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Permalink Reply by Ali on November 9, 2009 at 12:46am

Hi Karla J! How's it going? I'm Ali. I have worked in healthcare in the nursing field for quite some time. I am also a T1D. Here's the low down on all of the pumps I've tried and the pros and cons of each. This will be lengthy.

The MiniMed Paradigm insulin pump is a good pump. It is durable, light, small, and fits in virtually any cell phone case. That's a plus since you can get cases for cell phones for five bucks but the holsters and clips can be twenty bucks plus. It has a rectangular screen with slightly raised well marked buttons for easy pressing. It is a menu driven pump which means no confusing icons to interpret. It offers hourly basal rates of 0.05u/h. It has a multitude of features that are easy to program. It has a backlight that is operated by the press of a button. The pump doubles as a continuous glucose monitor fueled by the sof-sensor and minilink transmitter..which attach to one another. Now the downfalls of this pump are that it is NOT waterproof or resistant, just "splash resistant". The customer service is fair. It also uses only proprietary infusion sets which means the standard luer lock will not work for this pump allowing you less freedom to choose.

The Nipro Amigo Insulin Pump. I don't know much about this pump but from what I've seen the only benefit is the "cool colors". It appears very bulky and the programming and operation seems a bit complicated.

The OmniPod insulin delivery system. I had a chance to demo one of these puppies. I absolutely loved the fact that it was tubeless, however if you are like me sometimes you leave the house forgetting things. While your basal rate will work without you PDM (personal diabetes manager) which is like a personal data manager the rest of the pump functions will not. You must carry that with you, now given that the PDM is also your glucometer. There are some pros to it. It's small and can be worn on the arm, thigh, abdomen, tush, or hips. Just like any other pump. This one is tubeless and has it's own insertion system built in. Three steps later your cannula is inserted and you didn't even have to see a thing! However if your pod fails you have to refill another pod with insulin and restart and reactivate a new pod wasting all of that insulin you put into your failed one. The batteries in the pod automatically "die" after 2-3 days so you may not realize your pod is "dead" until you have a high glucose reading. You shower, bathe and swim with the pod.

The Solo insulin delivery system. This is much like the omni pod except it is much slimmer and is a lot more economical. You pay as you pump meaning no excess equipment that you may not need. Also it comes in three parts. Your cannula cradle that attaches to your skin, the reservoir, and the operational system. The system lasts about three months and the reservoir is detachable from that unit. If your infusion site fails you just disconnect from your reservoir/base and change out the cannula meaning NO wasted insulin! I am getting a demo soon!

The cozmo pump is no longer manufactured and you don't want to know what I have to say about that pump!

Then there is the Animas Insulin pump! I LOVE Animas. Their customer service is beyond phenominal. Their pumps have the lowest rate of failure and can accomodate basal and bolus rates from as little as 0.025u! That means much tighter control and a lot better glucose readings. Their infusion sets are the stuff! They come in five amazing colors, Pink, Green, Black, Silver, and Blue. This is the only pump with a color screen that can be seen perfectly clearly in all lighting situations. It comes with a pump meter combo so that when you test your sugar levels it sends that reading to your pump allowing you to bolus the right amount all the time...now MiniMed also has this but the best thing about the meter is it is also a remote! This means you can bolus from your meter/remote and not even have to take your pump out from it's place on your body. Their infusion sets as I was talking about are their own all in one infusion set inserter combo. You pull off the protective plastic wrap, peel off the paper, pull off the cannula cover, remove the paper backing from the adhesive pad, unwind the tubing, pull up on the white thing and choose your site apply the inserter to your skin and press in on the indented tabs...now you have insertion! Those also come in colors, pink, blue, and grey...not sure if they still have the green ones.
I have the Animas IR1250 in Black. It's sleek as can be and I love it. I have all colors of the infusion set. The 2020 and Ping (the pump meter combo pump) have the color screens the IR1250 that I have does not. I don't need the color screen and I have a meter that I cannot part with so the Ping wasn't something I had an interest in. But I love it so much.

Lastly the AccuChek Spirit pump...All I have to say is Icon driven, I don't like it and it has a super small screen.

