Deciding on a pump!

I am trying to gather as much info as I can about pumps. My husband is going to get one and we will probably get one for my son in the next couple years. We will want to use the same type. We are really trying to decide between Minimed and Cozmo. Any advice?

Congrats to your husband! Sorry that I can’t be much help. Griffin is on the Omnipod. Though, if he’s thinking of getting CGM Minimed might be better.

GL!

I don’t think we can get the omnipod in Canada or that would be a great option. Dennis really doesn’t want to be attached! I think it is only available in some states. I sent an e-mail asking when it would be available here and got no response.

Hi Angela,
I have a six year old on MiniMed 522 pump. We started ~February this year and couldn’t be more happier with the decision.
I have done some research beforehand and found that there really wasn’t one pump better than others. They all have something unique, it’s just a matter of what you are looking for. In a nut shell, it came down to these:

  • Minimed is ready to communicate with a CGMS & wireless glucose reading from BD meter (note: BD is stopping test strip production, but another company picked them up);
  • Animas has an ability to dispence the smallest amount of basal rate, food database in the pump & waterproof;
  • Cozmo has a metter integrated to the pump;
  • Omnipod is “disconnected”.

Turns out that my insurance would cover Minimed 100%, but not Omnipod at all, so we just went with it. Still waiting for the insurance to start covering CGMS, then we will have a better use of the features.

Feel free contacting me with any question you might have, i will be more than happy to answer them!

I’ve already given you my two cents about our decision. I think if I could give one piece of input about the Cozmo … the integrated meter would not be the thing that stands out for me. We don’t even use ours. It has so many amazing positives besides the integrated meter, like the enormous food database (which rumor has it will be upgraded to include everything from Calorie King), the weekly schedule feature and the IOB feature.

Again, we almost went with MInimed, but decided not to because we weren’t going to CGM. CGM was the only thing really drawing us to Minimed, all of the other features compared side by side directed us to Cozmo (with Animas a close second).

I think it is important to figure out which pump has the features you will use the most. For each person those group of features are very different. Some poeple want CGMS, some want a color screen and smaller basal rates with more alarm tones, others want ultimate customizability (is that even a word?), and others don’t want to deal with tubing. It toally depends upon what is important to you and your family. These are all very good pumps and they do amazing things these days. For me it was kind of like deciding between a BMW, Mercedes and Volvo. They all work well and are very good at their main purpose. They all have great safety features. They all have bells and whistles, just different bells and whistles.

My son uses an Animas because of it having the lowest basal increments (which comes in very handy since he’s so young). But, if I wasn’t so drawn to the lower basal rates I would have gone with the Cozmo. I liked more of it’s features and there is less button pushing than with the Animas. I don’t know if your child does much swimming of not, but Riley does and his Animas is waterproof. He wears it to swim and he wears it in the bath. It helps to not have his basal rates interupted.

I think the Cozmo is supposed to be waterproof too (without the meter attached). Maybe someone else could let you know if it’s really waterproof or not. I know the Minimed is not waterproof.

Best of luck finding a pump. I remember agonizing over the decision. But, really, besides the waterproof thing (and the minimed having CGMS availability) I think they all pretty much do the same thing.

Just got an Animas Ping…loves it so far only 4 days in