Has anyone had any problems with an Accu-check Aviva BG monitor? I'd also be interested in hearing from anyone who has found their Aviva to be reasonably accurate.
My doctor's office switched to using an Aviva meter recently, and I've been disagreeing with their measurements ever since. Several of the readings have been higher than any readings I've ever experienced since I started on intensive insulin therapy, sometimes more than 30% higher than what I would have expected. I even demonstrated the problem once by pulling out 5 of my own meters (lab calibrated) and having the nurse pick one and do a test with my own meter (mine 6.7/121, theirs 9.2/166). The office replaced their meter once, and had a pharmacy run control solution tests several times, but the problem is still the same. I checked with the pharmacy after the last control solution test (the nurses had it done while I was in the office, and reported that the meter was just fine) and the pharmacist said that all of the strips he tested were withing the acceptable limits, but "the results were all over the place". I bought an Aviva of my own and the problem existed with my brand new meter and strips too. I had it lab calibrated and it was reading almost 20% high when the lab reading was 5.9/106. My other meters are consistently within a few percent of each other and lab calibrations.
From a month of comparison testing with the Aviva and my other meters I have concluded that my Aviva is reasonably accurate at 4.0/72, almost 20% high at 6.0/108, and possibly wose than that at higher readings. Accu-check customer service expressed polite disbelief that I wasn't using out of date strips, leaving my strips out of the vial, using an incorrect coding chip, or making any of the other common mistakes. They refrained from asking me if I dip my hands in powdered sugar whenever using the Aviva. 
They claim that this is the first report they've had of such a problem, and have asked me to return the meter to them for testing. I find it hard to believe that that the only 3 Aviva meters I have experience seem to all have the same problem, but no-one else has seen it. One possibility that I have not investigated is that teh Aviva is particularly sensitive to the low winter time humidity where I live.
I actually like the Aviva sytem; the meter is fine, the strips are large enough to easily handle and have very positive blood uptake, and the lancet is even better than the BD system (my previous favorite). Too bad I don't trust its results.
I test very frequently, retest whenever I get an unexpected result, and fine tune my fast acting insulin in 1/2 unit increments (I use a kid's injector) at each meal. My A1C is below 6 so it works for me. I only keep meters that I have verified to be reasonably accurate and precise (and no, +/- 20% isn't reasonable). My Aviva didn't make the cut.