Dexcom G6 CGM System

I have had nothing but issues with the G6 having Senor Errors & Sensor Fail. I wear on the upper arm but are always asked if I have taken Panadol?? Don't get a head ache. 2 hour warm up is too long. Show details

Absolutely terrible! Readings are always incorrect which is dangerous when you’re having a hypo. Never last the 10days. Just inserted new sensor and within half an hr of it calibrating, I got a message to say replace sensor now even though I just did. Itchy and can be uncomfortable at times. Will be changing after this last batch!

Inaccurate. First time I used this product. I used the Libre Plus before. I compared Dexcom reading to the prick test reading. Prick test was 5.4 mmol/L and Dexcom is 8.3? Way off. Tried another test and the result is Dexcom reads 1.3 higher than my prick test. I guess I will try Libre plus again. Show details

I have been using this product system for over two years as a type one diabetic and have found it unreliable, inaccurate, expensive and useless. The manufacturer states the data can not be used for therapeutic decisions? Multiple sensors have failed for no apparent reason and the system does not live up to the claims of the manufacturer. Save your time and money and may try again with the Dexcom 7 when it is finally available in Australia.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly – When it works it is great. When you have a sensor failure you quickly find out this company puts profits over the welfare of it's diabetic clients. When my son's sensor quit giving any readings at all Dexcom was quick to send a replacement but would take 3 to 5 days to arrive. When we tried to get a sensor from our local pharmacy immediately… Read more

Dexcom would not authorize the sale because they only wanted us to receive the replacement product. Profit over health.

A few tweaks needed – Using the Dexcom gives me security. If I was going to say a negative, it’s the annoying noise it makes when going down from a high. That sound shouldn’t happen till level is low enough to alert NOT when so high. Show details

Best in market for T1, not so much T2 – Noting this is based on T2 since T1 is subsidised. The bad: it's prohibitively expensive. Considering how much fiddling is involved compared to the Freestyle Libre 2 and very slightly improved accuracy, I don't recommend if you can't get it subsidised. Their competitors are a lot cheaper even when on plans. Plus the lock in plan lengths aren't… Read more

viable.

The good: pricing aside, it is the most accurate in the market after trialing multiple products. Calibrating it with a prick is a plus in my eyes. The regular feedback without scanning is wonderful to ensure lifestyle changes are being met and keeping levels in the right range. There are some spikes here and there, especially in the first day but that settles. Definitely best for T1 in the market.

DEXCOM CGM is a grand failure – Frequent occurance of erratic, false high and false drops, readings of blood sugar levels that woke me up during the night . Therefore, I have to calibrate by using test strips minimum three times daily to correct the false readings of DEXCOM CGM6 and CGM7. As a result of all these troubling inefficiencies, I decided to buy a reasonably priced new… Read more

WATCH that monitors blood glucose. This way I can avoid the aggravation of inefficient customer service at DEXCOM and their authorized dealers. Stay away from this company otherwise you will suffer a heart attack or elevated blood pressure, I did.

So far so good – I spent the last 4 years using the freestyle libre product. Due to the constant issues with the libre, I swapped to Dexcom G6. I started with Dexcom in May 2023, with very low expectations, but thankfully the system has worked great. It is a little harder sourcing the Dexcom sensors/transmitters, but it only takes 1-2 days to get them after… Read more

ordering. The Dexcom is a little bit more complicated starting because the parts come separately, but at least it actually works, not like the crap libre sells.

My new phone is now incompatible due to updates – Bought a new iphone 11 8months ago and now my dexcom does not work because it is incompatible with the latest ios system. The solution for this from dexcom was to buy a new phone. Show details

A weak option in CGM systems – Okay, I am 65 years old with Type 1 (for 58 years). The Dexcom G6 allows me to use an Ypsomed pump that I have just started. The G6 works well MOST of the time. It is annoying to fit and secure compared to the Libre 2 system. Libre 2 is so much better because of size, ease of application - and most of all data recall. The G6 is slow to stabilise,… Read more

gives some ridiculous false readings (low BG mainly at night) and requires a lot of fiddling to do what should be simple. How safe is an insulin pump with a dodgy CGM? If it wasn't for the Ypsomed pump, I would go straight back to the Libre 2 system. It is much more useful for data recall and more reliable in everyday use.

