Cholesterol Home Test Kit - BeneCheck Plus Cholesterol Monitor, Blood Glucose Monitor, Uric Acid Test Kit. 3 in 1 Machine with Case, Lancet Pen, Lancets and 10 Cholesterol Strips. Results in 28 Seconds

The product itself is well-presented, easy to use, quick to give results, and accurate (my reading was within 0.5% of a recent GP reading). It's great, does exactly what it describes. The memory recalled tests no problem.- Be aware that it will only measure Total Cholesterol, there are no breakdowns (HDL / LDL / Triglycerides), which was what I wanted... This is covered in the product description, I just didn't think to look for it as I thought that breakdown was standard. Duh. That was an expensive mistake on my part.- the device is pre-set to USA standards. The date format is mm/dd/yyyy and the measurement units are mg/dl. The measurement units can be changed to the more common UK mmol/litre easily enough, but when I did first test without realising that and got a result of ~140... Somewhat surprised, to say the least before I figured out what was going on.Again, it's a great product that does what it says (hence the high star rating), I'm just stupid and bought the wrong thing :D

Took a bit of study to get it right. Doesn’t hurt. Need different strips for each type of test.

Machine was fairly easy to set up. With time and date. Only got one result from a batch of 10 so very disappointed. Bit of an expensive thing to use with the test strips being expensive. Would I buy this machine! Maybe not!

After much research we decided to purchase the Benecheck unit. It is easy to use and at a cost of about £2 per test is excellent value for money. A replacement set of 10 test strips is less than £20.What really convinced us was the instructional video on Youtube (and the Miller Medical website). This clearly explains the correct use of the unit and pitfalls to avoid.We have used single use tests previously and found them to be expensive, and unreliable. At an average cost of £10 per kit you only need to do 3 tests before you are up to the cost of the Benecheck. This kit comes with 10 test strips so you have effectively £100 worth of tests compared to single use.A previous reviewer has given this unit a bad review. They said “Why don't they tell you that you need the control solution (NOT included) before you can use this product”. This is simply not true. Everything required for a test is included and it can be successfully used “out of the box”.I contacted Miller Medical (the UK agent) regarding the use of “control solutions” – here is part of their response: “With regards to the controls solutions, you do not require the use of control solutions to use the meter. The meters are already set up by us at Miller so you can use the unit straight out of the box”.So on to our review: The Benecheck Plus unit arrived within 2 days by Royal Mail signed for delivery. Nicely packaged with its own case and instructions – there is also a handy quick start guide which you should read carefully. We strongly recommend viewing the You tube instructional video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyRTXyYhoTsWe won’t go into how you use the device as this is clearly explained. Remember it is a scientific test and needs to be carried out to the letter or you will get an inaccurate reading.The Benecheck units are checked, calibrated and set up by Miller Medical before despatch. This means it has been opened, the battery installed and the date etc set. Our only small criticism is that our unit was set to read mg/dl (the American system) instead of mmo/l (the UK system) so our first reading was given in the unfamiliar mg/dl. This was easily corrected by going into the set up and changing. The unit has a memory and will automatically store up to 50 readings so you can recall a previous test.A couple of tips – (1) check the strip batch numbers match (2) buy some alcohol wipes to clean your finger (Tesco/ Aldi spectacle cleaner wipes) (3) you MUST have a good sized drop of blood on your finger before filling the test strip capillary tube (4) Wait until the unit beeps before you stop drawing your blood sample – there is a 5 second delay between filling the strip and the machine counting down - 30 seconds. If you remove the capillary from the blood sample before the beep there is a chance that insufficient blood has been drawn to give an accurate reading. Remember it’s impossible to overfill the capillary tube but under filling is likely to return a high reading – in my case this was 8. If you don’t fill the tube fully at the first attempt the test strip must be discarded – trying to top it up won’t work.Both my wife and I took readings with the unit and the results were consistent with ones previously taken by our doctor. We are very happy with the unit and would thoroughly recommend it.IMPORTANT NOTE – We have no connection with the manufacturer or seller of this product. Although this is a glowing review it is honest and unbiased perhaps more so because of other negative reviews. We often see negative reviews on Amazon which we feel are unwarranted – often it is a case of the buyer not reading the instructions correctly or at least giving a seller the opportunity to correct something that may have gone wrong.

For measuring total cholesterol, this seems to do the trick and the price is reasonable enough. I wanted to keep tabs on my high cholesterol as I'm intent on reducing this and improving the ldl/hdl ratio (particularly dropping the ldl and increasing hdl) without resorting to statins. I'm aware that there can be a fair amount of variability in test results according to the kit used, time of day etc. So, I've compared my first readings with readings elsewhere (hospital and sainsburys wellness check). This showed that, provided done correctly, the reading from this kit for total cholesterol is in close to the readings elsewhere. This has given me confidence in the accuracy of this kit when used properly.A word of advise - it is important that when applying the blood to the test strip that the capillary action ensures a steady and constant stream to the little bubble which fills up completely. First couple of attempts and I ran out of blood for the strip, so little gaps appeared on the test strip 'track'. My results were artificially lower as a result. Get it right though, as I've said, and it gave an accurate enough result.The price was reasonable, but it is a pity, it doesn't give Hdl and even triglycerides as well. The Hdl would be particularly useful as I want to push this and keep this over 1 mmol/l as is generally recommended. So, all in all, this is a useful device, with some limits, and will help me to see if diet /exercise/ supplements (sterols etc) can give me a better lipid profile and stop doctors pushing statins. I did this with my high blood pressure when my GP was keen to put me on calcium blockers - tested myself with BP kit at home, followed lifestyle etc changes, and have dropped me BP to normal/ideal (allowing for blips). These home testing kits can be invaluable as an adjunct to a self help approach that spurns having to resort too easily to drugs with their potentially strong side effects.

I needed this and it’s good

Easy to use once its set up correctly. Had to be talked through the initial set up by a very helpful member of staff. Pretty accurate against the NHS checking system. Would recommend.