first time pen experience - questions
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I received a V4 pen today, my first. It wasn't as awesome as I hoped.
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Is there a video about priming? I found videos about testing, filtering, and filling, but not really priming. I kinda figured it out by watching some other videos but would like to be sure.
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I tested it with an insulin syringe that I already ran some water through and the stopper ends up being just above the line on the outside of the syringe. So it seems to be within .5-1 unit I lose. I did several more doses between 4-20 and eventually watched the syringe fill up and be about 2 units short of what it should be. I also tried to add just 2 units to another syringe to top off a dose I drew from the end of vial, but it only gave me 1 unit. Is this within the realm of normal?
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I got the gluco-care tips (5 mm x 32 g) and they seem to leak a lot, is that normal? Leaking under the cap and out of the tip. Is there a trick?
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It HURT!
Granted, my husband kinda stabbed me, but I was suprised that it hurt more than the syringes I have with larger needles. My husband used it on himself first and didn't feel anything. I cleaned it, replaced the needle, and he did it on me. Yikes! Any tips?
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The leaking is probably due to a bad crimp and or a bulging crimp on the 3ml cartridge. I have 9 pens. A mix of V2 and v4. Several are spot on , a couple are off by a unit or 2 and a couple are off by several units. I take that into account when dialing in the dose. Except the ones that are off the most. Those I run stuff like glutathione and NAD. Much larger doses for those so to me it doesnt matter if its off by a couple units.
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The leaking is probably due to a bad crimp and or a bulging crimp on the 3ml cartridge. I have 9 pens. A mix of V2 and v4. Several are spot on , a couple are off by a unit or 2 and a couple are off by several units. I take that into account when dialing in the dose. Except the ones that are off the most. Those I run stuff like glutathione and NAD. Much larger doses for those so to me it doesnt matter if its off by a couple units.
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The Xulin is the nicest one I have tested. It is like a v1 on steroids
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My favorite pen is the Novo 4 - BUT I don’t recommend anyone get it. They are difficult. Until someone makes a perfect cartridge holder for it, they will always have problems. My friends all buy that Xulin from here, the red one. That is the one I recommend. I just love my Novo 4 and all the problems that come with it.
But beware of all those v2, v4 pens on eBay and ali, I bought a few of them. They are definitely not the same as the ones I got off here. They were like cheap knock-offs -
The Xulin is the nicest one I have tested. It is like a v1 on steroids
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My favorite pen is the Novo 4 - BUT I don’t recommend anyone get it. They are difficult. Until someone makes a perfect cartridge holder for it, they will always have problems. My friends all buy that Xulin from here, the red one. That is the one I recommend. I just love my Novo 4 and all the problems that come with it.
But beware of all those v2, v4 pens on eBay and ali, I bought a few of them. They are definitely not the same as the ones I got off here. They were like cheap knock-offs@Commander I made that mistake and got a couple off of Temu. I got a 5 pack for like $25 or something like that. On a lightning deal. They were all way off and each one in a different way. Not sure why. They are in the live and learn pile now. I love the Xulins but the new V4 so far is really good.
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If I ever decide to give up messing with these Novo pens, I will probably switch lut all my pens to either the Xulin ir possibly the v4. I had a v3.5 or v4 before, but I can’t remember what one it was. I may have to buy the v4 and test it. I wish I could remember if it was the v3.5 or v4 I had already… oh well, time to buy another
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If I ever decide to give up messing with these Novo pens, I will probably switch lut all my pens to either the Xulin ir possibly the v4. I had a v3.5 or v4 before, but I can’t remember what one it was. I may have to buy the v4 and test it. I wish I could remember if it was the v3.5 or v4 I had already… oh well, time to buy another
@Commander Don't want to get crushed for this, but I like the V4 better than the Xulin. The mechanism to me is smoother when injecting. The Xulin seems like better quality, but when injecting its the V4 for me. I just ordered 3 more on the sale. I also don't leave the cover thing that hides the needle to me, it's a pain
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@stevepep I haven’t tried my V4’s yet, but so far I prefer my V2’s over both the Xulin and the Gansulin. When working correctly, the Gansulin is amazing, but it seems about 30% of the time they get hung up on the cart and don’t dispense smoothly or quickly. As for the Xulins, I find getting them started to be very difficult and the administration to be uneven. While I have had both of these pen types work flawlessly at times, I have had exactly 0 problems with my V2’s. My V1’s have also been fine, but I think the V2 is slightly more ergonomic for me. (I have 3 Gansulin, 3 Xulin, 4 V2’s, 3 V3’s, 3 V4’s, and 4 V1’s.)