Dexcon G6 – I have been using one for about a year, I think it's great but does have some problems. Firstly only put the sensor on your arm. Not on your stomach, as the sensor will fall off after about 4 days. Always clean your skin and the transmitter with metho & use skin prep spray efore sticking your transmitter on. Then use the adhesive patch supplied… Read more

by Dexcom. This way they will last 10 days. You have to calibrate the sensor using your prick the finger device a couple of times. After that you'll be OK for the next 9 days. Great device can' t wait for the G7 as it's a lot smaller.

Great system but the app and compatibility needs work – Hi there. I'm a customer of yours and I though you should get some feedback about what devices don't work with the dexcom g6 in Australia. I'm supposed to be getting an insulin pump soon that works well with the g6. I was told by my endocrinologist to find a new phone that was compatible with both the pump and g6. I used the phone compatibility… Read more

info your website provides. The first phone I tried was a Samsung galaxy a53. That's not compatible. Even though it cost me only a couple hundred dollars I wasn't bother it isn't compatible even though the website states it is. I then did a little more research on what phones were compatible and choses another phone that is stated to be compatible on your website the Samsung galaxy a13 5g and that too is not compatible.

So I now have 3 phones that are not compatible and I'm out about 900$ now with three phones that are basically useless to me.

So if this makes it to someone could you please update the compatibility list for phones compatible with the dexcom g6 in Australia. It would be really helpful.

Anyway that's all from me other than that the app is great I really like using it more than the freestyle libre 2.

Have a nice day

Take insulin 4 times aday – Please subsidised for type 2 on insulin as I can't get it and I would benefit from using 1 I have bruises all over my tummy and keep having hypos

Questioning the benefits – I have used 8 of the sensors and have only had one last the full 10 days. I contacted them and they replaced 6 sensors. I fitted one of these replacements on the 15/11 and this morning 17/11 I have a message to replace the sensor. The plastic tape/cover provided always lifts and I started to use my own tape to secure hoping that would improve… Read more

sensor life. There has been no improvement. I love the technology but at the moment cant justify sticking with it.

Goodbye to finger pricking! – Never too old to take the big jump to latest technology. My glucose monitor has been my constant love-hate companion since 2015 when I was hit with late onset type 1 in my mid 60s. Now its goodbye to finger pricking and hello to user friendly glucose updates on my iPhone - my other constant companion. Show details

A very good tool, but massively overpriced – If you are a qualifying patient, which is basically a type 1 diabetic, these are fully subsidised by the Australian taxpayers (let's be clear, the PBS is "government funded" which means it is paid for by the taxpayer). Having established that fact, I'll continue with the review. The G6 is a brilliant device. The very first day you use one, you… Read more

will take some convincing because it will almost certainly produce results that vary hugely from what your finger-stabbing device is telling you. That is because the sensor takes a while to settle down, even after the 2 hour warm-up period. On the second day, however, it will start to behave properly. Officially, from the documentation, it will produce results within 20% of the finger-stabber (I'm simplifying this because it states accuracy over particular blood sugar ranges, but 20% covers most of the range). Now 20% isn't actually very accurate, if you think about it, but in fact it seems far better than that most of the time. The advertising blurb also states "no more finger sticking" but the manual in fact says it will ask for a calibration "stick" every 24 hours. I still tend to do a morning test, and a quick check after dinner, which I enter as calibration results. In my case, with a couple of calibrations per day, most readings are fairly accurate, within perhaps 0.4mmol/L, certainly good enough for my purposes. The accuracy seems to drop off at both ends of the range (high and low) but is still reasonable. Total accuracy is also not as vital with this device, because the 5 minute readings show a trend which is usually enough to prompt action, even if that action is a quick stab of the finger!

