in active memory
• Features and LCD Display
• Takes 5 seconds to produce the result
• Features a Backlit LCD Display which offers better readability in low light conditions

2. Accu-Chek Instant

Features:

Quick view on Amazon
Available in: Australia, Canada, UK and US

• Price: $31.95
• Can store results upto 720 in active memory
• Takes 4 seconds to produce the result
• Requires test sample of only 0
  6 to 1 μl

Design Overview

The design of both devices is minimalistic, striking, and above all, sporting a compact form factor. The Accu-Chek Active’s design is what caught people’s attention at first glance, because at the time of its launch, there weren’t any compact and sturdy glucose meters, at least in terms of overall form factor and aesthetics.

With the Accu-Chek Instant, the company has, yet again, transformed the look of what we have come to expect, out of glucose meters. The design and overall aesthetics are quite tempting, with excellent visual representation and very compact and neat-looking design, with a fancy side panel, on the right side of the display.

The weight of the successor is also fairly lightweight as opposed to Accu-Chek Active, with the latter weighing a total of 50 grams (batteries included), while the former weighing at 40 grams (batteries included). The overall dimensions of the Accu-Chek Instant are also more balanced and proportionate.

Features Comparison

Accu-Chek Active’s launch came as a surprise to the audience, as it brought forth many features of convenience and accuracy, which made it a notable successor. The Accu-Chek Active features quick response accuracy, getting you results in just under 5 seconds, with supported memory of 500 test results, which is ample enough for your daily blood glucose monitoring.

When we talk about Accu-Chek’s Instant model, the new device is able to deliver results in just under 4 seconds, which is quite impressive. Not only that, the memory capacity of the Accu-Chek Instant is up to 720 tests, making it outclass the Accu-Chek Active in this department.

Accu-Chek Instant also features unique intuitive target range indicator, giving you visual reassurance, allowing you to individualize according to your own personal requirements. In addition to that, the Accu-Chek Instant does not require any sort of memory strip, and makes the whole process of blood glucose monitoring very quick, snappy, and convenient, as opposed to the Accu-Chek Active, which requires memory strip.

When it comes to the testing itself, the Accu-Chek Instant only requires a small droplet of blood, in order to determine your test results. This is owing to the expanded testing strip size, which now sports a larger blood housing area, making the tiniest drop of blood to spread oit and process for result generation. The Accu-Chek Instant only requires 0.4 to 0.6 microliters blood sample, as opposed to 1 to 2 microliters blood sample on the Accu-Chek Active.

Coming towards the testing averages of both glucose meters, the Accu-Chek Active gives testing averages of 7, 14, 30, and 90 days, while the Accu-Chek Instant provides testing averages in 7, 30, and 90 days.

Both device features alerts for stuff like under-dosing, strip expiry, re-dosing, and vice versa.

Perhaps the main distinguishing feature between both devices, is the lack of memory chip with the Accu-Chek Instant, which is a good thing, since you only require testing strips to generate results, as opposed to the use of memory chip for each strip box, before generating test results, with the Accu-Chek Active.

Performance and Safety Standards

Since Accu-Chek Instant is the newer device, you’d come to expect superior performance and test results accuracy, as compared to Accu-Chek Active. However, this is not always the case, as Accu-Chek Active is still a top performer, when it comes to accuracy of results and overall performance.

Needless to say, the Accu-Chek Instant does feature more safety standards and higher protocols of accuracy, along with support for various research and studies.

The Accu-Chek Instant fulfills the requirements of the ISO 15197:2013/EN and ISO 15197:2015, while the older Accu-Chek Active fulfils 100% of the requirements of ISO 15197:2003. Since the Accu-Chek Instant fulfills the more latest accuracy requirements, it is clear that Accu-Chek’s Instant is the superior device, in terms of overall performance.

In addition to that, what’s more special about the Accu-Chek Instant is that it is backed by more studies and research. According to a study, 96% of the research participants agreed that the target range indicator of the Accu-Chek Instant Meter is helpful for identifying and interpreting high and low blood glucose levels correctly and with accuracy.

Read our guide on : Accu-Chek Performa vs Accu-Chek Instant – Updated 2024 here.

Conclusion

By now, you must’ve decided which Accu-Chek glucose meter to get. However, before you end up deciding upon which to buy, please remember that both devices are tested and proven, when it comes to accuracy of results, which is what matters at the end of the day.

Having said that, we believe that the overall features for convenience, brought on by the Accu-Chek Instant, are enough to make it our recommended pick. The Accu-Chek instant is an overall better device, and as the name suggests, it’s ‘Instant,’ in almost every area.