Owen Mumford Lancing Device

I picked this up to replace the cheap lancing device that came with my meter and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised -- this is a real upgrade, not just a lateral move. It's more comfortable, more reliable, and just feels like a better built piece of equipment overall. Sometimes you don't realize how mediocre the included accessories are until you replace them with something decent. Highly recommend.

I actuall bought this as a reserve device in case my primary one broke. This was the best value I could find and it is virtually identical to my other. I actually prefer this one and it has become my primary lancing device for more than 2 years now. It gets used a minimum of 4 times a day and just keeps working.

This product is OK at best as the trigger mechanism does not always work first time.

After using OneTouch Delica for months with great success rate at getting blood sample, but frequently pain upon lancing making it anxious to do a lancing, I researched in google and at amazon for a better lancing device. This Owen Mumford AT 0271 was the answer. It was pain-free every time, by smarter design. No more anxiety every time I lance for blood drop. Further, unlike the totally non-standardized OneTouch Delica, this Owen Mumford AT 0271 Autolet Impression lancer uses almost all standard lancets. I have a box of older (discontinued pen) OneTouch UltraSoft Lancets, with square body lancets which do not fit Delica. They fit and work fine in Owen Mumford AT 0271 Autolet Impression lancer. In the future I can use freestyle or generic lancets. No need to buy anything proprietary. The usage instructions were very clear, but here is my advice on using this Owen Mumford lancer: Pull the lancet cap off the device (no alternate site cap is provided, but you can special order it). Slide ejector handle toward Lancet end of device, and while holding it there slip square or round lancet body into hole in end of device. Let go of ejector handle and lancer will now hold Lancet firmly so you can twist off the safety cap on the end of the lancet. Discard that lancet safety cap after twisting it to break it free, and pulling it off. Snap lancer device cap back on device, aligning depth reading window with launch button. A depth setting of 4 on that cap worked fine for me. Next, arm the Lancer by pulling the ejector handle firmly away from the lancet end of the device. It will click when you’ve pulled it back far enough and the Lancer device is now armed. Finally, hold the Lancer tip firmly against the side of chosen finger and press the launch button firmly. You will hear a click as the lancing happens, but don’t expect to feel any pain. Your drop of blood should be readily available now. You may have to squeeze your skin around that spot a little. The absence of any pain was just wonderful. After you complete your glucose test reading on that drop of blood, slide the ejector handle toward the lancet end of device and the lancer cap will pop off, and while you are holding the ejector in that position you can easily slide the lancet body out of the device. Be careful with the exposed needle, and discard the used lancet in a sharps container. Replace the Lancer device cap and you’re done. Overall, I rate this device very highly. My instructions advice above is important to follow. If you don’t follow the lancet insertion instructions as described, it can be difficult to load it and it may not be fully inserted. There are good reasons for following the instructions. This is a clever device, but most any clever device can be misused.

This lancing device is different from typical lancing devices in two ways. First, it has adjustments for both depth and force; there are a total of 21 possible settings, so you can customize the experience to what works best for you. This will take some experimentation, and you may find that different fingers require different settings. I started with the most shallow depth penetration (setting 1) and the least amount of force. That setting, it turns out, works perfectly for the pinkie and ring fingers on my left hand. For my right hand, however, and for the middle and index fingers on my left hand, I have to increase the depth setting to 2 but can still use the least force setting; those fingers are slightly tougher I suppose. I like that it is easy to customize the lancing experience so that I can draw only the amount of blood required. The second difference, and what sets this lancing device apart from others, is that there are raised round bumps around the opening the lancet comes out of when it sticks your finger. There's a full explanation of how and why this works at the manufacturer's website, but the quick layman's version of how this works is that while your brain is busy registering the pressure of the bumps, it has a harder time registering the pain of the lancet sticking your finger. It may sound odd, but it really does diminish the experience of pain. A few times I have actually noticed the feeling of the lancet sticking my finger, but it just doesn't register as pain. I'm experimenting now to see whether it works better if I just hold the lancing device against my finger or if I press it into the finger a little more firmly; jury's still out on that one. The manufacturer sells a couple of different lancets that you can use with this device, but standard lancets work without any problems, although I did find the square base Bayer Microlet lancets harder to insert properly. I typically use a 33 gauge generic lancet with a round base. One word of caution: make sure the lancet is firmly and all the way inserted before you use the device. I find that it takes more pushing to get the lancet all the way in place than with the other devices I've tried. I didn't have the lancet inserted all the way the first time I tried the device and not only did it hurt, my finger had a red bruise on it for a few hours. That was my mistake and not a problem with the lancing device, and it's been smooth sailing since I corrected that. The device does come with a clear cap for alternate site testing, but that cap does not feature the raised bumps. That makes sense because alternate sites are not as sensitive as your fingers. I haven't used alternate site testing, but I think it would probably require experimentation to get the right combination of depth and force for those sites as well. EDITED TO ADD: After some experimentation, I find that the lancing device needs to rest comfortably against the finger so that you can feel the raised bumps before you activate the lancet. I have also since tried the OneTouch Delica lancing device, which is another touted as being painless, and I can tell you that there is no comparison: the Autolet doesn't hurt while the OneTouch does.