Testing the accuracy of my injection pens

[MsGizmo]

So I was just watching youtube videos to see if I can discover a tidbit of new information and I came across this video that claimed injection pens bought from Aliexpress are "no good." Now I had just recently bought 2 of them from that website but hadn't used them yet.

Oh no, I need to test them I guess. Since I had just got done mixing a batch of KLOW I had all the supplies I needed to test all my pens ready to go. So I took the old cartridge I was going to throw away and filled it with 3mL of plain water and loaded into one of the new pens. Following the method in the video I tried to dose into the syringe 20 units. Oh no .. it was only 14 units! Hmmm. I had to try again to try and see what caused the problem. So I emptied the syringe and turned the dial once more to 20 and slowly pushed the button to see if it skipped or something It didn't .. it filled the syringe to 20 perfectly. I did it again .. slowly .. again it was correctly 20. Then it clicked in my head .. it wasn't the fault of the pen .. it was user error. If you press the pen too fast you will not get your full dose. So I tried once more and this time I slammed the button and proved that pushing too fast will result in an under-dose.

Just to be on the safe side I went through and tested all my pens, even the ones that had cartridges of stuff in them. I just carefully removed the vials and set them aside, tested the pen and then put the good stuff back in and wiped everything down with an alcohol wipe. All my pens gave the correct dose as long as I did it slowly.

 

[CNCCurrency]

Seems like a lot extra work, just me

 

[MsGizmo]

Seems like a lot extra work, just me

It really wasn't and its also not something that I will ever do again.

 

[Labcat]

Thank you so much for testing this and figuring out how to make it work correctly! 💕

 

[desinr-gal]

So I was just watching youtube videos to see if I can discover a tidbit of new information and I came across this video that claimed injection pens bought from Aliexpress are "no good." Now I had just recently bought 2 of them from that website but hadn't used them yet.

Oh no, I need to test them I guess. Since I had just got done mixing a batch of KLOW I had all the supplies I needed to test all my pens ready to go. So I took the old cartridge I was going to throw away and filled it with 3mL of plain water and loaded into one of the new pens. Following the method in the video I tried to dose into the syringe 20 units. Oh no .. it was only 14 units! Hmmm. I had to try again to try and see what caused the problem. So I emptied the syringe and turned the dial once more to 20 and slowly pushed the button to see if it skipped or something It didn't .. it filled the syringe to 20 perfectly. I did it again .. slowly .. again it was correctly 20. Then it clicked in my head .. it wasn't the fault of the pen .. it was user error. If you press the pen too fast you will not get your full dose. So I tried once more and this time I slammed the button and proved that pushing too fast will result in an under-dose.

Just to be on the safe side I went through and tested all my pens, even the ones that had cartridges of stuff in them. I just carefully removed the vials and set them aside, tested the pen and then put the good stuff back in and wiped everything down with an alcohol wipe. All my pens gave the correct dose as long as I did it slowly.

thank you!
How did you push the stoppers in the used vial back down to 3ml capacity?
I's like to try it..

 

[MsGizmo]

thank you!
How did you push the stoppers in the used vial back down to 3ml capacity?
I's like to try it..

The pressure of adding the water did that. Try it for yourself.

 

[UncrossSelector]

I bought 10 v2 pens off Ali and they have been junk.

In the below tests, the pens are

• Pink is an Ali Express V2 clone
• Orange is the Ali Express ChiJiaoDr (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010633968347.html)
• Blue is the Eli LIlly Humapen Ergo
• Maroon is the Eli LIlly Humapen Luxura

 

[UncrossSelector]

And part 2

 

[Labcat]

Interesting! Thank you for sharing your data!
I saw a RS report (eta wait that was @MsGizmo in this thread! The forum bright me down here and i thought it was a new thread!) that when they pushed their cheap manual pens slowly during the injection, they became accurate (I believe she simply back injected directly into an insulin syringe).

 

[UncrossSelector]

Interesting! Thank you for sharing your data!
I saw a RS report that when they pushed their cheap manual pens slowly during the injection, they became accurate (I believe this person simply back injected directly into an insulin syringe).

ABsolutely 100% the V2 pens i bought delivered different amounts depending on how fast you pressed them. Another pen I didn't photograph unfortunately delivered between 50% too little and 50% too much dependant on the pressure.

The others did not.

