Minimed vs. Animas vs. Cozmo

Ok, I have looked at all published pump comparisons. But I would like some real-world feedback. I will say that I have heard many stories in the last couple of weeks about pump break-down issues with both Animas and Cozmo and customer-service issues with Cozmo. Does Minimed have these issues too?

Any and all feedback is appreciated!!

 

We have a minimed.. I LOVE minimed.. Kaylee LOVES her pump.. customer service has been EXCELLENT.. we have had to replace her pump a few times.. BUT I'm not sure it really needed replacing, the customer service rep wanted to replace it because its my daughter's health and she felt better about just replacing it than hoping nothing was wrong..we had one replaced and then had to have that replacement replaced the next day, but it wasn't minimeds fault.. it was UPS who didn't have me sign for it and left it outside my house (they didn't even knock) for hours and hours in below freezing temps.. again, minimed was very willing to replace it..

every time I've called mm, no matter time of day, I've always gotton someone that is help and nice, no attitudes..

Kaylee's pump has been a life changer for her.. we are getting ready to get a CGMS for her.. and so excited it talks directly to her pump.. that was a big selling point for us.. MM seems farther ahead in terms of advances of technology..

I've heard wonderful thigns about the other two pumps too (and omnipod) but mm is it for us.. has all the right things..

 

All pumps have some issues and it seems to come a go in waves. We have been using the Animas - and have been very happy. I was going to switch to the Cosmo, because I believe it's the best pump out there....... but the all in one CMGS and pump by MM - is just to valuable. If we where OK with a seperate pump and CGMS - I'd get the Cosmo and Dexcom (or Navigator if it ever gets approved).

 

Complaints on various pumps come in waves on this site. All three have excellent customer service and replace the pump if anything goes wrong.

None of them is perfect -- only a natural functioning pancreas is perfect. We have to rely on this machines, which by their nature have problems every now and then.

 

Lissa~
I hate to tell you this- but they are ALL great pump companies. All companies are going to have some kind of an issue some time or another.
I really encourage you to look at the perks of a particular pump to fit your child's life style.
We want the CGMS- so that was our deciding factor. Some don't want to be tethered. Some want water proof. Some want tiny basals. Some let their child choose.
Good luck!

 

Can only speak from our experience. Nothing negative to report with Minimed up to this date. I was completely amazed at how quickly my son received his pump (covered 100% w/ BCBS of Delaware insurance) - and that the endo office and Minimed pump rep gave us a loaner pump for a week. He was on a pump 2 weeks? from diagnosis.

I wanted to add that it was all done through our endocrinologist office - not us.

 

I agree with the others, all of the pumps are wonderful. We narrowed it down to Animas & Cozmo for the smaller basal increments for our daughter, which was odd to me because I always planned to go with Minimed because of name recognition. Jessica was 6 when she started pumping, so she made the final choice of the Cozmo. She understood how to input carbs and correction boluses and liked how it felt. I love the Cozmo and am very glad she chose it. Our only issue is the weekend service support. If the pump breaks late Thursday or anytime Friday, you are going to wait until Monday for a replacement. This is not the level of customer service they offered when we originally purchased. It's not the end of the world, but when our 4 years is up, I will re-think things depending on the current technology.

 

That was what we did. Danielle had the information and DVDs for 3 different pumps. She watched them all and made a list of the pros and cons of each one and then decided the one she wanted. I figured, she was the one that was going to have to wear it, so she needed to like it's functions.

 

I love Minimed. I chose them for their CGMS technology. They are far ahead of the other pump companies in this area IMO.
I also really like the customibility of the Cozmo, and have heard great things about them. However, there are a group of parents on the ADA board all filing complaints to the company http://community.diabetes.org/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=adaparents&tid=10385 so i'm not so sure now.. There has been a lot of anger from the parents there in recent times about Cozmos customer service.

 

MM has the CGMS

Animas has the lowest basal rate increments - for the really young or those needing tiny amounts of insulin

Omnipod - no tubing

Cozmo - attached meter

We chose Animas for the basal rate increments as William went on the pump when he was 2 yrs old. MM didn't have the CGMS yet. Animas will send loaner pumps (don't think MM will) for vacations. Their customer services is A+

If I had to choose today I don't know - I'm really tempted by the CGMS. I'm almost glad we're not due for another pump until the end of 2008 - I'd like to have another CGMS to choose from (besides Dexcom).

 

We have chosen the Animas 2020 for a couple of reasons.

The low basal rates is important to us.
The color flat-screen is great compared with the others.

Also, our CDE definitely told us NOT to choose a pump because of CGMS. Choose a pump because of the pump. Look at the features and the "bells and whistles" since most of the basics will be the same on all of the pumps. Animas has a download of 200 items (I think) from Calorie King. Another one, I think, will let you input items and carb counts.

 

It's such a personal decision. One person's "gotta have it" could be another persons "can live without it".


We trialed all three of them & liked features of all the pumps.

