I am simply curious to find out how long a Dexcom G5 Transmitter will last past the SB, or Sell By date. I called in to Dexcom and asked this question, but the tech support didn’t seem to have an answer. Anyone have any personal experiences with this?
They key is not the Ship By (not Sell By) date. It is when it was actually shipped. Dexcom guaranties the G5 transmitter only when it is started by the user within 5 months exactly of its shipping date. If you miss it by a day and you run into trouble with the transmitter you are out of luck.
The transmitter battery keeps on running down, and the odds get worse that you won’t get 90 days out of it the further you wait. Anecdotal evidence is that roughly 30-40% of transmitters have trouble after the Ship By date, but this number is probably a very rough approximation.
[EDIT] corrected Sell By/ Ship By
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I actually wasn’t referring to the ‘key’ symbol, I was referring to the bold letters that say ‘SB’ right above that.
That is what I meant. Dexcom does not use the Ship By date for warranty 
What counts, for the warranty, is the individual shipping date to the user. Evidently Dexcom feels the G5 battery is very sensitive to elapsed time, and anecdotal data on the forum confirms it is a problem.
[EDIT] My personal anecdotal evidence is that 2 of the G5 transmitters that we started more than 5 months after shipping date were either DOA or failed within a week.
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Per Dexcom User Guide:
SB = Ship By Date.
The funny icon which is perhaps intended to look like an hour glass = Use By Date.
The crazy little icon that looks like it was drawn by a child in Kindergarten (three points followed by taller line) = Date of Manufacture
Transmitters are labeled with: Date of Manufacture and Ship By Date
Sensors are labeled with: Use By Date
EDIT: The transmitter warranty is not the same in all countries. However, I believe they all use the SB (Ship By Date) in the wording. So potentially, this approach allows Dexcom to produce the transmitters with minimal labeling data changes for the country of destination. One would assume there would need a language translation at a minimum but perhaps the underlying data elements need not be changed? That is mostly speculation. Except the part about transmitter warranty not being uniform across all countries. That part was fact.
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Anecdotally, over the summer (July/August 2018) I was using sensors with a use by date of April 2017 and a transmitter that I likely got at the same time as those sensors. Transmitter lasted close to its full life (crapped out about a week early) and I had minimal problems with the sensors.
I think this was definitely a “good luck” situation more so than a representation on how long they last though.
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I am so new that I don’t even know what a “Trust level 3” is. All I wished was to alert you website owners that a Category is so erroneously named that people will get more confused & directed wrongly unless they read down in the “Replies”!
[FUDiabetes] How Long do Dexcom G5 Transmitters Last Past the “SB”, or Sell By Date?
THERE IS NO SUCH THING as a “sell by” date. Luckily one of the respondents posted as below to rectify the initial mistake, and due to the coded construction of this website (wiki or whatever its form is described as) the mistake is what appears in a Category list or search etc.!! TIA!
POSTED BY ANOTHER USER:
Per Dexcom User Guide:
SB = Ship By Date.
The funny icon which is perhaps intended to look like an hour glass = Use By Date.The crazy little icon that looks like it was drawn by a child in Kindergarten (three points followed by taller line) = Date of Manufacture
Transmitters are labeled with: Date of Manufacture and Ship By Date
Sensors are labeled with: Use By Date
EDIT: The transmitter warranty is not the same in all countries. However, I believe they all use the SB (Ship By Date) in the wording. So potentially, this approach allows Dexcom to produce the transmitters with minimal labeling data changes for the country of destination. One would assume there would need a language translation at a minimum but perhaps the underlying data elements need not be changed? That is mostly speculation. Except the part about transmitter warranty not being uniform across all countries. That part was fact."
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Good point.
The title has (just now) been adjusted.
Thanks for the FYI.
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Welcome, @Arfiezy! Hope you will stay around and participate!
The forum is just a publisher—the members are responsible for content 
I moved your post to the thread you were mentioning. @Thomas made the change you suggested. Thanks!
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It is a feature in the Discourse Application that automatically increases members rights as they interact positively in our community. The nice part about it for us, is that this is done automatically, i.e. the mod team here does not need to approve anyone, it just happens naturally as people stay active and contribute in our community.
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Very helpful, thanks!