The sensor device itself is easy enough to apply, though you need to think in advance of how you sleep because the choices of location are limited and you don't really want to sleep on it! Also, and I can't recall seeing this in the instructions, much like a Band-aid it's easier to remove if you shave off any hair before attaching it!! I haven't experienced any discomfort from my G6. The unit comprises a probe on an adhesive patch which is incorporated into a device that allows easy application, and a radio/sensor unit that attaches to the probe.

There is a dedicated receiver unit available, but I use my iPhone. The iPhone has two apps for the G6. One is the "receiver" app which shows current readings and recent history, the other is for historical (>24hour) viewing. The "live action" app also allows sharing of data and notifications to be sent to other people if you grant them access. The app can also push data to Apple HealthKit.

All very good so far. So, downsides? The first is minor, you have to keep your phone (or the receiver, I'm guessing) within a few meters to maintain the Bluetooth connection, and obviously keep Bluetooth enabled on the phone. Sounds easy, but for those of us not addicted to phone use it may feel odd to be glued to your phone. Also the app can take a while to reconnect to the sensor if it misses a reading because the phone is out of range.

The major downside is the price. As I said above, it's free for those who qualify, but for everyone else it is laughably over priced. The device is a small Bluetooth radio and a chip that must costs cents to produce. The retail price of a normal Bluetooth blood glucose monitor is less than $50 (if it weren't subsidised health equipment it would be half that!), but the G6 "transmitter" is over $400, and has rather cynically been designed with a 3 month battery life and non-replaceable batteries. The software has been made to detect any attempt to fit new batteries, so you have no choice but to buy a new $400 unit every three months. It is my understanding that the 3 months start from first use, so it will expire even if it wasn't in use for the entire period. The adhesive patches with the probe are also designed to ensure one-off use, as you have to physically break them (by design) to remove the transmitter for it's next use. The software gives you 10 days per probe, then stops measuring, and the probes cost $330 for 3 - that's a month's supply. The result of this is that, if you don't get a subsidy, the G6 will cost you just over $15 per day. That's $470 per month or $5500 per year. "Normal" test strips are under 50c each, so the G6 costs 5 times more than 6 finger tests per day - and those test strips are also very costly for what they are! I must add here that you can take out a subscription which drops the price to around $4000/year.

Overall the G6 is a fantastic device, but anyone who pays for their own will find it an expensive proposition - if the price was market driven it would be probably 75% lower, but the ability to force government subsidies for healthcare allows the current outrageous pricing. That price is the only reason I don't give it a 5 star review.

Excellent diabetes management tool! – Dexcom G6 has been an incredibly helpful tool for me. My diabetes management has never been better, thanks in most part to this CGM. I used to use Freestyle Libre and would constantly receive dodgy sensors with incorrect readings. Since transitioning to Dexcom G6 I haven't had to deal with a single error! It's genuinely amazing. Knowing what my… Read more

blood sugar is doing 24/7 and feeling confident in the readings has given me so much peace of mind. This product has truly increased my quality of life!

Dexcom G6 Continuous Blood Glucose Monitor – After 50+ years of finger pricking to get blood monitor blood glucose (bg) this product is a gift, it takes a few weeks to gain confidence using the G6 technology and realising there can be occasional errors & how to think through these differences of G6 or bg monitor, but overall the G6 comes out way ahead of bg monitors & finger pricking.… Read more

Overnight low bg are sounded by the alarm if levels are below factory default 3.1 mmol/L, setting at your own alert level is easily done by putting in the figures in the smart phone application.

The graph display is great, you can see overnight & very early morning trends showing rising bg from about 6am up until early morning insulin dose for breakfast.

The only con is the expense, a subscription for 12 months supply comes at about $4000, so depends how much money you can afford whether this is considered affordable. The alarms are annoying & all except the factory 3.1 alert can be turned off.

The ongoing service from DEXCOM is excellent, phone in for explanation of working & interaction of G6 is very good.