Medtronic 670 vs Tandem Tslim

Thanks for info. I had Animas duration set to 4 hours but had noticed that my crashing lows often occurred at 5 hours. So on Tandem, set duration to 5 hrs. Have tried to turn on touch screen Dexcom, been on phone with Tandem and Dexcom, so I know I have been doing it correctly. However, it is not working, at first ‘sensor error’ with new sensor, now it just says ‘no readings, use meter’. The Dexcom tech #3, told me to drink water, chill and call back if still not working after 3 hours. Waiting for tech #1 to call on Tuesday, and tech #2 , says she will call me tomorrow morning.

At this point, I feel like I need to see official Tandem trainer instead of pump lady in office. Will call tomorrow to see what I can arrange. I need a new beginning.

I am at the end of my Animas Ping life along with Dexcom G5. The question is, is it worth converting to the Tslim (smaller / Lighter than 670G) and trade up to Dexcom G6 this summer and wait an entire year for the Tslim closed loop upgrade …or dive right into the Medtronic 670G. My fear is a possible struggle with the Medtronic GCM. It seems that Dexcom is way ahead of Medtronic in the GCM business and I thinking of going with the tslim along with G6 and wait for tandem to catch up to the closed loop market…Because there is nothing worse than false alarms and a inaccurate GCM

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I had the same decision to make. Last summer I did have the opportunity to use a Medtronic for a few weeks. Being used to my beloved Animas, and having no training with the Medtronic, it drove me nuts. Now I have the Tandem Tslim. I went with it because I didn’t want to give up my Dexcom G5. From what I have heard about the G6, I may just stick with the G5. For one thing, I don’t trust the idea of not calibrating two times a day.

As for the Medtronic CGM, it seems to me that those always having used the Medtronic CGM are quite happy with it, but those who previously had a Dexcom, often want it back.

I do like the size of the Tslim. However, I do miss my Animas, we were buddies for so many years. Had to stop because it was out of warranty and starting to have delivery problems.

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I previously used the Dexcom 5 with Omnipod. I changed to the Medtronics 670g so that it would shut off when my BG would drop to 40’s at 3am. I have been very dissappointed with the Medtronics system. The sensors did not work, I had exchange them 75% and the meter would prompt me for BG readings all through the night. The pump is also set to a 120 BG-hard coded, and I use a target of 100. This caused my A1C to increase. Medtronics also tried to bill me $800 for the transmitter and put a hold on my account trying to force me to pay it. I am going back to my other pump for all of the above reasons. I think the Medtronics pump is great, I think the sensors need a lot of work to make the system really usable.

Useful feedback, thank you. I am currently Looping with an old Minimed 523 + Dex and I am up for a pump change in October.
I have options of taking Accu-Chek Insight (Roche) which is loopable with AAPS, Omnipod which hopefully will soon be loopable with Loop and Medtronic 640G that will automatically be exchanged for a 670G once it becomes available here. Now, judging by the comments and by the fixed target of 120 mgdl (mine is 85 mgdl), it seems like a bad choice to go ith 670G, except for one thing and that is that it’s an all-in-one solution. No phone, no rileylink, no charging etc…
Still don’t know what to do.

I loved Omnipod, but changed since i needed the auto shut off. It would be great if medtronics made better sensors. Very frustrating to have to start new ones and call in, wait for return kit and then send it back. 75% fail rate is horrible. Keep in mind, you have to charge the transmitter each time as well.

I used to have an animas vibe, but when animas shut down they offered the 630g in place for the remainder of the warranty period. My 4 years will be up in 2020. I get funding for my pump and supplies from the government under the Assisted Devices Program so they might make me go until 2021. I am excited about the tslim and all of it’s features. I think that will be my next pump unless something better comes out.

Earlier in this forum, I noticed that you mentioned 2 things that I might have a solution to. First, when you mentioned that your t:slim x2 was not giving you alerts for Dexcom, I had the same issue for a bit. I realized that the pump default for the CGM is to silence the alert. You can turn alerts on by going to options>my CGM>CGM settings>CGM volume. I would recommend using hyporepeat, because it is the loudest. Also, I noticed that you mentioned not wanting a Dexcom G6 because you would not trust it without calibrations. Even though the Dexcom G6 does not require calibrations, you are still able to calibrate it if you feel better doing that.

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I now happily have the Dexcom G6. I have noticed from comparing with finger sticks, that the readings on my pump are usually 10 points higher. So, when entering carbs and BG,to determine bolus needs, I often add 10 points. The other interesting thing is the frequency with which, upon getting up in the morning, the Dexcom reading drops ridiculously, like to 48 when finger stick is near 100.

I have the Medtronic 670G with Guardian sensor. Previously I had a Dexcom G4 and G5. The Guardian sensors are not as accurate as the Dexcom.

Loved my Animas; Love my Dexcom; HATE my Tandem; jury’s still out on the 670. Waiting for the Beta Bionics.

Tandem is a P.O.S.

I also loved my Animas and Dexcom, that is part of why I went with Tandem—because of integration with Dexcom. I realize that anyone can have a bad experience with anything. But I am curious as to why you feel Tandem is a P.O.S… Is it the pump, customer service…?

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I would also like to hear any feedback you have on why Tandem is a “P.O.S.” in your opinion? I have a Dexcom G6 and have an out-of-warranty Medtronic pump so I am interested in your feedback.

Thx

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I was on the same pump and cgm and just switched to DIY looping so am using a really old Medtronic 522. I have three friends on the system you are on now who report trouble also. Thanks for letting us know. Let’s all cross our fingers that new pumps and Dexcom will communicate and be available to us shortly.

The micro delivery system that causes occlusions and quality control. If you really had an occlusion why would “re-booting” make the occlusion go away? If the cartridge, tubing, set are “clogging” how does “re-booting” fix that? It’s their delivery system and their “vacuum” cartridge. And I’m not the only one who has experienced this. They had to replace my pump three times before I got one that did not alert and shut down for an occlusion when there was not one.

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I’ve been on the pump for three years and have never had a single occlusion. You cannot reboot the pump, there is no option to do this. Dial down the vitriol please.

That’s not entirely true. Tech support probably asked him to as part of their troubleshooting steps, before replacing the pumps. It’s just not easy. You have to connected to a power supply to do so.

I agree with the vitriol comment, though. But then I try to be understanding, too. We all have our own preferences/experiences. I wouldn’t be as in love with my pump as I am if I got occlusion alarms either.

I’m also on my third replacement, in three years. First one was solely at my behest because I think I broke it in a way I couldn’t prove. (If you suck the extra insulin out of your cartridge, don’t inject air into it first while it’s still loaded!) The second time, my Bluetooth wasn’t connecting well, and they over-nighted me a replacement after the troubleshooting failed. Thankfully, I’ve never had occlusion issues. The few occlusion I have had were on the fourth and fifth day of my infusion set.

@Robyn_H Sorry. Forgot about that, but that doesn’t really restart the pump. It just puts the pump in sleep mode, not to be confused with CIQ sleep mode. The pump is never really turned off. I’ve had few replaced over the years due to battery issues.

What if you take batteries out of the pump. Wouldn’t that reset it to default? If it has batteries.

You can’t remove the battery from a Tandem pump. I’ve never used a pump that would go back to the original default settings when the battery was removed. My Animus and Medtronic pumps both use replaceable off the shelf lithium batteries. When I replaced the batteries the pump was exactly how I had it before the battery was taken out with all my personal settings still intact and ready to go.