I currently still have the Dexcom G5 CGM and supplies, and have not yet moved on to the G6. I personally had a few issues with the G5 that at times stopped me from using it. How much different would you say the G6 is? Is it as grand as they advertise? Also, how well does it work with the Basal IQ technology?
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@SmileTomato, yours is a rather vague and open-ended question. There are large numbers of threads on people’s experience with G5 and G6 transmitters on this site. Why don’t you do a search and have a look. There probably are 300-400 threads on the G5. Here is one on the G6 that describes the problems people have:
One example of how you can go through a lot of relevant threads is by looking at the /Categories tab, and looking for the c/gm subcategory which has the majority of the Dexcom threads.
Search is your friend 
Ok thanks! I’ll check it out. I also was wondering if anyone has any recent experiences explaining how the G5 differs from the G6. Sometimes it’s nice to hear a fresh response.
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My 3yo daughter went from G5 to G6
In my opinion G6 is definitely better.
Putting it on (changing) is much easier. (Big thing for us)
There are no calibrations - we rarely if ever calibrate it. (Big thing for us)
It is more accurate (overall feeling)
The warm-up has a better timer (small thing)
It lasts 7-9 days, never 10 days. It usually starts “hopping around”, instead the usual curve the points are off the trend curve.
It has “sensor error” once every 2 weeks usually fixed within 30mins. I usually find these sensor errors are attributable to a value that the system deems unlikely to be right e.g. compression low or 7+ days usage.
I do advise against calibrating it - I don’t and it recovers. I think I have calibrated it once in the last 6 months, it was towards the expire time and it could not seem to get back from 40’s to 80’s
It certainly is prone to some issues but Dexcom have replaced every time with a call and minimal discussion.
Ed
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In my experience, the biggest and most noticeable difference in the G6 is the lack of calibration request alerts. It can kinda lull you into sense of complacency though, because you still should occasionally do a fingerstick to check if the sensor is reading accurately, and maybe calibrate it if needed.
Sensor insertion is MUCH easier, and way more comfortable. I’ve been a diabetic for a long time and needles don’t scare me at all but man do I prefer an auto-inserter.
For me, the G6 is definitely noticeably more accurate and keeps up pretty well with changing BG. YDMV though, and some people have problems with this.
I love Basal-IQ personally. It works better than I thought it would be able to.
Occasionally get sensor errors on the G6, which can be a little annoying, but I think are necessary component of the no calibration design.
The G6 runs for 10 days vs the G5’s 7, but if you are restarting your sensors, the G5 is a little easier to restart and typically my G5 sensors would last a little longer than my G6 sensors are. I can typically get a good (accurate) 12-14 days from a G6 sensor, and I could get up to 21 on the G5 if I was willing to (though I ran most for 14).
Adhesive on the G6 is definitely weaker than on the G5. My G6 sensors do typically need tape by day 6 or so, my G5 sensors rarely needed tape before like day 10.
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We made the change primarily because of Basal-IQ. I would say the sensors have been more accurate at dealing with changes i.e. they don’t stay high or low as long as the G5, so in that regard they are better. We didn’t calibrate much with the G5 anyway (maybe once every 3 days) so that hasn’t been so big of a change.
Basal-IQ on the other hand is a really lovely algorithm if the sensors are mostly accurate for you. We have landed many many highs without using carbs, I am talking about staggering 350’s down to a flat roll out at 85-90 due to the algorithm. Additionally, we now get very aggressive at night by using temp boluses, and the one out of 5 nights where the growth hormone isn’t hitting, he heads low, and when the Basal-IQ shuts off his insulin it also cancels his temp basal, so this gives us all a great peace of mind allowing us to be aggressive, but not worried about his pump killing him. That lets us sleep more.
So if you want to get more aggressive with your insulin therapy, and the CGM is mostly working for you, I think the change to the G6 is well worth it, issues and all. The easier application is definitely a bonus for us.
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Big YDMV here, but personally I like the G6 MUCH better
The G5 for me would lose signal all the time (even with my phone at hand), and that rarely happens with the G6.
The G6 is way way more accurate for me than the G5. I stopped using the G5 because I found it frustrating in that it was really unreliable for me. The G6 is not by any means perfect accuracy-wise like I was kind of hoping for/expecting, but I do trust it way more than the G5. The most the G6 will be off is by 50 for me towards the end of a sensor life. Based off a general feeling (no official testing), I think the G5 was more accurate than the G6 in only low ranges (below 60) for me.
