I’m hoping to get my new G6 in a day or two. I’ve used the G5 for a couple of years. Happily, my insurance upgraded with no copay. I’ve been reading about the G6 quite a bit and have a few questions.
Is it significantly smaller? The G5 is certainly not a problem, but smaller is certainly better.
Does it really last for 10+ days? I can usually get a few extra days out of the G5, but sometimes it starts to get wonky, losing connection for extended periods or giving widely varying readings. I know it’s time for a change.
Is the phone still fine as a receiver? I have used my phone exclusively with the G5 and really liked it. Is there anything about the G6 that would change that?
Does the new inserter open up new sites for you? It looks like the inserter is easier to use and might even open up sites that you can’t even see or get both hands to.
How often do you find yourself calibrating? The G5 can be spot on or (more rarely) as much as 20-30 points off when I calibrate. Do you calibrate every day, every other day or even less often?
The size is the same basic profile, but it is definitely thinner. So it doesn’t stick out as far from your body, and it doesn’t get caught on everything as bad as the G5 did.
I am just over 3 months on the G6. I would say that I have had 2 or 3 loose adhesion at 5 days, and a couple more at 7 days.
The last one was a 5 day thing, but I used their extra patch to keep it on until the full 10 days.
I don’t have issues with the G6 giving bad information, I only have issues with adhesion.
And so far, I have only calibrated mine twice that needed it. Yesterday being the last time. It was off by about 35 points, and was off all that day (light night insertion, always a bad thing for me.)
Otherwise I just run it and leave it be. Even a little off on the first day is still within the error rate on test strips anyways. So calibrating it is your best guess on which you trust more.
About the same footprint, but much flatter which is nice—I used to whack my G5 transmitters on doorjambs and the like when I wore it on my upper arm. That no longer happens.
Does it really last for 10+ days?
Mine have all lasted that long, and yesterday I just managed to figure out the technique for rolling one on to a second session. So far it’s just as accurate as it was.
Is the phone still fine as a receiver? I have used my phone exclusively with the G5 and really liked it. Is there anything about the G6 that would change that?
The number in the main display seems a little smaller to me (iPhone), which I wish they hadn’t done as I like to have it open in the phone holder on my bike so I can monitor it while riding. Still works, just not quite as easy to see at a glance. Other than that it’s great.
Does the new inserter open up new sites for you?
Interesting thought—I haven’t tried yet, but now that you mention it I might. It IS a lot simpler to do and you definitely could use it in more awkward spots, like your back love-handle area, where it would be just impossible to insert a G5 because of the difficulty of getting the inserter to release, getting the sticky patch settled neatly etc.
How often do you find yourself calibrating? The G5 can be spot on or (more rarely) as much as 20-30 points off when I calibrate. Do you calibrate every day, every other day or even less often?
Much much less often. Maybe ever other day or more I’ll see a number that is far enough off from my tester that I feel like it needs a tweak, but I always do an extra fingerstick when that happens because it’s generally so accurate, and several times it has been the initial poke that was wrong. Much more often it’s within a few points or spot on. And I particularly like not having to do the double calibration after the 2 hr warm up—instead of getting my chain yanked and getting out my tester at some (inevitably) awkward moment, it just starts up. I’m finding it waaaaay more accurate over all. I still test but I’m down to maybe three times a day, partly just to see how well it’s doing. Much more comfortable about dosing off it than I was with the G5.
ETA: one problem I had with just using the phone as receiver with the G5 is that it was more prone to dropouts than the receiver, so I liked having both. I was nervous about not getting the new receiver with the G6, but so far I have had like zero dropouts. Really big difference there.
Can’t compare the size as I never had a G5. But I use my Iphone , easier for charting plus with the clarity ap with it, it’s just easier to see trends and more data. But I have the receiver in my pocket all the time so I don’t have to worry about having lost the connection and not knowing my BG.
It definitely can be restarted, I used the one for 16 days with no issues, I took it off as a matter of timing, not because it had stopped working right. I’ve used a couple for 12 days, I’m still using one of those. Just because it is a restarted one I am checking it once or twice a day. But usually once I am past the first days I don’t finger stick.
I am still trying to figure out if I want to extend it because I am finger sticking more just to double check it? Whereas if it’s a new one past the first day, I generally don’t.
I put it on the back of my arm as that’s where I wore my Libre and wanted to save my stomach for my Omnipod placements, But the insertion is very easy, just like the Libre was. It’s just something you hold to the skin (not applying pressure) and press a button.
For what it’s worth, I almost never calibrate my G6 (which I’ve had for about 5 months.) I don’t get great readings for the first 5 or 6 hours, but after that they’re good. When my blood sugar is high, my Dexcom tends to read lower than my Contour meter. But, when it’s lower, they’re very close.
I haven’t really tested this, but it’s my impression that if I calibrate it, the accuracy isn’t necessarily improved. It might go from being under what my Contour reads to being over what my Contour reads but, calibrated or not, it’s fairly accurate and I like to leave it reading under because that feels safer to me. I kind of believe in letting the G6 do it’s thing without much interference on my part.
I’ve had one or two sessions that never started right, but, once a session is going, they have all lasted until the 10 day cutoff. I haven’t tried restarting, even though I used to do that with the G5.
Not being forced to calibrate either after the warmup or every night is great.
Finding out a restarted sensor quit reading right! So this sensor lasted 15 days before it went wonky. But I found out the hard way by dropping and it not reading it! OJ time! Hmmm, might go back to switching them at 10 days!
I started dexcom6 in November and am ready to give it away. I love the ‘stickless aspect but reliability is major issue for me. I know we are all different but for me, major issues. I am sitting here with my receiver beeping urgent low blood sugar alerts, while old fashioned stick says my blood sugar is 237.
I have only had 3 sensors last for 10 days, most start dropping readings after 6-7 days and cannot be relied on as a result and need replacement. This is a time consuming exercise if you want insurance to cover replacement cost.
I hope your new G6 will work reliably for you as it seems to for most on this forum, I guess I am just not the right candidate!
I’m an old G4 holdout (very happy with it…I have used Dexcom systems since the first model ages ago) waiting to upgrade to the G6 when all bugs are worked out. Sounds, maybe, like I should keep waiting. I have zero complaints about the G4 (I tried and returned the G5 when it was introduced) so I don’t see any reason to update, yet.
