You need to activate it by taking it out of the box before the expiration date on the box. The countdown starts then.
The worst part to me is that I was told last week by my distributor, they no longer sell the G4 transmitter and I would have to upgrade. I kindly let her know the G5/G4 w/ share have no benefits for me as I donāt have an Apple device (and wonāt ever be getting one) and the transmitter lifespan is terrible. She was shocked they hadnāt sent me a new receiver since 2014. Which I told her I paid way too much money for this to only have a useful life of one yearā¦
Long story short, she managed to find and send me a new G4 transmitter but Iām afraid it will be my last. Hopefully when I do finally upgrade Dexcom and Google will have finally worked out the Android side of things. (Because Goodlettsville is the reason they donāt have Android yet. They took forever to approve the request, says the dexcom rep.)
When it does go bad I Am looking for a G5 to do an autopsy of.
As discussed above, the G5 transmitter has a programmed stop date. It isnāt battery life. It isnāt clear that one can actually reset the transmitter or reverse engineer the electronics to reset the end of life counter.
Thank you. I am a EE and that is one of those things I want to look at to see if it is physical or soft. There are many ways to execute this but few are large scale cost effective and yield real 3 months from first use as opposed to from manufacture. Appears might be actually in SW local or remote providing and End of Life value.
My first G5 transmitter only lasted two months, but when I called Dexcom they said it really should last 3 months and sent me a new one.
I wondered that myself. I know that if I register my SN on the iPhone, it transmits the info to Dexcom that it has been activated. It makes me wonder if you used the receiver only at first (and shut it down once the transmitter was done) and the iPhone for the second 3 months if you could bypass it.
Although, you couldnāt use Clarity either at that point, most likely.
Some info about G5 ābattery life:ā
- The transmitter, when used with Dexcomās iOS app or receiver, has a programmatically induced āend of life (EOL).ā The transmitter does continue to work in most cases, and if reading only the sensor data (outside of Dexās app) the transmitter continues to work for varying periods after the EOL.
- The EOL counter begins when the first session is started in App or receiver. Removing the sensor from the packaging does not start the counter.
- Individuals that have replaced the batteries have indicated the replacement resets this process, this would imply that the memory is volatile.
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Does the Dexcom sensor last the same period of time with the G4 as it does with the G5?
Sensor last the same. Transmitter last shorter.
For me, at this time, Iād love to give up the G5 transmitters/receiver and go back to the G4. So much less expensive, even with insurance. And, the kicker, SO much more reliable. Iām on my 2nd G5 transmitter and I have continual issues keeping it connected both both the receiver and the smartphone. Iād expect the smartphone issues, but really never experienced that with the first G5 transmitter I used. The second transmitter has been a real pain. I have to at least twice a week go through a full reconnect routine with both types of receiver setup. I worked with Dexcom a few times to remedy, but didnāt get anywhere with that. Decided to try living with the problems for a while, well I took too long, now they wonāt support this messed up transmitter. Iām not very happy at all. The transmitter really is a very simple device from my opinion, and shouldnāt cost as much as they do. Now that I have to buy up to 4 a year rather than the 1 a year like I did with the G4, Iām not happy at all. Dexcom made a greatly accurate system. But their greed is getting the best of them in my opinion. We can only hope that more competition brews up to push Dexcom into being more helpful rather than less helpful as theyāve been with the G5 units. Which seem to me to be made mostly for forcing faster turn around on sales than for extending the service they provide with this tool.
Iām thinking the same thing, @Scott_Wilkins. I am using the first of two G5 transmitters. I donāt mind the larger size. What I donāt like is the more frequent data dropout. Iām not as enamored with using the iPhone as a receiver as some here are. Every time I get an alert, I have to do something with both the Dex receiver and the iPhone app. This became a real nuisance last night as my BGs floated around the 140 mg/dl alarm level. It seemed like every half hour I had to wake up enough to acknowledge the 140 alarm.
Iām seriously considering ordering another G4 transmitter. I still have a working G4 receiver and I donāt really need a duplicate receiver in the iPhone.
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I donāt have any dropouts with the G5. I am using the receiver exclusively.
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I hate the larger size (thatās some improvement!) and have no use for the apple connectivity. Good luck getting a G4, these guys need all the planned obsolescence they have in store for you to support the huge overhead. Have you read their recent proxy (ādef 14aā) or 10K? Itās here: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/srch-edgar?text=dexcom&first=2016&last=2016
There is no āplanned obsolescenceā conspiracy in the worksā¦ you can buy a pump today that integrates the G4 technology, which means that your ability to acquire a G4 transmitter is basically guaranteed for at least 4 years from right now. By then you may not want to keep using one, but thatās beside the point 
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Dexcom told me they were going to discontinue the g4 and all of its components in 2 years
You are absolutely right. This g5 is all about money and I think dexcom should be paying us if they are going to use us as their laboratory mice to try out their new productsthe g4 worked fine. Now I am continuously getting the ? Symbol whi. Ch is from the Bluetooth failing. I am constantly getting inaccurate readings and the alarm has failed to go off multiple times. I can no longer justify the cost of it. It simply does not work and the FDA screwed up by approving the g5. The g4 worked fine
I just ordered and received a G4 transmitter after using the G5 system for three months. I had to order through a third-party supplier, in my case, Solara. I was skeptical about using Solara due to many negative comments online. The order, however, could not have been handled better. I called the order in and it arrived two days later.
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Absolutely not. The sensors do not last as long with tile g5.
They are the SAME sensorsā¦ mine last just as long.