Animas Vibe & Dexcom G4 — What happens when the G5 is available?

Diabetes Technology Glucose Monitoring
#1

Continuing the discussion from Thoughts on the Animas Vibe?:

OK, I use the Medtronic pump & CGM so I’m asking about this strictly from curiosity.

While reading the questions in the linked discussion thread/topic about using the Vibe (with the Dexcom G4), something came to mind which I hadn’t really connected the dots on previously.

The current Dexcom G4 transmitter does not use Bluetooth. However, my understanding is that the next generation Dexcom G5 transmitter is expected to use Bluetooth to communicate with it’s receiver.

Since the current Vibe works with the G4, that implies the Vibe does not use Bluetooth to connect to the Dexcom CGM transmitter. Yes?

So what happens when the G5 comes out? If you upgrade to the G5 wouldn’t you be back to “using two devices” again. … Yes? No? Maybe? :confused:

Idle minds which are still waiting for the caffeine to kick in are slightly sorta curious. :blush:

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#2

Great question and thanks for your “idle curiosity” because it’s not so idle for me. I’m suddenly very interested in the Vibe because a) I just got a Dexcom CGM b) I’m a Snap user who just got the email telling me the company has goon poof! c) the email says they are supposedly working out some deal for us with Animas and d) the Dexcom integration with the Vibe makes it look vastly preferable to going back to Medtronic, unless my insurance company leaves me no choice.

#3

As far as I know the Vibe is not copatible with the G5. I didn’t mention it in the other thread, but this was also a big reason I didn’t upgrade my Ping to a Vibe. Once the G5 comes out, if one upgrades, the Vibe will essentially function like a Ping anyway (without a meter remote).

#4

When the G5 comes out you will look at your smartphone for bg levels. If you still want to use
the cgm function of your vibe you have to use the old G4 transmitter as long as it will be available in the future.

#5

they need to give some love to Android. I wear a Tizen watch, but I suspect the next smartwatch I get will probably be Android Wear as tizen seems to be going nowhere. I’m tired of hearing all the Apple love. Now we need the medical devices to work with Android!!!

#6

Well, from both what I’ve read and also would expect, Dexcom is not going to require people who buy the G5 to buy an iPhone. :no_mobile_phones: :wink: An “optional Share receiver” would still be sold for the G5.

Since the Vibe both will not work with the G5 and also does not support Dexcom’s newer Software 505 (“G4AP algorithm”), at some point one expects Animas will unveil a “Vibe 2” which does do these things.

Will there be a Vibe upgrade plan? Seems reasonably likely. Will it be a “good deal”? Beats the heck out of me. Define “good” and “deal”. :confused:

I’m not sure how long the Animas Vibe warranty lasts, but if Dexcom makes good on its announced hope to be selling the G5 in the US by either the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016, that could potentially pose an upgrade dilemma for at least some folks. Possibly? Perhaps?

I was sorta hoping that someone else might have either asked Animas about this or had bumped up against some report from someone who had asked. Oh, well. We’ll see what develops. Dexcom certainly does not appear to be dragging their feet on getting the G5 out the door. :sunny:

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#7

Thing to remember is the G5 is just the updated receiver that has Bluetooth. It uses the G4 transmitter used with the G4 platform. I have it now and love to see my values in the iPhone.

I’m an Asante Snap user. They shutdown operations last Friday. They stated that they’ve made a deal with Animas for the Vibe as a path to transition.

My question as will the Vibe and the new Bluetooth receiver be able to receive the same data from the transmitter. Second is will Animas have a firmware uograde anytime soon for the new Dexcom algorithm. I’ve been using it since it came out. And it’s been near perfect 6 of the 7 days I wear it.

And lastly I wish all these pump companies would step up and change to the prefilled vials. The ability to change my supply in under 2 minutes made the intrusion of the change in my life almost non-existant.

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#8

:confused: Uh, no, that’s not how I understand it. :confused:

My understanding is that the G5 transmitter uses Bluetooth to communicate with either the optional Dexcom receiver or directly with another Bluetooth device running an app from Dexcom. (And that’s pretty much the big change with the G5. The sensor and its associated 505 firmware are unchanged according to what I’ve read so far.)

To quote from the Diatribe article I linked to before (emphasis added) —

The system will include a new Bluetooth transmitter, an iPhone app (the Android app is in development), and an optional Share receiver. Most notably, Gen 5 will bring CGM data straight into the phone app via Bluetooth, eliminating the requirement for a receiver.

The Diatribe article also includes a somewhat vague comment that “After the Gen 5 and new transmitter become available, patients will need a simple remote software update to make the Share receiver compatible.” I assume this refers to the existing Share receivers which Dexcom is now shipping with the G4. :confused:

But apparently both the current Animas Vibe and the upcoming Tandem t:slim G4 pumps will not work with the new G5 transmitter. Whether or not there will be any pump firmware updates to address that … well, that’s partly what I was asking about. :blush:

#9

As a former Medtronic user and another castaway floating about in the Asante lifeboats, the switch to Animas is looking increasingly less attractive to me. Dexcom integration is the only real lure to go there, and from what I’m reading I’m not really sure that’s such a big deal anyway. If the next iteration of Dexcom will Bluetooth to my iPhone I’m not going to care whether it’s integrated with whatever pump I’m using. I’ve also read enough about the Vibe to know that some of its behaviors would drive me nuts. Of course the Minimed has its endearing little quirks too, but at least I’m already accustomed to those. Aggh. I hate the thought of trudging back to MS-DOS, er, Medtronic, but that looks like where this is going for me.

#10

My understanding is that the Vibe will not get the 505 software update. Nor will the Dex G5 be compatible with the Vibe.

#11

I have an Animus Vibe, and after the advent of the G5, spent much time on the phone with Dexcom to determine what to do when my G4 warranty expired. The result is that I got a new G4, and carry the receiver in my purse for use with my iPhone. This is most helpful in the winter, when all the layers and coat make reaching my pump to check the CGM difficult. But I definitely look at the receiver and iPhone data as secondary to what my pump tells me. I also must remember to calibrate and charge the receiver in addition. This is the best solution I’ve found.

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#12

I do just that (except the purse part! :slightly_smiling:), plus added a watch to make digging thru layers even less frequent. I keep both calibrated and use the opportunity to start/stop the sensor on the Dexcom receiver on a different schedule than the Vibe – that way, except when a sensor actually fails, I nearly always have my stream of BG data from one device or the other. (Note: the Vibe’s older software “recovers” from an actual sensor change more slowly than the Dexcom receiver with the 505 software, so I try to actually change the sensor on the Vibe’s schedule and just stop/stop the sensor on the receiver when it’s 7-day session ends.)

#13

Great idea to overlap the sessions this way. I’m on it. Thank you, Thas!