My brother will need to get a new insulin pump this year. He has only used one pump, so I don’t know anything about the other pumps. What are the pros and cons of the pumps you have used? Which pump did you like better?
Have your brother try Diabetes Wise. It is a new website that I just heard about from the diabetes website Diabete Connections with Stacey Simms.
I have used Medtronic (670g) with their Paradigm CGM as well as Tslim X1 and 2 with Dexcom and Control IQ. Tandem is far and away my preference. My nephew has an Omnipod and he loves it due to the tubeless design - but no CGM integration as of yet (supposedly coming with Dexcom). I honestly don’t think you can go wrong with Tandem.
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670G. It just WORKS. Screen easy to see in dim or bright light including direct sunlight.
Con: doesn’t work with my favorite CGM (Dexcom) so I also have to wear a CGM receiver (or rely solely on an app on my phone which I don’t want to do). My receiver is clipped to my waistband, as is my pump. I don’t like using my pocket as that makes access a pain and I have other things to put into pockets.
That’s a great question, but kind of a deep rabbit hole to start down as everyone weighs in, and personal preferences factor in to a huge extent. When you’re attached to a medical device that’s doing deep metabolic adjustments inside your body 24/7/365, things that seem like very small inconveniences to begin with can get to be major annoyances over time. So this topic is almost guaranteed to end up with people saying they could never live with PumpA because of X, and others weighing in to say they love PumpA in spite of X, or X never happens with their pump what are you talking about, or X is just not a big a deal to them and they couldn’t use PumpB because of Y, etc etc.
But the big things to consider are
- Tube vs tube-free. If tubing is gonna drive you nuts, then your only choice is Ominpod, which has a pretty big fan base. A lot of us find tubing turns out not to be as big a PITA as it seemed like it was gonna be so other things matter more.
- Tubed pumps: Medtronic vs everything else. These days “everything else” mostly means Tandem. Both now have CGM integration with hybrid-closed-loop control, meaning your pump responds to data from your CGM to dynamically control basal insulin delivery in real time. But there are big differences in their tech and CGM integration
- Closed loop features and CGM integration. This is the big crux because they’re all doing the loop thing now, or developing it (Omnipod), and if you’re used to a Dexcom CGM that’s going to be a big checkmark against Medtronic which requires you to use their proprietary Guardian3 system. Which is frankly not nearly as good as the Dexcom (I know, I’ve used both). Tandem and Omnipod both integrate with Dexcom, but Omnipod’s looping capability is still in development.
- Remote software update. Currently Tandem is alone in providing this capability, which is a hugely significant and long overdue development. We are stuck with replacing these things only every 4 years, yet the pace of improvements in interface design and looping tech is running vastly faster than that. Imagine if you could only update your phone’s operating system every 4 years at the cost of replacing the whole phone. Tandem’s Basal IQ the first rollout of this system. People who bought a Tandem before Basal IQ became available can upgrade their firmware online and voila. When Medtronic rolls out its upgrade to the 670G, which was a failure for me, It won’t do me any good until my insurance lets me trade in my pump for a new one a couple of years hence.
The upshot of all this for me is that I’m using a Medtronic pump with an unintegrated Dexcom CGM. If I were buying a pump now I’d almost certainly be leaning toward Tandem, largely due to the Dexcom integration and remote update capability. Those features alone would likely outweigh some of the other bits and quibbles I’ve picked up from other users along the way, mainly having to do with the insulin reservoir loading process and how the delivery mechanism works. It also looks like the control software is more flexible than the rigid Medtronic looping system, which I found very frustrating.
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I just googled the 780. Looks just like my 670. Medtronic doesn’t fall over themselves to update their pumps’ form factors and/or features very often, huh?
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That was one of my biggest reason to switch after 20 years with Minimed/Medtronic. I just felt in that time, I had 3 pumps with them. There was just never anything big and new enough to make a change. Tandem with all their new features, different look and downloadable options were key!
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They rushed to get the 780 built and into trials because of the poor reception the 670 got. I’m not surprised they’re continuing to use the 600 series body. The 780 is a slick pump, and has addressed all the issues that plagued the 670. My uncle is using the 780 now for the trials and he loves it.
Cool. What issues were addressed? do u have a link or do you know what all they are?
I had a few different medtronics for the majority of my diabetes and then switched to a tandem tslim for a few reasons:
I felt like Medtronic had been resting on it’s laurels for far too long, rarely innovating (the web app was so complicated, old, and was unusable on Macs or Google chrome… Seriously?)
Tandem’s philosophy is modern and forward thinking- your pump can be upgraded via software and you can get new functions while still in warranty
The dexcom g6 is the best CGM on the market right now, and of course I would enjoy the integration with tandem, especially now that control iq is out
With that in mind, there’s no going back for me
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Everyone: Thank you for your feedback. This has been very helpful!
A forward thinking company who still has not updated their software to be compatible with Mac OS Catalina. It’s been 4 months since release and still nothing.
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IIRC, Catalina doesn’t work with 32-bit apps. I find that crazy-thinking on Apple’s part. As soon as they create a standard, they drop it to start another one. They seem to be big on ego and light on practicality.
Isn’t that their apothegm?
I agree with you. My next pump with have dexcom integration and the capability of remote updates. I got switched to medtronic when animas went under in 2017. I used medtronic’s enlite sensors with my 630 for a few months but I hated them as I used dexcom previously with my vibe. In February 2021 I will become eligible for a new pump. I am leaning towards tandem, unless the medtronic 780 has the same capabilities as tandem. Hopefully the 780 will come out in time and have all the bugs worked out. My control is good on most days. I will even settle for less time in range if the pump does the corrections and compensate for the lows. What worries me me is that I might get worse control and not be able to use a HCL System.
This looks like a good tool but it does say that it is in beta testing.
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was alays a Medtronic user. A few years ago I tried the Tandem pump for a year (before I went on CGM), and didn’t like several of the pump features (having to charge the pump every day, using the touch screen sometimes led to errors, the tubing is so indiscreet). I went back to Medtronic, this time to the 670G. I used the automode for awhile, then gave it up for reasons now well-documented. I hate the guardian CGM, though. Headaches the first 24 hours, finger sticks every day, and 7-day limit on each sensor. So, like some others here, I use the 670G and Dexcom G6. I understand that the Medtronic 770 and 780G will still use the same old Guardian CGM. This is my dilema for when I purchase a new pump a year from now! Thoughts?
I had an animal pump which was fine except the housing would crack and I had to replace it several times. Then I switched to mm. I’ve had two of them. Now I’m going to try tandem. With g6 sensors.
I had the very first Dexcom which was really tough to use but I want to see how far it has come. Everyone talks about it being the most accurate.
I refuse to carry another transmitter. That’s why I got my minimed in the first place. I know a few people on Tandem now and are happy with lower a1cs too.
We will see. I know charging it is going to be a pain.