I never had luck with extending sensors with the G5 (too many lost signal issues and inaccurate readings). I cannot extend ALL G6 sensors, but for the ones that have been accurate even at day 10 I will try extending. On average, IF I extend, then most of the time I get about ~13/14 days of sensor life total (the most I’ve gotten was 21 I think). I walked into using the G6 thinking I’d be able to extend all sensors and extend them for 20+ days. That hasn’t proved to be true for me, YDMV.
Insertion with the G6 is SO MUCH BETTER. Nearly painless and easy to do (unlike G5!!!) 
Adhesive on the G6 definitely needs help to make it 10 days alone and definitely more for if you’re extending. Investing in skin tac and sim patches was the move for me.
Overall, I went into it with the impression of “no more finger sticks yay!” based off ads and others stories. I still finger stick for treating lows and for corrections, but I trust the G6 trends it shows me and it has proved to be accurate (within 20) the majority of times. But definitely at times it can be off by 30+ (depending on how quick you’re rising, falling, or if it’s just not a great sensor)
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Very well said, and I can personally attest to most of what you have said now that I have started using the G6!
I started with the G5 and couldn’t wait for the G6. The main issue for me was the no calibration required. I agree that the accuracy is much improved. The tape/adhesive SUCKS though. if they could just put the old tape on the new G6 that would be great!
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You may have one of the early batches. They changed vendors and then went back to their old vendor (I think I am remembering this correctly).
Last two shipments, they have stuck just fine on my son with one Grif Grip over the top.
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Just in case you haven’t tried it, I clean the area and the same as the G5, I put a light coating of skintac directly onto the G6 adhesive, wait until it’s properly tacky then apply. That works through daily exercise, swimming etc and lasts for a few weeks 
I have been using dexcom g6 since may 29, 2019. It worked very nicely for me since, except one time I got a bad sensor and another time a bad transmitter. Dexcom graciously replaced both. Today, as I replaced a new sensor, warmed up after 2 hours, started reading, then came a sudden low of 65, then 56 right before my dinner time. Immediately i started my dinner and it started to go lower, mind you, definitely i did not take my insulin because I was on the low already. Because i didn’t feel hypo, i decided to calibrate. 1st time i got 234, entered it, got calibration error with the direction to calibrate in 10 minutes. 2nd cal. 222, same error, 15 minutes later, 3rd cal. 215, same again and again, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Mine has been out of wack a couple of times, but I can’t recall anything (at the moment) that was this bad. I suggest talking with their care team, they will talk you through pretty much anything. Besides that, maybe trying to find a well known diabetes educator would be helpful. Good luck!
Dexcom Customer Support Line: 1 (888) 738-3646
You’ve probably got this sorted out already, but, in my experience, when it gets in that pattern of repeatedly asking for calibrations, it’s never coming out. You’ve got to start again with a new sensor and a new warm-up.
I regularly have the problem of false lows in the first 24 hours. My advice in the future is not to attempt to calibrate when it’s reading super low. It will, more often than not, come back and become more accurate on its own. (And, by days 3-10, I usually find the G6 to be super accurate.)
The alarms are annoying, though, and just seeing those crashing numbers even when you know they are false is, well, alarming. Yours sounds like it was so far off that it may not have come back even if you had let it alone. Dexcom will, of course, send you a replacement. (Though there’s no replacement for all the time you lost with a new warm-up period!)
I don’t calibrate much in general, and, if I do, I would wait until it’s in a normal range and reading steady for a good 20 minutes or so.
We have almost never calibrated a G6, I would call Dexcom and get it replaced. As you mention they are pretty gracious, although it does take an hour or so lately to get through to someone and get the problem sorted. So we tend to do this on the weekends, which probably makes the wait longer…
We have been on a run of moderately poor luck, so we are calling Dexcom and getting additional sensor(s) about once every two weeks currently.
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Sometimes when I get blood in my sensor, the first day if readings are super low. I have called Dexcom and they will replace the sensor but the blood usually dries up in a day so it should eventually start working (but the alarms are super annoying).
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Thank you for sharing your experience with me.
Yours,
sheikh: Shaker Elsayed
imam @ DAH
I just started with the G6. Had been on the G5. I’ll not overly impressed. The no calibration is nice, sensors go on nice and stay well.
Getting sensor error warnings. Twice today and takes 2 hrs. before I get a read out.
I’ll call Dexcom in the morning and see what they have say.
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Definitely not looking forwards to the forced switch that it about to happen.
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Yeah, G6 is funny. Some people have poor results and others have no issues. I’m one of those that have very good results with G6. The only issue I have is with the readings in the first 8 hours being off. But after that it is spot on.
Hopefully you just have a bad sensor. Good luck!!
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