I’m still using the G6 and plan to until I have to switch. I did try the G7 for a few weeks a year or so ago and switched back to G6. As far as finger sticks go, I test a couple of times the day I stick on a new sensor and then in the mornings for a few more days and/or if the trend line looks inconsistent, like rapid changes and broken trend lines. I’ve notices that accuracy can be off the last day or two prior to expiration.
Update: I called US Med yesterday and was told that they are once again able to ship a 90-day stock of G7 sensors. While I won’t know for certain until the next batch arrives in, hopefully, 3-4 days, I’m encouraged that the G7 sensor shortage may be just about over.
I’m hopeful that others will be reporting similar good news soon.
Good luck all.
John
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I got a text and email from Byram this evening alerting me that “one or more items in my order” are on backorder. That would be the G7 CGM since it’s too early for a pump supply refill. The G7 is my first ever experience with a CGM which I have worn since July of 2024 after my endo talked me into a closed loop system. I have come to rely on my pump and CGM and now I need to probably go back to finger sticks and putting my pump into manual mode, after I use the last of my CGMs. It seems this shortage has been going on for some time, from what I have been reading.
Petrol is made intentionally more expensive in all countries which aim to disincentivise its use as a means to improve climate health.
That’s why countries like the US and Kuwait have cheap fuel.
Different national priorities.
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Apparently the shortage for our area is still on. I have a 90 day prescription but when I went to the pharmacy they had zero.
I put an order in to Byram on 03/09 for the usual 3 month supply of G6’s and 2 transmitters. I decided to switch to the G7 since I got a new Tandem X2 with updated software. (They had sent me G7’s on an earlier order which I couldn’t use with an out of warranty pump.) When I called customer service I found that they had already switched it on their own. OK, fine, but they’ve been on back order. I called in to check and was told the G7’s should ship on 03/28 but no date for the receiver, which I don’t really need. I think when I switch to Medicare soon i will find another supplier.
I’ve been getting G7 sensors for the past year and a half from a regional supermarket pharmacy (Publix), nine at a time. On March 22, I placed a refill order. A week later, I had not heard, so I called and learned that their distributor was having trouble getting them.
So I transferred the prescription to a CVS. Three days later I picked them up, all nine, and one of those three days was a Sunday.
So I wonder how much of the “shortage” is distribution problems. OTOH, CVS probably has them already in their own warehouse, whereas Publix probably depends on an external distributor.
I had a similar problem until tech support asked “How far away is your old sensor when your are trying to start your new one?” It turns out you need to make sure that your pump can distinguish between them. They said to make sure that your old sensor is 20 or 30 feet away while you pair the new one. Not practical, but I now put my old sensor about 15 feet away, with 2 walls and some large book shelves intervening. I haven’t had the pairing problem since I started banishing my old sensor to the “far-away” room. I pull it off my arm, walk it down the hall, set it down (where the cat can’t get at it, LOL), and go to the other end of the house to pair my new sensor. It’s a new ritual. 
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For complex reasons this only arises when the second device pairs. In that case the second device has to wait up to five minutes for the new G7 to wake up (the first does not because the G7 stays awake until it makes first contact). During this time it will get pairing options from anything in the vicinity; if you have ever tried to pair bluetooth earbuds in an airport or a hotel room you will know what I mean. Since the G7 only pairs once every five minutes it’s pretty difficult unless you are in a quiet environment.
At home I typically have two or three devices “available”; apparently wishing to do the pairing thing. I still have to work out what certain of the devices are but they might be old G7s (I suspect they might be the smoke detectors).
So if you pair the G7 from a 'phone then the pump do it the other way round; pair the pump first!
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Thanks. Useful information in this Bluetooth age.
Personally, I don’t use the phone app, just my pump. I can only handle so much device complexity, plus I base my phone purchases on different features of the phone, and I don’t want to deal with checking that my settings are correct each time there’s an update.
Which pump are you using?
Still off topic, the T:slim specific version of the issue is summarised (without any answer) here:
xDrip+ behaves precisely the same way.
Tandem T:slim X2.
It works pretty well for me, and it has the cgm info on the screen. I had 31 years of Humulin N and R before trying a pump 7+ years ago, and I would fight hard before going back to shots and test strips.
I figured, based on your posts. It sounds like a bug in the Tandem receiver. @spdif said something recently on another thread about some major problem with the T:Slim and the G7, could this be related Chris?
The G7 does not shut down when the session ends, even if the receiver/'phone explicitly shuts down (though the latter may help).
EDIT: here it is:
I.e. this quote from @spdif 's post:
[A]fter the G7 tslim compatible shenanigans worthy of a scooby-doo episode I’m not betting on it.
I’ve wanted to ask about this but I’m on the G6 and I don’t have a tslim so I thought I should leave this to others but here goes…
Just for context, I was speculating about the G7 15 day because all we know at the moment is a press release and a preprint of a clinical trial.
About the pump failing to pair with a working G7 @John_Bowler and @Yve65 tell me more about the state of all the devices involved. Lets start with the pump, it is happily paired to G7 #1 and getting data. Then does the pump say replace sensor or do you change to G7 #2 a little before G7 #1 stops? Have you already inserted G7 #2 aka pre-soaking?
