I understand from various people at Animas that a new pump should be coming out at the end of the year. Here are some suggestions I have made to Animas regarding either new Pump or Meter features.
Obviously for the meter screen to look as nice as the Pump Screen does. (color, brightness, clarity)
For the meter to scroll as evenly and nicely as the pump does. Example, when setting a bolus amount)
The ability to set more than 1 temporary basal, name them (through the software) and then save them as selectable favorites, instead of having to program them in each time. Example, one for travel (stress), one for sickness, one for different kinds of physical activity, etc.
According to our rep - they are designing a pump to integrate with the dexcom 7 CGMS. I think it will still “ping” as well. He mentioned soon - but when I asked was soon in a few months, or a year or more - he said sometime in mid 2010. I really don;t know that even he was sure exactly . . .
Hmmm - I just posted in another thread here - and then went to the Animas.ca - and we don’t have the Ping yet (or the next generation after that which is mentioned by Vicki S). We (and other countries around the world) tend to be abit behind the US due to our smaller population, etc. I know here in Canada we have tigher control for medical stuff coming into our country - alot of government bureaucracy paperwork to go thru’ for companies to “sell” their stuff here I expect. Also, the pump is still relatively new here - especially in the province I live in (Quebec) - due to the high cost, etc. Hopefully things will change over time for us up north here - as there are some provinces that are paying outright for the pump/supplies for both children and adults. I guess that’s the one good thing about our socialist government - but you pay for it thru’ higher taxes.
Escape or “Back button”. Handy thing really, instead of having to scroll down on the menu. Saves time.
Display date on home screen. Believe me, I constantly forget the date, this would be handy, not necessary, but handy.
Otherwise, change nothing.
Meter remote:
Have a similar screen as my pump does to make it easier to see when reading.
Meter menu scrolling is too slow. I appreciate what my meter does for me, I just hate waiting (For anything) and I want to get on with what I am trying to do. Rapid access to ALL features is what I want.
Both issues of the meter are very important to me as I use my meter remote for nearly everything. Saves me from having to unholster my pump and fiddle with buttons, keeps everything secure.
Issues irrelevant to me:
CGMS, sure, once the kinks are worked out of it, I might be interested in CGMS, but I am so used to poking my fingers from 6 to 12 times a day, I don’t really think about it anymore. Presently, CGMS seems awkward and fairly inaccurate. Maybe someone else that knows more about it can chime in.
Prior pump experience: MiniMed Paradigm 722. Liked it ok, but I LOVE my “Ping” system.
If they could update the firmware on the One Touch Ping meter remote, to allow for a more reasonable scrolling through number values. It is ridiculously fast after a few seconds, to the point of impracticality, and on many occasions, I avoid it altogether. I find it necessary to input values one number at a time, which is a nuisance when entering large digits, be they carbs, or BG readings.
And as another user mentioned, as far as the pump is concerned, the date on the home screen would be helpful, as well as menu scroll that doesnt stop at the top or bottom, and possibly an escape or back menu function.
Another feature that I forgot to mention, and is one that I feel is necessary, is that the Meter Remote "Glucose Analysis:
‘Graph by time of day’ and ‘Average by time of Day’ need to represent the actual time of day and not time slots. For instance, if I want to analyse the BG data by the time of day, it is not possible to do it, since it uses either “preset” or “personal” times and calculates these as either before or after meals, rather than the actual time of day. This is a huge oversight, and I can only imagine it is left over from a previous method of controlling diabetes that advised a rigid and predetermined meal schedule for each and every day. Is this not what pumping is supposed to allow for, more freedom in terms of meal times? In practice, this makes calculating basal information using the meter remote very difficult, especially when your schedule varies. One cannot accuratley compare BG info with the basal rates on the pump, since the time slots are not interchangable, as the remote uses times of day in a broad categorical sense, whereas the pump uses the precise time of day.
In summary, there needs to be actual times of day recorded in the graphing and averaging on the Meter Remote.
