Quick first impression of the Animas Vibe with integrated CGM

A click on a button on top of the pump and this is your home screen (if you want).


The above feature made me so happy! It´s all I need when I´m out and about. More tricky to get to the screen that tells you when and what your last bolus was, but I guess it´s just something to getting used to.

I´ve used the Dexcom G4 and MDI for the last six months and I miss some of the features from the Dexcom. The screen on the pump is too small to have a timeline with numbers on. It makes it difficult to see what time your BG actually raises or drops. That is important to me as a refrence to when I bloused or when I ate. I find the graph screen on the pump useful just for seeing trends, but right now I don´t know how I best can put that to use.

I find the CGM-alarms on the pump to be weaker than the Dexcoms, and you can´t set your individual high and low-alerts but have to choose among the options given. I guess it´s just another thing to getting used to.

So far I´m so happy to have a waterproof device ready to give me small increments of insulin at all times with just a push of a button. And the CGM and the home screen just saves my life both literally and emotionally

Did you get this Vibe in the US or are you on another continent?
Trend tells you what to expect so a more detailed time line is nit really needed IOM and I assume you can look at a more detailed history using the Animas PC program or Diasend.

I have been wearing the pump using a "leg thing" and bolusing using the remote. With the Vibe, it seems like the pump will need to be more accessible

Hi, E-J Ohler. I´m in Norway, forgot to mention it. I now you are waiting for the FDA approval in USA.

I used to have my pump in a "leg thing" too. I had mine just under my knee but with Animas and CGM I need to have it more accessible. I´m trying out the infusions sets with steel cannulas, and the ones I use are sets with 6mm needle and only 23" tubing. That is really, really short compared to the 43” tubing I used to have. Takes some time to adjust to.

You are correct etta amy, the Vibe does not come with a remote like the Ping so all pump operations (eg giving a bolus etc) is done on the pump itself.

On the Vibe, there's no way to view a graph?

Thank you for clearing that up, Glen. I´ve never used a pump with remote so I didn´t think of it.

Hi, Jonah. There are graphs, both 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours but the timeline does not say what time it is like it does on the Dexcom. The screen on the pump is almost half the size of the Dexcom G4 screen, so I guess there was no room. Dexcom screen (top picture) ve. Vibe screen:


As far as I know the Ping with the remote is only available in the US and maybe Canada. As I have never felt a need to hide or tuck my pump away I am happy to use the pump directly to do what needs doing but can see it could be useful for some people. I am loving my new Vibe and will love using the Dexcom too once it is available at a realistic price here in Australia.

Hi, I’m in Australia. Trialled the Dexcom a few weeks ago and have had Vibe for nearly 2 weeks. Missed the Dexom at fist but getting used to the Vibe now. Very convenient to have all on the one device, but the hypo alert on Dexcom was much better. Not actually sure that the alarm on the Vibe would wake me up :frowning:

I agree the alarm volume is really low. So far I´ve woke up from the vibrations. It´s only been one week, so I wouldn´t know if I´d sleep through the alarms when I really need them. But having "all in one" including insulin (I was on MDI) is for me such a relieve and gives my brain a long needed break.

One thing I can´t seem to figure out is how the EzCarb and EzGb does it´s math. I use it all the time. but think it´s different from Medtronics Bolus Wizard. Haven´t got my head around this one yet, so it´s really all I have to say at the moment.

Siri - Thank you so much for the personal review from a first time Vibe user's perspective. i'm in the U.S. and waiting for the FDA clearance. I've been using the Animas Ping and don't use the remote. I've also been using a Dex, 7+ then G4, since 2009. At first I thought that if I used the Vibe then I couldn't also use the Dex. I'm thinking, but haven't heard any first person reports, that I will be able to use a Dex sensor that will transmit and display on both the Vive pump and a Dex G4 receiver.

I know that the pump/receiver will not be able to wake me up. I've lived with tubed pumps for many years, going back to the '80s, and pump alarms cannot dependably wake me up. The biggest problem is that the pump, while I'm sleeping, is naturally buried under layers of blankets. I thought that this design deficiency would keep me from the otherwise nice features that the Vibe has to offer. Now that I realize that I can run two receivers, in essence, I'll enjoy the best of both worlds. I can leave my Dex receiver at home when I venture out and about during the day and then I can rely on the full-throated alarms of the Dex G4 receiver when I'm sleeping.

Your review whets my whistle! I love that fact that the IOB is on the home screen. I've been complaining about that design flaw for a long time.

I hope you enjoy your new Vibe. Good luck to you.

Thanks for your nice reply, Terry.

You can acutally choose what you want displayed on the home screen. The home screen activated by the button on the top of the pump takes you to the CGM-screen. If you leave it on 3hour graph it wakes up in the 3 hour graph, if you leave it like I´ve shown in my first pic. it wakes up with the BG, trend + IOB. And so on.

If you wake the pump with the "OK"-button in front it takes you to the regular home screen which looks like this: (pic borrowed from http://www.mein-diabetes-blog.com)


One more down-side-thingie I´ve discovered is that the screen is almost impossible to read in daylight. It even says in the instruction manual that you are adviced to go into the shadow or try to make a shadow with your hands. It´s really hard to see anything just in plain daylight without sun.

On the positive side; tonight I woke up from vibrations only while sleeping with ear plugs. It must mean something as I just leave the pump and don´t sleep with it attached to me in any way.

