Has this been mentioned here? The announcement came in June but if a TUD’er has posted on it I missed it and it seems really important. Many of us who have complained about the limitations of the MT 670G’s looping system have said we wished that in future versions they would learn from and integrate the features and more flexible capabilities of the open source looping movement (e.g., We’re Not Waiting). But I really really REALLY had little expectation that was a really possibility. Devil’s always in the details, but it sure looks like what Tidepool says: “This is a Very Big Deal”
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Have you got any info on a Medtronic BT pump?
Tidepool Loop will not work with prior Medtronic pumps. Medtronic will be delivering a new Bluetooth-enabled MiniMed™ pump that will work with Tidepool Loop once both are approved.
Read the whole post—there’s a ton of information and answers to detailed questions there. This. Is. Huge.
This is a Very Big Deal, and I want to make it very clear that we, Tidepool, think that Medtronic is making a very bold and important move here that shows tremendous courage and is the absolutely right thing for the diabetes community. Here’s why we think this relationship is important, and why we’re so excited to support it:
Hi Dave. There’s no news to share about Medtronic’s future Bluetooth-enabled MiniMed pump at this time, but when there are updates to share with the diabetes community, they’ll show up first at Tidepool.
Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.
(I’m Tidepool’s Community Manager)
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Thanks for dropping by @Christopher_Snider. Like a lot of people I was gobsmacked when this came on my radar, as it seemed so uncharacteristic of MedT. I’m one of those who tried and failed with the 670G looping system, and most of the problems i had with it were things that were diametrically contradictory to the open-source philosophy. Locking you out of all the parameters you need to adjust to fit your individual metabolism, taking all the keys out of your hands and locking them up in the black-box Algorithm, the whole experience depressingly one of disempowerment rather then empowerment, much more work for worse results than I was getting on my regular pump. It seemed so antithetical to what the DIY community is doing that it’s hard to believe it’s the same company that is engaging in this initiative with you in what at least appears to be a pretty serious and substantive way.
The cynical part of me wants to say it’s gotta just be window dressing on Medt’s part, but on the other hand… Is it possible they actually see what a blind alley they’ve stuck themselves with by trying to do everything in-house when interoperability is clearly the winning strategy? I’ve used both Dexcom and Guardian 3 sensors (at the same time when I was first acclimating to the 670), and while the Guardians were approaching the accuracy of the G5, the G6 leaves both of them in the dust. Well of course Dexcom is going to outstrip them in that area: CGM is all they DO. And CGM performance is a limiting factor in how well any looping system can perform. Is it possible they’re seeing that particular writing on the wall?
I’d be really interested to hear what your sense of the thinking is on Medt’s side. Is something like that going on here? What do you see as the motivation on their side in this? Did some of the initiative come from them or was the push mostly from Tidepool’s side?
DrBB,
What did you go to when the 670G failed you? I have not slept six hours straight since I started in automode. I am working on getting rid of the 670G for anything else and preferably a Dexcom CGM. I am looking for a system that will work for me and after using medtronic pumps for 15 years, I just cannot continue.
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Well, the answer won’t help you much I’m afraid. I actually went back to my old pager-style 730 Paradigm. It was well past warranty when I went to the 670 but still perfectly serviceable as a manual pump. Actually better than the 670 in that mode. I tried just running the 670 in manual, but there were so many annoyances, like ridiculous numbers of click-throughs to do simple things like Suspend, that I realized the old pump was actually better.I wanted to go back to using Dexcom as well, so there was no reason to keep using the new pump. It’s sitting in its original box in my diabetes zombie-apocalypse drawer.
ETA:
Welcome to TUD, @Jim_Enos! Lots of great info and helpful, experienced people here. Hope you stick around!