Research and Decision

After hearing from the Facebook group, I did more of my own research on the two pumps (Animas Ping and Medtronic Minimed Paradigm Revel).  I had brochures and went throughly both sites on the web to find what I considered the pluses and minuses.  They each have positives to them some of which I wish I could have combined into one pump. I will highlight a couple of features that were different as there are some features that are the same even though it is difficult to determine that from there charts on the websites as one of them compares to a different model.

Animas Ping	Minimed Revel
Bright Color Screen Remote Bolusing from Meter	Larger Reservoir Size Option CGM capability built into Pump

CGM = Continuous Glucose Monitoring

I really enjoyed the bright color screen of my Bayer Contour USB meter.  The screen actually made me more willing to test and maybe a little more excited about it.  I realize it is just a psychological thing but it helped me as it would have different colors for in and out of range blood sugars.  In addition I love technology and the fact that I could plug the meter right into the computer to download was a big plus.  

The Remote Bolusing was interesting but it wasn't a big enough item for me to want the Animas pump.  The larger reservoir size of the Minimed was something I liked because I didn't want to change sites as often, the smaller size or the Animas I might have had to change sites every two days instead of three.  Besides the better control and freedom the pump helps with I wanted less injections.  The built in CGM into the meter was a bonus on the Minimed as the Animas uses a separate module for the CGM, although they are working on integrating it.

One other factor that I got from talking to users was durability.  From talking to several folks on Facebook the Minimed appeared to more durable that the Animas pump.  Both were good in replacing a broken pump from my understanding but it appeared that the Minimed pumps did not have to replaced as often.  Granted this was a small sample but it comes from the real user experience that I was hoping would help me.

My decision came down to the CGM being integrated and the ability to have a bigger reservoir.  I have been a diabetic doing injections for 20 years and didn't want the possibility of have to do a site change every 2 days as opposed to 3.  Granted it depends on the amount of insulin used each day but I didn't want to have worry about it which was important to me.  Also I should note with the CGM you still need to test regularly but the CGM has predictive alerts and can help in those in between times, but the meter readings are used to calibrate the CGM.  Someday hopefully they will have it figured out how to remove the testing all together but until then it is still a big improvement.

The pump selected was the Medtronic Minimed Paradigm Revel 723 (which can use the regular  or larger 300 unit reservoir).