Thanks for the clarification! I appreciate the explanation of your comments from another thread, which it appears I had misintepreted. I hate the thought that my comments regarding diabetes products should ever be grist for product wars. I DO comment from time to time about my aggravation with Apple (esp my wife’s MBP, which I should never have purchased) but when it comes to diabetes related products, I hope I don’t come across as an evangelist for products I own because I’m not even all that fond of them. And even when I am happy with my products, I know that we all have reasons for choosing as we have and that every product has pros and cons. And over time, our views about a product may change as newer products hit the market. Quite frankly I’ve been upset with MM for years for dragging their feet on product development–both on the pump side and the sensor side. I think they could have done better, despite the slowness of the FDA. The last several pumps I have purchased have been “ho-hum” affairs, unlike years ago when each new pump I got was quite exciting due to the inclusion of new features.
In any event, I hope I didn’t offend anyone with my feeling that one brand’s adherents were being exclusionary. I just may (likely) be too sensitive.
Trish, when the t:Slim first was announced, it look interesting enough that I called my endo to see if he would give me an Rx for it, should I want to buy it. His response was that he doesn’t give Rx’s for anything new as he wants a long time to evaluate it. After I called the company to ask about a few details, I concluded that for me, there were some “gotchas” so I didn’t pursue asking again for his approval. Point being, I know what you mean about the limitations of insurance coverage and doctors’ preferences. My doc is well known for being a top prescriber of MM pumps.
I pay a premium to buy the strips I want, which are the Contour Next. Aetna has just two brands that are “preferred” and neither of my last 3 meters’ strips were on the preferred list.
The reason most doctors like Medtronic pumps is CareLink® Pro…the pump itself is not a big deal but when you couple it with
the best pump data analysis software that does all of the calculations needed based on the Pump and CGM data history and recommends changes if needed & what he needs to do…it’s not hard to see why…
Re anti-Medtronic sentiments, some is unfair and some fair. The upcoming 640G is only now upgrading medtronic's pager style look (and quite possibly only coming this soon because of Tandem). Medtronic has never addressed numerous complaints re alarm volume. You still can't see IOB unless you activate Bolus Wizard. There is no movement nor will there ever be toward obvious features like multiple simultaneous extended boluses, Super Boluses, and Super Corrections. Medtronic (and Animas) suffers from large corporate inertia compared to other companies which actually tried to give us some options like the Cozmo or Snap. Medtronic has enjoyed a primacy in the minds of physicians which is all the more annoying to me as an end user who can see so many obvious ways to improve their pump. It doesn't help their image that they developed a proprietary rez design. Thankfully the new player Tandem appears viable and will be around to keep the larger companies from getting too complacent. To be fair, the regulatory environment in the US is truly daunting and limits the ability of companies to add changes without incurring big $$$.
I actually agree with MM not adding some features that advanced users would like, as those can be daunting features to many users. At some point, they need to limit the feature set so as not to create unsafe conditions for users. I subscribe to the “KISS” principle.
Fastest way to see IOB (on MM pumps prior to 640G) is hit the Easy Bolus button once, look at the IOB, hit no more buttons and the easy bolus will not deliver (it will time out),.
I think what Don means is T-Slim has IOB on the home screen (at the bottom). This is a big draw for them and if I ever get to the point of needing a pump, I’d probably go with them.
It’s basically engineering-centered design, as opposed to user-centered design. I think that IOB bit is particularly symptomatic of that: as a user it’s one of the most obvious pieces of information you need to know, but you have to hunt for it. Hitting the ESC button brings up all the other basic info, including your last bolus, but not IOB. Huh??? Well, it’s down there in a subsidiary to a subsidiary screen, but you have to go right up to the edge of giving yourself an unwanted bolus to find it and even then you won’t see it unless you know to scroll down.* Seriously, interface design is something I’m professionally involved in and the state of the art of the Medtronic screen is, let’s just say, a little behind the times.
