Full Release of Insulet's DASH System

Diabetes Technology
14

I am adding more comments on the new Dash system. This new Dash really needs improvements. I would not recommend switching from the old PDM at this point.
Here are my main complaints:

  1. communication between pod and PDM: bad. It keeps telling you “move the PDM closer to the pod” and I know it does not make a bit of a difference. It looks like it does not matter how close the PDM is to the pod, hence it’s a glitch in their hardware/software. They made the PDM look like a smartphone for a more “discreet” look, yet, we have to keep moving the PDM in weird positions in order for it to communicate with the pod. The old PDM is using radio signals to communicate with the pod, and it’s a lot more efficient.

  2. after the second communication attempt you have two choices: “try again”, or “deactivate pod”, in the same line, near each other and with both tabs having the same size. If you click “deactivate” by mistake you do not have a double check option, so one can easily waste a pod/insulin (have not done it yet).

  3. you do not have a temp basal amount showing at any time. all you see is a tiny barely readable graph that tells you the overall basal program, and where you are with it, ballpark. If you want to set up a new basal say, 0.5 u/h for 5 hours, you cannot do this. All you can do is to provide a % of the current basal program. [Correction: it is possible to change the default to Units/Hour. A little counter-intuitive they way to change it - I had to read the instructions to figure out how to do it.]

  4. volume control: you lower the volume to 0 and it pops up to 100% if there is a notification (this is a minor one, but annoying)

  5. Battery life is pitiful. The old PDM lasts a very long time with 2 AAA batteries. The PDM can go out of battery while delivering instructions to the pod, or while activating a new one. It happened already once to me.

  6. other people have already mentioned the annoying pin that you have to type each time you want to access the PDM. no way to disable it, I assume for safety reasons. With the old pdm there is no need since the button has to be physically pushed down.

I could keep going but these are my main complaints. The Dash is usable, but needs several improvements. I am actually switching back to the old system.

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