Comfort Curve and S8 Information

Aura is roughly 25% smaller than s8 and about 30% lighter. There are many aspects to a real comparison and I will leave that to others.

It is too early to tell how good or bad the Comfort Curve. Here are a few observations on it:

The sealing is very different from any other mask ever made. If I was pressed, I would say the closest thing to it is the old Respironics Minimask. It does not go in the nares and it is not nasal pillows but it does seal right at the end of the nose. Three sizes of seals are provided. Seals are silicone and are made of material roughly similar to Ultra Mirage although the shape is totally unique.

I have worn it and was able to fit four others with it. We got good seals on each person with very little effort. Comfort, sound lever, and visibility is fine. Headgear is minimal as is strap pressure. The system is light. It appeared to be well built. Colors (interesting) are pastel, including gray, pink, blue, and yellow, and are easily changed.

I think we have a player for the worlds best mask here. Respironics plans to position it as a "premium" mask price wise.

Bottom line, this mask is worthy of a lot of attention and may well be in the worlds best category. Time will tell.

Is it not GREAT to have a forum like cpaptalk? We will all soon know what Comfort Curve is as we psot. Some will love it, some will hate it, and we will all get a real feel for it long before ANYONE who does not visit this site.

Regarding the Comfort Curve the $64,000 question is "Does torque from the hoses cause the interface to lose a seal?" This is what Aeiomed has solved with the "lock box." Unless you control the torque from the hose, you can't get a reliable seal no matter how good it is.

Regarding the aura machine, if is is that much smaller than the S8 we may have another innovative winner from the Aeiomed company. It will be interesting to see if they are equally innovative with the algorithm they are developing for the upcoming auto version.

Thanks, MaskedMechanic, but what you started out with might be a bit confusing to new people, since the link with the word Aura goes to a picture of the Aura mask. I guess you were meaning to compare the size of two new cpap machines - Aeiomed's and ResMed's - rather than comparing one company's mask with another company's machine.

You said you've fitted 4 people with the Respironics Comfort Curve mask. Do you work for a DME? "We got good seals on each person with very little effort." sounds like you have a home health care store or work for one?

Since you have hands on experience with using the Comfort Curve and with fitting 4 people with it, can you tell us what pressure you are using? How many nights have you slept with it so far? What sleeping position do you use? Toss and turn much? How do you have the two hoses routed?

Thanks!

Yes, Wader, to avoid any confusion, I am comparing machine to machine. Regarding the torque from hose issue, it is a fair point. One of the interesting and innovative things about the Comfort Curve is that the 'cheek pads" help to absorb unwanted hose forces on the cushion to a certain extent. Just how effective this is, I can't say yet. The check pads are a bit like forehead pads in that they provide stability and control cushion forces. The hoses can be worn on the chest of above the head. Respironics definitely has some creative engineering in this design along with a real concern for genuine performance. In my experience, it takes months and hundreds of users before a cpap interface can be truly rated so my comments are very much just my gut feel.

Rested Gal, the Comfort Curve has been kept under tight raps for nearly a year. I had the opportunity to do what I liked with it for about one hour quite some time ago. I tried it on myself with various machine pressures, cushions and strap tensions and was impressed. It was so easy to get a good seal with barely any pressure on the nose. Being a rather forceful personality, I soon tried it on everyone in the room and found it to seal on a diverse range of noses with ease. We made some minor suggestions at that time for improvement . The final product addressed those issues.

Yes, my experience with the comfort curve is limited. Without all night testing on a variety of users, I may be very wrong about this product. I do think the board will find them of interest until more extensive information becomes available. As to my background, lets just say that I am a MaskedMechanic.