Freestyle Navigator CGM vs. Minimed CGM

The Minimed CGM also has this feature.

Freestyle Navigator: We progammed the receiver so that it would be able to tell if my blood sugar was going too high or too low. When it comes up, it shows under the number as projected low or projected high. I set mine to a low of 80 and a high of 180. This way it alarms me way before I am at the point of no return. It then shows up on the receiver as projected low or projected high. (I love this feature. It has helped me with 4 lows before they happened already.)

The Minimed CGM does not have this feature.

We then set up the alarms. Both Minimed and Freestyle have this feature.

Directional Arrows

There are four Tru Directional Trend arrows that show if you are steady, going too low or high at a fast rate, and then two more diagonal arrows that show if you are going up or down, but just not as fast.

Minimed also has arrows but they are only down and up arrows. If you get double arrows in either direction, it means that your trends are moving quickly.

Sensor life

Navigator is approved for 5 days.

Minimed is approved for 3 days.

Built in glucose meter

The Freestyle Navigator is the only CGM system that currently has a built-in blood machine. (Awesome feature)

Calibrating

Navigator: Takes up to 10 hours to calibrate.

Minimed: 2-3 hours.

The 10 hour calibration for the Navigator came at 3:30 am that same day. It started giving me readings right away. The Minimed CGM does that as well.

What I did not expect were the meter and the CGM to be almost identical after the first glucose calibration. I was amazed. Usually my Minimed CGM is not as accurate until the second or third day. And then you get Sensor End. It can be very frustrating.

The next morning it started beeping to tell me about a projected low. I was so grateful because it was alarming me so much earlier than the Minimed. The Minimed didn't start alarming until about 15-20 minutes later and I was already sipping on juice. I continued my daily routine throughout the rest of the day. After I ate, I tested out the line graph tool on the navigator and compared it to the Minimed.

The Navigator told me I was at 124 and the Minimed said 202. So I checked my blood on a finger stick, and it was 120. Wow! What accuracy, huh? The rest of that day went pretty much like that... where the Navigator was right on and the Minimed lagged.

That night I went to the gym and I have to say I felt so much better going that particular night because I had reassurance by not one, but two CGMs. I was not scared of going low and my mind felt a lot clearer. I did my normal workout routine by starting off with cardio followed by some resistance training. Halfway through, the Navigator showed an down arrow to let me know my blood sugar was dropping very quickly. I checked my blood sugar and I was at 89. Eighty-nine is not a bad number to be at, but because I had the CGM beeping with a down arrow I had to act fast or else I would be low in no time. I started sipping some juice that I always carry with me, stopped for a bit, and continued to do my strength training.