Ping vs. MiniMed

Kay - posted on 06/24/2010

My Son also wears a animas pump, and I am also a pump trainer for animas. For my son, who was afraid of the noise the auto infusion set made, we ordered the manual set for our first several orders. We also used numbing cream at the site. This helped with his apprehension alot!! Yes, there is pain associated with diabetes care, but we know that as adults, but trying to make a 4yr old understand that, is impossible. And you certaintly can't just say "you just have to deal with it".

Hope this helps!

K

Sherry - posted on 06/19/2010

Valerie,
Is the sensor you're talking about the CGM? That was on of the reasons my husband wanted the MiniMed. However, Animas works with a seperate company called Dexcom that has a CGM. She would have a seperate hand-held "meter" as it doesn't work directly with the pump, but the Ping rep told us Animas has a model with the CGM built in at the FDA right now waiting to be approved. No idea how long that will take though. With their "trade up" policy, we figured it was a win-win.

Sherry - posted on 06/19/2010

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of your responses!
Since my last post we've met with reps from both Medtronic & Animas, and ended up choosing the Animas. We've got all the paperwork through and next week we have to go to 2 mandatory diabetes classes, and then it will be ordered. Yay!

Our deciding factors were that the Ping has the remote/meter that you can do everything on without having to touch the pump itself, the meter "tells" the pump her BS, and the Calorie King book is in the meter.

And she wants the pink one :)

Valerie - posted on 06/15/2010

My daughter just went on the Medtronic Mini Med last week. So far, I have no complaints about the pump. We have had some issues with her sugars, but the pump works great. The mini med has a remote as well. We don't use it, but it sounds like it does the same thing that the Ping does. The Minimed was easy to set up and very easy to use. Customer support is AWESOME! Even before we got the pump, and we were getting paperwork together, I was thoroughly impressed with the customer service. I think both pumps are great. We were trying to decide between those two pumps, too, but we went with the Minimed. The main reason we went with it, however, was because Medtronic has come out with a sensor that can actually monitor blood sugars and alert you if it is going low or too high. We haven't got it yet because our insurance won't cover it because it's new, but we wanted that option in case we ever do decide to get it. Hope this helps!

Melanie - posted on 06/03/2010

Nicolas has the Animas 2020 (the version before the ping) It's pretty much the same thing except for the remote. There are essentially 2 types of caths for animas pumps, a manual insertion one and another with the applicator (it makes the poping sound) Currently we are using the manual one because my son prefers it but I expect when he's older and will start inserting himslf the other one will become a better option. He has had the pump for 2 years now and we have had great customer support.

Sandra - posted on 05/18/2010

Hi Sherry!

My daughter has the pink Minimed. We have only used this brand so I can't comment on any others. We absolutely love having a pump! It has totally changed all of our lives. Used to be when we went out to eat, and the food would be served, my daughter and I would have to excuse ourselves from the table and go to the restroom to give her her shot, then come back to the table and start eating our cold food when everyone else is halfway finished. Now, we can test at the table and punch a few buttons and eat with everyone else. Little things like that.
Or poking her 100 times a years instead of 700 times a year. It does hurt when the cannula gets inserted, how could it not hurt. That is just something you have to deal with.
The reason we chose the one that we did was because it has two models to choose from. The 522 which is a standard pump or the 722 which holds more insulin. We chose the 722 because we were anticipating that when she goes through puberty that she might need more insulin. This is based on some friends of ours who have the 522 and they have to change sites every 2 days.
We are on our 4th pump. We had some malfunctions of sensors when we were doing a set change and they were good about sending out another one right away. It never malfunctioned while she was wearing it, only when we were in the process of doing a set change. We have had purple, clear, blue and now pink. Customer support has been great, I have no complaints.

Denise - posted on 04/21/2010

On another note, I had to do without our meter remote for a day while a new one was being shipped. I had to bolus our son using the actual pump and boy did that suck (though I am glad that is possible)! Made me really appreciate the ability to bolus him remotely...getting a 5 year old to stay still for even a minute is not always easy.

Denise - posted on 04/21/2010

There is a "cartridge" that gets filled and put into the pump (believe mm is the same) You put it together with a needle on one side and plunger on the other to take up the insulin from the vial then those get taken off and the tubing for the infusion set gets connected to it and inserted into the pump. This gets changed out with the set every 1-3 days.

Sherry - posted on 04/20/2010

Question on the ping...how do you add insulin? Do you take it out of a vial & inject it into the pump, or do you have to get a special vial that fits into the pump? (Sorry, I don't know the correct names for pump parts other than cannula, infusion set & pump! lol)

Denise - posted on 04/15/2010

I think you can choose different types of infusion sets, maybe they have one you can insert manually but really the inset30 is super easy to use and makes it quick and painless (we had to try them on too) I think the noise of the pop is scary but not what it feels like...that is why we have him listen to something when we do it.
Another plus for Animas: I had a problem with his meter remote (dropped it) and they overnighted me a new one, no probs! So customer support has been great!
(not to say MM isn't-I'm just not as familiar with them)

Sherry - posted on 04/15/2010

Thanks for the replies!

As far as the insets...do you have to use them for the Ping? I know they're not needed for the MiniMed (the MM rep told us they could be manually inserted).

I'm glad you both like the Ping, that's really what we're leaning towards as of right now. :)

Kristin - posted on 04/13/2010

We also just got the Ping for my 5 yr. old son. Love it for all the same reasons as Denise. I have heard great things about the minimed from other moms, too.

Denise - posted on 04/11/2010

My son (now 5) has been on the Ping for a year now and we LOVE it! We decided on the Ping because the meter serves as a remote for the pump so we never have to stop him from what he is doing in order to bolus him. The PIng also allows for the smallest dosing...like .025, which is great for little kids who may be very sensitive to insulin. I was also very impressed with the reps from Animas, many whom have T1 as well. Not sure if it matters, but Animas also just partnered with JDRF to produce the first generation artificial pancreas.

As for the snap your daughter was scared about, the insets for the minimed and ping both make a pop sound that my son also didn't like. We started giving him headphones and an ipod to listen to so he couldn't hear it and that helped a ton!

Let me know if you have any other questions/concerns. I am happy to share our experience!