We knew it was coming, but Insulet Corp. has been very tight-lipped about their new color-screen PDM (controller unit) for the OmniPod wireless pumping system. Well, off a tip from a reader I’ve discovered the new unit is available for pre-order starting today — and it’s looking good.
Reader Eric R. writes:
My local rep had plenty of details to share, but to me the highlights are:
1) Color screen
2) New companion software (for a PC) for downloading and managing the
data from the PDM
3) $150 upgrade price for existing OmniPod users (limited time)
4) Delivery expected to be early June
The company’s website says “new functionality supports enhanced data download—you can even share data with your healthcare provider.” Now THAT would be nice, since it’s currently almost impossible to get any useful data out of the system, despite the fact that it’s wonderful to use and wear.
I haven’t been able to reach my contacts at Insulet for any more details yet, but will fill you all in as soon as I do.
A Happy Day for OmniPod fans, indeed.
Yay! A significant redesign. Color screen. Buttons are changed. Now has vibrate motor inside (with only 0.4 oz added weight). And who knows, maybe other changes to make it CGM capable?
Holy Cow! At only $150 I might just hop on the upgrade bandwagon. Useful software (as promised a long time ago) would be great.
looks good. is it smaller than the current one?
There is already software that is awesome. I download and print out my son’s info weekly. It is great, I an’t believe it’s going to get better….any word on how the upgrade will go when it is integrated with dexcom or the navigator?
Just ordered mine.
Q) How much? A) 149.99.
Q) When will it ship? A) June 1.
Q)Software included? A) Yes and USB!!! cable included.
Q) updated meter to Freestyle lite? A) No. Still Freestyle meter.
Credit Card required for pre-order and they will charge your card when the unit ships in June.
If they can’t be bothered to develop software for the Mac (which is pretty easy now—they’ve been running on Intel chips for three years), I wish they could at least open up the system so someone else can. I’m sure the software is great, but all I really want is a simple print-out of my history over a protracted period of time, and if the meter could just give me a simple CSV file, I could set that up pretty easily.
Any word with regard to whether the software still requires Microsoft Excel to work? Assuming that I’m up for running Windows on my Mac, I can think of a lot of things I would rather spend $100 on than a bloated office productivity suite for which there are a number of perfectly adequate (and free) alternatives.
“is it smaller than the current one?”
No, according to manuals I have, the new PDM is essentially same size:
new:
2.6″ wide x 4.3″ long x 1.0″ high
old:
2.5″ wide x 4.5″ long x 1.0″ high
When I said the new software is for a “PC” I did not mean a “Windows” PC. I forgot to ask my rep if the software will be for Windows or Mac or both, so I don’t know (kind of embarrassing, since I am a Mac user, too – although I do use both on a daily basis). I’m sending her an email now, so I’ll report back if I get an answer about that.
By the way, just because Macs are now built with Intel chips does not make developing software for both Windows and OS X any easier. The operating systems are not compatible in any way (other than the fact that you can easily run Windows inside a OS X using something like VirtualBox, VMWare, or Parallels). There are programming languages they could use to make it cross-platform, but whether they do that or not is a technical decision for their software engineers.
I’m a software developer myself; if Insulet does not provide Mac software I might consider a project to write something for OS X.
As for size, my rep said it is “noticeably” thinner, but also a tad bit longer, than the original PDM.
The software is supposed to be based on Abbott’s CoPilot software.
http://www.abbottdiabetescare.com/adc_dotcom/url/content/en_US/20.40.10:10/general_content/General_Content_0000011.htm
My rep just replies that it is indeed Windows only. Too bad.
I will seriously consider starting a project to develop a Mac application for this, if I think I can figure out how to pull the data off the PDM. That is the only difficult part that I can think of.
Any idea how many colors the screen will support? It doesn’t look like it supports many or maybe that they didn’t use many — kind of like they just took the old screens and added a bit of color and called it a day.
Does anyone have detailed specs on the new unit? How about a user’s manual?
