Stuart admits that we don't have any consensus yet on the best way to measure glycemic variability. "But once there is a consensus in the industry," he says, "the next version of the Jazz will have it."

The Jazz meter isn't the first device to incorporate glycemic variability. The Accu-Chek Smart Pix Device Reader -- which is pretty expensive, listing for $125 -- works with other Accu-Chek meters to calculate it.

Both the Jazz and the Smart Pix use two ways to calculate glycemic variability. While both use standard deviation, the Smart Pix incorporates the low blood glucose index and the high blood glucose index that Dr. Boris Kovatchev, associate director of the University of Virginia Center for Biomathematical Technology, developed. But Peter Blasberg, who developed the Smart Pix for Roche Diabetes Care in Mannheim, Germany, surprised me when he said that the Kovatchev's indices are "not a measure of glycemic variability.”

The list of advances in the Jazz meter seems to go on and on. A thoughtful touch is the notch on each test strip that insures you are inserting it correctly. I like the confidence that it gives me that I'm putting it in the right way.

This version of the Jazz meter uses a USB port to connect to the AgaMatrix Zero-Click software for automatic downloads to your meter. But the company is making a separate version of the Jazz that will include Bluetooth wireless capability.

"With the Bluetooth version the meter will automatically sync up with your computer," Stuart told me. He says that the Bluetooth version of the Jazz will be available by the end of the year. Both Stuart and I think that when this version of the Jazz meter comes out, it will be the first one to incorporate Bluetooth.

Also new to blood glucose meters, Stuart and I both think, is the positive feedback that it gives you if your readings are within your pre and post-meal ranges. You can set these ranges yourself.

Even more. "We have the world's largest digits on a back-lit meter," Stuart says. It also stores almost 2,000 readings; only the LifeScan Ultra Smart meter will store more.

All AgaMatrix meters, including the company's earlier KeyNote and Liberty, take a very small blood sample and do it quickly. They take just 0.5 microliters of blood and return the result in just 4 seconds.

While blood glucose meters are generally becoming a commodity, the WaveSense Jazz stands further in front of the crowd than even the earlier AgaMatrix meters did. Commodity meters mean few features, cheaply implemented.

The WaveSense Jazz, on the other hand, has a ton of features and will probably not be cheap. Stuart correctly calls it "a premium product," and it will probably command a premium price, which the company hasn't set yet. When it does come to market, Stuart expects that it will be available both in retail outlets and directly through AgaMatrix.

Never before have I written such a glowing product review. This leaves me with nothing more to complain about when writing about blood glucose meters. So I need to make it clear that I have no financial relationship with AgaMatrix -- I have no conflict of interest to declare.