I chose the Freestyle Navigator in part because my endo thought it was the most accurate machine on the market and also due to it’s size. The belt clip and receiver are easily wearable with any pants and can be in a bag if necessary. I have found it to be exceptionally accurate, to the point that I do the calibration sticks and they are the same or 1 point off and I treat based on it. I have never gotten into a problem from this but I do watch carefully and certainly do not advocate everyone do the same. I work at night and it is very important to know what my sugar is, and I feel it is giving me a “now” reading, not the reading the is 20 minutes old. I realize the overwhelming majority of CGM users are Dex users but I felt someone should say what a good experience they are having with the Navigator. I have had excellent customer service, any issue they replace the sensor and have dropped my receiver in water twice and they have replaced it for free, no questions asked. I will stick with it simply due to the accuracy and ease of use. Calibration at 10 and 12 hours and at 36 hours and done. Do not mind waiting for the first 10 hours since it is so easily callibrated at that point.
Day 1 for me with the DexCom Seven. My insurance paid for it because I made sure to create a good record of the increasing incidents of my husband having to call 911 cause I was out of it and mumbling in the middle of the night. Dexcom is good about working with you and your providers to get the documentation together necessary to get coverage. It took awhile to get the approval but I’m very happy so far. In terms of accuracy, it’s been within 5-10 percent all day!
Found out about this great site 2 hrs ago, became a member 3 minutes ago!
Our son is on a Paradigm pump. We tried the Guardian (integrated) a few months ago. It was just no good. Returned everything. Minimed is great in taking care of its customers. No problems in getting my money back.
Now, we are looking at OmniPod (went to info session this afternoon). He is wearing a demo pump right now, seems to like it. OmniPod people are friendly in person and on the Toll free line. Learned about FreeStyle Navigator. Did a lot of research (like reading posts on this site).
Insurance does cover OminPod. Not sure of the CGM device. Will find out tomorrow.
Between Dex and Nav, I am leaning toward Nav for 1. accurate readings, 2. range, and 3. fewer calibrations. We really disliked the frequent calibration required by Minimed (which have to be done when sugar level is stable). Waiting for 10 hrs once in 5 days for Nav startup may be painful (you’ve to prick fingers during that period), but if we do that at night, may not be so bad.
Did a lot of reading on Humalog vs Apidra on this site. Looks like we need to switch to Apidra from Humalog to see if Apidra indeed makes a difference.
Next few weeks will bring a lot of changes for him. Let us hope everything works out. He is very cooperative in general, so don’t expect any psychological problems in switching.
If you’re interested, I posted a video last week on the insertion of the Navigator sensor. I’m an Apidra using, pod wearing, navigator wearing type 1. Check my member page for the video link.
With any of the three systems, you will not be able to calibrate when the blood sugar isn’t stable. Nor would you want to. The calibration readings need to be based on a non-moving target. The Nav will not accept your calibration if you are moving too rapidly or are below 60 or above 300. It asks you to try again in 2 hours.
I do my ten hour warm-up at night while I sleep. That’s actually when my blood sugars are the most stable during any given 24 hours, so I feel pretty confident about it most nights.
OmniPod is on the way. Navigator? Waiting for insurance approval!
Just curious - what do you do with the old pump, like MM Paradigm? I was thinking of keeping it with a few infusion sets as a backup pump.
I kept my Cozmo as a back-up, along with about 3 months worth of sets.
There are places that will take donated pumps and supplies, but due to the recent MM lot 8 recalls, some companies (like ipump.org) are no longer taking Minimed supplies, so you’d have to check if you wanted to donate it somewhere.
I use the CGM from Medtronic and it is better than Dexcom. I used Dexcom and was not impressed with it. Medtronic is easy to use and the replace CGM if it is a defect. Plus, with CGM from Medtronic you can go 6 days.
I am a Navigator user and there is no recharging of the transmitter…you just change the battery while changing the sensor…no down time at all. I think you may be talking about the MM CGMS. I use batteries I retrieve from my Omnipods and also the one they send with the sensors which last me on average a month…the omnipod retreads go for about 3 weeks but I change every 2 since there are 4 in each omnipod.
