There’s another setting that can influence how aggressive the Om 5 will be: “Max basal rate”. I have mine set to 4.8 u/hr which coincidentally is where the “Auto mode” maxed out a few nights ago after a pizza and cake BG spike. The menu allows this setting to go as high as 30U/hr. I might fiddle with that and see if a higher “max basal rate” allows the Om 5 to tamp down BG spikes quicker or better.
Ok, good to know. That is on the tandem pump as well. I do have it pretty high as I definitely need more when I cheat and eat things I shouldn’t 
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I’m not totally sure but I just got done listening to the juicebox podcasts episodes on omnipod 5 and they said the max basal is ignored by the algorithm and only useful for manual mode.
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@eric may want to read that because when it first became available he asked how “aggressive” the O5 could be. What you describe is way, way, more aggressive than can be achieved in OpenAPS without overriding many, many, warnings.
Reading through my OpenAPS SMB status my max basal rate is 1.79IU/hour, somewhat smaller than 0.45IU/5minutes (5.4IU/hour). The SMB stuff does, to some extent, do an end run round that but in my case it only delivers 0.2IU in five minutes, and only after a bolus.
A lot of this is misleading terminology; there is no such thing when pumping as a “basal” or a “bolus”. There is only injected insulin. So far as I can see all the credible closed loop algorithms, Loop, OpenAPS and Insulet(O5) all calculate the total amount of insulin delivered and are all prepared to override any pre-programmed “regular” insulin delivery. They’re all confusing but that’s because they use the same misleading terms, “bolus” and “basal”.
Using OpenAPS oref1 what it terms as a “basal” is invariably reduced to 0 when it starts what it terms a “bolus”. Now that sounds confusing and scary but it’s just words obscuring meaning. What it actually does is deliver regular insulin until food arrives, then it stops and delivers one large dose of insulin for the food followed by small boluses combined with checks on my BG.while it manages to balance all the data so that it can drop back to the regular doses.
So far as I can determine the O5 does pretty much the same but is more “aggressive”. The oref1 algo is almost paranoid; it won’t do a 0.45IU dose. What it does instead is to do a series of (in my case) 0.2IU doses. 
Now this might be partly because of what it calculates as my “max basal rate”, but that’s not a single setting in OpenAPS, it’s the minimum of 7 different calculated values (I do not jest in this case, it really is seven.) Only one of those can be set directly, and it is not the one that produces “1.79”.
I don’t think there is any competition here. First and foremost it is what you are used to; the terminological confusion because of the inappropriate use of “basal” and “bolus” is enough to isolate the competitors into islands of misunderstanding. My first take is that if you think it works do not, under any circumstances, change; the learning curve caused by the language is too steep.
My second take is that everything is the same. There are absolutely no meaningful differences at the level being discussed here.
That said it is becoming clear there is one very important difference; the target BG we can set. The commercial algos limit that because they don’t want to be sued for low BG and because they have carefully studied how “safe” the algos are. The Loop and OpenAPS algos do not; you want to target 90mg/dL it’s your fault. Based on my experience with OpenAPS (using the AndroidAPS interface) I can’t go below 100mg/dL, but that is still better for me than the O5 110mg/dL (IRC) lower limit. I can’t recall the Control-iQ limit but I think it was 120mg/dL.
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112 is the target for Control-IQ.
It isn’t hard to make it keep you lower though, as C-IQ lets you still have basal profiles like the normal pump does. Just set a higher basal rate, and you can stay lower than 112 without too much trouble.
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That’s definitely a win for the O5 then; it may take a while but my guess is that it will eventually detect the lie. I don’t know about OpenAPS; it does seem to be vulnerable to undercounts on carbs, but they have to be big undercounts (like omitting 20g). I haven’t tried deliberately overcounting but I’m guessing that will crack all the algos; they necessarily trust carb estimates. With oref2 the basal is frequently irrelevant but deliberate overcounts might crack it. It’s not an experiment I will try.
The fact that Control-iQ is so easily hacked and the fact that the hack might be unintentionally used by any number of diabetics who don’t know what their true basal is means to me that it is a non-runner.
It was the only hack when using Basal IQ.
It carried over to Control-IQ.
Honestly, I doubt many people that are not on forums like this would try this method. Most will use their previous profiles and enable Control IQ. Then rarely look at them again unless they actually needed more.
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Well, I finally got all the prior authorizations to go through and they shipped me the Omnipod5 intro kit. I should have it by the weekend. Perfect timing for my next site change!
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I got the O5 even quicker!
Wow, training is even more basic for these things!
I setup the PDM and had the thing inserted and the CGM already reading before getting part way through training.
VERY simple to use!
I took a small gamble and used my previous settings that I was using with the Tandem with Control-IQ.
