[JediSkipdogg]

So I'm looking at a new pump. Our insurance plan started on November 1st and I've already met my out of pocket max deductible (go me.) So basically the pump and supplies are free till next November.

So, I call a few pump companies and ask some questions about their pumps and future pumps. Well, somehow, that turned into one pump company confirming an order for a pump. I get an email today from said company saying my order is being processed and they are waiting for the Rx from my doctor's office and then it will ship. Ummm, ok???? All I wanted was info if my insurance would cover a certain feature of the pump (some can guess which company now) and they take that as I want the pump? You betcha I return fired a nasty call about that.

Sadly I need a new pump as I believe my current pump is some of the reason my A1C is going up, however, all the rest have huge flaws that I don't like. Why don't pump companies listen to complaints and add those features? By that I mean...

Animas and making their boluses alot slower. Research from Minimed has proven slower boluses can reduce overall insulin use and are absorbed better.

Medtronic and adding IOB on the main screen. I can't tell you the last time I used the bolus wizard on my Animas pump. When talking with the Minimed rep he said it's not hard to do on the x22. Guess what....I don't want to use it at all. I can do the math 10 times faster in my head and know if I need more or less insulin than a pump doing the calculation itself. And when asked if that was going to be in their summer 2009 update, the answer was no because they didn't see a need for it there.

I just wish there were more options out there (Cozmo, Omnipod, Nispro, Spirit are all out for major flaws.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

Medtronic and adding IOB on the main screen. I can't tell you the last time I used the bolus wizard on my Animas pump. When talking with the Minimed rep he said it's not hard to do on the x22. Guess what....I don't want to use it at all. I can do the math 10 times faster in my head and know if I need more or less insulin than a pump doing the calculation itself. And when asked if that was going to be in their summer 2009 update, the answer was no because they didn't see a need for it there.

I would love to see IOB on my MM pump. I'm not sure why they don't think it's necessary. Sometimes I decide that I'm going to go to the store that's a 15 minute walk away. I'd love to see my IOB to know if I should have a snack or not. I could check the time of my last bolus and try to approximate it myself, but I'd rather have my pump do the work. It's already got the info, so why can't I see it?

No pump is perfect. They all have a feature or two that the others don't. I wish I could make a Frankenpump out of all of them. Slow bolus delivery, show IOB on the home screen, louder alarms, customize the alarm sounds, smaller basal/bolus increments, attached meter, more color choices etc.

[JediSkipdogg]

Originally Posted by poodlebone

I would love to see IOB on my MM pump. I'm not sure why they don't think it's necessary. Sometimes I decide that I'm going to go to the store that's a 15 minute walk away. I'd love to see my IOB to know if I should have a snack or not. I could check the time of my last bolus and try to approximate it myself, but I'd rather have my pump do the work. It's already got the info, so why can't I see it?

I kept tearing into the Minimed guy about that and I could definitely tell for sure he was a sales rep and not a pump user. Sometimes I think to be a sales rep for a pump company you should be a diabetic on that pump.

He basically kept saying if you test after a meal you enter the BG into the pump and let it tell you if you need more insulin and if it says zero then you may need a snack. He did not understand the logic of not entering every BG into the pump. The ONLY BGs I input in my Animas pump are ones over 200. Anything under 200 I can do the math in my head easily enough, over 200 I could, but not as precise.

The stupid thing though when he told me about the updates for the future pump coming out sometime in the summer they basically all do nothing for the majority of pump users. The updates are for children and type 2 users, not for an average normal type 1 user.

[Funnygrl]

Yuh, Medtronic is really pushy over selling their pumps. Overall, I really like my 522, though, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it, but I see big room for improvement with every company. Medtronic is suppose to have a new pump out in the next few months.

Cozmo's bolus calculations and ease of information lay out are definitely the best. I can find anything I need to know in <0.2 seconds without entering a bg on there. Now if only it weren't so bulky and weirdly shaped.

Cozmo would irritate you, though, as you need the bolus calculator on to see IOB, and when the bolus calculator is on, it's hard to do a manual bolus (I just enter everything in as 0 and override the recommendation if I want a manual bolus with Cozmo). My doctor is very anti-manual bolus, so he likes this set up, while it irritates me.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

He basically kept saying if you test after a meal you enter the BG into the pump and let it tell you if you need more insulin and if it says zero then you may need a snack. He did not understand the logic of not entering every BG into the pump. The ONLY BGs I input in my Animas pump are ones over 200. Anything under 200 I can do the math in my head easily enough, over 200 I could, but not as precise.

I do enter all of my BGs into the pump because I only download my pump, not my meter. But if I want to just quickly check my IOB, I don't want to have to test my BG to do it and I don't want to have to enter a fake number to do it. With older model MM pumps you could just enter any BG number, zero carbs and you'd see IOB. The pump would not remember those BGs because they didn't have a bolus attached. Now the newer software does record all BGs even if you don't bolus. I like that, because now all of my info is in one place and I no longer download the meter. But it also means no checking my IOB whenever I want.

The stupid thing though when he told me about the updates for the future pump coming out sometime in the summer they basically all do nothing for the majority of pump users. The updates are for children and type 2 users, not for an average normal type 1 user.

What updates did he tell you about? I've heard rumors that the next MM pump would be more like the OmniPod, no tubing. I'm not really interested in that because those Pods are just way too big for me to wear comfortably. I don't mind tubing; I want to keep a tubed pump.

