The G6 can be restarted by breaking the transmitter connection using a test strip under it. After the strip is removed the sensor can be restarted. Never worked for me because I was lucky to get 10 days. Some were able to restart 3 times.
The G7 with its built in transmitter cannot be restarted.Well maybe someone has figured out a hack.
So you are saying you would ârestartâ to get more days out of the sensor. And this is a basis for comparison of G6 with G7?
People have various reasons to prefer one sensor over another. Cost is one, not necessarily all, of the reasons for certain patients that need to pay for their sensors out of pocket.
@Sue_R Restarting adds days to the life of a G6 sensor. Some users reported the ability to stretch the life of a G6 sensor past 20 days. My personal experience was usually in the range of 12 to 14 days total. When I had a âgood sensor placementâ that was not giving me any trouble with BG readings, I usually would restart to get a little more of the good life out of that sensor.
This ability to restart was a nice feature, which also added a convenience factorâŚfor example if I had something planned on the same day a G6 sensor was scheduled to be replaced (Day 10), I could restart that sensor on Day 8 or 9 to allow me to sail through the originally planned Day 10 sensor replacement day with no worries.
The G7 can not be restarted to gain more days like the G6. Itâs lifespan is set in stone so to speak. But the 12 hour âgrace periodâ extends the life by 12 hours past the Day 10 expiration which can provide that convenience factor described above. So for the example above, if I have a calendar conflict on Day 10 of a G7 sensor I have the option of waiting until that night after Day 10 to replace the sensor.
Thanks. I just couldnât understand that from the way the information was presented. Of course, that reduces the cost of use.
Because the sensor could be restarted it was possible to keep using it. For some people the sensor would read acceptably for many more days that 10. This is @Luis3 's 30 days and, I assume, Dexcomâs new 15 days for the G7 (so far as I can tell nothing has changed).
So it depends on who you are. For me the G6s started flaking at 9 days, this is consistent with the Dexcom figure (95% of G6s last to 10 days, so 1 in 20 do not.) The problem I had with the G6 is that it didnât work for 1 day, so I got 8.5 days (1 off the front 0-1 off the backside) per sensor.
The G7 sensor, or maybe the algo, does work after 0.5 day and, apart from the 2025 sensor malfunctions (which did not affect lifetime at all) I can get a full 10 days after the damn thing starts working. So with the overlap I can get 10 days with only 0.5 days of intermittent garbage out of a G7.
I let the G7 soak for 8-12 hours, then I switch to it and pretty much all the time I reach 10 days after that.
So the G7 is infinitely better than the G6 for me. Infinitely because the G6 simply did not work as advertised, the G7 sort of does.