OmniPod vs. Medtronic: Checkmate or Stalemate?

The title of the content does seem intriguing, doesn’t it?

Well, it’s because the comparison: Omnipod vs. Medtronic isn’t as simple as you may think. Generally, the majority of people treat them as two kids who are at the top of their game.

And users seem to be happy with either of the option.

But, unfortunately, these insulin pump systems don’t come cheap. These are devices that demand long-term thinking before making a purchase decision.

For this reason, we are here today. We would like to help out with the process of choosing the best insulin pump that matches your requirements.

Before even getting started, we would like to clear something out.

We will not be doing a head to head comparison between the two. All we will be doing is bringing their best products and their features forward. Also, we will try and bring out the shortcomings of each product as we progress.

In the end, we will be offering our closing thoughts in a completely unbiased manner.

We will let you choose your own winners. Because we believe it’s something you should be able to choose the correct option by the very end.

Good luck. Let’s get started, shall we?

Table of Content

The Products of Choice

We will be dealing with the review by pointing out one product from each vendor.

As we progress, we will bring out their pros and cons. As always, you will be the judge of the final stretch.

The Contender for OmniPod: OmniPod Insulin Pump

The Omnipod Insulin Pump is one of the major options in the consumer space. It’s very popular within the diabetic community because of its true design and robust versatility.

Also, it comes with a few distinct features that will certainly raise the interest of some of our readers.

The Contender for Medtronic: Medtronic MiniMed 670G with Guardian

The Medtronic Minimed 670G is clearly one of the best choices out there because of its functionality and usability. Likewise, the features of this product are also well thought out to attract the average user.

If you look at the overall feature set, you will find out what we are talking about.

So, it’s now time to look at the ins and outs of the products we have at hand.

Omnipod Insulin Pump

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As mentioned earlier, the Omnipod insulin pump comes packed with unique features. Other than the obvious features, you will be getting some additional features as well, which are listed as follows:

Features and Benefits of Omnipod insulin pump

One of the main advantages of this insulin pump is the absence of tubing, which eliminates any tangling, siphoning or other annoying effects).
You are getting a discrete pump with a solid programmable range.
The insulin loss is minimal as there are no active tube connections involved.
It features easy automated cannula insertion.
There are minimal absorption problems due to forced pod changes.
It features a fully closed pump with customizable basal and boluses.
The Dash PDM app let’s 12 users track and view their glucose levels accordingly.
The Dash PDM is a versatile system with proper functionality and usability.

The Shortcomings of the Omnipod insulin pump

It’s a low suspend device with a bulky programmer.
The boluses change cannot take place without the programmer.
There’s a noticeable bulge on the skin created by the pod.
The pod is only operational for 72 hours.
A complete pod replacement is needed to get rid of clogging.
There are no vibration settings.
The insulin-to-carb ratio is shown only in whole numbers.
The loss of a programmer means the whole pod is useless.

Medtronic MiniMed 670G with Guardian

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MiniMed 670G is one of the top options in the insulin system department. The premium price tag does offer a lot of premium features, which is one of the main reasons for us to choose it as a contender.

Features and Benefits of MiniMed 670G

The data from Medtronic CGM is available on-screen.
Basal adjustments and auto-shutoff are available based on CGM readings and intuitive algorithmic data.
Boluses and temporary basal are storable in memory.
Features a choice between slow or fast bolus transfer.
Medtronic insulin pump features the pre-generation of insulin/carb statistics.
Low glucose detection is available.
The device has a high-contrast full-color screen with an attachable clip.

The Shortcomings of the MiniMed 670G

It often requires additional calibration checking.
The integrated Auto-mode isn’t very easy to use.
The software isn’t too user-friendly.
It comes with a lot of integrated options which offer high customizability, but low usability.

The Issues: A Closer look at both contenders

To find out the winner of Omnipod vs Medtronic 670g we want to look more deeper into these insulin pumps.

Let’s start with the MiniMed 670G.

There’s no doubt it’s a solid pump and PDM combo. The low-glucose level indication is clearly one of the best software integration choices any vendor can make. Also, the intuitive software is able to manually correct the insulin dosage, which is a plus for us.

But the downside of such a software system is clearly the interface. There’s a lot going on here. And without any proper instructions or manuals, it’s really hard to keep track of things. And that goes for the adjustability as well, which isn’t easy to control if you don’t know what you’re doing.

As for the Omnipod, the main advantage of it is the tubeless system.

But that’s also the cause for some major issues.

And the most noteworthy of them all is the need to change out the pod completely. If there’s some clogging, there is a very high possibility that you need to change the whole thing. On top of that, the programming isn’t very forgiving, which does have a higher possibility of failure.

Final Thoughts

Although there seem to be a lot of issues with both systems, they are capable in their own way. And it all comes down to your personal preferences as well.

The Omnipod vs Medtronic review was more about looking at the minuses than showcasing the plus points. Because we believe it can reveal the entire options of a product.

We’ll let you be the judge on whether or not we succeeded. Goodbye for now.

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