[JediSkipdogg]

Originally Posted by Funnygrl

Yuh, Medtronic is really pushy over selling their pumps. Overall, I really like my 522, though, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it, but I see big room for improvement with every company. Medtronic is suppose to have a new pump out in the next few months.

SO far the only two guaranteed features were eliminating the max bolus (I believe he said it's 25 units now) and allowing for .025 basal and .05 bolus increments. He said nothing is changing with the CGMS functionality and he couldn't recall anything else being added to it. So basically since the 515 they have not had any useful pump changes, that's my opinion.

Originally Posted by Funnygrl

Cozmo's bolus calculations and ease of information lay out are definitely the best. I can find anything I need to know in <0.2 seconds without entering a bg on there. Now if only it weren't so bulky and weirdly shaped.

Cozmo would irritate you, though, as you need the bolus calculator on to see IOB, and when the bolus calculator is on, it's hard to do a manual bolus (I just enter everything in as 0 and override the recommendation if I want a manual bolus with Cozmo).

The size/shape is what really bothers me. I like the size/shape of my Animas, but want slower boluses.


I just can't figure out why pump companies don't listen as much to the users of the pumps. I feel like I'm preaching useless info here as every company does it (why does a minivan need 16 cup holders but only seats 7 or a car have 2 but seats 5?) LOL

[JediSkipdogg]

Originally Posted by poodlebone

What updates did he tell you about? I've heard rumors that the next MM pump would be more like the OmniPod, no tubing. I'm not really interested in that because those Pods are just way too big for me to wear comfortably. I don't mind tubing; I want to keep a tubed pump.

He told me it's going to be just like the current Paradigm. I asked about features of other pumps (many that I could care less about) and he said they will not be doing anything like the Ping (remote meter) and that the pump will still use all current infusion sets. I specifically asked that because I asked if it would be worth waiting till the summer or if now would be better. That's when he told me that the changes (as mentioned above) will not affect the main users of the pumps. They are changes to try and attract a broader group of people. So basically, let's get more people but not take care of our own.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

He told me it's going to be just like the current Paradigm. I asked about features of other pumps (many that I could care less about) and he said they will not be doing anything like the Ping (remote meter) and that the pump will still use all current infusion sets. I specifically asked that because I asked if it would be worth waiting till the summer or if now would be better. That's when he told me that the changes (as mentioned above) will not affect the main users of the pumps. They are changes to try and attract a broader group of people. So basically, let's get more people but not take care of our own.

I can't imagine what those changes would be if they're only useful for kids and Type 2s. Maybe smaller basal/bolus increments, which is something I would actually prefer but might be even more important for small children. Or a bigger reservoir, for Type 2s using a lot of insulin. That would make the pump bigger, which I am not interested in. Maybe the ability to bolus more than 25 units at once, something I also don't care about. Otherwise, I don't see what else they could change that will make it almost the same yet different than the current model.

[Funnygrl]

I heard the max bolus will be upped to 75 units, and it will be fixed so that the meter can be used with the CGMS (hello, shoulda been taken care of 3 years ago).

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by Funnygrl

I heard the max bolus will be upped to 75 units, and it will be fixed so that the meter can be used with the CGMS (hello, shoulda been taken care of 3 years ago).

I bet a lot of Type 2s who need to take 75 units at once would also like them to make the bolus speed adjustable. I think the MM pumps deliver 1.5 units per minute, so 75 units will take close to an hour. Talk about needing to bolus well in advance of a meal!

I would like to be able to use the Link meter but so far that's the only improvement (more like a bug fix rather than improvement) I've found remotely interesting.

[Subby]

Jediskipdogg, what was the actual pump the guy was trying to talk you into? Is this separate new model to the 522 / 722 or is it some version/update of them they have released in the meantime?

On a side note to the salespeople (who I never talked to myself), I find minimed helpline people rather hard to get a grip on when I talk to them. On the 3 or 4 times I've called with a question or issue, I've found they tend oscillate between attitudes of "harrased and annoyed" to "ask us anything, we're here to help, we really care", unpredictably. Like a generally well intentioned overbearing mother who can turn nasty quickly. Overall I'd call it condescending. Still, in the end there have generally been good outcomes. Just not so great for my stress levels.

[JediSkipdogg]

Originally Posted by Subby

Jediskipdogg, what was the actual pump the guy was trying to talk you into? Is this separate new model to the 522 / 722 or is it some version/update of them they have released in the meantime?

My main reason for calling Minimed was to see what features they were adding to the new pump and to see if my insurance would cover the CGM sensors. The rep told me the main two features were upping/eliminating the max bolus (to get more type 2s to buy their pump) and allowing for smaller adjustments in insulin to .025 basal and .05 bolus (to get more young children to them.) For the audience in between those two groups, they are doing nothing. As for design changes to the pump, he said there are none. It will look dead on the x22 pumps now.

[Funnygrl]

Originally Posted by poodlebone

I would like to be able to use the Link meter but so far that's the only improvement (more like a bug fix rather than improvement) I've found remotely interesting.

Exactly, it's a bug fix. And then they'll charge people who already own their $6,000 pump and their $1000 CGMS (and supposedly spend $350/month on sensors) $300 to "upgrade."

[Funnygrl]

I would somewhat appreciate the finer insulin dosing, but I'd really like finer time frames as well. I'd like to be able to set my duration of insulin action in 30 minute increments, and program temp rates and square/dual boluses in 15 minute increments.

[HollyB]

I sure agree with the IOB feature. Aaron uses it all the time - - and especially at bedtime. (he's a big night snacker)