The T-Slim (Or Slim Shady is Cool Again!)

Last week, I had the opportunity to touch and feel one of the newest insulin pumps on the market.

The very sleek and cool T-Slim by Tandem.

In an instant, I was in love and promptly renamed T:Slim to Herbert.  (Side note:  Only the coolest gadgets like Pumpy and Pumpster get names.  Oh and my car, Miss Cherry.  And our dishwasher named Zippy.  Hmm, we seem to personalize quite a bit of our machinery.  If robots ever take over the world, we are going to be in! )

Yes, he is that cool.  The kind of cool that I could also envision oldest daughter falling in love with and wanting in our family of life-saving technology. 

Besides being adorably tiny (the smallest pump currently on the market), T:Slim also boasts a full color touch screen. 

If you love tech gadgets like the IPod, than this is for you.  In a second, I was able to fly through the screens to demo a cartridge change - simply by touching screens, not having to wait an extra second for up and down arrows.  Instead of hitting (and miserably missing) my inputs for blood glucose and insulin, I simply tapped on a keypad, entering my exact amounts.  Yes, I probably only saved a few seconds in the process, but to a busy, impatient teenager, this might mean the difference between actually entering that number or not at all.

My experience with the Animas Ping has always been great, but now that my oldest daughter is rapidly draining her 200 unit insulin cartridge, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the new T-Slim offers a full 300 unit insulin cartridge.  Not only that, but the prime feature is managed in a way similar to the Omni Pod.  With one finger tap, it loaded, removed air bubbles and primed for attachment to the tubing.

Tubing.  Yes, there is still tubing to contend with but the same detach mechanism (as on the Animas Ping) is available.  This might be a deal breaker for those that love the freedom of no tubing but for us, it isn't a big issue at this point.

Finally, the other most exciting feature is that the T-Slim offers a USB connector for downloading numbers online.  The "dongle" download is insane.  Trying to keep the pump steady for an infrared reader is excruciating.  In fact, because it makes me so crazy, I have now relegated that job to my husband.  Thinking about how easy a USB connector would be is exciting.  Finally technology for the 21st century!

All in all, the T-Slim is worth a second look and quite possibly, an upgrade, especially for older kids and adults.

If you do or are planning on this, post a review of your thoughts on this page.  We would love to hear some real life feedback. 

Footnote:  No one from Tandem or Animas asked me to say any of these things.  Just my own oberservations.