Syringes & needles
Everything that goes between the vial and the skin. Insulin syringes with the needle fixed for small doses read in units, luer-lock barrels for anything you draw and swap, and separate needles in the gauges and lengths people actually use rather than the full ISO range. A U-100 insulin syringe comes in 1mL, 0.5mL and 0.3mL, and the smaller the barrel the further apart the markings sit, which is the only reason to choose one over another for a small volume. The needle is fixed, so there is no dead space between barrel and hub and nothing is left behind. A luer-lock syringe is the opposite arrangement: the needle screws on and off, so you can draw with one and inject with another, and the screw fitting will not separate under pressure the way a slip fitting can. Gauge is thickness and the scale runs backwards, so 31G is finer than 29G, and the difference between 29G, 30G and 31G is comfort against how long you spend drawing up. Length decides whether you land under the skin or in muscle. Hub colours follow ISO 6009, which is why a 23G hub is the same blue on every box in the country. Drawing-up needles are blunt on purpose. They are wide enough to pull a thick liquid out of a vial in seconds and they cannot be injected with by accident. Pen needles fit any standard injector pen, whichever brand. The units printed on a barrel measure the liquid rather than the needle, which is worth knowing before you read a syringe in a hurry. If you are not certain which pair you want, the Gauge Finder asks three plain questions and tells you.
Prices are indicative while the range is being finalised, and you cannot check out yet. Open any product to pre-order it, which takes an email address and no payment, and the price and the pack size are confirmed before anything is charged.
Not sure which one you need?
Three plain questions and the Gauge Finder tells you the thickness, the length and how many. Nothing you answer is stored.
Gauge, length and why the scale runs backwards
Gauge is the outer diameter of the needle, and the number goes up as the needle gets finer. A 31G is thinner than a 29G, which is thinner than a 25G. Finer is more comfortable and slower to draw, because you are pulling the same volume through a smaller hole.
Length is the separate question and it decides which layer you land in. Under the skin wants short. Into muscle wants long enough to clear skin and fat first. Our needle gauge chart lists every gauge from 14G to 34G with its outer diameter in millimetres and its ISO hub colour.
Fixed needle or luer fitting
An insulin syringe has the needle fixed to the barrel, which removes the dead space a luer fitting leaves behind. On a dose measured in units that dead space is a meaningful share of what you drew, so a fixed needle is the standard choice at that scale.
Anything you need to draw with one needle and inject with another wants a luer fitting. Lock where there is pressure, because a slip fitting can separate under it.
Insulin needles, and the two different things people mean by it
Searching for insulin needles turns up two products that are not interchangeable, and which one you want depends on what you are injecting with rather than on what you are injecting.
If you draw up from a vial, you want an insulin syringe: one piece, with the needle fixed to the barrel and the barrel marked in units. If you use a pen, you want pen needles, which screw onto the pen and have no barrel at all because the pen does the measuring.
Asking for insulin needles and being sent the wrong one of those is the most common mix-up in this category, and it is why both are listed separately here rather than under one heading.
The sizes these actually come in
Insulin syringes are commonly 29G, 30G or 31G, with 8mm the usual length, and barrels of 0.3mL, 0.5mL or 1mL depending on how much you draw. The smaller barrel is not a smaller dose, it is a finer scale: 0.3mL of barrel spread over thirty units is easier to read than the same thirty units at the bottom of a 1mL one. Reading a syringe covers which mark is which.
Pen needles run 4mm, 5mm, 6mm and 8mm, at 31G or 32G. The length is the decision and it belongs to whoever prescribed the medicine, not to a preference for the shortest one.
The Gauge Finder asks three questions and narrows it, and nothing you answer leaves your browser.
Draw with one, inject with another
Pushing a needle through a rubber stopper blunts it. Draw up with an 18G, swap to the injecting needle, and the injection is noticeably more comfortable. If you are entering the same vial repeatedly, a vial access device does the job better than either.
Questions about syringes & needles
If yours is not here, the contact form routes to the person who can answer it.
Can I buy syringes and needles without a prescription in Australia?
Are insulin needles and pen needles the same thing?
Do I need a prescription for insulin needles in Australia?
Which needle gauge is finest?
What is the difference between an insulin syringe and a luer-lock syringe?
Know when it lands
We are still building the range. Leave an address and we will tell you what has come in, without making a project of it.
Restock notices and new guides. Two or three emails a month at most, one click to stop, and we do not sell or share the address.