Thanks Tree, I will have him stop doing that and remove one more annoyance.
3 months ago I switched from Medtronic to Tandem X2. Many erroneous āocclusion alertsā have followed.
Thereās a thread here:
I have been on the t:slim x2 for a two weeks now. I am using the same settings as my Animas Ping. I am having BG readings around 600 since using the Tandem pump. I was having lows on my Ping. This pump to me is a nightmare.
Changing the pump takes FOREVER!! It beeps until you see drops of insulin and stop it when filling the tubing, and you canāt shut it off! That takes about 2 minutes. Filling the cartridge is a hassle too!!
The case for the pump is horrible. The clip is worthless. It falls off my shorts while sleeping. Itās bigger than the Ping with the case on it. I used to wear my Ping in my bra, I canāt with the Tandem pump. I had to by a separate clip on Amazon for the pump, and not use the case it came with. Which is just a piece of junk.
Oh my goodness, the alarms. They are so annoying! They donāt stop. There is an alarm for EVERYTHING. If your battery drops to 90% there is an alarm. Itāll keep going off until you acknowledge the alert. This pump gets on my nerves!! Been having occlusion alerts. I canāt find anything wrong with the tubing and infusion site. What a waste of time and supplies.
You really dont know how much insulin is in the cartridge. Itās not like the Ping which tells you an almost exact amount. Iāll fill this pump to 200 units. Next thing I know it says 90 units. I donāt get it?
The IOB feature raises my BG. If I want to bolus for how many carbs I ate, it only gives me what the pump thinks I need if I have IOB. Iāll check my BG two hours later and itās 500. Worthless pump.
No matter what I am doing the pump screen always shuts off on me, even though it is set to stay on for 120 seconds. Iām constantly turning it back on. Touch screen is finicky. I find myself pushing on the screen a couple times to finally get to the screen I need.
I wish I did more research before I picked this pump! In no way did this pump make my life any easier. It made it harder, and is just a big annoyance!
I would NOT recommend this pump to anyone!
I do wish that there were trial periods available for pumps because sometimes certain ones just donāt work out for people, even though they theoretically should. Everyone is different though.
I got the t:slim X2 in November last year, and over all it has been pretty good. I wouldnāt say it has been an improvement from my last pump, but that company ended their pump business (Roche/Accuchek) so I had to find a different company. I used the same brand of pump since I started on the pump a year after being diagnosed (about 18 years ago), starting when it was named Disetronic and there were only a couple options, all the way until last year. The last couple pumps I had were pretty much the same in form and function (I mean, I used the same clip on them bothā¦this is also something to be noted later), so that is really all I have to compare to. I had less options because I pretty much have to have at least a 300 unit reservoir. Set changes took a fairly similar amount of time with the last pump (Spirit combo), though it did have a method for quickly filling the tubing only when you swapped the cartridge. The old Disetronic D-tron was great because you could get prefilled cartridges to use with itā¦I miss that a lot. I have not experienced the horror stories some people have. I have had one occlusion alarm over the last 6 months, and it was legit. My blood sugars have actually been great (though likely due to my increased awareness and work lately), my last A1C was 5.7 I believe. Any extreme spikes or drops have been due to miscalculation, though I will say i have been having issues with the t:90 infusion sets lasting more than 1.5 days, though at this time I am not sure if that is the sites, my body, or is somehow connected to the pump. Most issues I have are more annoyance than major issues.
On the plus side:
- I do like the interface for the most part. It looks pretty sleek and is pretty simple to use.
- The function and way the pump is programmed and used is fairly similar to what I am used to, but the interface makes it easier.
- Tandem now has the capability to perform software updates on the X2, so you can upgrade functionality without requiring a new pump. The first update to the X2 is supposed to integrate Dexcom CGM into it, and future updates are supposed to provide more closed loop functions.
- Built in bolus calculator and insulin on board tracking. That might not be that big of a thing to set the t:slim X2 apart for other people, but my last pump had that stuff on a separate glucometer that had to sync with the pump before you could use the functionality, and also meaning you had to always have the meter on you if you wanted to use it. As you might imagine, I never did.
On the downside:
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My top issue is the cases. More specifically the clips on the cases. They are absolute complete crap. The included case, which the clip didnāt rotate on, broke within about 2 months. I ordered one with a rotatable clip because thatās what I had for my old pump. It is quite bulky, doesnāt hold tightly, but on top of that it broke completely in about a week. This is from nothing but completely normal use. I actually had ended up ordering two of them trying to get one faster (one waiting for insurance approval through my supply company, the other from the Tandem webs store) because I had no way to hold my pump without a pocket until I got a new case, so I had another to use. That one broke in about a week as well, though the part that broke was the little angled bit on the clip where the mouth of the clip opens and closes, so now there is just a sharp piece right there. It also makes it hard to get the charge cable in because the way it is designed. It has a tight fitting skin just like the original clip case, but without the clip, and then that fits in a holder that has the clip on it and that holder interferes with the port. It is possible to get it to work, but it is still a pain. I have already decided I am not going to order another tandem case, and I am trying to find a rotatable clip that I can affix to the back of the sleeve case. In comparison, I used the same clip for my last two pumps for 10 years and it never broke.
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The beeping during tube priming is annoying and canāt be turned off. That is really great when I have to do a cartridge or set change in the office at workā¦
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There is a lot of button pressing, though i would guess that is some crazy FDA requirement since it has a touchscreen.
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Alarms canāt be silenced without pulling the pump out and unlocking it and hitting the cancel button.
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No visual indication of insulin level. The Spirit was crazy accurate with its calculation of insulin level, but on top of that you could easily look at the side of the pump and see how much was in the cartridge. While it hasnāt caused me any issues so far, the calculation of insulin level on the t:slim is definitely not super accurate.
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This is a more user specific issue, but I have to go through metal detectors several times throughout the day at work, and the metal frame, while good for durability, sets of the metal detector so i have to take my pump off. If you frequent metal detectors, that might be an issue for you. I knew it probably would be, but it was a big enough downside for me not to get it.
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The way their download software works means that the doctor canāt just download it when you go, and print it out, it has to be downloaded to your personal Tandem online profile. So either you have to give your doctor your login info, or they have to set your account up with a universal password like my doctor does. That might not be a big issue, but it is kinda annoying.
Really? I just saw my endo last week. They just took my pump and connected a cable and somehow downloaded all my info from it.
I donāt use a case at all with my X2 and it slides in my bra easily without a case on it.
Hmmm. Iām not sure on that then. I actually had the Tandem rep for the area that met me at my last visit to get the account set up, she seemed to think it was necessary as the account is tied to your pump serial number. Maybe your doctor has created an account for you or something?
Yeah my Tandem training thought I had to do the same thing. But I never plug my pump into a computer and upload, so Iām not sure how the doctorās office is getting data off my pumpā¦ 
I should correct my first impressions from January. I have been using the Tandem X2 for 5+ months now and have figured out how to avoid occlusion alarms. What I do works for me and that doesnāt mean it will work for others. I have moved from 1 alarm per week to having gone two months without one. I am happy with the pump and would buy it again. Hereās a review that I published on my blog this week.
It is possible that they downloaded your pump to Diasend which makes a professional downloader for doctorsā offices to use. I do download my pump to the Tandem site but also do it at Diasend. I currently donāt have any site where I can download everything anymore because Diasend only will download Dexcom G5 if I use the receiver (Europe is integrated with G5 Mobile, but not the US. Diasend says that it is Dexcomās fault.) I also use Tidepool for my pump and G5 Mobile but it is not compatible with my Freestyle BG meters.
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