The deciding factor for us happened to be CGMS with Minimed and we really like having CGMS. It has made things easier and less finger pokes. Plus, we've had numbers that looked like a bad site...with no CGMS I would have had to change the site...but with CGMS I saw that the site was actually OK (saving my little girl from yet another unwanted poke) and me from a 3am site change.

 

The Cozmo has a food database that comes preloaded with food...and then you can add stuff to it, and make "meals". That will work great with Danielle when school starts. She tends to eat the same thing, same carb count, every day for lunch. You have to load and use the software to do it.

I love that the Cozmo has the BG monitor attached. It was a big plus for Danielle when she was choosing. Once we got an IR dongle (we went through a computer store rather than from Smiths...it was cheaper), it is so easy to download her readings or to change and upload her basal rates and foods.

 

I apologize, but isn't the CGMS part of the bells and whistles of the MM? The CGMS talks to the pump, your blood sugar shows right on the pump screen? I whole heartedly disagree with your CDE.
But that's the great thing about this forum, opinions differ from person to person.

 

all in one CMGS and pump by MM ?

There is an all in one MM unit? Meaning only one site? We are new to it all and I thought when we watched the MM DVD it looked like 2 units--2 sites--and the cgms communicated with the pump. Is this right?

 

We are another family that chose MM on the basis of the CGMS. Yes, eventually all companies will have it integrated but "eventually" does not help us right now. For us the only real difference between all of the pumps WAS the CGMS. We wiegh all of our food so the calorie king thing wouldn't help and the small basal increments were not of any interest but the integrated CGMS along with a long standing company with great customer service was definatly why we went with MM. It is true that you can use any pump with the guardian or the DEX but for us the convience and peace of mind knowing that they are made to work together with the MM was the deciding factor. MM seems to be on the frontlines of all advances and that is where we want to be.

It really is all about what is important to you. Chose based on that! Everyone loves the pump they chose so we are all a bit biased :cwds:

 

If you get the MM pump it is ONE unit with TWO sites. The nice thing about that is you can leave in the cgms site ALOT longer than a pump site since it is not "putting" anything into the body.

 

First off, I agree with most of what everyone else has said. All of the pumps are wonderful in their own ways. They all serve their main purpose (insulin delivery) very well. The bells and whistles are different on each of them.

I want to re-emphasize what I have said in other threads when folks point out that Cozmo's attachable meter is the main draw ... while the attached meter is a plus with the Cozmo, it is not the biggest benefit offered by the pump, at least it wasn't for us. The Cozmo has the most customizability (is that even a word?) of all the pumps (with Animas a close second), which is a huge plus. We don't even use the attached meter most of the time. We love our Cozmo and we are very happy with our choice. The only thing that would have pushed us to pick Minimed over Cozmo is the CGMS, but my daughter wasn't ready to go that route when we started pumping and we wouldn't have had insurance coverage anyway. With the Navigator soon to be approved by the FDA (hopefully) we are getting excited about the rumors that the Navigator will be able to communicate directly with the Cozmo pump in the future.

The main drawback of the Cozmo, in my opinion is not their customer service, which for us has always been impeccable. The main drawback is the software that comes with the pump. The software is great for setting up the pump and uploading information with respect to the food database, the weekly schedules, etc. But if you are looking to analyze pump data (like you can with the Minimed) then plan to be disappointed. The Cozmo pump is supposed to be able to work with the CoPilot management software (Abbott), but the new models (1800) are not yet compatible with the software and won't be for another couple of months. This is really my biggest frustration with the pump. Otherwise it is wonderful.

Overall you can't go wrong with any of the major pumps out there (including the Omnipod). The main thing to keep in mind is to make sure that you carefully analyze which bells and whistles are most important to you in a pump and try and figure out which pump gives you the most of those bells and whistles. If having CGMS and good software is what your looking for the most then Minimed is a good choice. If having smaller basal rates, food database, color screen is important to you then the Animas is a good choice. I think at one point or another all of the companies have had people complain about the customer service. That is going to happen. For a while I was under the impression that Minimed had a reputation for having awful customer service; however, most of the people here have good things to say about them, so I am guessing that wasn't a very accurate impression.

 

MM pump/cgms is 2 sites, 1 pump.


Back to the original topic:

#1: You may pick a pump based on what your insurance pays for.

#2: You may pick a pump because your endo's office has a preference and you find it easier to deal with your team if your pump is thier preference.

#3: Play with all three. See what you like/don't like. Pick on that. In 4 years you get to pick again.

We've got a MM. CGMS was important. The food database was extremely unimportant to us (we don't even use the bolus wizard). But we're in the vast minority. I wish the MM had a better screen. I wish that the terrible POS meter that communicated with the pump wasn't a POS. (A freestyle would be bueno... but that's not going to happen).

 

MM pump

That is what I thought about the MM and cgms. Our rep told us we will start first with the pump and learn that before we can get the cgms. Is that right with the MM? Or did you all start off with both?