Goodbye, AirFit P10. Call me when you're improved....

My latest new P10 mask came with a couple of small clips to take up a length of excess strap. You have to look under the instruction manual to find them. However they don't hold tight enough and the loop slips right back out. When my strap gets loose I merely pinch a small loop and tie it with dental floss.

Besides the strap, another improvement I would like to see is a pillow size in between the medium and large. Or perhaps larger holes in the medium.

chunkyfrog wrote:Not related to the strap issue, but I need to clean out the mesh every month or so.
Water pic or denture tablet. Easiest way to clear the mesh.

For us computer types, soaking in some Dawn and water and then blowing out the mesh with a can of compressed air works well too. The holes are soooo tiny that they can become clogged even though you might not realize it for a while. I'm sure the sneezing I did with the mask on didn't help either!

You can get some of those stretchy headbands from the dollar store and use those to stabilize any mask. They are the ones that are soft cotton like knit, Pull it over your head and down below your nose and to where ever it is comfortable for you. You can put it anywhere as long as you don't cover the exhaust.

I go back and forth between a P10 and a Resmed Swift FX nasal pillows mask. If you really want the ability to tighten the P10's straps and can't find a way to make the P10's headgear work, you might want to try the Swift FX.

For me, the biggest issues with the P10 are:

1) The pillow base (where that wonderful mesh venting is located) is just rigid enough to make it possible for me to dislodge the mask when it hits my pillow while I'm snuggling down into bed. The Swift FX is softer and it does not dislodge.

2) The "For Her" headgear is simply way too tight and I don't have a big head. The regular headgear is usually just about right, although right now my P10's headgear is way too stretched out and I am having leak problems. (Reminder to self: Wash that headgear in hot, hot water this weekend.) The stretched out headgear increases the problem with my bed pillow dislodging the nasal pillows.


However, the Swift FX is also far from perfect. My two big issues with it are:

1) An exhaust flow that feels like a jet engine blowing on my arms. It's also loud if it hits the bed covers, which it prone to doing. I have attached a spongy air filter to diffuse that exhaust flow and there's no difference in my total leak graph when I look at it in Sleepy Head. It's not a solution everyone would be comfortable with, however.

2) The silicon strap gets caught in my rather curly hair. A custom "full strap" pad made by padacheek fixed that problem.

The top buckle of the Swift FX had a habit of breaking off my hair at the top of my head.
I was not aware of it until a beautician asked me why there was breakage there.
After that, I used an extra strap cover over the buckle to protect my hair.

Resmed, good machines, bad masks.

Resmed mask break down really quickly be it pillows or headgear.

Uncle_Bob wrote:Resmed mask break down really quickly be it pillows or headgear.

I haven't found that to be the case with any ResMed mask I have used...started with the Swift LT, moved to the Swift FX and now the P10 and I always have been able to get months and months out of the nasal pillows.
Right now I am using a nasal pillow that I put on last October (one year ago) when I thought the leaks were from an old nasal pillow and it ended up being the pesky headgear stretching but to be fair it was the original blue size headgear and I had probably 10 months on it before the hot water shrinking no longer helped.
So I went to the "for Her" headgear and I am still using the headgear I opened up a year ago.
I used to rotate the nasal pillows and thought that maybe contributed to the long life but I haven't bothered doing that with the P10. Just use the same old pillow and wash it every couple of weeks or so.

So I am over a year on one nasal pillow and one headgear for the P10.
I do understand that not everyone is so lucky though. I think facial oils and cleaning (or lack of) perhaps contribute to the life of any mask.
I have learned that I don't need so many spares I think I still have some unused Swift FX nasal pillows in my stash drawer. I don't know why I keep them...but what can you say when faced with a cpap hoarder.
At least with the P10 I don't have dozens...I think I have 3 spares which I am sure will last me long past the release of a new nasal pillow mask for me to try and maybe switch to. Plus I think I have a complete P10 still in the package unopened.

The F & P Brevida is going to be my next experiment just as soon as it gets released here in the US.
Looks interesting and I am bored and itching to try something new to break up the boredom.

I tried the swift fx but the flexible part under nose didn't work well for me and I kept getting leaks. The P10 has worked well for me because it has a hard plastic piece under the pillows.

And I think the AirFit P10 is the best mask that I have tried yet. But we are all different...

Is sewing a short loop in the strap to make it tighter too simple of a solution?

No, that solution works fine too. And I doubt you'll notice the small bump it makes. Some people have sewn on a small velcro loop cable tie which allows it to be adjusted. Make sure you try the washing in hot water trick, though, as that is often enough for most people. And then be careful when putting it on not to stretch it any more than is necessary.

yaconsult wrote:Make sure you try the washing in hot water trick, though, as that is often enough for most people.

In fact, I tried this two nights ago. It shrunk it quite a bit - too much. I had to re-stretch it out some. This model could use some better on-the-fly adjust-ability. But it is normally VERY comfortable for me.

You may want to consider the new pillow mask from 3B Medical called "Rio". It is very similar to the P10, but the straps have Velcro pads and are adjustable to a larger size than the P10. There are other differences that may, or may not, be useful to you. I have used both and still prefer the P10, but it is close and I do not have the sizing issue that you have.