Airmini Review

[GolfGardener]

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TLDR: The Airmini is a great travel solution once you've hacked it to reduce noise, but don't expect to be able to use the product out of the box. You will need to buy a separate adapter or make your own modifications to make it usable.
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After taking at least a dozen flights over the last year with my Resmed 10 occupying most of my carry-on bag, and with no permanent cure for sleep apnea on the horizon, I decided it was finally time to open my wallet for an Airmini. I'd heard about the noise issue as well as talk of various solutions, but I assumed that it can't be as bad as people made out, especially for a device intended for only occasional use. Well, I live and learn.

The machine arrived a few days before I was due to travel and I was pleased to see just how small and light it is. Setup was very easy using the Airmini app, and even though it was a little annoying that the machine isn't compatible with standard masks, it was good to see that all the usual options were available including my preferred nasal pillows. Even so, I thought I should test it out overnight before the trip to make sure everything was OK.

What a shock! The noise that had seemed perfectly reasonable when testing out the mask fit during the day was deafening while trying to nod off to sleep. This thing is LOUD! The strange thing is that the noise doesn't come from the machine itself but from the hose and specifically from the large HumidX filter chamber located just about an inch down from the pillows. I stuck with it but had a terrible night's sleep. When I did manage to get off to sleep in spite of the noise, I'd wake up again every time I moved because the heavy filter chamber kept banging against my face.

This experience was enough to conclude that this wasn't going to be an option for my two week trip. I wouldn't be able to get enough sleep to enjoy a holiday like this, and nor could I subject my family who would be sharing a room with me to this noisy torture. I was pretty upset that I'd just purchased a 1,000+ dollar paperweight.

A quick search through the forums told me that purchasing an adapter to allow me to connect a standard mask was likely to go a long way to curing the problem, but unfortunately I'd left it too late before travelling to get one delivered. So in desperation I looked at the Airmini's fitting and the mask I used with my Resmed 10 and realised that I could probably just mash the two together with sticky tape. I tried that and used this home-brewed solution the next night with much, much better results. It's difficult to get a good seal on the joint using tape, which means that you end up with some leakage (my Airmini app showed a mask fit of 13 out of 20 compared to a perfect 20 the previous night) and still some associated residual noise. However it was far quieter now, I was able to get a good night's sleep and my AHI was better than the previous night (1.7 vs 1.0) presumably due to less time spent awake and the false-positive events that resulted from that.

Pleased with this result, I took the machine on the trip and had good sleep throughout, no complaints from the family, and my sticky-tape lash-up even survived the two week trip without having to be redone.

Back at home I've now purchased an adapter so that I no longer have to do the tape thing. That provides a solid fit, no leakage and another significant reduction in noise level. I haven't tried measuring it with a dB meter, but subjectively I would say that my sticky tape hack reduced the noise by around half, and the adapter reduced it by half again.

So overall I'm now really pleased that I went ahead and purchased the Airmini, but the reason I'm writing this is to warn people NOT to expect to be able to use it out of the box. I just can't believe that the product in that state ever got through its design and testing stages. For sure, nobody involved in these processes ever slept with one on their face and said "our customers are going to love this". But with the aftermarket hacks available, you end up with a product that is not significantly noisier than a Resmed 10 and far more portable. On that basis, if you travel a lot and/or want a backup machine and can afford the price, I recommend it.

[swoyna@gmail.com]

Thanks for the detailed report!

[onward60]

Well, this is good to know. My sister was considering getting one of these. I will pass this on to her.

[bierhere]

I've used the AirMini since Jan 2018. Its is definitely a louder machine, I personally don't find the noise problematic. I use a full face mask and maybe there is a large difference in the noise between the pillow and a full facemark with the machine. I use the standard AirMini connectors/hoses. I used it as a full-time machine for over a year due to the Phillips recalls. I actually prefer the lighter hoses and find its actually easier in some ways to sleep with the AirMini than my standard Resmed Air 10.

The consumable HumidX disks make the machine too expensive to use as a full-time machine, but use it extensively for travel since I bought it, both in hotels and on long distance flights. In most cases, I'm traveling without family when I use it, so I haven't been worried about noise.

[vandownbytheriver]

I was curious about the HumidX discs so I googled... and read this:

Designed to provide comfortable therapy while at home or while traveling. When you exhale, heat and moisture is captured and stored within the HME's tiny paper ridges. When you inhale, this heat and moisture is released to humidify the air you breathe in.

So, the way I read this, the mask you're using does *not* have an exhaust port, the port happens *after* the exhalation goes through the disc? This means that the mask used must be non-standard, and actually not usable without the full system?

[GolfGardener]

The mask that comes with the Airmini has the exhalation system described below built into it.

When I swap that out for my "normal" mask, that has its own exhaust port.
 
So one possible disadvantage of the hack I described is that you lose any kind of humidity system, but as humidity doesn't seem to make much difference in my case (possibly because I live in a very humid climate), that's a compromise I'll happily take for less noise.

Does that make sense?

I was curious about the HumidX discs so I googled... and read thi

Designed to provide comfortable therapy while at home or while traveling. When you exhale, heat and moisture is captured and stored within the HME's tiny paper ridges. When you inhale, this heat and moisture is released to humidify the air you breathe in.

So, the way I read this, the mask you're using does *not* have an exhaust port, the port happens *after* the exhalation goes through the disc? This means that the mask used must be non-standard, and actually not usable without the full system?