The way the meter calculates averages based upon set meal times and not actual times of day creates a prohibitive system that prevents the flexibility that the user is promised by the insulin pump system, although this should be addressed, and hopefully changed. Also it only allows for one personal schedule, which is also prohibitive.
Further, the ability to program basal rates from the Remote should be included. And what does the category “other,” have to do with describing anything health related? A feel “hyper” would be more practical.
There are a few other idiosyncratic menu functions that in essence prohibit the user from maximizing the potential of this excellent pump, and these are some of them.
On the meter remote - audible “voice” capabilities for the visually impaired.
Question - I’m sure there is a good reason, but I’m wondering why the Ping uses the IR interface for computer networking? It must be the only way to maintain the integrity of the water-tight seal and still allow for networking. But It sure is slow! Can it be sped up any???
That was a long post before, and after I thought more, I am wondering if an addition to the software on the Meter Remote would be more applicable to my concerns. For instance, the meter could also read and program basal information, and provide BG data as it relates to Basal Rates. This is in my opinion the one feature that should be improved, as the Ping is leading in terms of Bolusing, but the two machines are lacking in compatibility in terms of Basal rates.
And yes, the IR communication is ridiculously slow, and it causes me pain. I suffer from arthritis and have an almost impossible time downloading the data onto my PC…
I sent an email to Animas, and I hope they will address these concerns. I’ll let you all know, I hope if anyone else has a similar experience they might also share with everyone.
I’m told that they are working on speeding up the download process. It gets worse the more data is stored on it. In actuallity, it only takes 3 minutes, but it seem like an eternity when you have to keep hitting the button to keep it from going to sleep. It uses the IR to maintain the waterproofness (is that a word). All things considered, I’m pretty happy with mine. My ENDO loves the reports and my A1C is way down from MDI days.
My Dexcom 7 is awsome and dead on. Tricare doesn’t cover it though so I only use it when I get really sick or go through some major changes to keep on top of it. Or just when I need to do basal checks.
Hello Fellow Pumpers… I’m a Cozmo pumper. :o) Went for my appointment today to decide on the Pod or the Ping and I went with the ping. :o) I can’t wait for them to contact me. Hopefully it won’t be too long. I’ve been pumping for almost 16 years now and the LCD screen has me really really happy. Bad eyes here.
Thanks for all the replies.
Sandy
I would like for them to add the food database back into the pump. I can’t have the meter remote with me at all times. Also, when the meter is delivering a bolus, and at the end the pump sends a basal dose, the meter says that the bolus did not go through because communication was lost. However, when you look at the history, it worked fine. Probably just a glitch. Last one, this applies for those of us that use the check BG in ? hours after delivering a bolus. I sometime will put it at 0 hours if I don’t want the pump to vibrate in 2 hours like normal. When you set this on the meter, the pump still has the reminder set. The meter does not tell the pump to clear it out. So in turn, when the pump goes off, the meter beeps. So you have to set the meter for 0 hours, and then give yourself what I call a dummy bolus (0 units) on the pump. This allows you to reset the reminder to 0 hours on the pump also. These are my 3 big hassles!
I agree with improvements needed for scrolling (numbers and menu) and for the meter’s lack of brightness, which must be awful for those with diabetes-related vision problems such as neuropathy.!
I’d love if the FastFacts feature on the Ping meter showed a quick ‘all results’ list of BGs and times rather than one-by-one, like the Onetouch2. If it could show a quick list of bolus history, and carb entries, that’ll be great too.
I’m new to the forum and I’m sure that this point has probably come up before. Since I don’t see any comment yet on this thread, I will add my suggestion about the metal belt clip.
Animas needs to rework the metal belt clip. The lower portion of the assembly needs another attachment point of the clip to the pump body. Attaching the pump to my belt or the waist band of my pants is done mostly by feel. Too often the belt or waist band tries to go in between the pump body and the back of the clip instead of between the prongs of the clip.
In the full scheme of things this is not a big deal but this is a bad design. It continuously causes me needless irritation.
