630G End of the Trial Period

So on Monday, I put my VEO back on.  I wanted to put it back on so badly on Friday, but the sensor wasn't quite over and the reservoir ended a little too early.  So I sucked it up and wore the 630G for three more days.  I've been so much happier with the VEO back on, with one caveat: the 630G is way handier when you're adjusting basal rates.  It's a huge pain that the VEO doesn't remember what you had programmed in as later basal times when you have to change an earlier one.  But other than that, I'm so much happier

Over the course of the last two and a bit weeks, I discovered that there are quite a few things I actually hate about the 630G. 

• I know I mentioned that I have to turn the screen on to see the time.  Well, a week later, I've found that I REALLY hate that the screen turns off! I looked into the settings to see if I could have it always on - the longest you can leave it on is apparently 3 minutes. What a pain.  Of course, having the screen always on would cause its own problems while you're running a sensor, since the graph and glucose level would be visible for anyone else to see - and it's not their business. 
• The battery life is terrible because the screen is full colour (and probably also partially due to the amount you need to turn the screen on/the extra button presses).  One battery lasted just shy of two weeks (I turned the pump on at around 11:30pm, May 5th.  The battery gave me a "there's 30 minutes left of battery power" low battery warning just before 7:30pm on May 19th).  So it's great that it uses AA batteries instead of AAA's, but you'll burn through way more of them so it won't actually save you any money.
• YOU CAN'T TURN THE SOUND OFF!!!!!!!  The pump has the "Audio Options" near the top of the menu.  The first option in there is to turn the pump sound off.  But when you click on it, NOTHING HAPPENS!!!!!  (Believe me, I tried it multiple times).  Also, if you try to turn the sound down, you can, but it will not go to 0.  After the annoying beeping during the aqua jog class, I wanted to be able to silence it for times like that in the future.  But nope. WHY IS THIS EVEN A MENU OPTION IF IT DOESN'T WORK????  WHY CAN'T YOU TURN IT TO SILENT???  (*I realize you can't turn the sound off on their other pumps either, but seeing the option made me really upset that it was a fake option)

Oh, I don't necessarily hate this, but it's very annoying that there doesn't appear to be anything telling you that you're on a different basal pattern. So I spent the weekend using the new workday basal pattern I created without realizing it until Sunday (and was a bit higher than I should have been as a result).  

In addition to this list, there were many things I very much disliked after using it for one week. All in all, I have been very disappointed in this pump.  I was super excited for it when I first found out I could get it (and also after playing with it at an information session).  But after actually using it, I would hate having it attached to me 24/7 for the next few years.  I'm glad Medtronic let me have this trial period with it though - I would have been super upset if I had waited to get a new pump and didn't have the VEO to go back to.  I've been a fan of their pumps for years - this one is the first one I haven't liked.  I hope they'll fix these issues during the next few years, or else when I eventually need to replace my VEO, I may have to go looking elsewhere for a pump.