Animas Ping new feature suggestions

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Przepiora on February 3, 2009 at 1:30pm

They just came out with the ping and already another model?

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Permalink Reply by Vicki S on February 3, 2009 at 1:59pm

According to our rep - they are designing a pump to integrate with the dexcom 7 CGMS. I think it will still "ping" as well. He mentioned soon - but when I asked was soon in a few months, or a year or more - he said sometime in mid 2010. I really don;t know that even he was sure exactly . . .

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Permalink Reply by Kevin on February 3, 2009 at 2:17pm

Definitely fix the meter so it's easier to scroll. It's annoying that it either scrolls slowly or lightning fast.

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Permalink Reply by Anna Kiff (FatCatAnna) on February 3, 2009 at 5:06pm

Hmmm - I just posted in another thread here - and then went to the Animas.ca - and we don't have the Ping yet (or the next generation after that which is mentioned by Vicki S). We (and other countries around the world) tend to be abit behind the US due to our smaller population, etc. I know here in Canada we have tigher control for medical stuff coming into our country - alot of government bureaucracy paperwork to go thru' for companies to "sell" their stuff here I expect. Also, the pump is still relatively new here - especially in the province I live in (Quebec) - due to the high cost, etc. Hopefully things will change over time for us up north here - as there are some provinces that are paying outright for the pump/supplies for both children and adults. I guess that's the one good thing about our socialist government - but you pay for it thru' higher taxes.

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Permalink Reply by DennisD on February 6, 2009 at 1:43am

Things I wish my "Ping" had.

Pump:

1. Escape or "Back button". Handy thing really, instead of having to scroll down on the menu. Saves time.
2. Display date on home screen. Believe me, I constantly forget the date, this would be handy, not necessary, but handy.
Otherwise, change nothing.

Meter remote:

1. Have a similar screen as my pump does to make it easier to see when reading.
2. Meter menu scrolling is too slow. I appreciate what my meter does for me, I just hate waiting (For anything) and I want to get on with what I am trying to do. Rapid access to ALL features is what I want.

Both issues of the meter are very important to me as I use my meter remote for nearly everything. Saves me from having to unholster my pump and fiddle with buttons, keeps everything secure.

Issues irrelevant to me:

CGMS, sure, once the kinks are worked out of it, I might be interested in CGMS, but I am so used to poking my fingers from 6 to 12 times a day, I don't really think about it anymore. Presently, CGMS seems awkward and fairly inaccurate. Maybe someone else that knows more about it can chime in.


Prior pump experience: MiniMed Paradigm 722. Liked it ok, but I LOVE my "Ping" system.

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Permalink Reply by Sandy Palmer on April 19, 2009 at 8:08pm

My Dexcom 7 is awsome and dead on. Tricare doesn't cover it though so I only use it when I get really sick or go through some major changes to keep on top of it. Or just when I need to do basal checks.

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Permalink Reply by gw on February 10, 2009 at 9:47pm

If they could update the firmware on the One Touch Ping meter remote, to allow for a more reasonable scrolling through number values. It is ridiculously fast after a few seconds, to the point of impracticality, and on many occasions, I avoid it altogether. I find it necessary to input values one number at a time, which is a nuisance when entering large digits, be they carbs, or BG readings.

And as another user mentioned, as far as the pump is concerned, the date on the home screen would be helpful, as well as menu scroll that doesnt stop at the top or bottom, and possibly an escape or back menu function.

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Permalink Reply by Patricia Woycheese on June 30, 2009 at 4:07pm

I agree with improvements needed for scrolling (numbers and menu) and for the meter's lack of brightness, which must be awful for those with diabetes-related vision problems such as neuropathy.!

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Permalink Reply by gw on February 11, 2009 at 6:00pm

Another feature that I forgot to mention, and is one that I feel is necessary, is that the Meter Remote "Glucose Analysis:
'Graph by time of day' and 'Average by time of Day' need to represent the actual time of day and not time slots. For instance, if I want to analyse the BG data by the time of day, it is not possible to do it, since it uses either "preset" or "personal" times and calculates these as either before or after meals, rather than the actual time of day. This is a huge oversight, and I can only imagine it is left over from a previous method of controlling diabetes that advised a rigid and predetermined meal schedule for each and every day. Is this not what pumping is supposed to allow for, more freedom in terms of meal times? In practice, this makes calculating basal information using the meter remote very difficult, especially when your schedule varies. One cannot accuratley compare BG info with the basal rates on the pump, since the time slots are not interchangable, as the remote uses times of day in a broad categorical sense, whereas the pump uses the precise time of day.

In summary, there needs to be actual times of day recorded in the graphing and averaging on the Meter Remote.
The way the meter calculates averages based upon set meal times and not actual times of day creates a prohibitive system that prevents the flexibility that the user is promised by the insulin pump system, although this should be addressed, and hopefully changed. Also it only allows for one personal schedule, which is also prohibitive.

Further, the ability to program basal rates from the Remote should be included. And what does the category "other," have to do with describing anything health related? A feel "hyper" would be more practical.
There are a few other idiosyncratic menu functions that in essence prohibit the user from maximizing the potential of this excellent pump, and these are some of them.

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Permalink Reply by Tim on February 11, 2009 at 11:00pm

On the meter remote - audible "voice" capabilities for the visually impaired.

Question - I'm sure there is a good reason, but I'm wondering why the Ping uses the IR interface for computer networking? It must be the only way to maintain the integrity of the water-tight seal and still allow for networking. But It sure is slow! Can it be sped up any???

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Permalink Reply by Mary Alice on February 12, 2009 at 6:31pm

Meter/Remote:
- A QWERTY keyboard - so that it becomes a legitimate logbook. You can type in activities or more detailed notes about exercise/stress/etc. or you can type the foods that you ate that you are familiar with or that are not in the database. An "Auto complete" feature (like e-mail uses for typing in e-mail addresses) that would list suggestions from the food database based on the first few letters you type for entering foods for carb count or logs so that you don't have to go through the database. I would love a diabetic iPhone or Blackberry with regular music/net/phone capabilities with the addition of a calendar (doc appts, infusion set changes) the full Calorie King database, meter/remote capabilities for the pump, CGM interface,etc. Is this too much to ask?
- I like the date thing too! It would be nice to see what day it is!
- Certainly a matching screen
- Ability to set a temp basal from the meter

Pump & Meter/Remote:
A profiles setting like on a cell phone. It would have settings for alarms, alerts, warnings, reminders that are preset. Like for "Outdoor" you could set all audios on high, "Meeting" all set to vibrate, "Night"; "Normal", etc. This would negate all need to manually change all the individual settings for each occasion.

I love the face that my Ping allows me to customize the audio sounds!! After 1 1/2 days on the pump I love it!

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Permalink Reply by gw on February 12, 2009 at 9:52pm

That was a long post before, and after I thought more, I am wondering if an addition to the software on the Meter Remote would be more applicable to my concerns. For instance, the meter could also read and program basal information, and provide BG data as it relates to Basal Rates. This is in my opinion the one feature that should be improved, as the Ping is leading in terms of Bolusing, but the two machines are lacking in compatibility in terms of Basal rates.
And yes, the IR communication is ridiculously slow, and it causes me pain. I suffer from arthritis and have an almost impossible time downloading the data onto my PC...

I sent an email to Animas, and I hope they will address these concerns. I'll let you all know, I hope if anyone else has a similar experience they might also share with everyone.

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