Pros & Cons of the Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitor
Unique Advantages: Pros
- No calibration needed
- Calibration available to improve accuracy
- Approved Sensor life 10 days
- Customizable alerts for different times and days
- Single button push insertion
- Vibrate & audio alerts
- Interoperability to Tandem X2 pump
- Sends data to phone app (and apple watch), receiver, or pump.
- Real time alerts for high, low, rate of change, predictive urgent low
- “Always sound” feature can sound alerts when phone is on silent.
- Not impacted by acetaminophen use
- Real-time sharable data
- Approved for children over 2
- Medicare approved
- Clarity companion app automatically uploads data, generates reports
Potential Drawbacks: CONS
- Transmitter must be replaced every 3 months
- Lots of medical waste with sensor inserters
- Occasional delays receiving product orders and technical support
- Re-use of sensors involves a difficult process
- Costly sensors and transmitters
Every time I call Dexcom, I get different information, the reordering becomes such an aggravating issue. I was told by one customer service person that I needed to call them back on June 24 to request authorization on my supplies, I call, and the person says that I have to call back in July on two different dates to get authorizations for transmitter and sensor authorizations. It makes me so insanely frustrated since I try to do everything in a timely fashion so that I’m not in a position of not having any supplies when I need to change the units.
I’ve bean using the Dexcom G6 for 8 months now and 60% of the time it looses signal. I’ve tried calling Dexcom but it’s not easy to get anyone that knows what their talking about. I order through Salara and the customer service there is a joke. My A1C has gone down and it’s a great device but with the signal loss and no customer service I’m not sure it’s worth it.
Hi Lawrence, that really is annoying! And we know all about the frustrations of “Tech support”
are you using a pump, phone or receiver? Losing that much data my first thought would be that you need a transmitter replacement.
After that if you use a tandem pump, making sure to wear it screen out on the same side of your body at the cgm really makes a big difference.
for a receiver, again Id recommend replacement
for the phone app, some users have found they needed an update, or even deleting their Dexcom app, completely shutting down their phone, then reinstalling the app improved performance.
Hope those tips can be of some help, and that tech support actually becomes supportive!
G6 works great when I can get them and pay the over price cost. Check out the latest video on CNBC with the Dexcom CEO who straight out said they are reducing costs so they can make more money. My insurance pay 70% for sensors so my 30% is $105 a month. Transmitters are $365 at 30% out of pocket. Once again a big medical company with outrageous prices. Customer service sucks. It is almost impossible to talk with someone directly from the company. No matter what number you call you will end up connected to an out of USA call center. These people try the best they can, but Dexcom has so many policies that it takes for ever for them to get back with me if there is an order issue. When the time comes for a renewal Prescription it take over 2 weeks to get this completed. Right now I am waiting on sensors for almost two weeks without an explanation of why I have not received them. I received a message two days ago so someone wanting to talk to me about this but I cannot reach them and they are not calling me back.
Hi george, we always agress with poor customer service issues, we live with them too
a couple things that can help
-have you tried getting your dexcom through your pharmacy? This can be a BIG cost saver and time saver too
-do you get supplies straight form Dexcom or a third party distributor? This is often where the delay happens
-make sure to follow up with prescribers as getting things signed and returned is also a common delay.
Received a Dexcom 6 and tried to register. Cannot use the device without registration as far as I can tell. Received a note that the account will be pending approval. I phoned the company and was told that I would receive a call back but may take a few days. They then hung up on me without answering my questions. Clearly they have staff who is not trained to respond. Very frustrating. They claim that they need to regulate since ‘This is a medical device.’ Very expensive objects that I cannot use.
HI Nan,
unfortunately I’m not sure what you mean by “registering” the G6 product. You do have to set up a user account with the app. I recommend going onto Dexcom’s customer service website, you can enter your phone number there for a call back, it certainly cuts the wait time on hold. You can feel free to send an email if you have a specific issue (A screen capture would be great) and we will help if we are able.
With more than diabetes wrong with me the g6 was much trouble. I decided to discontinue use of g6 and return to finger sticking.
Sorry CGM therapy was not effective for you Denny.
there are some contraindications for CGM use that can make finger sticks the best available option for them. However, feel free to give us a call for a consultation if you’d like to discuss possible alternatives/work arounds that might make it a viable option.
I concur with Pat. Dexcom 6 is a phenomenal product, but what good is the product if the consumer continually has issues getting their order. Since April of 2019, my reorders have become a TRUE HASSLE, beyond anything I can describe here on a public forum. My reorders gets cancelled, wrong equipment is shipped, the order gets lost in the system and NOW, I can never trust what the Customer Service agent tells me over the phone. Since Dexcom has gone to an OVER SEAS CALL CENTER is when this miss communications, cancelled orders and lack of service originated. One would think the current CEO would do something to straighten things out because this is UNACCEPTABLE. i have asked for a Manager or Vice President of the company to call me so I can express my concerns but NO JOY! Dexcom 6 is a super product, it’s so sad and unfortunate they can’t get their stuff straighten out.
This is such a great product but the company is having MASSIVE issues. Their customer service is horrible. They have supply chain issues as well. There is such a backlog that I frequently have to go back to finger pricking to test glucose as the company cannot get me and my son our supplies on time. Short answer is that this is a phenomenal product offered by a horribly mismanaged company.