About the only thing that I see as different is that I can now set the time for insulin, vs Tandem is still force set at 5 hours when using Control-IQ.
Feels weird to not have a infusion set with tubing (Yeah, no more cats trying to chew on my tubing when I am not looking! ) and no pump bouncing around from my SPIbelt.
I went straight to Auto mode.
I will update with how it is working for me. I guess there are only really a couple of us that have used both pumps. And I know I like to tweak the settings to really make the pump do what I want.
But, the carb ratio and correction ratio are really the only things that should make a difference. As the total basal is only used in manual mode?
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Congrats @Hammer on getting your OP5!!!
I came from the Tslim x2 and loved CIQ. As with all new pumps I’ve done some tweaking and trial and error. I think the biggest takeaway I’ve had after probably 10 pump changes is patience. I am not a very patient T1 when my BS goes over 150. I want to correct it immediately. The OP5 algo is still “learning” for me as I’m still seeing minor adjustments day to day that keep me closer and closer to 110 on a consistent basis.
@John58 has some very good insight on all of this if you haven’t read his posts yet!!
Good luck and let us know if you figure out any tweaks that work for you.
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I fully understand the impatience part of things when your BGs go higher than you want.
I am seeing how it adjusts things, and I imagine it has only just begun, so it will start doing more as it learns more.
I didn’t like that it wasn’t keeping me under 130 last night, but I will let that go for a few nights to see if this improves or I need to make a change.
I have noticed more erratic ups and downs (same sensor I had in from the Tandem, so I know it was a stable CGM reading.) I figure these will tone down a little with the new system learning.
My initial thought is that my settings I used to tweak the Tandem pump are going to be a good starting point for me after all. I will see how they work when I eat bigger carb meals, foods like pizza, etc.
I was very happy with most of the Control-IQ setup. Small gripes about not setting the time for insulin, and having to use inflated correction ratios to make it work like I wanted. But overall it did a very good job and taking a lot of the mental load off of being T1.
Hoping that the O5 will provide at least that same benefit, quality of life improvements are becoming a bigger goal to me than just the lower A1c (I’m always in the 5’s anyways, so as long as I stay there, I am happy.)
Side note, I am still struggling with muscle memory of having a tubed pump. Things like pulling your pants on and adjusting for the pump. How I tuck my shirt in, etc. seems like I had trained myself to do a LOT of little movements without thinking that are no longer needed. Not a bad thing, just noticing the changes.
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LMAO me too about the tubed pump thing. Multiple times I’ve reached to “disconnect” and it’s not there any more. I love it. It’s been so nice to go back to an OP. On a side note, my latest pod change seems to really have me dialed in. Very, very happy with the numbers and the adjustments being made by the algo.
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I’m curious about this:
Does this pump actually LEARN? People have said that about previous pumps but they actually weren’t that active. I’m still considering switching but likely hanging on to my TSlim for now.
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Same here, with 2 years left on Tslim warranty. Will decide then, when other choices are likely to be available.
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Unfortunately my warranty is about up so I have to decide sooner rather than later!
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Maybe not. It may be that if your insurance covers the pods under the pharmacy benefit, and if you get the PDM out of pocket rather than through insurance, then the insurance company hasn’t bought you a pump (DME) so you’re not locked in for 4 or 5 years.
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My insurance covered the ‘intro kit’, which has the PDM and 11 pods as pharmacy.
I tslim was out of warranty in April, but still working fine. I changed because my new insurance doesn’t cover tandem pump supplies under pharmacy. Go figure.
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Hey @allison …. I believe it does. I don’t have any other explanation for it getting better with each pod change.
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That is what my (type 1 diabetic) CNP told me. I’ll probably discuss with her again next time I see her!
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Well, due to a snafu with my insurance I had to go back on my tslim for a few days.
I immediately noticed that Control IQ on the tslim pump kept my overnight numbers much lower!
My daytime numbers were lower as well.
I think the O5 does a really good job at keeping me from going low. Even when exercising, I definitely feel safer with the O5 setup.
It is also a lot easier to do the exercise mode on the pod, as I can set a time for it to last, and it automatically goes back to auto mode when the time is up (very convenient for me, as I often forget this with the tandem setup.)
I have shortened my insulin duration to 3 hours. I have my correction and carb ratios pretty darn aggressive, but my overnight numbers consistantly stay higher on the O5. I bet my next A1c might be in the low 6’s instead of the mid 5’s just because of how the O5 operates.
Not particularly thrilled with this part of it.
I definitely like not having the tubing, and being able to put the pod and dexcom in other locations (been doing good using my upper inner thighs.)
I will probably try some other locations to see if they might be part of my problem with keeping my numbers lower.
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