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@TheHazmatGuy I have two zulins and 4 V4’s I rely on and they are very accurate. I had one that was two off it was a V2. I wonder if they get less accurate over time as they wear down as well. I am thinking I should retest them all.
@Stevepep I been running two V2 pens for multiple cartridges. I don't mind a couple of unit lost give or take but do they start to lose more accuracy after quite a few pins? They claim they are made out of high impact plastic. How many pins can it take before they bend and wear? I am looking to upgrade and expand. Considering all the above. What are the best penw w mostly metal part in the mechanism?
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@stevepep I haven’t tried my V4’s yet, but so far I prefer my V2’s over both the Xulin and the Gansulin. When working correctly, the Gansulin is amazing, but it seems about 30% of the time they get hung up on the cart and don’t dispense smoothly or quickly. As for the Xulins, I find getting them started to be very difficult and the administration to be uneven. While I have had both of these pen types work flawlessly at times, I have had exactly 0 problems with my V2’s. My V1’s have also been fine, but I think the V2 is slightly more ergonomic for me. (I have 3 Gansulin, 3 Xulin, 4 V2’s, 3 V3’s, 3 V4’s, and 4 V1’s.)
@ResearchCat I am not a fan of the Gansolin; it dispenses too quickly for my liking when it's not fidgety. It seems you need to use a 30 or larger to get it not to be so fidgety. I find going slow lessens the risk of a red spot. I gave mine away to a friend, and I love the toys. I could have bought 4-5 pens for that one, but my propensity to buy without thinking took over. I do want to try the Novo pen. @commander has tested all of these, and that's his go-to. They are supposed to be really nice.
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@Stevepep I been running two V2 pens for multiple cartridges. I don't mind a couple of unit lost give or take but do they start to lose more accuracy after quite a few pins? They claim they are made out of high impact plastic. How many pins can it take before they bend and wear? I am looking to upgrade and expand. Considering all the above. What are the best penw w mostly metal part in the mechanism?
@EXTROPIAN I wish I could help I did test one of my V4's this morning, my oldest one, about three months old or so. I tested 4 IU, 10 IU, and 20 IU, with BAC, and it was pretty much spot on. I didn't test the newer ones or the Xulins (those are only a month old or so). The Xulin is very sturdy, so that may be more accurate over time, but I am not sure. The move may be to keep a full cartridge of BAC to test every couple of months.
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Or maybe just buy multiple v2, v3,v4 for each cart and distribute the wear and tear. Now I will have to accommodate multiple Pens with a special case for my refrigerator. The one thing I was trying to avoid. I like everything compact and efficient. Reload cartridge, pin and shoot. I can see Jeff and Randy rubbing their hand$ "We got him".
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I received a V4 pen today, my first. It wasn't as awesome as I hoped.
-
Is there a video about priming? I found videos about testing, filtering, and filling, but not really priming. I kinda figured it out by watching some other videos but would like to be sure.
-
I tested it with an insulin syringe that I already ran some water through and the stopper ends up being just above the line on the outside of the syringe. So it seems to be within .5-1 unit I lose. I did several more doses between 4-20 and eventually watched the syringe fill up and be about 2 units short of what it should be. I also tried to add just 2 units to another syringe to top off a dose I drew from the end of vial, but it only gave me 1 unit. Is this within the realm of normal?
-
I got the gluco-care tips (5 mm x 32 g) and they seem to leak a lot, is that normal? Leaking under the cap and out of the tip. Is there a trick?
-
It HURT!
Granted, my husband kinda stabbed me, but I was suprised that it hurt more than the syringes I have with larger needles. My husband used it on himself first and didn't feel anything. I cleaned it, replaced the needle, and he did it on me. Yikes! Any tips?
- https://www.youtube.com/@PeptideCritic should have everything you need
- I find when testing the accuracy, it more often than not comes up a hair shy where I would normally pull in a syringe. I could just be reading the syringes incorrectly. I'm not recommending this, but I sometimes just add one unit to the pen to compensate (Eg. 21 units instead of 20). Sometimes I don't sweat it.
- I'm not sure what you mean by leaking under the cap, but a drop or 2 from the needle tip is normal due to the pressure in the cartridge.
