Roche
Accu-Chek SmartGuide
As of August 2026 we track 8 continuous glucose monitors available here, and the cheapest one you can buy without a prescription is the FreeStyle Libre 2 Plus at about £103.98 a month.
Specifications
| Wear time | 14 days |
|---|---|
| Warm-up | Not published |
| Accuracy (MARD) | Not published |
| Readings | every 5 min |
| Alarms | Yes |
| Prescription | Not required |
What does the accuracy figure mean?
MARD is the average gap between what the sensor says and what a laboratory blood test says, as a percentage. A 10% MARD means readings are off by about 10% on average — so a true 7.0 mmol/L might show as anywhere around 6.3 to 7.7. Lower is better. Most current sensors sit under 10%; twenty years ago they were over 20%. No sensor is exact, which is why treatment decisions still get confirmed with a fingerstick when a reading does not match how you feel.
Pricing
Not published
to try
Not published
per year
- per sensor · 14 days
- Not published
- per month
- Not published
Prices last checked: 2026-08-05
What works well
- Predicts where glucose is heading rather than only reporting where it is: a 30-minute low warning, a 2-hour forecast, and an overnight hypo risk estimate
- Fourteen days of wear
- Works with mySugr, which many people already use for logging
What to watch out for
- Asks for calibration, which almost every competing sensor has dropped
- Roche does not publish a warm-up time or an accuracy figure on its UK page
- Prescription availability depends on where you live and your therapy type
Our verdict
The most genuinely different sensor here: the prediction features target the thing people actually fear, which is going low overnight. The trade-off is going back to calibration, and Roche publishing less about accuracy than its competitors.
Common questions
- Does the Accu-Chek SmartGuide need calibrating?
- Yes. Roche states that calibration is required when the mySugr app asks for it — unusual among current sensors, most of which are factory calibrated.
- What does the SmartGuide predict?
- Three things: whether a low is likely within 30 minutes, a two-hour glucose forecast, and the risk of a low overnight.