I’m curious!!
I think tubeless is the biggest thing for EH. He never wanted to try a pump because of the tubing. It was a total dealbreaker for him.
Reading that many folks actually love their tubed pumps makes me happy though. 
I’m really glad that people find what works for them!
We have never had an occlusion alarm in 2.5 years of using the Tandem.
Alright you asked for it 
I will admit that a bunch of them are for aesthetic/silly reasons
Specific to the PDM:
In general:
Whew okay. I am most certainly glad there are a nice little variety of ways for people to manage diabetes, so I can have such strong opinions about what I think is best for me 
I’m not trying to sway you – you’re happy with your decision – but I’d like to say …
I think it’s difficult to use the words “slow” and “behind” when the technology is advancing so quickly, and the various players are only a year or two apart with their products. Insulet is onstream with its Horizon hybrid loop to be released in 2020, and the Tidepool Loop integration should be out in 2019. Nor are they the only tubeless pump anymore. The Accu-Chek Solo, the Medtrum A6, and the almost-tubeless Cellnovo and Lilly patch pumps (and I may have left out one or two) are gaining traction. So I wouldn’t say they’re resting on their laurels.
I also continue to be impressed by how seriously they take problems and complaints. It’s not just “Sorry about that, we’ll send you a new pod.” It’s practically a police interview, though a very friendly one, each time I call. They want to know all the details of the issue, in order (in their own words) to improve the podding experience for all users. They may not be ahead of the pack in the race, but as a user I value this measured approach, focused on improving existing product rather than rushing something to market (670G, anyone?).
For what it’s worth, I’ve been a light sleeper and a major roller all my life, and had many nights interrupted by having to unravel tubes from my body. (When I started pumping, there were no short tubes.) I’d read about people’s issues with sleeping on their pods, so I was concerned. But you know what? I stopped rolling! It’s like my brain says to my sleeping body, “Don’t roll on that side – your pod is there.” Of course other people’s sleeping bodies may not be so obedient.
The thing is, I just disagree. Even beyond the CGM integration, unless I’ve missed something, I think Insulet has released 2 versions of the Omnipod system? I’ll even give them the benefit of the doubt and say 3 since DASH will be out soon, and they were founded in 2000. Tandem started in 2006 and has released 5 versions of their pumps (t:slim, t:flex, t:slim:G4, t:slim X2, and t:slim X2 with Basal-IQ). And since 1999 Minimed/Medtronic have released at least 6 versions of their pumps (Minimed 508, Paradigm Real-Time System, Minimed Real-Time Revel, 530G, 630G, 670G). Although I agree that they shouldn’t rush things to market, this type of thing is why I believe they are slow to innovate, which is not something I personally look for as a consumer. And I won’t let them off the hook on this for good customer service, because that’s a completely different aspect of the company.
Have you seen this estimate somewhere? I haven’t seen any estimates on the Tidepool Loop-Insulet combo’s release and I was assuming it would be much longer than that since they just announced they were even working on this in the last couple of months. The best estimate I have seen is “maybe before the Horizon in Late 2020”
Mine certainly isn’t, cause I really tried very hard to train myself not to roll over onto the Medtronic Enlite CGM or the Libre/MiaoMiao when I was on those and that did not work in either case 
OMG - You missed t:slim X2 w/G5. 2017.
There is actually a nice PDF with this info but I don’t think the FUD site takes PDFs. I could publish the PDF on TUD and post a link here to there.
Yes, you’re right, and I got the wrong timeline. But to me, this is not a long wait.
I think the pod ‘squealing’ thing is the same as the t:slim ‘occlusion’ thing. I have been using pods for 1 year and I have only had 1 pod squeal. People love to complain about things, but when everything is going well you don’t really hear about it.
Also, when I was using my Animas pump, infusion set/cartridge changes were a chore and I hated the insertion process. I find the pod change process much faster and easier.
But I loved my Vibe and I love my Omnipod, and I am sure that I would love the t:slim also if I tried it. All pumps are great and thankfully there are choices for all of us.
Based on what I have read - I don’t think they are even close.
Certainly I could be wrong.
Having experienced plenty of learning curve issues (although no occlusion alarms) with our Tandem pump, and having experienced the squealing of a pod, I will say the squealing is the most annoying, it didn’t help that the first time we experienced it was during a baseball inning, and I was unaware of the protocol to make it be quiet and resorted to destroying it with a baseball bat to make it go away. It was quite the sight. (pun intended)
I really could not say whether it’s close or not, although I have read many posts of people complaining about occlusions with the t:slim and what they have to do to avoid them. Somehow I think that certain people just have issues with certain technologies for whatever reason (physiology, technique, understanding…). Why don’t my pods ever squeal (except for that once)? Is it that I have a good insertion technique, am I less hard on my pods, is my physiology more compatible? Who knows? As long as they work well for me I am happy.
