Same. Back in the G4 days, I learned that a receiver was one too many devices to keep track of for me. I never forgot my phone, but I’d sometimes get to the office only to realize I’d left the receiver at home and had to be without all day. Was so excited when I was able to upgrade to G5—I got the software to upgrade my old G4 receiver but never did and just use my phone. I realize that’s not an option for medicare users though, which sucks.
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Have been offered the receiver twice by my provider–“are you sure you don’t want it?”–but I told them I use my phone and have an old one for backup. Hopefully that’s the end of it.
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Could you explain a little more about how you could do that? I’ve heard it’s upgradable but haven’t actually gotten that confirmed. Asked another CDE and was told it wasn’t possible to upgrade a G4.
To be honest, it was a long time ago, and I don’t really remember since I never did it. I was sent a CD with software on it that would upgrade my receiver I think, but immediately realized I wasn’t likely to be using the receiver ever again so didn’t bother…
Was it a Dexcom person who told you that? Either way, I’d call them and ask (again if it was them—might get someone else more helpful).
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If I remember, the original G4 receiver could be upgraded only to get the improved “505” algorithm, but not to use G5 transmitters because the radio frequency was different. A later G4 receiver had both radios so could be upgraded. In any case, I seem to remember that you can go to the Dexcom web site, download and install their receiver upgrade software to install on your PC, then run the software and it will look at your receiver over the USB cable and tell you whether any firmware upgrades are available for you (and then let you decide whether or not to install the upgrade). And they had a warning that if you upgrade the receiver from G4 to G5, you can’t go back.
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Ok. I have to be a smartass here.
My Dexcom receiver is the watch on my wrist, and it can work with G5 or G4. The companion phone app is so feature rich that I can’t even use all of the features. Oh, and my last G5 transmitter lasted 183 days.
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I do not have a G5 reciever - except for the one @docslotnick has.
When the G5 transmitters came to Canada I never ordered a reciever. The sales guy said “are you just going to use the iphone?” and I said - something like that… he knew what I was taking about.
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I just got my new touchscreen G5 and will not be immediately using it since 1) a person is not able to run two Dexcom receivers at once, 2) there seems be be no carrying case option except for those from tallygear.com and 3) I don’t like the fact that the screen is oriented vertically and has no ability for the display to rotate as the device rotates. It seems like Dexcom made some major assumptions in their re-design of the G5, namely that users will be willing to carry it in their pockets like a cellphone instead of attaching it to their belt to be able to immediately see their BG reading. Consequently, the likelihood of temporarily losing the new design seems to be greater than with the push button G5 since one will either need to have it out while driving long distances or use the cell phone app. I don’t understand why Dexcom couldn’t have added more than two channels to the transmitters (one for receivers and one for cellphones). I tried starting up my new touchscreen receiver while my old one was running and the new one wouldn’t or couldn’t accept a Bluetooth signal. I’m also bummed that Dexcom seems to not be updating the list of compatible Android phones for use with the cellphone app. Even if they had to add them one at a time, that would be better than apparently adding them in groups. I had to revert to using a Samsung S5 phone instead of a much newer Motorola phone that’s not on the list.
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We use our iPhone nearly 100% of the time because of the fact that you can do landscape within the Dexcom G5 Mobile app and finger over specific sections to see trending (how fast is he moving up or down), for treatment reasons. The receiver imho is not a great design. At the very least, we should be able to finger the screen or see previous numbers somehow. We’re really hoping to go to xDrip in the near future – hopefully before Liam starts Kindergarden (he’s 4 years old tomorrow) so we have another year to make it happen. Our plan is to switch to a Pebble watch + xDrip/Nightscout. I just have to get enough energy up to figure it all out.
Also, welcome to FUD, @mwashburn! Please drop by and introduce yourself, and share your story with us!
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After using the new Dexcom Touchscreen Receiver for about a week now, it is starting to grow on me. The aspects which are annoying are numerous and certainly are the first things to catch my attention. Once trying to get past all that, two aspects which are better than the old non-touchscreen receiver are:
3 hour data backfill - This is a big plus for me.
Improved connectivity both in terms of (slightly) longer range and better connectivity at short range.
I have not seen either of these items advertised or even mentioned by Dexcom but I am certainly seeing it for myself. Is this enough to make up for the annoyances? I don’t know. I land on the fence.
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