 

[Labcat]

ABsolutely 100% the V2 pens i bought delivered different amounts depending on how fast you pressed them. Another pen I didn't photograph unfortunately delivered between 50% too little and 50% too much dependant on the pressure.

The others did not.

Wow, really good to know! We need to test our own pens, but maybe better to buy name brand. If you can find it. Where did you get your good ones from?

 

[miss-sanne]

I bought huma savvio pens from Eli Lilly, no trouble with them.

 

[UncrossSelector]

Wow, really good to know! We need to test our own pens, but maybe better to buy name brand. If you can find it. Where did you get your good ones from?

Every pen there is from AliExpress

 

[Labcat]

Every pen there is from AliExpress

I somehow did not expect that answer🤣! Thank you .

 

[Foggy-Hollow]

I somehow did not expect that answer🤣! Thank you .

I think he means the inaccurate pens are ALI….

 

[mercutio]

I have a V1 pen and dispensed 25/50 units, then sucked them up into a U100 syringe. It was spot on. I think I prefer this method to scales.

 

[MsGizmo]

I kind of want to test the more expensive name brand pens and see if they can end up giving an incorrect dose the same as the aliexpress one just by pressing the button too fast. But on the other hand I don't really need ANOTHER pen. 🙄 I have 2 aliexpress and 4 from a shop (who probably got them from aliexpress)

Hmm .. maybe just one more ..

 

[UncrossSelector]

I think he means the inaccurate pens are ALI….

No there's sellers of the Eli Lilly and Novo pens on Ali. They have "not for resale" on the boxes, so I assume they are through some bulk buy government or hospital program.

They're usually on sale for about $18USD

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010634235013.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009331082565.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006308691932.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009842884028.html

 

[Labcat]

No there's sellers of the Eli Lilly and Novo pens on Ali. They have "not for resale" on the boxes, so I assume they are through some bulk buy government or hospital program.

They're usually on sale for about $18USD

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010634235013.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009331082565.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006308691932.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009842884028.html

That makes sense. And they can be the previous model for the brand like the Luxura was before the Savvio. Usually my searches for those fail to find anything.

 

[randompersonrandom]

That reminds me--the five pens I got off ali express a few months ago have NOT held up: the plunger springs back near the end of the dose if it's more than 10 units or so. I have my survo and my tirz in v1's from thepeppen, and I think I'm going to grab two more. I don't need as many as I have, cause I'm stopping the "using more than one non-glp1 at a time" madness, and two more will do me fine; that means I'm good for a cycle of KLOW, or epitalon, and good if I ever decide to redo the mitochondrial one (NAD+ and something else.)

 

[v2boi]

No there's sellers of the Eli Lilly and Novo pens on Ali. They have "not for resale" on the boxes, so I assume they are through some bulk buy government or hospital program.

They're usually on sale for about $18USD

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010634235013.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009331082565.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006308691932.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009842884028.html

The novo pen will require an adapter as a standard 3ml cartridge will not fit

 

[RetCurious]

the plunger springs back near the end of the dose if it's more than 10 units or so.

Could it be back pressure from the needle getting clogged or too small of a needle for what is being dispensed? Did you try going slower or holding it down longer?

 

[randompersonrandom]

Could it be back pressure from the needle getting clogged or too small of a needle for what is being dispensed? Did you try going slower or holding it down longer?

It wasn't a force thing; it was like the plunging mech was slipping a gear.

 

[GortBong]

No there's sellers of the Eli Lilly and Novo pens on Ali. They have "not for resale" on the boxes, so I assume they are through some bulk buy government or hospital program.

They're usually on sale for about $18USD

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010634235013.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009331082565.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006308691932.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009842884028.html

Interesting.....I am in the US and all but one of these loads the correct pen and within a second I get a full screen message "These are not available to sell in your location" (or something similar).

 

[dokterp]

It wasn't a force thing; it was like the plunging mech was slipping a gear.

I had the same problem. The pen keeps jumping back, so the next dose is not correct anymore. I threw the pen in the trash.

 

[randompersonrandom]

I had the same problem. The pen keeps jumping back, so the next dose is not correct anymore. I threw the pen in the trash.

Yeah, same. I almost kept them, then realized why on earth am I keeping a pen that doesn't work? I pitched them, bought two more V1's, and I'm good. I don't need to have more than four peps on rotation anyway; that's tirz, survo, klow, and something else. If I think I need to be pinning more than that at a time, no I don't.