ill be starting the G5 in a few days as im still on the G4 (new pump but using the animas one as the G4 CGM still). ive read all about it, etc. i have the phone app as well. not sure if i’ll use it as i only have so much data available and boyfriend wasnt happy when i went over the limit. how big is the receiver? what feature does it have or is it the same as the G4? anyone have pics of what it looks like? what features does it have that the G4 doesnt besides the mobile app? etc. anything would be helpful thanks!
call Dexcom 24/7 and they will answer every question you posed here.
im wanting to hear from other peoples experiences :). i find hearing from them what they like, etc and what they discover it has, etc is best
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They look the same and they function the same, for me; they are the same size. The G5 fits in the belt clip, just as the G4 did. The G5 can share with the phone and such, I but don’t use that feature. The learning curve, for me, going from the G4 to the G5, was pretty much nothing.
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so no big change on the size then. at least it will be small and i dont have to worry about a big thing to carry around. not sure if ill try the phone feature. i may try it for a few days and see if i want to use it, if not at least i can say i tried it. so i guess there isnt anything to worry about in learning something new then?
I don’t think so, as long as you’re comfortable using the G4 receiver, you should be as comfortable with the G5 receiver. I’m sure someone who uses the phone can chime in. The phone seems like a nice feature to have, especially for parents who need to keep tabs on their child’s bg!
that is true…hey is there anyone that uses the phone feature??? :)…then i should have no problems getting myself set up then without having to go to joslin for training if i know how the G4 receiver worked. now i just gotta wait for it to arrive. its been a week now
I don’t use my Dexcom 24/7 as it is prohibitively expensive in Australia. However, when I do use the G5 I only use my phone as a receiver. I do have the G5 receiver also, as I was forced to get it when I purchased the product.
Personally I hate the receiver. The only reason I would ever use it is as a backup. I have an iPhone 6 and I find the app really good on that. You can add the Dexcom app as a widget so all I need to do is swipe my finger right and see exactly what my BG is and see what it has been doing for the past few hours.
When I use it I share it with my partner. She likes being able to see what’s going on, but it’s also just a nice fail-safe if she isn’t with me (if I go for a run etc) Not that I really need it but it’s comforting to know that if my BG went really low and I struggled she would know what was going on.
We only use the phone feature. In fact we have never taken the receiver out of the box. Will continue to use the phone when the G6 arrives in a couple of days. Phone is very helpful. My daughter has the G5 app and we use the “Dexcom Follow” app so we can see how she is doing.
Since you asked, here is what it looks like:
Here is what it looks like on the iPhone
We use the follow app to see how she is doing. My wife and I have androids and it works fine with them (mine is not listed on the phones that work with the app but it works just fine). Our other daughter also uses the follow app on her iPhone.
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the receiver looks small in your pic. the transmitter looks like the same size as the G4. ive been playing around with the phone app but i need the transmitter to use it further. the follow side of it? what is that, etc. from what you are saying someone can sign up for the app and look at my data? if im understanding it right? does the appt take up data or can it be used on a wifi? i hope wifi as my boyfriend wasnt so happy with how much data i used as i went over lol. thanks for the pics 
to everyone else, thanks for sharing your experience. it still hasnt arrived yet and its been 7 days (6 if you wanna count the mailman days). im hoping soon so i can get up and running. does the receiver have a clip? need to figure out how im going to carry it around, etc
Amy, Dexcom makes a belt pouch for the receiver. Best bet is to call Dexcom and ask about it, I am not sure if it can be found on their website.
i can take a look on their website and see…i can also look on amazon too…that is how i found stuff for my animas pump when i was on it
Basically how it works is you set up the G5 app on your phone. Then a family member or whoever downloads the “Dexcom Follow App”. Then from your app you send them an invite. They cannot view your data unless you send them an invite. Once you do that they can follow your data. Pretty easy to set up, I don’t quite remember how it is done but it was simple (and since we only did it once there was no need to do it again). Dexcom tech support can help as well.
It can work on WiFi. Our 8 year old has a very limited data plan and she never goes over but she only uses the phone for Dexcom and playing a few games (which she never does away from home she has other devices for that).
thanks for the info…i may have my best friend download the follow app. does it matter what phone she has? i know stupid question but i have the IPhone and she has an android phone. i think it would be helpful for her to know. not sure if my boyfriend would want his phone vibrating all the time as he works in an environment where they need focus. can they turn it off if they need to?
No, it really doesn’t matter. Our daughter has an iPhone and we have androids. Mine in a generic android and it works just fine. I do get a “pop up” every few days that says “Dexcom has not been tested on this phone” (or something similar) but it still works just fine. You can change the limits on it. I have mine set for high alert at 250 and low at 80 and that can be changed to any number you want. You can also change it to vibrate so the alert doesn’t go off. If we are in a movie or something we change it to 300 or so for high alerts but it doesn’t matter too much because we are usually there with her.
Remember your friend’s “Dexcom Follow” app will not work until you send her an invite. Again, Dexcom can help with set up but I believe the instructions come with it. The G5 has truly been a God-send. We sleep better at nights knowing she isn’t going to drop to low or get too high without us knowing about it.
And when it doubt, meter out! If she is raising rapidly we do a finger prick, sometimes the Dexcom can be 50 points off but most of the day if she is steady it is pretty accurate.
i have the G4 set to alert me when im high at 250 and the low is 100 as i get shaky at 100 sometimes. ill probably have it set to vibrate as i dont hear well without my hearing aids on so vibrate will be the best thing for me. i guess ill have to figure out how to do the invite once i tell her to get the app. ill have to tell her about it tho. hopefully she’ll want to get the app and see where i am as she is my case of an emergency for the DKA. i check my levels several times a day. when im out and about sometimes its hard to check as im doing so many things that its hard to stop for a moment. so when i get back into the car is when i check. but being on a CGM is a god send for sure
250? wow, I wouldn’t receive the benefit of a CGM reducing my A1c if I had the warning so high. Mine is set to 150 and I react to it accordingly.
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trying to get it slowly down to where its steady. once it gets steady enough i lower it. kinda like when you are losing weight
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Hi Amy,
I just wanted to make sure you knew that the G5 and G6 (that I started on last month) phone apps do not use any data at all if you only use it for yourself (ie don’t use Share)
For example I’ve been traveling out of the country for two weeks with my phone constantly in airplane mode and I’ve been using my G6 app the whole time.
( you can even just turn off cellular data for the Dexcom app if that’s a worry for you )
I actually still do use my receiver (but only while sleeping) because I do not want to have my phone on 24/7.
I hope you get your G5 soon and enjoy it as much as I did ( as someone who used to G4 for four years and loved every minute of it )