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Animas Vibe pump

Oh bless you!! I see! I'm a strange one with needles, I don't mind injecting myself but if anyone else comes near me with a needle I DO NOT like it whatsoever!! I HATE having my bloods taken for example!!

Cool news on the skins! I might just get a black one then and get a skin... I suppose that way you can change the colour whever you want too!
 
I'm on my third silver one and never had an issue with the colour coming off. The pink one I had for a trial did scratch easily though plus it was brighter than I expected and hard to hide when you want to be discreet. I love the silver because it blends in with everything and I have a purple skin for it when I fancy change.
 
The silver ones do look nice. And good point about the pink being too bright and not going with everything! I think silver and a purple skin sounds fab! ;-)
 
Okay, just been thrown a curve ball by Jan, my DSN!! She said I also now have the choice of going on the new Medtronic MiniMed 640G System which has a remote for bolusing (also a blood testing monitor which wirelessly sends your blood result to the pump!) and has SmartGuard artificial pancreas technology built in to the CGM which stops your basal/bolus if it detects you are going low and then restarts it again once your bloods start to rise.

Does anyone have any experience with the 640G. I notice the sensors are a bit more pricey than the Dexcoms but it does look like a fab new pump and CGM.

Now I have to make up my mind, the Animas Vibe or the MiniMed 640G!!!!
 
I am going from Vibe to 640g next week, I think I am doing the right thing
Although if you get on with the Vibe then stick with it.
 
@Brava210 Are you self funding the CGM on the 640G? I am thinking the 640G does look like an all round nicer, more up to date pump than the vibe but the CGM side seems to be a lot more expensive to fund than the Dexcom system! :-/
 
I will self fund when I feel the need to use it, I definitely wont use it full time..................
I am not made of money
 
Funnily enough I read that yesterday @MushyPeaBrain. I thought it was a good insight into the new pump and overall the person trialling it seemed to like it. You are always going to find a few niggly things that annoy you with any technology.

I was particularly interested in the part of the blog that went on about TBR's and how they have an alarm which you can't turn off on the 640G. Does anybody on here know if that is actually true? Surely there would be a way to turn the alarm off?
 
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The Accuchek Combo had a TBR alarm which meant thst the alarm noise needed to be acknowledged by pressing a button on the pump othrrwise it would keep sounding. The Vibe doesnt have the alarm to alert that the TBR has finished.
 
when you do a TBR on the 640g a little T appears on the screen. The pump then alarms/vibrates/both to let you know it's finished you then just ok it and that's it. just like the combo
 
candi-girl said:
when you do a TBR on the 640g a little T appears on the screen. The pump then alarms/vibrates/both to let you know it's finished you then just ok it and that's it. just like the combo
Click to expand...

Oh right, thanks for that. How long does the TBR run for? As long as you set it to run for or is there a time limit? Sorry for all my seemingly daft questions but I've never used a pump before and am not even really sure what the Temporary Basal Rate is or when it would be used if you are able to set up several of your own personal basal rates anyway?
 

Its basically used when your running higher or lower than usual (sick or doing an activity out of the norm). so for example I use it to go shopping (-30% for 2-3 hours) or on insulin resistant days (hormones/period +20/30%)

Its hugely useful and reduces corrections needed.
 

you can set it between 30mins and 24hrs
there are also preset basal rates you can program, one for sick days, work days, days off, high activity etc
 
The 640 seems like without the CGM portion to be the same as any other pump. So the CGM would be critical. From what i can find out its the same system that the Veo uses (the Enlite sensors)...

If the price and accuracy of the CGM components have not changed then i wouldn't want the 640, just because the CGM is more expensive due to the shorter life of the sensors (1 Dexcom sensor can last you the span of 3 Enlight sensors) So if you add up all consumables for both systems over the 4 or 5 years you would be using the pumps they end up being about the same, but then the edge would go back to the Dexcoms Accuracy.

The 640G LOOKS way cooler then the Vibe, but its only as good as the CGM, which right now is not that great from things i have read... I hate to say it but Medtronic is putting a lot of effort of integrating their CGM when they should be putting that effort into first making the CGM better.

EDIT - The Vibe also runs temp basal rates, I am unsure of how the alarms work, but i think its good to know that your Temp basal has turned off.

You would want to use the temp basal rate for things like going to the gym, or being really active, or even going out to have some drinks. Situations when your activity level / insulin requirements unexpectedly change. Like you planned on staying home all night, and then a friend calls up and wants to take a spin class, or go for a bike ride. Its to sudden and short to use a programed mode, so you just knock down your basal rate by like 20-30% for the duration of the event and you are good to go! No more having to eat to keep your sugars up! So if you set it for like 2 hours, and the bike ride goes longer, youd want to know your temp basal rate has ended via alert so you can add on another hour or so.
 
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iHs said:
The Accuchek Combo had a TBR alarm which meant thst the alarm noise needed to be acknowledged by pressing a button on the pump othrrwise it would keep sounding. The Vibe doesnt have the alarm to alert that the TBR has finished.
Click to expand...
I found this to be a problem on the Vibe. I work around it by setting the TBR period to the same time as the post bolus BG reminder period. So - blood test, correction dose (possible 0u), set 2 hr TBR, BG test reminder alarm goes off after 2 hrs, then I check the TBR again.

Not ideal. I wish it had a "TBR End" alarm.
 

That is great, thanks for explaining all that for me! I have to say, I am totally torn between the fancy new (& looks very easy to use) 640G and the older, more sluggish Vibe with the more cost affective CGM. I think I may well go for the 640G and hopefully they will improve the accuracy of their sensors in time and lower their costs a bit too. In four years when it's time for a change, fingers crossed things will have improved greatly in respect of pumps with integrated CGM functions and sensor accuracy. ;-)

Thanks for all your replies everyone, I really appreciate all your help, knowledge & experience.
 
I think things can only get better with the 640g, where as because the vibe is basically an old model now
Animas would not be putting any further development into it
 
The only thing that I didnt like too much about the Combo was that if I set a TBR to run when gouing to bed, the alarm and vibration woke me up andalthough it only took a few secs to aacknowledge it as the pump was in this case, hanging around my neck in its skin and the alarm was set to low so that OH wouldnt wake up, it annoyed me.

The Vibe doesnt have the alarm but does bleep quietly every hour I think to remind that a TBR is running, but as Spiker has said, you have to remember to bg test and set up some other type of alert.
 
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