Tech support’s “keep it 30 feet away” suggestion cracked me up. How many posts about the G7’s short range has there been? If not being able to “hear” the old sensor is really a solution just put your body between the pump and sensor. Heck, sit on the sensor, tuck it in an armpit or put it in a cup of water. 30 feet, ha!
The G7 warns you well ahead that the 10 days are ending, then you get a 12 hour grace period, so it’s really 10 days and 12 hours. Personally, I attach the new sensor at about 10 days, then let it soak for several hours before changing over. If you wait until the end of the grace period, you just stop getting data from the old sensor.
The G7 sensor has an inbuilt transmitter, and a 30-minute warm-up. It knows when it was actually attached, and records the sensor data starting from the end of its warm-up period. Your 10 days starts when you attach the new sensor, not when you start the new “session.”
So once the first sensor fails or is turned off, you pair the new sensor and get the data from the new sensor immediately, assuming that you didn’t wait and attach the new sensor after the old one stopped. If you check your blood glucose at about this time, you can know if your old & new sensors are reasonably accurate. I find that the new sensor is usually a little off. Depending on how far off the new sensor is, I might calibrate the new sensor. I had a problem once with a new sensor that was very inaccurate, and then failed. Tech Support said that, if the sensor is at least several hours old and is off by enough, calibration is a good idea, as it tells the sensor that it is wrong, and by how much. This will help it correct itself, and it will usually be more accurate as time goes on.
The problem that I had was that I forgotten to take the old sensor off of my arm before trying to pair the new one on the other arm. I had ended the session of the old one, but it was still close to the pump (my receiver). It hadn’t occurred to me that this might confuse the receiver, but it did.
You live and learn.
According to the tslim x2 7.8 and 7.9 manual pairing with a new sensor only requires entering a new pairing code. The pump doesn’t need to fail to communicate with the stopped sensor, which is the workaround support gave you.
It sounds like a software bug but, and I mean really big but, why isn’t it happening every time to everyone? Next time try waiting 5 minutes between stopping the sensor, or when the sensor stops, and pairing the new one.
@Yve65 's experience makes sense to me as a software deficiency in the Tandem software (not the Dexcom software/firmware).
I use the G7 but I use it with xDrip+; so my Dexcom software is the same but my “pump” software is xDrip+ (it feeds the data to the pump controller). I also have a Dexcom receiver but I always pair that second; @Yve65 - I’m assuming you don’t use the Dexcom receiver, it wasn’t in your recount.
I use the G7 for 10 days, insert a new one and swap after a few hours. I don’t wait for the timeout; I want to know if there is a problem and until the first device pairs to the sensor no one knows! I don’t pair the receiver (nice idea, $300 waste of money) because that impacts all subsequent pairing very negatively; I always pair the receiver second so that I can righteously shout at Dexcom if it doesn’t work.
Ok, that’s background. The TL;DR crowd will have tuned out by now. A couple of things I can confirm:
I regularly keep the receiver (my 'phone) at least 50ft away from what I am doing and it works just fine. I’m outside so this is line-of-sight in plain air. I’ve also mislaid my 'phone (a frequent occurrence) at the other end of the house and the G7/xDrip+ have continued to chat amorously. That’s about 30ft and there are two intervening walls, but fairly light construction (not concrete+rebar).
The issue here is what is in those 30 (or 50 or 100)ft; air doesn’t do much, water stops bluetooth dead (3ft seems to be enough). Mattress springs seem to work too!
I have tried to block the G7 signal with the traditional “tin hat” approach; I wrapped my upper arm in “tinfoil” (actually made of aluminium but still effective) and it was not sufficient.
This is the approach xDrip+ takes. Well, it’s xDrip+ so it is possible to stop the sensor, or at least tell xDrip+ to stop it, but when I related doing that on the relevant github account Navid said, approximately, “Why do that.” So I stopped; I just enter the new sensor/transmitter “code” (the pairing secret; password).
I don’t move my old G7 sensors far away. In fact I do exactly what you did; I have both of the attached (left arm, right arm). I do that because if the new G7 does a FOAD on me I can (eventually) swap back to the old one so long as it is in the 12-hour grace period.
The sensors don’t die. I put the old ones in the garage while I work out the correct way to get rid of them. I have a lot. I just tried an experiment; I went into the garage and did a bluetooth on my 'phone. Every time I refreshed (three times) it gave me one or two different expired sensors; so they keep alive and transmitting for at least 50 days after death, most likely a lot longer (I don’t want to do the stats 
So what are Tandem up to? I don’t know but it certainly still sounds like a bug in their software (unless you have a receiver and use it!)
I’m using my pump as the receiver, and I don’t use the app at all. I do own a receiver, as it came with the first set of sensors, and I’m glad because it would be a back-up in case my pump fails.
I only had my sensor fail once due to not pairing, and the rule (for me) of not letting 2 sensors be nearby me at the moment when I’m trying to pair with the new one works fine for me. I’m not technically savvy enough to want to go to much effort to figure out why, in more technical terms.
@Yve65 give yourself credit for the work you have done leaning how to manage your glucose with multiple devices. Point taken about not wanting to spend more time on this. Thanks for answering my questions earlier.