Ex Accu-Chek Spirit Users Alternatives to Medtronic 670G

Type 1 & LADA
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Former Accu-Chek users;
I have been on the 670G for seven months. 32 year long diabetic and have been using pumps for 17 years. I have read posts on issues with the 670G and I have experienced many of them.

My last pump was the Accu-chek Spirit. Yes it was a dinosaur and my A1C was not perfect but it worked like a hammer. With a great basil pattern set up, it hit highs hard and fast.

First off my 670G trainer was almost worthless so I mined a good deal if information from the web.
After three weeks of learning I went into Auto-mode. After four days of 300+ highs, I abandoned auto-mode and went back to manual. The Medtronic trainer has an accusatory tone, this not much help. Medtronic change the site answers get old.

Guardian sensors generally seem good. However the past 7 weeks, Medtronic has sent me 5 new sensors because of various failures. The sixth is waiting to be returned. Now I am not using the sensors until I can get them to send a new transmitter (if that is indeed the solution).

The 670G is so slooooooow to process insulin or bring down highs, I no longer enjoy meals as for me highs are worse than lows. Too many times over a 12 hour time frame it feels like I am pumping saline instead of insulin. Too many button pushes, failed calibrations, alarms, low reaction time to bolus, I feel like a slave to this pump,

Whew! Sorry this feels like a rant but when the Medtronic regional sales associate pitched the 670G to me, I was expecting great things but did not find that exactly.

For those Accu-chek users who have found the 670G to not work for you, what are the options for a pump that performs more like the Accu-chek Spirit? Thank you for your suggestions.

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I’m not an Accu-check user, and intentionally chose not to be early adopter of MM 670 pump. I have used older version MM 523 for past 20 years. After what I’ve heard with experiences similar to yours, I will likely look at Tslim + Dexcom integrated system for my next purchase.

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Welcome @wildzach, if you don’t mind my asking, what was your A1c prior to starting the 670G. In my limited understanding, it appears that people with “good” control, i.e. those with an A1c below 7 are having the most issues.

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May I? Add something to that thought? Only because I DID have an a1c of 9.2 when I started on the 670G. It did set me straight. And I now am back in manual mode because I couldn’t… I just couldn’t. :woman_facepalming:

From my experience, you have to not only be starting at a higher a1c but also must be willing to just not ever really tighten up your control… ever. So if you need a diabetes “boot camp”, give it a go, but if you’re looking for any kind of fine-tuning capability, beware.

I’ll leave you two alone now…

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