Correction - the pod I lost was on the outside of my thigh, not my calf. Don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that.
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I’ve had a number of pods fall off mostly while running in very hot temps. This summer was not quite as bad though. I think credit goes to a suggestion made by @Eric to scrub the area with alcohol shwabs prior to placing the pod on the skin. As simple as that sounds, somehow it helps. I had only 1 pod fall off this summer.
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I always wipe the area with an alcohol wipe prior to placing my pod or my Dexcom G6. In my case, the plastic pod detached from the adhesive part, which remained stuck to my skin along with the Simpatch over-patch.
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I am always astounded when I hear about the lengths people will go to keep their hardware intact. The only time I ever used Tegaderm was when I was on the Dexcom and I was still swimming at the time. I dreaded cutting out the hole in the middle to make room for the transmitter only to have the Dexcom fall off anyway, etc. It was such an elaborate waste of my time. I finally gave up and discontinued using the Dexcom. I wear a MiniMed pump and it has the tiniest of pieces of adhesive, but in over 20 years of pumping and using basically the exact same tubing, it has NEVER fallen off except the several times I dropped my pump when I was trying to do too many things at once and my hands were too full of other pump supplies.
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Yes, that happens to me, too, when running. I haven’t found a solution for that. I think it is a faulty pod because as soon as I place the pod onto the skin I can already see the corner of the plastic reservoir starting to separate from the adhesive. Best fix is to tape iver the entire reservoir but the tape does not always work 
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Installed pod #5 today, and after pod #4 was deactivated, I tried to pull the plastic part off the adhesive, and could not. Then, I pulled the over-patch off, expecting the entire pod to come with it, but the pod and its adhesive remained completely intact. I was surprised. I then removed the pod, starting at the edge of the adhesive part, and it came off with some difficulty. I guess the one that fell off after being bumped was defective somehow. My numbers continue to improve, btw.
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@bggale I do like you for both my G6 and pods. I wipe sites after taking either off using a cotton ball with 70% rubbing alcohol (standard bottle from store) and do likewise prior to putting either on. I figure it has to help remove the oils from the skin that might impact adhesion as well as kill any germs/bacteria/etc lingering in the area. I understand from some I shouldn’t “wipe” or “blow” on the area dry, preferring to air dry, but I’m not overly picky about it.
Unfortunately the pods themselves can be insanely expensive 
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I am also liking the Omnipod 5/Horizon. I would say I like it a LOT. I have been using it for 3 months now. I am so glad to not be waking up low at night (which I did struggle with before.) I have basically not woken up low at night in 3 months, amazing. That straight line of blood sugar data overnight is a beautiful thing!
It has also almost completely gotten rid of lows for daytime as well, and is definitely helping the the “morning rise.” The other part of course, is a slightly smaller mental load - which is great, to say the least. And, A1c was recently the lowest it has ever been in my life with diabetes (27 years), I almost cried with joy!
I do wish that there was an option to have tighter control but I realize that they need to get official approval for that, but hopefully they can make that change sooner rather than later (it would be better to have the option of a target blood sugar of less than 110.)
I might get one of the compatible Samsung phones so that I don’t need to carry around the PDM anymore (not sure how long it’s going to take them to add more compatible phones.)
Is anyone using the Omnipod 5/Horizon with one of the few compatible phones? If you are, how is it? 
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I would definitely hold off on getting a compatible phone until they resolve the communication issue. There’s an “Important Note” about it on the device compatibility page:
IMPORTANT NOTE: We have identified a potential communication issue between the Omnipod 5 App and Pod running on the Android 12 operating system, primarily affecting certain phone models such as the Samsung S20 and S21 series. If you are experiencing this, we recommend restarting your phone. If this does not resolve the problem, we recommend temporarily using the dedicated Controller included in your Omnipod 5 Intro Kit to manage your insulin delivery. We are actively working on a solution and will update this page with the latest information.
Unfortunately, the certification process to add phones to the list takes them a long time and it seems like models are out of production by the time they added to the compatibility list. I had to buy my refurbished S20+ off ebay (at the time it was the most recent model on the list even thought the S22 had already been out for a while). For the first few days, it was great to just have a single device to carry around. But then I got slammed with pods losing communication and having to reinstall the app and replace the pod. So now I’m using the PDM and hating it. You’d think carrying around 1 more device wouldn’t be that big a deal, but the difference between 1 and 2 is actually huge just on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour basis. And the user-UNfriendliness of the PDM vs. a modern phone is pretty significant.
So for me, I’ll be overjoyed to have a working Omnipod 5 app on my phone, should that day ever come. You may not be able to buy an actually new phone to run it, but even the hassle of having to return a couple of phones before you get one that works is worth it in my book.
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Wow I did not realize this! Thanks so much. I will definitely wait to get a phone then!
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Saw my Endo yesterday, and based on my glooko info and what I told her about having to manually bolus myself 2 units several times a day, she raised my basal rate and tweaked another setting. She advised me to do no more manual bolusing so my pod can learn to better control my glucose level, but I foolishly did a manual 2 unit ‘adjustment’ when my level went to 160 2 hours after dinner, and I wound up way low at 2 a.m. Lesson learned - I now let my PDM calculate any needed bolus, and I’ve been just above or below 110 all day (I’m now at 114). No more manual bolusing for me. I see her again in about a month, but she said to call her if I get into trouble. The good news is, until today, I have given myself 2 - 3 units every morning to prevent going high after waking, and this morning I never went over 120.
