After having used the Animas Ping with remote for 7 months, I’ve got several minor gripes with the system.
ALL pump functions should be accessible via the meter remote (setting a temp basil, turning off the “reminder” x hours after a bolus are two that come to mind. Currently, you have to do these from the pump itself.)
Change the pump software so that a BG after a meal is logged as “after”. Example… my breakfast time period is from 5 to 9 AM. If I eat breakfast at 5:30, then do a finger stick at 9 AM, the logbook will show “before breakfast”. In addition, if I eat a “snack” at 9 AM, the snack will be logged as “breakfast”.
The software should be changed so that the logbook will record a meal as a “snack” when a bolus is given after one has been given for a meal…
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on improvements…and also hope that somehow, someone at Animas will see these comments.
Despite the above, I find the Ping system easy to use, and wouldn’t think of switching to another pump.
I agree with you Joe - I would personally LOVE to see the ability to set a temp basal or change basal patterns from the remote, and I can only hope that future versions will include this ability.
You can easily change the “tagging” of any BG test by editing comments… the Ping remote works the same as the UltraSmart, so it’s just a few button pushes to change it to after breakfast, or whatever else you want it to be
I agree that you should be able to temp basal with the remote. I try to not touch the pump at all, but always gotta pull it out before working out. Not a deal breaker, but a little bit annoying.
As for #2, you can change the time periods of your meals on the pump/meter. On your meter, go to METER SETTINGS --> CUSTOMIZE --> ADVANCED FEATURES --> SCHEDULE --> and select PERSONAL, where you can input your before breakfast time period, after breakfast time period, etc.
Hi Ray…thanks for the tip on the “personal” settings on the meter. I’ve already done this…and my problem is that my meal times can vary quite a bit. Weekday breakfast (for example) us USUALLY around 5:30 AM, while on the weekend, it’s anywhere from 7 AM to 9 AM. So… I had to set the “breakfast” schedule to go from 7 to 9, lunch from 9 to 1 etc.
Seems to me it would be a bit easier on the pumper if the meter software was smart enough to know that a fingerstick “after” a meal bolus was “after” that meal.
I’ve gotten into the habit of going back to the logbook after doing a ‘stick’, to make sure that the event is properly recorded, but I know that there are still many times when I forget, and thus my “before” and “after” averages are not as accurate as they could be.
Backlighting on the meter. The pump has a nice bright display but the meter display is dim and can’t be used in a movie theatre.
One-button delivery after entering BG and carbs, rather than having to scroll the bolus up to the calculated amount. Or, just start the bolus at the calculated amount and have a second different button confirm the bolus. The whole point of having electronics calculate the bolus is so that it doesn’t allow for manual error.
When battery is changed, the pump needs to go through a full rewind/load cycle. Since this is rather battery intensive, if you need to switch back to the original battery (your spare was dead, etc.) it will completely kill whatever charge was left in an iffy battery. Minimed pumps don’t need to do a rewind/load cycle after poweroff, not sure why the Animas pumps do.
Insulin on board should be displayed on all bolus calc screens, not just the final confirm bolus screen. Having IOB on the default home screen should be an option - I know it’s available via status 2 but like to do a glance check to make sure I have bolused for lunch, etc.
The original poster is just trying to start a discussion about things they would like to see in future releases of this meter and not complaints (per se).
I don’t see anything wrong with discussing it in the pump section of the forum, personally.
I’d like the meter to be more…I’m not sure what would be a fitting word here…responsive? I feel like there is a bit of a lag when I go in and try to move around the menu. I wish it was a bit more snappy.
If you press and hold the far right button on the meter remote it will back-light.
Also, my daughter is new to the pump and the first time we changed her battery I called in to customer support to make sure I did it right. You don’t need to do a full rewind, you only need to prime the tubing to insure no air bubbles.
I agree…in theory to your response regarding changing the reminder notification…BUT…does this work for anyone else? I can change mine to 0 but no matter what, it WILL remind me in 2 hours unless I do the change on the pump itself…
That’s the same problem I have. It makes no difference if you set the “reminder” to 0 or not on the Ping meter, the pump will still remind you in 2 hours.
I do believe you can change your alarm settings via the remote. I was just shown that feature a few months ago.
I’ve had to return my remote several times because it alarms and tells me to call the company.
I had to replace it four or five times in four months.
They don’t know why my meter did this…
I just had the same thing happen to me (meter emitted a long beep with “error code 1” and said to contact the company after I had delivered a bolus with the pump). Animas told me it was a “communications problem” and overnighted me a remanufactured pump (with full warranty). SO FAR, the new pump and meter have been ok.
I’ had the original meter and pump for 9 months when this happened.
HOWEVER… despite the fact that you, and a couple of other folks have said that you can “turn off” the pump’s “reminder” to check your sugar after a bolus using the remote meter, it’s never worked for me.
I can set the default “check in 2 hours” setting on the meter to “0” and the pump will still alert me 2 hours later. Do you have your “reminders” turned OFF on the pump? Maybe I should try that…i.e. turn the pump reminders “off” and then tell the meter to remind me 2 hours after a bolus? I’m assuming that the reminder sent via the meter would override the setting on the pump?
I agree that the meter remote should have had the ability to work basals and temp basals.Wasn't the purpose of the Ping so don't have pull it of your hip to look at it.I think the ability to change basal rates would be beneficial.
