Will you recommend the Navigator to your endo?

[ecs1516]

I was just wondering for people on the Navigator would they recommend the Navigator to their endo for other patients?

I love/dislike the Navigator. I love using it when it works.
I feel the quality needs to be improved in the equipment.
The company needs faster response to customers for fixing/replacements.
We need a way give direct feedback to the company.

Do I want to keep using the Navigator? Yes, we have good results but hope our equipment doesn't stop working anytime soon. Abbott doesn't have replacements to send out now? Why, I have no idea.

[Mama Belle]

Yes and No. Honestly, the device is excellent when it works. Our worked great for less than 4 weeks and then it failed to work at all. Even that would be okay if the company stood behind its product and took care of customers by getting replacement units immediately to those who have units that have stopped working. The customer service I have experienced has been less than helpful and honestly makes me think that the folks at Abbott have no clue what they are doing. So based upon the device my answer is yes, but based upon the customer service my answer is a big fat no.

[hold48398]

Agreed. Despite the shortcomings, I would absolutely recommend it. The Navigator is extremely helpful in detecting trends, finetuning basal and bolus rates, and the most important thing for us: Preventing lows. We have had less than a handful of lows (<60) since we started in August. And we can improve overall A1C levels by running Mia tighter at night, which makes up for 1/2 the A1C!...because I know I can rely on the Navigator to catch if she goes too low. That's worth it alone. So yes, I will recommend the Navigator but with a caveat.

[Mama Belle]

I really wish Abbott would get their act together. I was looking at Samantha's CoPilot graphs tonight (we have an endo tomorrow) and I printed off her glucose modal reports from week 1 on the sensor and week 3 on the sensor and the difference is astounding. As I told the various people at Abbott that I spoke with today, part of the reason I am so frustrated by not having a working device is because it really, really helps us. If the device didn't help, I wouldn't be nearly as upset. But every day that we go without the Navigator is a day's worth of numbers that I feel are not being managed effectively. We've experienced a lot more lows that we otherwise would have prevented and we've also had more difficulties fine tuning her pump settings and have ended up with some wild fluctuations (just like before the CGMS). So I recommend the device itself, highly (especially once they get all the bugs worked out). But their customer service is absolutely atrocious! :mad:

[ecs1516]

What are they telling you now Heidi about when you will get the system???

[Mama Belle]

What are they telling you now Heidi about when you will get the system???

I posted an update last night in the failed Navigator thread. Here's what I said ...

Nope. I called today. I swear I've spoken with at least 5 different people at Abbott today. They kept telling me that the units came off of back order on Nov. 7 (last Friday I believe). But at the same time they couldn't tell me the status of my replacement unit. I kept directly asking them if there were any units available for shipping and kept getting the same answer, "well it says they came off back order on the 7th". Great. That's not what I asked. I spoke with several supervisors from both Abbott Technologies and and Abbott Diabetes Resource Center and I'm awaiting a call back from a supervisor who is supposed to be able to tell me something tomorrow. I have been assured that as soon as units are available I will be the first to receive one. But I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime I am going to call them every day until I get an answer.

I haven't heard from anyone yet today, but if they don't call me by 11 MST I will be calling to bug them some more.:mad:

[buggle]

We still don't have Brendan's either. I keep emailing the woman at Edgepark who's responsible for the order and she said it should be shipped today. Nothing happened...

We've had everything go wrong at every step from everyone in the process. Is there anyone who can do their job anymore? I was disappointed to see how awful the service is from Abbott. The Promise Program people are just awful and clueless. Some of the people I've talked to at the Resource Center have been nice enough, but for supposedly being experts on their products and diabetes, they know nothing. The other day I called and asked about the warranty and she didn't even know that and had to put me on hold while she researched it. These people are reading from a script and they don't even know the script. I'll feel just great having them help me troubleshoot. :( That's if we ever get the stupid thing. I just hope it's not a lemon like so many others -- if it ever shows up.

Sorry that you all are going through so much frustration. When you pay this much for a piece of medical equipment, you expect more.

[Mama Belle]

Rella- be prepared. Unless Edgepark has some sitting in stock, you won't be seeing it any time soon.

We had our endo appt today and I told her all about our issues with getting Abbott to send us a replacement and she was horrified. She is going to make some calls about this, but she is very glad that I told her so that she has information to pass along to others.

[ecs1516]

Is Edgepark out of systems too?
They have sensors now. They were backordered.

[buggle]

I just talked to the person at Edgepark who is working on our order. The problem is supposed to be some issue with their computer system not having the contract fees for Anthem of Colorado for CGMs. I don't know what to think.

Anyway, I asked about stocking issues, telling her that others can't get replacements from Abbott and that they are backordered. I asked whether they actually had Navigators and sensors in stock. The way she answered was interesting... she didn't answer directly. She said that Brendan's order was ready and that his system was being held. She didn't say that they had more in stock. So, I'm wondering if we ever do get Brendan's Navigator if we'll ever be able to get sensors for it -- assuming it works well enough to use them... :rolleyes:

I hope that I'm not just starting down the road of frustration and I hope this isn't an omen that the thing is going to be a piece of junk that breaks repeatedly. Abbott has to be the worst company in the world. The idea is good, but why can't they follow through on it?

Carol -- I ordered the double pump pack today for Brendan like your boys have. I hope it comes soon. If they actually overnight Brendan's Navigator today, I hope we're not waiting weeks for the pack to arrive. But, I'm not holding my breath that the Navigator is showing up anytime soon...

I'm still thinking about an Omnipod too. It's the only pump we can afford with our DME cap, but I'm not feeling too terribly trusting of technology.

[ecs1516]

Brendan's mom ,

I know Edgepark has sensors because last week I got two boxes from them. They were from their Florida warehouse. They have two warehouses with the Navigator sensors, Ohio and Florida. Once we had to get the sensors from the Ohio warehouse when the Florida one was out. I think they are okay on sensors now. There were so many people orders them because the system was just released in August. Minimed had the same backorder problem.

We had a problem getting the Navigator system from Smiths Medical (cozmo) because United didn't have a contract price for them yet. Is that what Sara at Edgepark told you? If it is a computer problem it is one thing but if they have have a contract price for your insurance , your out of luck. I called back Smiths Medical because I was thinking about getting sensors from them but they still don't have a contract price with United.

Did you receive the sample Omnipod in the mail yet?

Abbott called me today and said the transmitters are back in stock but not the receivers.

[lbarr00]

I am on the fence. I am new to CWD and wanted to post a response. I ordered the Navigator back in July and thought it was going to be the next best thing. I went through 4 transmitters in 3 or 4 days. The 2 things that went wrong:
Adhesive wasnt good. I had it on my arm and did some light exercise and it fell off every time.
12 hours to begin working once you set it up.
The only thing is.... I loved it when it worked because of the information it provided me.
If I had to answer your question, I would say no, I dont recommend.
ps. I just received an Omnipod that I ordered and will begin a pump for the first time after I get the pump training.

[ecs1516]

We have to use SMoth Nephew Opsite Flexitape tape to hold on the Navigator. You may the same problem with the Omnipod.