Does anyone have a comparison chart comparing the old unit and the new one?
Here is the manual http://api.ning.com/files/6aYZtkTZadmLaAL3MzpYBNwAGMCGPgHDpTeOKiugBwh3ppt4LFdxoGTBntHSn1gYl3*4LDtlIatklh-rxjS-cMX*FlHwwZa-/UserManual.pdf
Don’t know what happened with the address above, just copy and paste the complete address into your browser for the Omnipod manual
Hi Fred,
I tried cutting & pasting that whole URL, and it actually is the user manual in PDF form. Thanks for that!
Anyone know the cost for first time buyers (no upgrade)?
This looks great but if they don’t get the bugs works out in the actual pod i.e. dead pods, turning off after 2 days etc. I am still weary of this product.
Boo-yah! Time for the upgrade – so excited about this thing! Finally a color screen, way easier to read that the grey we have now and smaller design that looks like it might even fit in a jeans pocket.
The new PDM is not smaller!
There’s something about hearing Insulet has re-designed the PDM that makes people assume the new PDM is smaller (I did at first). It isn’t! For me it was an unconscious assumption that if given a chance to redesign it, they would automatically try to make it smaller. It is a bit counter-intuitive that a system offering you the freedom of no tubes with the pump mechanism and insulin being in the pod would have a PDM so large. Admittedly, most of the surprisingly large size must be due to the integrated bg meter. Plus, the PDM has a screen double the size of any tubed pump and now sports a vibrate motor.
Oh happy day for us Omnipod users indeed. Thanks for sharing!
[...] New OmniPod PDM is Here! [...]
Hi there!
I am currently a Minimed Paradigm user and have not had any major issues, with the exception of not being too found of always being connected to something! I am in the works of getting the OmniPod..getting the current one and then upgrading in a few weeks, I think. We are leaving in 10 days for a cruise and to have the Omni Pod for that will make things easier for me..then, once the new one ships, I can use that one and have a back-up at all times. My question for everyone, is because I had used the test pod for the last few days..the adhesive is smaller than I would have expected, given the size and weight of the pod. When I have worked out the last few days, I have noticed the adhesive losing some of it’s hold. IS this something that will continue to be a problem? If so, I may have to rethink this decision!
You can always use skin tac or somthing to make it stick more if you know you are going to be sweating or swimming alot.
Eric R — I’d be interested in working together on an app (if nothing else, we could work out the file specifications / protocols…). If you happen to see this, please see my blog (linked from this post) for contact info.
–Rogan
okay a mac user here,
just got dexcom and omnipod less than a month ago….
dexcom’s DM3 runs fine on paralles’ implementation of a virtual PC solution using XP. it’s a little tricky tho, as you have to make sure the USB device (dexcom) is properly talking to the virtual machine. It doesn’t print, however…. “Unable to load graphics conversion filter. Continue with the document conversion?” error message
omnipod/copilot, otoh is still a problem. when booting physically using the bootcamp (10.6.1) direct to XP, it works fine. It appears that OminiPod PDM acts like a simple storage device to which the copilot reads a file (eg: 20014296-2009-11-03-09-34-13.ibf). so i tried copying that file to a samba file server from the device and subsequently try to “restore” the file (both a simple copy of the file and the “backup” file) after rebooting XP on a virtual machine…. no luck….
perhaps reading “archived” file may work but i havne’t tried this as this appear to warn me that the data on the PDM will be erased as a result.
omnipod peeps can only say that the plugging in of the pod to a mac will “break” the pod…. i just needed someone to tell me how it’s being “manifested” so to speak on the windows so i could perhaps properly address the “device” on the virtual machine but all they can tell me is the standard scare tactics (for their lack of mac support!)…
“Omnipod PDM Setting Report” also doesn’t work (yet?) on the virtual machine.
any luck anybody???
Mac: MacPro; OS: 10.6.1; Parallel Desktop version: 4.05992