- It just may have hit you in a bad spot. I've had shots that I didn't feel at all, and others in the same spot that pinched. I wouldn't call it hurt. To me the pinch or sting is more to do with the gauge than the length. You are already using 32 gauge, so yeah, I would think it just hit a bad spot.
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- https://www.youtube.com/@PeptideCritic should have everything you need
- I find when testing the accuracy, it more often than not comes up a hair shy where I would normally pull in a syringe. I could just be reading the syringes incorrectly. I'm not recommending this, but I sometimes just add one unit to the pen to compensate (Eg. 21 units instead of 20). Sometimes I don't sweat it.
- I'm not sure what you mean by leaking under the cap, but a drop or 2 from the needle tip is normal due to the pressure in the cartridge.
- It just may have hit you in a bad spot. I've had shots that I didn't feel at all, and others in the same spot that pinched. I wouldn't call it hurt. To me the pinch or sting is more to do with the gauge than the length. You are already using 32 gauge, so yeah, I would think it just hit a bad spot.
@Nuncles I've watched a ton of his videos but can't find one on priming. The closest was setting up a travel pen. I wondered if it was contributing to the needle leakage but sounds like some of this is normal as you say. I ended up adding 1 extra unit to doses as well. Glad to know the accuracy seems normal. I bought the pen from this site. Hopefully my next injection goes better!
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I love my Novo 4 pens - But I DO NOT recommend them to anyone. They require a lit if worm to make work. I have spent a TON of money on Novo pens and adapters- it is expensive. So why do I like them and spend a ton of money on them - they are thin.
But you need NP Adapters, and you need to be conscious of if the pen is slipping or not. For 99% of the people a Xulin or a REAL Vxxx is the best bet. The Novo pens are like having an old hot rod car, great when they run, bit a pain in the ass to keep running.
I will say this, you will waste a TON of money trying to save $10 a pen buying it off of Ali, Etsy, eBay, etc.. save yourself the trouble and buy it from hear or Max Headroom or someone that has already wasted the money trying tons of different sources to get the good Vxxx pens.
It is funny, some places or people spend a TON of money testing everything in order to spread the information so everyone else csn benefit, only to deal with everyone who didn’t spend a dime telling them why they are wrong.
I see a lot of people posting on here and other forums on “my pen isn’t accurate, how do I fix it” - the fix, buy one from a Vendor that has already done the work for you to make sure the product is good. You can’t buy a $5 pen and think it is going to work like a $50 pen… some good things in life cost money. -
@jperiod I guess I'm not 100% understanding what you mean by priming. Once the pen cartridge is filled, I purge the air out with the breather needle. Once I put the first needle on the pen (with needle pointing up), I push out a couple of units at a time with the plunger until I see liquid come out of the needle. Sometimes, after seeing the liquid, I will push out another 2-3 units just for good measure.
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On the same day I am going to pin a dose I reconstitute and filter into a cartridge. I use the same pen needle I'm going to pin to purge first. you don't really need a purge needle when filling your cartridge. When filling your cartridge and you start to feel pressure, release plunger and disconnect the luer slip part of the filter enough to release the pressure. You will not pop the cartridge plunger. I never had to disconnected the luer slip with 1ml. 2-3ml yes. You don't disconnect it completely. Just enough to allow it to blow out. Tight enough to hold and loose enough to disconnect
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I love my Novo 4 pens - But I DO NOT recommend them to anyone. They require a lit if worm to make work. I have spent a TON of money on Novo pens and adapters- it is expensive. So why do I like them and spend a ton of money on them - they are thin.
But you need NP Adapters, and you need to be conscious of if the pen is slipping or not. For 99% of the people a Xulin or a REAL Vxxx is the best bet. The Novo pens are like having an old hot rod car, great when they run, bit a pain in the ass to keep running.
I will say this, you will waste a TON of money trying to save $10 a pen buying it off of Ali, Etsy, eBay, etc.. save yourself the trouble and buy it from hear or Max Headroom or someone that has already wasted the money trying tons of different sources to get the good Vxxx pens.
It is funny, some places or people spend a TON of money testing everything in order to spread the information so everyone else csn benefit, only to deal with everyone who didn’t spend a dime telling them why they are wrong.
I see a lot of people posting on here and other forums on “my pen isn’t accurate, how do I fix it” - the fix, buy one from a Vendor that has already done the work for you to make sure the product is good. You can’t buy a $5 pen and think it is going to work like a $50 pen… some good things in life cost money.@Commander I bought my V4 from peptide critic, that's why I posted here.
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