Just joined the forum. Glad to see all the activity. I’ve been using
Minimed insulin pumps for 32 years and overall it’s really helped
my control. I was excited about the new auto-mode technology in
the 670G and thought I would give it a try. I guess I need to vent
a bit about my experience in the hopes that Minimed will make some
changes and to inform others who are considering using the 670G.
Overall the clinical aspects have been good. My A1C went down by 0.5 (7.8 -> 7.3)
after using it for 3 mos.
Here are some of the downsides which are mostly user-experience-related.
The pump simply has too many alerts. For example, when you insert a new sensor
it takes a couple of minutes for it to “find” the sensor. It alerts you that it’s trying to
“find” the sensor. I don’t need to know that. Why not just alert me if you can’t
find it?
If it asks for a calibration and the value is high it warns you that it’s high. Duh. Then
when the calibration is finally set it warns you that…wait for it…it’s high. Double duh.
I think I know it’s high because I had to confirm the calibration value.
Here’s the fun one. If you calibrate and then want to bolus when it’s high it warns
you 3 times that it’s high instead of 2. Awesome.
If auto-mode needs a BG and the sensor needs a calibration they don’t seem to talk
to each other. You enter a calibration value but auto-mode still wants yet another
BG value. Sometimes it does not even register the BG and you have to wait 30 mins
and do it again. If it’s 2 am and you get woken every hour to enter another BG it
gets really annoying.
Vigorous exercise is tough to manage when in auto-mode. You have a few options if
you’re going to participate in vigorous exercise:
a) Use the “Temp Target” feature which sets the target at 150 instead of 120.
b) Exit auto mode and set a temp basal
For vigorous exercise, 150 is not nearly high enough. I’d like to set it at something closer
to 200 to prevent getting more insulin than I need. I end up eating all the time because
auto-mode keeps giving me more insulin. Crazy.
For the last month I have just given up on auto-mode and the sensor in general. I’m just
burned out with the amount of maintenance it requires.
I’m still using MM 523 and reviewing all the user comments I see about the 670 auto mode. There have been several long discussions here on the 670, you can search for them.
In general, most are negative, but those that are happy tend not to seek out online groups like this.
@DrBB had a good discussion and link to review by Gary Schriener
Welcome, Victor!
I currently am doing a clinical study using the 670G and come December the study will be over and I will gladly return the pump to Medtronic. Too many alerts, too many unneeded confirmations, too many blood glucose requests. My favorite alert is when auto mode has been running at minimum for 2.5 hours and it requests a bg - what? why? is that not a good thing that I’m not requiring a lot of “basal” insulin? It reminds me of a child that needs a lot of attention.
My A1C before going on auto mode was 6.6. I just had it checked and it’s still 6.6 after 3 months. If the number was lower I might consider the 670 because I do like the readable screen more so than Medtronic’s previous pumps. I think it could be a good pump if the FDA didn’t require Medtronic to add all these safety confirmations, which I get if you’re new to a pump, but for those of us that have been pumping for multiple years, it’s just cumbersome.
That’s a very interesting comment. As a 670G & Guardian 3 user, I think it is a great pump & CGM now, although I can’t deny the fact that it would be nice to not need messages like Min Delivery, or to at least let us just say OK instead of doing another BG. Even though I do believe some of the alerts are unnecessary, I still think it is a great pump. But I think the best part is the improvement of the CGM. The Enlite CGM that was used with the 530G (which is what I had as my previous pump & CGM) I would be willing to call bad (just the CGM, not the pump), and I was close to giving up on that, and probably would have if it wasn’t for the fact that I was going to be soon getting an upgrade (the 670G & Guardian 3). But now that I have the 670G & Guardian 3, I think they are definitely worth it. And as you continue to get your settings tweaked, you will most likely have fewer alerts, and learn ways to do things that make it less frustrating. I was somewhat frustrated my first couple weeks, too, but I’m very glad I stayed with it.
Hi all! I have been using the 670G since May and have been in Auto Mode since June. The first 11 weeks of Auto Mode were absolutely horrible. For 49 straight nights the pump would wake me up multiple times because the algorithm was still figuring out how much insulin to give me and I’d be running high. I finally just opted to go to Manual Mode at night and my sleep has been much better. During the day, I was very appreciative of its ability to prevent lows. I am on my feet and moving all day as a personal trainer, and knowing that I wouldn’t drop low was a huge plus. However, it kept me running far too high, IMO. I spend the majority of the day at or around 150, which to be honest feels awful for me. When I shut off the Auto Mode and just run on Manual, I can keep myself between 90 and 110 for almost the entire day. After 11 weeks of using it the algorithm finally has me running a little lower, but still too high for my liking. The sensor seems accurate enough for my needs, even though it is rarely dead on with my glucometer. Overall I am seeing value in switching between manual mode and auto mode. I would say auto mode is great at preventing lows, but absolutely horrible at preventing highs and bringing me back down from highs.
First of all, if it is waking you up because of highs, you can always change the high alerts and/or turn on Alert Silence. Also, is there anything you normally eat before bed? If so, maybe you need to adjust your carb ratios for that time.
Frequently switching between Auto Mode & Manual Mode will significantly increase how long it will take for Auto Mode to learn what it needs to do. I used to have spikes shortly after breakfast, but they always came back down afterwards. But after a few weeks of adjusting my carb ratios and high alerts for that time period, the peaks of the spikes is smaller, the fact that there were fewer high alerts, and the fact that I used Auto Mode 24/7, made the pump learn me much quicker, so now not only are the spikes improved (peaks moved from about 350 to 250), but the rest of the day is much more level because Auto Mode has learned me. It may be frustrating for a few weeks, but it will be worth it. But if you keep switching between Auto Mode & Manual Mode and keep trying to do things the old fashioned way, it will drive you nuts, and if you are not willing to put in a little effort, you may as well not even bother with Auto Mode. But you’ll be missing out on something that is definitely worth the effort.
