Hi All,
Have been researching the Blucon Nightrider for the Libre and have a few questions about it's practicality. Wanted to get some real life answers from anyone who has experience in using it.
We want to use it at night time only, to remotely monitor my 6 year old Daughers levels from the Libre.
1) It's not completely clear how this fits on to the Libre and how big it is. Is it roughly the same size as the Libre? does it snap on to the Libre or do you need some form of band or tape to hold it all in place?
2) Does it add a lot of bulk to the Libre? I ask from a comfort perspective during sleep.
3) We hold her Libre in place using Grif Grips. The grip covers the edges of the Libre. Would this interfere with placing the Nightrider on top of it and holding in place?
4) Does it last 'forever' as long as you keep replacing the battery every couple of weeks?
5) Is it pretty easy to take off and attach back on repeatedly? Attach before sleep and remove at wake up.
Any advice on any of the points above would be much appreciated.
Cheers.
Hi,
@T1Dad , I've had blucon for about 6 months now and been using it with xDrip+ for 3 months. I'm very happy with it. Being able to calibrate vastly improves accuracy, and the customisable hypo/hyper alerts are great.
Re your questions:
1. It's only a millimetre or two wider than a sensor, and maybe about the same height as two and a half sensors stacked on top of each other. I've attached a photo but the angle I took it at makes it look bigger than it actually is. It's quite compact. It doesn't snap on. The underside is slightly concave so that it is placed on top of the sensor to "enclose" it, but then needs to be held in place. I just went cheap and cheerful with a cheap 17 pence sticking 7 by 8 cm sticking plaster, but some people use armbands - one of those things which runners use to hold keys/phones on their arms might do the trick if you were to get a needle and thread out and stitch a little pocket into it to hold the blucon. The main thing is to make sure it's located on top of the sensor - if it goes sliding around a lot, chance of both dislodging sensor and losing signal - turned out just plastering it on was the simplest for me.
2. I don't notice it, asleep or awake. One concern was that as it sits on top of libre and makes it a bit higher, I was worried it might be prone to "levering" the sensor out of place, if I rolled on it during sleep, but it's been fine. I try to sleep on the opposite arm, but when I wake up on the attached arm, there's not been any noticeable problems.
3. I've not used grif grips, but from looking at photos, it looks like the blucon would be a millimetre or two above the sensor instead of enclosing it as it usually does. I wonder whether that might affect the NFC range, simply don't know the answer to that, but suspect not, as nfc is normally good for a few centimetres so still likely well in range. Griff grips seem to take up quite a large surface area, so an option might just be to use a bit of surgical tape to tape over blucon on to the upper surface of the grip.
4. I think it's warranted for a year, but it's just some electronics and I'm reasonably confident it'll last for way longer. Batteries seem to last at least 2 to 3 weeks but I change them anyway each time I change the sensor just to avlid it pegging out. There's a charge remaining feature in xdrip+ but I vaguely recall reading on github that they are still working on it for this set up.
5. Yes, it's easy to take on and off. I just take it on and off for showers. I don't need to switch it on and off and back on again - just peel the plaster off, tag it back on again, and it automatically picks up again on the next 5 min read. I suspect you could do the same if just using overnight, but if you need to switch it off, only a minute or two to restart.
Of course, all of the above is from my point of view as using it as an adult and being aware I've got something on my arm I need to keep from knocking too much. Whether it'll stand up to the rough and tumble of a youngster is a question I can't answer.
Subject to that caveat, though, yeah, I've found it an incredibly useful gadget quite apart from the hypo alarm.
The makers seem to have been overwhelmed by demand and their ordering system is pretty chaotic. There's a few posters have now got them, but others have reported substantial delays.
Good luck with it if you decide to go ahead!
Here's the photo:
