Animas or Medtronic?

[kimrooney89]

Hello everyone

After a recent consultant appointment and a positive DSN appointment today, I've been advised that an urgent pump referral has been done for me.

My clinic offers both Animas and Medtronic pumps, I've been advised by the clinic to research both pumps to see which I think may be more suitable for me. Seemingly i'll receive a letter soon to go in to chat about the models of pump available...

SO, i'm just wondering if you lovely people who have an Animas or MEdtronic pump, could please share a bit about your own personal experiences? pros, cons etc. I have done a bit of online research too but would like to hear some 1st hand experiences.

Thanks in advance

 

[GrantGam]

Bump.

 

[tim2000s]

@kimrooney89 - your best bet is to see if you can play with both of them. There are people that swear by either for various reasons. Factors that come in to play are:

• Size & Weight - Animas is smaller (slightly) than Medtronic
• Usability - Animas is quite an old design and has a very different interface
• Insulin delivery speed (boluses are delivered faster by Animas but some find that uncomfortable)
• Insulin increments - Animas can deliver smaller basal (and I think bolus) increments than MEdtronic
• CGM - if you are going to use CGM, the Animas works with Dexcom G4, but it only acts as a receiver for the CGM. Medtronic works with it's own system (Enlites) which both I and @donnellysdogs find accurate. Medtronic also has the SmartGuard stuff which suspends your insulin if it thinks you are going to go low. Different people have different experiences of that. Personally I think it's great.
• Reservoir size - if you use a lot of insulin, Medtronic has a 3ml reservoir option which means fewer reservoir changes.
• Medtronic has the ability to do a remote bolus off the blood test meter.

Like any new piece of technology, I think it's always worth going in and handling all of them, understanding how you set the various bolus types and calibrate any CGM, and getting a good basic understanding of how you will interact with it and where you are likely to have it sit. I think that's the most important aspect of choosing.

 

[azure]

Hello everyone

After a recent consultant appointment and a positive DSN appointment today, I've been advised that an urgent pump referral has been done for me.

My clinic offers both Animas and Medtronic pumps, I've been advised by the clinic to research both pumps to see which I think may be more suitable for me. Seemingly i'll receive a letter soon to go in to chat about the models of pump available...

SO, i'm just wondering if you lovely people who have an Animas or MEdtronic pump, could please share a bit about your own personal experiences? pros, cons etc. I have done a bit of online research too but would like to hear some 1st hand experiences.

Thanks in advance

I had the exact same choice @kimrooney89 (after I'd returned the awful (in my opinion) Insight). I did hours and hours of research day after day, and kept changing from one to the other pump as my 'chosen one'.

Gradually, I started to realise that I kept going back to the Medtronic because it was newer, but actually when I stopped to think and put that to one side, I realised I preferred the Animas Vibe.

There were a number of reasons:

- the look/orientation of the Vibe. My previous pump had been the same orientation and I found the Medtronic really weird with its upright orientation. I usually wear my pump on my belt/waistband, so I want it neat along my waist not sticking down. I also find it much easier to use with a 'sideways orientation. It feels right in my hands and is very intuitive.

- the fact that the Vibe is compatible with Dexcom. I don't have it yet but I plan to, and everything I read told me the Dexcom was the best CGM. The fact it doesn't intervene to stop insulin isn't a problem for me as I find the pump gives me such good control I don't need it to 'save' me at night. My blood sugar remains smooth thanks to the accuracy of the Vibe basal. If highs and lows were a concern to me, I'd set an alarm anyway.

- the wide range of Luer lock (ie universal not brand specific) sets available with the Vibe. Sets are an important part of the pump and I wanted the widest choice.

- the pump clip. This sounds trivial but I need a robust pump clip and a pump that can cope with children climbing over me and a generally hectic life. The Vibe clip and pump has never let me down - and believe me, my toddler has tested it a lot! : D

- the variable bolus speed of the Vibe. You can choose fast or slow, as suits.

- the fact it's waterproof

- the fact it has a proven history

- the ability to fine tune basal to 3 decimal points

- the smaller size of the Vibe - it's vey unobtrusive, feels lovely in my hand (that was the first thing I noticed when I picked it up)

- the very intuitive menu. I've hardly needed to look at the pump manual - the screen makes it so easy to follow a process that I didn't need to at the beginning. Being very busy, I appreciate this a lot!


The only disadvantage I can think of is the difficulty of seeing the screen in bright sunshine, but as that applies to most pumps, i didn't worry about that.

I've been a pump user for 13 years and had my Vibe for almost two years, and I'm very happy with it and that I made the right choice

I suggest you identify your 'must haves' and your priorities, and choose what suits you

 

[tim2000s]

- the variable bolus speed of the Vibe. You can choose fast or slow, as suits.

- the fact it's waterproof

- the very intuitive menu. I've hardly needed to look at the pump manual - the screen makes it so easy to follow a process that I didn't need to at the beginning. Being very busy, I appreciate this a lot!

Lol - I'd add that Medtronic offers both of these first two now with it's 640G offering, and I think "intuitive" is a very subjective term. I find the Animas menu system infuriating!