Nice to have a choice of what the initial screen will show. It's great that your pump woke you up. Maybe once you're tuned into it, you will remain sensitive to its alarms. I've read about some people placing it under their pillow and the vibration will wake them up.

Yeah, I've noticed the bright daylight unreadable screen. I've used the Ping model since 2008 and picked up on that deficiency right away. I like to sail and it can be difficult to see the screen while you'r trying to maintain a lookout for other boats, buoys, and container ships.

I attribute this downside to Animas engineers, business managers, and other decision-makers that don't have to live with T1D 24/7/365. Just like it took them several iterations to understand the importance of the IOB on one of their wake-up screens, I predict they will finally understand that their screen needs to be readable in the sunshine. I can easily read my iPhone in the bright sunlight.

With that being said, I think Animas produces a dependable product and gives responsive customer support. I'm very happy with the control that my current Ping allows me to continue.

This is off-topic, but I'd love to know how your health care system in Norway supports you as a person with diabetes. Enjoy your new pump. You've got a good one!

Off-topic:
Health care system in Norway provides for all I need for my diabetes treatment. It´s a co-pay equivalent to 350 USD a year. Not everyone gets a CGM or a pump, your doctor is the one who decides what´s best for your but you got to have your say. That´s a rough sketch of the whole system,- basically you pay your taxes and if you get sick or get a chronic disease the system is there for you. I´m really, really, really lucky to lead my life here up north.

What about your health care system?

How do I describe health care in the US without being too long or provoking heated political debate? I know this is off your original topic but since you are the original poster I won't feel like I'm hijacking your thread!

To start with our system costs more, both to individuals and other payers, and is way more complicated than what I understand of your system. For example. I'm one of the lucky ones as I'm covered by the company that I retired from a few years ago. I qualified for medical insurance in retirement because I worked for this company for 25 years. This is a benefit that fewer and fewer people qualify for these days.

I pay $240 USD per month as my insurance premium payment. I have an annual deductible of $250, an amount that I must pay before the insurance pays its first dollar benefit. After my annual deductible is met, the insurance will usually pay 80% of each bill and I pay 20%. Once my total out-of-pocket costs (the cumulative 20% pieces) for any calendar year equal $1,500 USD, then the insurance will pay 100% of each subsequent bill for the remaining portion of the year.

So, in my situation, I will pay out of my annual budget about $4380 USD each year. Keep in mind that my type of plan is considered relatively desirable compared to most. Some people pay more, a lot more. And other people pay for everything out-of-pocket and often forgo medical care that is needed.

One advantage of our system is that I can usually get the latest diabetes devices and treatments without fighting with the insurance company. The doctor prescribes it and the supplier sends it to me and submits a bill to the insurance company. Once the insurance company pays its portion, the supplier will send me a bill for the balance. I've used an insulin pump since 1987 and the insurance company has purchased a new one for me about every five years or so. I use a Dexcom CGM, currently the latest G4 model. I had three previous 7+ CGMs. I use, and the insurance company pays for, 1400 test strips every 90 days. While my insurance company is good about providing this for me, other insurance companies can be difficult for payment.

The disgrace of our system is that we currently have millions of people without access to medical care due to cost. At the moment we, as a nation, are transitioning to a new law, signed by President Obama, called the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Some people, political opponents of President Obama, derisively call it "Obamacare." In essence, starting in 2014, an additional 50 million people will end up with access to health care.

The ACA also removes an anti-consumer feature of current insurance company policy called "pre-existing conditions." If you have diabetes, for instance, if the insurance company even allows you to buy insurance, you will pay a high price and it will disallow any future claim base on anything to do with a pre-existing diabetes symptom.

The ACA is not a single-payer system like the National Health Service in the UK. It is a hybrid system that incorporates current private sector insurance payers. It is not, as some critics contend, "socialized" medicine. I don't understand the critics who despise socialized medicine, yet have no problem receiving payments from Medicare, a socialized program that cover medical costs for senior citizens), or medical benefits from the Veterans Administration.

In summary, we Americans pay more per capita for health care costs than every other nation on the globe. And we currently exclude about 50 million people. At least we are moving in the right direction with the ACA.

That's the short version of things from my perspective. I hope it doesn't provoke any discordant down thread arguments!

Your are really, really, really lucky to live in Norway. I would love to visit some day. I hear it is beautiful!

Thank you Terry for giving me a better understanding of your system. I lived and worked in Flordia for six months when I was 20, and I got some insight in the US welfare system including the healthcare system and I also experienced it myself by getting sick, having no money and not being able to get the help I needed. I´ve read about the "Obamacare" in the papers here and I´m happy to see that there actually is a change going on. Personally I don´t give names to beliefs or systems or label them as "socialistic" or "democratic" or "conervative", I think we all are just humans that in the end of the day want to do good an care for ourselves and eachother. That said it still might be a rocky road.

The CGM alarms are going to be quiter because the Vibe, like all Animas pumps are waterproof, i.e. sealed, so there are no openings in the pump case for the alarm noise to get out. The Dexcom unit isn't so that there can be openings in the case for the alarm noise to more easily get out

I was going to ask where are you?? I read your comment :)..

The FDA takes a long time to approve stuff. I can understand why. I know animas since I've been pumping in 2011, theyve been talking about integrating into one unit. I hope at some point they will! It looks cool! Is there a separate sensor to put on? Just not sure how the integrated units works.