Hi there,
My 7-year old son is using the Omnipod system with a Dexcom G6 CGM. He was on the Animas beforehand and going to a tubless system was a postive step for us, as he can still keep it on when swimming, you use the PDM to give his insulin instead of having to grab the pump around his waist to put the details in, as it's like a phone it's discreet'ish and we can do temp basals, etc while we're walking or in the car.
The pod expires after 3 days automatically, and will keep beeping for upto 8 hours after before it actually turns off.
We rotate the pod from his thighs and back of his arms. I apply a Skin Prep wipe before sticking on, same for the G6, which has helped with any severe scarring, there are always small marks but no scarring where we cannot apply again.
The pod inserts the cannula automatically once you press start, and is mostly pain free. He does sometimes say that it feels weird when a new one is placed, but after a few hours he's forgotten about it.
He's been using it for about 18 months now, and it's probably failed a handful of times and this has mainly been due to being knocked when playing. A couple of times it's come loose from swimming when it's either been placed fresh that morning or is due to be changed anyway.
As he is young, the pod does seem large and sometimes annoys him when he sleeps if we've placed it too far on the side of the leg. But generally he's very happy with it, as happy as can be really.
We originally wanted the T:Slim X2 as it looped with the G6 - like the MiniMed 780g, but was unavailble to us at the time, but is a tube system. Not sure if we would go back to tubes. I believe they also allow for a 30 day trial if you wanted as well, and they are working on a looped system (Horizon) hopefully due next year.
Hope some of that helps
Best
Ranj