Throw in the detail that the CGM system on the 640G is rather different from the older Medtronic and that the accuracy (for me at least) is better than the Dexcom G4, and obviously it's a more complex conversation.

I stand by the advice that you should go into the meeting where you get to try both and spend time doing the basics that you need as a first time user:

• Try setting up basals, and having multiple profiles, then changing between them.
• Set and cancel temp basal rates
• Do boluses and test using the bolus wizard on each pump
• Try doing multiwave/dual wave and Extended/Square wave boluses.
• Have a go at priming on both pumps

Then of course it's the pick it up and see how it feels. All of these things together will be what cause you to select one over the other.

 

[azure]

@tim2000s I kmow the Medtronic is waterproof. I was listing the reasons I went for the Vibe, and if there was a comparison with the Medtronic, good or bad, I made it in my points above. Obviously, some points are common to both pumps and so I didn't mention Medtronic in the discussion of that point.

I mentioned bolus speed as you were implying in your post above that the Vibe was somehow bad/lacking/inferior. Ive never found any bolus on the Vibe painful.

It's a balance for each person, and each pro and each con tips the balance a certain way.

I love my Vibe (a lot!) and if you diss it, I'm going to react For me, it's the perfect pump. Others mileage may vary, but I can only say how good I find it and explain my decision-making above, as I did.

Like most things with diabetes, it comes down to the individual. I'm sure @kimrooney89 will choose what's best for her - as she most definitely should

 

[BeccyB]

Like any new piece of technology, I think it's always worth going in and handling all of them, understanding how you set the various bolus types and calibrate any CGM, and getting a good basic understanding of how you will interact with it and where you are likely to have it sit. I think that's the most important aspect of choosing.

I'm going to the INPUT Fusion event on 3rd June so i can do this - Several of the companies are confirmed as attending so I'm going to hopefully get to play with the pumps and give the reps the spanish inquisition

It will be a fab event even without this though so check it out if you haven't already http://www.inputdiabetes.org.uk/about-2/input-in-person/fusion-2017/

 

[kimrooney89]

@tim2000s @azure thank you so much for your replies.
As always, both of your points are very helpful and insightful Hopefully it won't be too long until my meeting. I'll be sure to take your advice and have a play around with both of them to see which I prefer
Also, @tim2000s do you self fund your CGM?

 

[kimrooney89]

I'm going to the INPUT Fusion event on 3rd June so i can do this - Several of the companies are confirmed as attending so I'm going to hopefully get to play with the pumps and give the reps the spanish inquisition

It will be a fab event even without this though so check it out if you haven't already http://www.inputdiabetes.org.uk/about-2/input-in-person/fusion-2017/

That looks like a fab event @BeccyB, unfortunately I'm up in Scotland so Birmingham is too far of a travel for me. Do let me know how you get on at the event

 

[izzyj09]

Hey there so I'm in the lucky position of actually being in both pumps throughout my diabetic life !
The positives I found with the vibe was that it was waterproof so I could swim with it on, the basal settings I can change relatively in small doses
The negatives for me with the vibe is that it often broke but that could be due to the time I spent in the water 16+ hours a week. I also didn't like it only had 200ml of cartridge in it !
I changed at Christmas onto the Medtronic 640g one and I've love it ! It's so much better, it hasn't broken yet (touch wood) and I really like the 300ml sets you get with it ! I also love that I can set the settings to vibrate if I'm in meetings or classes, and can actually feel it. I never could with the vibe ! I also love the set change reminder, as someone who's totally dipsy it really reminds me to do it !!!
I love my Medtronic and it gave me a new confidence in my pump again after I lost complete hope with my vibe but I know people of the opposite opinion to me ! Therefore my overall advice is to do some research yourself and go with gut instinct hope this helps, any questions message me

 

[kimrooney89]

Hey there so I'm in the lucky position of actually being in both pumps throughout my diabetic life !
The positives I found with the vibe was that it was waterproof so I could swim with it on, the basal settings I can change relatively in small doses
The negatives for me with the vibe is that it often broke but that could be due to the time I spent in the water 16+ hours a week. I also didn't like it only had 200ml of cartridge in it !
I changed at Christmas onto the Medtronic 640g one and I've love it ! It's so much better, it hasn't broken yet (touch wood) and I really like the 300ml sets you get with it ! I also love that I can set the settings to vibrate if I'm in meetings or classes, and can actually feel it. I never could with the vibe ! I also love the set change reminder, as someone who's totally dipsy it really reminds me to do it !!!
I love my Medtronic and it gave me a new confidence in my pump again after I lost complete hope with my vibe but I know people of the opposite opinion to me ! Therefore my overall advice is to do some research yourself and go with gut instinct hope this helps, any questions message me

Hi @izzyj09

Thanks so much for your reply

I've been researching both pumps online, watched a few youtube clips of both pumps last night which was helpful too.

For you use cgm with your pump at all?

 

[izzyj09]

I don't use cgm with either of them because both aren't waterproof which for me as I know play water polo instead was obviously quite a problem ! I use a libre and I love it ! I know loads of people have problems or haven't got on with it but I love mine to pieces !!!