Do you have to open the app or does it show up as soon as you lift your wrist (or however you waken the watch)? Do you have a time lag? I’ve heard of others who get an old BG reading when it wakes up and have to wait or re-load to get the newest BG.
I think you mistake the nature of our criticisms of the Dexcom CGM. Dexcom has done such a good overall job that the thrust of my criticism comes from an avid interest to maximize the Dex potential. I think many in the Dexcom CGM camp identify as such.
I am not tempted in the least to move to the Medtronic CGM system. I love the new Dexcom Clarity reports and the accuracy of the Dex system is very good. It enables me to live with almost normal blood sugar. I’m not a big fan of CGM/pump integration at this time but will be most interested when a viable closed loop system evolves. In the meantime, I’m happy to act as the middleman between my pump and CGM. My current results will be competitive with the first few generations of the artificial pancreas.
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@Laddie, thank-you so much for turning me on to Juicebox Podcast. I’m listening to the Dexcom CEO interview right now. Great resource!
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And I’ve not had a chance to try out a Dexcom so I can’t comment on it either. I’m working with a rep to hook me up with a doc who can PURPORTEDLY lend me a unit to try out, but I am not holding my breath on that one. The rep doesn’t do any lending…
I’d just hate to jump onto another system and end up feeling like the proverbial fish that jumped from the frying pan to the fire. 
I asked my doctor at the time and he told me to get dexcom, but the phone number didn’t work and I looked online. Dexcom was a huge patch and Medtronic was a tiny thing so I called Medtronic assuming they both did the same thing. It was a finicky thing. I was disappointed but I assumed dexcom had all the same results. I was told dexcom was working a lot better but refused to believe it. Then two years ago my doctor asked me to switch. I did and the device was not finicky. It did not require my attention. All it did was show me my blood sugar. There was nothing it required of me. At some point I looked up the studies, raw data comparisons. It was an early study to determine the best device for the automatic pancreas. There were three devices at that time. One was not available in USA. The results were charted and it was devastating to see. The Medtronic was not only finicky and demanding but it was by far the worst, not even in the same league as the others for accuracy.
I have been using the G5 system for a few weeks now, and I have one question and one comment.
Question: I am wondering which device does the calculations to “predict” the BG trend in the algorithm when both receiver and iPad are connected. I have found a few aberrations. My 3 year old doesn’t carry a phone, so we usually place the iPad and receiver in center of the home. Sometimes I will see the trend switch very quickly–then correct itself. My wife and I call it a “hiccup”. We never noticed this with the G4, so I was thinking that it may be due to two devices with competing numbers. Not sure. Let me know if anyone else has noticed this.
Comment: As I said before, we usually put the receivers in the center of the home. In the G4 system we had no loss of signal throughout the home–but now if he is in either extreme side of the house, he will lose signal. I have noticed slightly less stable connectivity with the iPad.
LOL I hear you on that!!!
interesting. It seems that folks having drop out issues are the one’s who are using both the G4 receiver and iPhone app concurrently??? Just a guess because I’m looking at my 24hr graph and don’t have one dropout and I coached baseball practice last night with my iPhone in a backpack on the bench and had no dropouts.
I glance at my watch and I can see my numbers. It may take 5-10 seconds +/- because I’m using the Follow App until the G5 official Apple Watch App is out. I’m learning here that that 5-10 seconds is very subjective as it relates to folks “real time” definition. I still consider it real time and don’t consider it that big of a deal to wait a few seconds but I understand how it could frustrate others. Regardless, all should be good once the G5 App is updated.
Just as a side note as well as I know there has been some mention regarding the G5 App and Apple Watch App going through FDA approval before coming out. Recently the FDA reduced the Apps that simply display the CGM Data from Class III to Class II. There are still guidelines to follow but they aren’t nearly as tight as a Class III device. Therefore, hopefully the development and release of the G5 AW app is not held up by the FDA.
I tried the MM Sof Sensor years ago. It was so bad, I ended up getting a refund for all but the sensors that I used. I got the Enlite in December of 2014. For me, it’s been a LOT better than the Sof Sensor, but I sometimes have a string of bad sensors. Other sensors are amazing–so amazing that one of them went a full 25 days before the ISIG’s dropped too low for me to feel confident going to the 26th day. The only way they work well for me is in my arm, though.
DrBB- i am upgrading from the G4 transmitter/receiver and DO NOT have a “smart phone.” can i just use the transmitter w/out having a phone? i am currently working w/ a rep and i am getting lost in all the talk about the different “apps.” i just want accuracy and simplicity.
Hm–a bit of topic drift had occurred when I posted that. I wasn’t talking about the G5 but about the Bigfoot closed-loop pump. You can definitely use the G5 with just the standard-issue transmitter, but I’m not sure why you’d want to upgrade to it if you don’t have a use for the smartphone connection. The G5 is slightly bulkier and has a shorter battery life (50%) as a result of accommodating Bluetooth. For some of us the advantages of the smartphone connection outweigh those disadvantages, but If you don’t have a smartphone you might be better off sticking with the G4.
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I hung in there for the first upgrade of the sensor product but found it improved only slightly. No doubt in a few more years it will be better than it was. I’m not complaining. Well there was supposed to be a cure in my lifetime while I was still able to take advantage of it and my work life is nearing its final stages and I keep grasping at the next straw that may give me some advantage. The dexcom sensor has fulfilled that hope more than anything else. I wanted for that first generation Medtronic sensor to fulfill that hope but the second generation still wasn’t useable enough.
I’d agree on this one Daisy. The only reason I updated to G5 was to eliminate the receiver.
but i was under the impression that the G5 was more accurate.
Only for Pediatric users. All Adult receivers has had the 505 software for a while now. Dexcom never released the 505 software to the Peds users (using the G4 receivers) even though it was approved months ago.
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UPDATE: There is a new Follow app update now available. It claims to fix the missing gaps in data. However, I have noticed it to be quicker and more responsive on the watch. Time will tell (haha)
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Thanks for the heads up Anthony!!!
I’d be happy to stand corrected but I understand that the latest update of the G4 algorithm is the same one the G5 uses, and since the sensors are the same I wouldn’t think so. But if you can point me to something that says different I’d very much appreciate it. There have been so many threads and so much discussion I might have missed it.
I believe this is true DrBB