Most all infusion sets come with insertion devices or have built in ones. My favorite sets are the Cleo 90, Inset, and Inset 30. All sets have a disconnect point most at the site some have a small pigtail and a disconnect point. The Animas pump holds 200 units, the Nipro holds 300, the AccuChek holds 315, the MiniMed has two sizes of pumps, one holds 300 the other 176, the Solo holds 200-205, the OmniPod holds 200.

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask. I'm here if you need me.

I have been on the following pumps with insulin
MiniMed 502A, 504, 506, 507, 507C, 508, 511, 512, 515 and 722 (the 511-522 holds the smaller amount whereas the 715,722 holds the larger amount)
Deltec Cozmo 1700, 1800
Animas IR1200
My Current Animas IR 1250

I trialed the following with saline.
Omni Pod
and will trial a non working model of the Solo.
I have not trialed the Accu Chek as I didn't find it the least bit interesting. Nor did I trial the Nipro Amigo.

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Permalink Reply by J A Jones on November 9, 2009 at 8:30pm

I must concur with your analysis. Animas is the Ruler of the pump world. It is the most advanced technically. I agree about the EXCELLENCE of Animas Technical support. Most of the Animas support staff are pumpers. I heard one non-pumper mention they were one of about 3-4 in the eastern US at Animas who was not a pumper.

Each company will try to go tit for tat coming out with new whistles and bells. It is called one up over the rest - marketing.

I have worked in Emergency Medical Services. An OMNI POD is not identified as anything and can be lost in an emergency - this is really bad when you have just filled the cartridge and an uniformed EMT/Paramedic rips it off and puts it in a sharps can. The controller can be lost in a car crash and not seen as important. You can see the direction this leads. Another story about Omni Pod was a person had just reloaded and when to their MD (non-endo) and was going to need to remove the Pod due to a procedure (MRI or similar). It blew that Pod and the insulin. Most others you can detach and suspend or turn off.

My daughter just graduated from law school. While she was in school, I asked her to run the various pump makers through Lexus/Nexus for legal troubles. It seems all have had litigation except Animas. MM was sued over a defective "deadman" switch. A person living alone died from an HYPO episode. The family sued. The plaintiff prevailed. Accu-Chek has had some patent infringements and if a patent holder were to prevail, the pump could be off the street like the old Kodak cameras with little redress by the end users.

I wear an Animas Ping and a Dexcom CGM.

Jay

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Permalink Reply by the Duck on January 7, 2013 at 8:34am

so far the Tandem has been 'fun'. It has had a few 'hiccups' mostly with the cartridges but they have always been right there with replacement supplies, and an eagerness to help. Their distributor, Solara, (in my area), is not so much the same. But thats who I am assigned, so meh!

The Tandem t:slim has gorilla glass touchscreen, great sound alerts and alarms, and as I stated, so far, so good. It's important to remember that the primary function is to PUMP, so bells and whistles, while nice, and not the main objective-pumping worthiness IS the point.

I always find it assuring to check in with John Walsh, (pumping insulin) for an opinion. Look him up. He is near LaJolla/Encinitas area.
Good Luck.....

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Permalink Reply by AnnaPS on January 8, 2013 at 12:42pm

Hi Karla, I have Medtronic Minimed and I am very satisfied. It is easy to use and very stable. Good Luck from Sweden :)

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Permalink Reply by Jess78 on February 11, 2013 at 4:05pm

I a new pump user as well.I just got theAanimas ping getting hooked up tomorrow.

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Permalink Reply by Karla J Sherer on February 11, 2013 at 6:44pm

Hi Jess,

I wrote this question nearly 4 yr ago now. I've had my Animas Ping since July 2009 and I adore it. Your life will never be the same. Learn everything you can about all the settings so you don't have to depend on someone else to do it all. That is my best advice. I can adjust any of my settings to deal with the gain or loss of a few pounds and the ups and downs of diabetes that happens for no reason. My body chemistry seems to work better on the pump than when I did not have diabetes at all. I wish you the very best of luck.

Karla

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Permalink Reply by Jess78 on February 12, 2013 at 4:57pm

I have the animas ping. I never had a pump b4 so it will work.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Dee on February 14, 2013 at 2:36pm

I've had a minimed since January 2009, and I love it. Rarely have any issues with it.

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