Medtronic enlite serter glucose machine and minimed 530G is the pump

Anybody have any feedback on either machine from medtronics the new enlite serter and minimed530G

here are some discussions on the 530

http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/minimedparadigmusers/forum/topics/medtronic-530g-with-sensor
https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/medtronic-announces-approval-of-minimed-530g-with-enlite
https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/dexcom-g4-vs-cgm-in-medtronic-minimed-530g

feel free to add to them if you'd like

I really like mine! Sometimes the sensor is a pain but that is probably because I have my thresholds set way lower than they recommend. There are some different features such as the "low threshold suspend". Basically it is just when your bg comes in too low, the pump suspends insulin (unless its a bolus). It beeps (no vibrate option for this alarm sorry :( ) and then you get the choice to keep insulin suspended or you can restart the insulin.

The only other difference (besides the obvious :) ) is that some of the menus are called different things that make more sense.

What is the low threshold allow you to set it to? I still have time on my machine. My niece just switched to it. I am not that thrilled with medtronics as a company. Very aggressive with giving product. I like the pump I am on now. I just wish the CGM was Intergrated now like medtronics. I think my pump company was at one point going to merge with Dexcom and now they are not. Not sure why. They said they want to do the CGM on its own. Good luck with your system. Thanks for giving me some insight.

I really like the Enlite sensors. I do not like the serter. I find the sensor wire gets bent often and wastes the sensor. I figured out how to insert them manually.
I made a video how to do it. But I did not record the actual poke. I think I will add that cause there is a technique… You need to stabilize the needle retractor but you can not pull on or move it until the sensor is in.

Here is a link if u want an idea how it’s done.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l-dDKeyrscs

The pump itself isn't bad. It didn't really change from its predecessor. The sensors, however, are drastically different.

Pros:
The sensor itself is so much smaller
Insertion is a piece of cake now

Cons:
They suck

Since I started using the new system, I've used about 9 sensors so far. Out of those 9, 6 of them have failed on me prematurely. They've lasted an average of 2-3 days. And before failing, they were reporting extremely wrong numbers.

When I did my training last month, the Medtronic rep attempted to get me to turn on the suspend threshold and I refused to. I told her I can't do so until I feel comfortable with the sensor readings.

To give an example, 3 of the sensors died overnight on me. For those, My BG was at ~ 110 while the sensor was reporting my BG @ < 40. The stupid alarm kept going off throughout the night until I turned off the alarm feature. My last failed one was 3 days back and overnight it was reading my BG at ~80 throughout the night. When I woke up in the morning and did my finger stick/calibration, my BG was 268! Imagine if I had the suspend threshold feature on!

Calling up their support is a pain in the butt too. Average wait times for me have been 30-40 minutes on hold (which to me is really unacceptable). On the plus side, their CSRs have been shipping me a replacement sensor without any hemming or hawing.

To sum it up, I don't think I'll stick with Medtronic once my "warranty" is up. I'm just so frustrated with them.

On a side note, one of the reps I spoke with told me they're frustrated as well because of how many failed sensors they keep getting calls about.

So an update.

SG readings were <40 all night again on this new sensor on day 2. Called up the rep. She tells me that the sensor is losing contact with the interstitial fluid while sleeping most likely which is leading to false readings. I told her if we're supposed to depend on their suspend threshold feature, my sugars would be sky high every morning because the stupid pump would stop the delivery of insulin. We went around and around and every single time I'd make that point, her response would be "hmmm" sigh I think I'm done with Medtronic after this pump "expires" They really blew it with this setup and the fact that they won't acknowledge their design flaw just pisses me off more

Thank you for your input. I appreciate it. Sorry you are having a rough time. My concerns are the lows at night. I have been suspending my basal for 1-2 hours at night and I have had better success. I use my temp rate. There are many times where I am high at around 3-4:30 and I wake up to test and correct and wake up low. Most of the time good. Can’t win. If you change one thing it throws something else off. I use the Dexcom . I feel like the last Dexcom machine was more accurate than this newer one. It will constantly say 55 and I test it and it is 99-125. I was never that thrilled over medtronics. I believe accu-chek is coming out with their own version of a CGM. They are not merging with Dexcom as of recently. But that could change. Keep me posted. Thank you for your time.

Why is it working for so many other people?

I had issues with my enlite sensor the first couple of weeks. Readings weren't accurate. Was so frustrated I asked if I could return it. Medtronic told me I wasn't calibrating enough. Was entering 2 calibrations per day at that point because that's what I had been used to doing with last cgm. Now I calibrate 4-5 times in the first 12 hours and seem to get very accurate readings after that.

I've been very happy with enlite since then.