Don’t get me wrong–I use one, and I recently went through hands-on examination of the others with my pump educator/trainer. They all have their drawbacks and at the end of the day I stuck with it. But in the digital context we all live in now, with smart phones and tablets and touch screens, it really has an awfully crude feel, like a 90s era pager.
I have 530G and all I do is hit the esc button twice. If I didn’t have the CGM it would be only once. It’s not a big deal to me. I do not even know where the easy bolus is. I new to pumping though.
The biggest drawback to the pump is not being able to see it in sunlight. I have the same trouble with my iphone and is one of the reasons I didn’t want a device with a touch screen. With a pump nobody is using it so just my nasty germs on the screen. That’s what I hate about my iphone, the grand kids are always touching it. Those are my issues.
what’s hard about hitting the bolus wizard. I saw the easy bolus wizard but it’s not easy to me. I have to look for it. LOL. To each his own. I guess that’s why we have choices. yes it’s has a 90’s feel, so what has long as it works!
I’ve never used the Easy Bolus gizmo as I prefer using the wizard, X carbs in * ratio= Y insulin and off we go. It’s become totally alien to me to conceive of numbers of units any more. I’m always sort of !!! when I run into people who are like “I need 3 units…” as I pretty much stopped thinking that way. This was pretty challenging when I du-pumped on vacation last summer and may have accounted for some of the “turbulence” I encountered.
I think that with any pump you sort of get a feel for the buttons and can turn it into something like a video game. The location of IOB on the Medtronic pumps doesn’t phase me too much either and I’m not sure I’d think of having it on the main screen as a huge plus for Tslim. I saw one thing projecting the 640g to be released in the US by early 2016 so I hope my pump will last until then and I can perhaps just skip the 530?
If one has a I:C ratio of 1:10 there’s not much need for all that BW button-pressing. My wife’s I:C is not 1:10 so she loves the BW. I have little patience, so the more buttons I have to press, the less I like it. I see the value of the BW for I:C ratios that are other than 1:10.
What is so easy about this? Maybe the doc’s are right, I’m dumb. LOL
To set up an Easy bolus, you must first turn on the Easy bolus option.
Go to the EASY BOLUS OPTION screen.
For MiniMed 530G (551/751), Revel (523/723)
Main Menu > Bolus > Bolus Setup > Easy Bolus
For 522/722, 515/715, 512/712
Main Menu > Bolus > Easy Bolus
Select On/Set, then press ACT.
The EASY BOLUS ENTRY screen flashes the step value. Change the value, then press ACT. The step value is the increment you will use for your Easy bolus.
The screen will return to the BOLUS MENU. Your step amount is now programmed and Easy Bolus is ready to use.
From the HOME screen, press the UP arrow. The SET EASY BOLUS screen appears with the single step value flashing.
Press the UP arrow the number of times needed for your bolus amount. Watch the amount change on the screen with each press. The pump will vibrate or sound a different tone for each press.
When your total bolus amount appears on the SET EASY BOLUS screen, press ACT. Listen/feel to count the steps without looking at the screen.
For example: You need to deliver a 2.0 unit bolus, and your step size is set to 0.5. Each time you press, the units increase by the step amount of 0.5 units. To deliver 2.0 units, you need to press the UP arrow button four times. (4 × 0.5 = 2.0) The screen will show 2.0 units.
Note: For your safety, you cannot use the down arrows to select the Easy Bolus values. Pressing DOWN or ESC will cancel any bolus.
If this amount is correct, press ACT to start the Easy Bolus delivery. The BOLUS DELIVERY screen will show the units being delivered. When the total bolus is finished, the pump will beep or vibrate.
If this amount is wrong, press ESC or to start over. The pump will return to the HOME screen.
I will say the reason I got the 530 g is the 640g is around the corner in a few years, and since it seems I may be going blind, that the 640g may be easier to read. I’m interested in upgrading if that is possible and if not then I can wait out the 4 years.
You are SO MISSING THE POINT. I SAID use the EB feature to see IOB with one button press if you don’t want to use EB for bolusing Use the BW if you wish, for BOLUSING. sigh I don’t know how much more plain I can make this.
