The improved range of the G4 transmitter/receiver has been flawless for me. I put the G4 into service on November 2. Excluding the start up partial day and the 7th day 2-hour blackout period, my G4 has not dropped a single data point! Day after day I see a total of 288 (every five minutes or 12 per hours times 24 hours) total data points being recorded.
I used to run two Dex 7+ receivers at night to make up for the inevitable loss of signal due to normal body shifts while sleeping. The new G4 has not missed a single five minute update! Very impressive.
This is a big improvement over the 7+ system as I did have some hypoglycemia incidents at night that the 7+ delayed alerting me to due to a loss of signal.
Is my experience typical? I'd be interested to hear what the other G4 users are experiencing.
I just read Lizzie's review and she notes the same thing. I'm thinking that Dex's improvement of it's transmitter at the expense of thickness and longevity was a worthwhile tradeoff. I'm really liking dependably getting a report every five minutes. Maybe I'm obsessed but effective T1 diabetes management seems to demand a certain level of obsession!
Terry, That's awesome! My daughter was in a G4 ped's clinical trial in August and we were very happy with the accuracy and consistency of the data. As you observed, the G4 was more reliable than her 7+. We like the G4's alarm options for helping us wake up during the night too.
Her pink G4 should be here this week and we can't wait!
Tips on what to do with the stockpile of unopened 7+ sensors? We'll keep the 7+ system for a backup but we're wondering how long people have gone past the sensor expiration date. Any experience with expired sensors?
Also, How long are you getting reliable data from G4? On the 7+ with an extra hypafix border we are getting over 2 weeks.
Aaron - I've used 7+ sensors up to six months past the expiration date.
When I got my G4 system, I decided to give away my excess 7+ sensors to someone in this community that did not have insurance and had to pay out of pocket for all sensors.
My insurance will pay for another G4 system after the warranty runs out on this one. I'm thinking that'll be a year. Then I'll have a good back-up. I don't think I'd like to go back to the 7+. And trying to keep a back-up receiver charged and operational is a bit of a challenge.
I've had the same experience. Not one missed data point (except when I left it on the kitchen table and went across the street). The accuracy has been astonishing. It screamed 'low' at me a few mornings ago, and my first temptation was to just turn it off, or throw it, or.... G4 said 41, fingerstick was 43! It's been consistently very accurate. It's pink, too :)
I did put a label on the back that says MEDICAL DEVICE please return to (first name) (phone). Looks an awful lot like an mp3 player!
jrtpup - I like your ID label idea. At least it provides a path back to me if an honest person finds my receiver. I'm trying to develop the habit of always using the belt clip holster except when I'm sleeping. It's very tempting to just slide this puppy into a pocket and consider it good. Next thing I know the darn thing will jump out of my pocket in a parking lot as I'm getting into my car. Yikes!
I'll feel better a year from now when I can get my second receiver and use this one as a backup.
Here's an update on the data dropout rate that I raised in the original post. My first G4 sensor is still in place nearing the end of its 16th day. Until early this morning, except for the weekly two hour blackout periods, the G4 system did not miss one 5 five minute data point.
At 2:30 this morning it reported sensor data of 150 and then fell to 133-106-80 and dropped out for one hour and 20 minutes. The sensor came back online at 152. Since that time I did two calibrations: sensor 145 and fingerstick 127, sensor 100 and fingerstick 78.
I decided that due to the data dropouts and sensor 100 vs. meter 78 that I would terminate this sensor and start a new one.
With the old 7+ system I often observed a jumpy ragged BG trace and found that that correlated well with a sensor getting tired. Maybe its the enzymes on the sensor tip fading. With G4, however, the receiver BG trace was steady and even until the data dropout I reported above.
I'm happy that the G4 can still go at least 14 days. I think I will revert to my old habit of just changing the sensor every 14 days. It appears that the data dropout early this morning was a benign event since following the data pause the system reported a 152 BG. I don't think that my actual BG plunged in a 150-133-106-80 cascade. I believe that those numbers were bad. Maybe that's why the Dex decided to stop reporting.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the G4 performance, especially its resistance to drop data.
While I'm still really happy with my G4, I think I may have found its transmitter kryptonite. Whenever I have my laptop on my lap and over the sensor/transmitter, I'll usually find a few blank spots in the trace line when I check it later. I used to see this with the Seven+, too. Nothing major, but a pretty consistent form of interference.