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I have now gone through 2 boxes of pods, into my third. After the tweaks my Endo made to the settings, my levels seem to be much better, and unless I forget to enter the carbs for a meal, I have only made occasional calculated bolus corrections. I have tried eating pizza twice now, and as long as I enter the correct number of carbs, my levels have stayed pretty good with little or no correction necessary.
Yesterday, while on my treadmill, my PDM lost contact with the Dexcom for the first time for some reason. I attempted to re-establish contact several times, with no luck. I turned off my PDM (the first time since I’ve had it) and re-started it, and contact was re-established. No problem since then.
Note that I always place the Dexcom on the back of my arm, swapping back and forth every ten days, and I place the pod on the same side, either on my abdomen or the outside of my upper leg. I keep them on the same side so I have the option of sleeping on the opposite side in case I tire of sleeping on my back.
I see the Endo again in a week, so we will probably make some more minor tweaks, but I remain happy with the Omnipod 5.
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Just want to update my previous post about the communication bug in the phone app. Insulet has updated the device compatibility page to indicate that they have fixed the bug:
IMPORTANT NOTE: An update to the Omnipod® 5 App is now available in the Google Play Store. The new update addresses the communication issue between the Omnipod 5 App and Pod running on the Android 12 operating system. We recommend all phone control users update the Omnipod 5 App to the latest version [V1.0.92], regardless of whether you have experienced the issue.
I have reinstalled the app on my Galaxy S20+ and started a new pod. So far, so good, but I’m still on the first pod since I went back to the phone. I’ll post again if the issue comes up again, but it seems like it may be safe to get a phone to replace the PDM.
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My Endo adjusted my carb ratio, and apparently went a bit too far, since I’ve had 2 lows since. I will call her and see if she will let me tweak it back a smidge.
I also had a second incident of loss of contact with the pod from my PDM (I have an iPhone, so I carry the PDM). As before, I tried re-establishing contact a couple times, without success, and then turned the PDM off and back on. As before - problem fixed.
Now, for the first time, I have only 5 units left in my pod (it is almost 10:30 p.m.) and I replace tomorrow at 1:30ish, so I guess instead I’ll get up at 5:00 and swap then, then let that one go and extra 8 hours to get me back to 1:00. Got to remember to put a little extra in the pod tomorrow morning…
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@bggale My apologies for not knowing if you’re an old head at this stuff; but your post struck me as me two years ago when I got dx’d and didn’t know much. I’m not an old hand nor a doc/expert, but for older teens or adults (even some mature kids): I see us, the T1 patients, being in the driver’s seat with our docs being trusted advisers, but advisers none the less. Unless your device/system is locked down and requires the Endo to make adjustments, and if you’re comfortable making small individual adjustments on your own (CR, CF, ISF, etc.) then try it. Use your knowledge level, experience, and ability to make small changes, one at a time, for a couple days, and see if it works. If not change it back, try another change based on your knowledge and comfort level. After a period of time, we T1s know better what works for us and what doesn’t better than any doc probably ever will because we live with it daily; docs get to see us semi-annually/quarterly for 15 minutes. Certainly, let your doc/Endo know what you’re doing, why, what result, and keep the conversation going. We (including parents of T1 kids) need to be our own/our kid’s advocates. OK, I just realized this O5 discussion and it may be different…soap box mode off…back into hiding… 
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I was very excited to try the OM5, I even got the fake one to wear, until I found out, and was shocked, that they don’t have an iPhone app and I’d have to use yet another device with it. I mean talk about missing the boat. I don’t think I would have even launched it without it. So alas I am very disappointed as there’s no telling when they will get an app and I cannot bear carrying another thing in my jorts.
Is that an issue for you?
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Even though I have an iPhone, it is not an issue for me because believe it or not - I only turn my iPhone on when I am out of the house, so I always carried the Dexcom controller (which I miss) and I now always carry the Omnipod PDM. I wish it was smaller, to fit in my pocket better, and I wish it wasn’t Android based, which I suspect is why it has lost connection with my Pod 5 times (so far). Each time, I was able to re-establish connection by turning it off and on. That appears to be a problem the folks using the antiquated Android phones are also having, and based on the age of phones approved for use, I would guess the one the PDM is based on is also using an even older version of Android. The latest version of Android is bad enough, but the older versions are even worse! Frankly, the thought of using a phone with the worlds most malware affected operating system to control my insulin input is frightening to me. I hope nobody out there ever releases malware that could kill us all with insulin. At least the PDM is less exposed than a phone.
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All. The. Time. So irritating. Usually worst on legs, but it happened pulling pants off stomach), using my fob out my car window (arm), leg any bump at all…I thought it would be better on the Tandem because the site is small, but the tube gets caught, the pump falls and rips sites out, etc. they all have their own issues, and keeping them on is one. Wouldn’t go back to shots though since getting control iq!
@bggale, I have found your OP5 startup thread to be extremely helpful. I’m coming from years of MDI and Tandem pumping but so ready for tech that splits the difference (auto mode without tubing). Anyhow, wanted to thank you for sharing all this info. My OP5 gets delivered next week.
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