You have an additional 8 hours ‘drift time’ after the expiration 3-day message. So, you do have some slack time here.
I’ve noticed that Liam has already learned how to position his body in bed so that he doesn’t “sleep on bob” (cgm). Also, if I need to correct during the night and he’s sleeping on Fred (his POD), I have to position his body in such a way that the POD is exposed so that it can speak to the PDM. I wish the connectivity between the CGM/Receiver and POD/PDM were stronger and able to pass through things such as someone laying on their POD/CGM.
They’ve been working toward a closed-loop solution for quite a while, so although right now they have nothing, they’ve been in R&D for quite a while on their new gen technology.
The POD squeels for any number of reasons…any ‘error’ that occurs, causes a squeel. Either way, there’s a problem and they have to be changed out so I don’t mind the squeel. I’d rather have the squeel occasionally then nothing happen and insulin stops being delivered. It’s a small price to pay imo! But they don’t happen very often for Liam so it’s of little consequence.
My issue with the squealing is not so much that it will happen often but more that it happens at all. I hate all audible pump beeps/alarms, I set absolutely everything to vibrate. I get mad when I plug the t:slim in and it beeps, which is at least something I know is coming. I would personally rather just dismiss the occlusion alarm, with no one around me at all the wiser that my pump is acting up. I understand why they designed the pods to work that way, because you’re less likely to be keeping an eye on your PDM, but it’s a definite con for me.
It may be that my alarm hatred stems from the fact that I’m still mentally scarred by the Medtronic 530G’s threshold suspend alarm, not sure 
Ah but if I usually do a reservoir change once every 5-6 days, the 8 hours extra doesn’t feel like that much extra. I guess my complaint would be more accurately phrased if I said I prefer having the ability to change out infusion sites and reservoirs independently of one another.
I understand that the other pump companies have been able to release new products more quickly because many of their new products essentially added the ability to see CGM data from various CGMs on the pump. And the pod/PDM setup inherently means you maybe less time close to your PDM or paying attention to your PDM than you would with a tubed pump, so just seeing CGM data on the PDM wasn’t a top priority. (Well it was a priority for 5 years, and then they came up with the idea of the DASH and decided not to bother with that.)
BUT the fact that Omnipod has been around for 18 years and has only offered up 2 (almost 3) iterations of a patch pump that talks to a controller basically without any other new technology (in terms of technology designed to actually help with BG control) is the reason I have a dislike for how Insulet does things. To me It’s odd that they’ve spent so much time on R&D for their closed-loop system but decided to skip the low glucose suspend phase, which is probably probably far simpler to develop and get approved.
I’m glad they’ve been putting so much work into the R&D on their HCL, and in 2 years when it finally comes out I hope it’s everything people have been hoping it will be. I’m just not willing to wait that long for them, personally.
Depending on which sports he chooses these may be more frequent. Cody is a physical catcher and he went through 2 of them in one game. The first started squealing after a play at the plate, when the other players foot hit it as he was getting tagged out, the other one occurred when my son slid hard into second base. Both times the game had to be paused while we dealt with the pods. Not very fun.
All my tubed pumps (AutoSyringe, Nordisk and Minimed 506 or 507?) had occlusion and other alarms, and they all seemed to shriek at inopportune times (theatre, funeral, exams). The more recent vibrate option is great. It would be nice if the pod could vibrate or had some kind of snooze button, though of course the more features they add to the pod, the bigger they get.
Were these alarms that couldn’t be turned off with the PDM? Wow, that’s rotten luck. I’ve had three squealers in two years, but I’ve been able to switch them off with the PDM. (Two were apparently related to a bad lot number.) I’m still hoping to get to use the paper-clip trick at least once in my life – but only if it goes off when I’m alone at home and have nothing pressing to do!
I keep a paper clip in my purse just in case, but I have never had to use it outside of the house. The only time I had to use a paperclip was when I was vacuuming in fleece sweatpants and my pod was on my leg - my pod did not like the static and told me so. Paperclips work well 
Except that this wouldn’t help a caregiver at all. I wouldn’t hear Liam’s vibrations so this wouldn’t work in our case. The squeeling wakes me up from my sleep where vibrations wouldn’t. I can see how this would be a better option for someone self-managing their diabetes, though.
The first squealer was the first time we tried a pod, and I had no idea what to do on the PDM to make it shut up. It had apparently been dislodged or damaged by the kick, and started squealing. After getting frustrated and having two teams worth of parents, kids and the umpires looking at me, the bat came into play and I found out how tough the pods are. I got a small ovation and a bit of stink eye from the crowd. Then we applied a second one after the first failure, and well you know the result.