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?