I’m on the MiniMed Paradigm 522 with CGM, and I am happy with it. However, I want you to know that I did wear the DexCom 7 for one month (the trial period) and found that it frequently lost reception during the night. I also participate on a Yahoo! CGM-ers group. The Navigator users rave that they check their BG’s with fingerstick as little as 1 - 3 times per day, because the Navigator is that accurate. As for the person above who claims he wears the OmniPod and is leaning toward the DexCom, you should know that rumor has had it, for a long time, that Insulet and Abbott have plans to merge the two units. I’d vote for the DexCom if I weren’t already happy with my integrated CGM/pump (MiniMed)
I’d hold on to your MM Paradigm. Here’s why… I wore the OmniPod for one year. I liked it for maybe the first 6 months. Then I began have MAJOR skin reactions to the Pod adhesive. I also discovered that I was running out of infusion sites. Unlike any other pump, the cannula on the Pod is a “one size fits all.” If it doesn’t work well for you, you’re out of luck. I hope you’ll be one of the OmniPod success stories. Good luck!
Omnipod plans to integrate with the Navigator as well; it’s just taking longer to get through FDA approval. Right now, both the Opod and Nav upload to the same software program so you can interlace the data easily.
So, during that 10 hour warm up time, when do you think the readings are accurate? Some say you should do the warm up when your blood sugar is stable, but mine is never “stable” for 10 hours straight. How long does your blood sugar have to be stable?
During the warm-up, you receive no readings. The system “blinds” you to them. At the end of the warm-up, it will ask you for a calibration at 10 and 12 hours. At that time, your blood sugar should be stable. Otherwise, it will give you a notification like “Calibration failed. Test again in 1 hour.” or something like that. Your blood sugars do not have to be stable during the warm-up period. The warm-up is simply adjusting for inflammation around the site that causes some people to have instability of readings. (The next gen of the Nav is supposed to be accounting for this with a new algorithm and will have only a 1 hour warm-up period.)
I have heard that people are annoyed by the Dexcom alarms. Videos on youtube show that. What about the Navigator alarms? I have done searches and haven’t found anything.
I found this link handy. Not sure how old it is, but it nice to see a side by side comparison like this.
http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_technology/continuous_monitorin…
You can mute the alarms for up to an hour on the Nav, which comes in handy if you know you’re high, have treated the high, and don’t want it to continue to tell you that you’re high. You can also set all alarms to be either low, medium, or high in volume. Or you can set them to vibrate. I frequently mute all alarms or set the receiver to vibrate when I’m performing (I’m a singer).
Still, if I am dealing with a problem and it continues to beep, I do cuss it out. My husband often silences the beeping for me if he knows I’m about to throw the thing against a wall.
My only gripe with that chart is that it lacks updated information on the Nav.
The receiver weight is 3.5 oz. including batteries and the transmitter weight is .48 oz including battery.
The range they claim is indeed 10 feet, but it is considerably more than that in reality. The farthest I have been from the receiver and still received data has to be 50ish feet. I can be upstairs in a bedroom while my Navigator is in my purse out in the car.
The rate of change is indicated by the direction of the arrows (a flat arrow indicates stability or less than 1 mg/dL change per minute, 45 degree arrows mean the rate of change is 1-2 mg/dL per minute, while a straight-up or down arrow indicates a rate of change of 2 mg/dL or more per minute).
The software is Abbott’s Freestyle CoPilot software - also used with Cozmo and Omnipod and Freestyle meters. I’ve never heard of the Precision Link software, and I’ve been using the Navigator since 8 months after the FDA approved it.
There is only one alarm that I cannot turn off on my DexCom: the below 55 mg/dl alarm. First the receiver vibrates. If I don’t acknowledge this alarm then the DexCom will eventually beep.
After months of fighting my insurance company I got approved for them to pay for the Navigator for me! I’m excited and extremely happy!!
Congrats, Amanda!