Is it worth it to switch from Resmed S8 to S9 autoset

[carbonman]

This is all VERY interesting.

Just so there is no misunderstanding....I'm very skeptical.

I'm a data junkie.
I record my data every am.
Last night, I had AHI of 1.9.
....if we do the "accepted" divide by 2,
I had an AHI of .95.
Time in apnea is what I'm most interested in.....
typically 0...occasionally 0.1.
This is very typical for me.
This result is very acceptable for me.

Is my therapy really going to be any better w/an S9?
Is it worth $1K to be able to say I can have an AHI of 0?

For those that have succumbed to the power of the S9,
are they now committed to defending their choice and cash outlay....
irrespective of therapy improvement?
Are therapy improvements simply perceived due to the commitment to the S9?
Is the redefined hyponea algorithm just marketing smoke and mirrors?


I have felt the burning eyes of the beast.....
and made the gamble when I switched from the Mseries auto
to the S8 II machines....all on my dime.
My therapy did improve dramatically.

de lure of sleep is strong......

[Uncle_Bob]

Is my therapy really going to be any better w/an S9?
Is it worth $1K to be able to say I can have an AHI of 0?

For those that have succumbed to the power of the S9,
are they now committed to defending their choice and cash outlay....
irrespective of therapy improvement?
Are therapy improvements simply perceived due to the commitment to the S9?
Is the redefined hyponea algorithm just marketing smoke and mirrors?

I'm not sure i would have pulled the trigger on an S9 at $1200. At the time i was looking into purchasing the aussie heated hose so i was already committed to spending $160 to resolve my humidity problems. At that time I had enough money that needed to be used up in my flexible health care spending account. I also got the machine before the Internet pricing crap came in, so I spent around $520 when i was going to spend $160 on just the aussie hose.

Maybe my therapy would have improved on S8 Autoset at the the same rate it has on the S9 over recent months, who knows.

But i'm feeling better, regardless of numbers and I think I've got a good setup going with the S9 and great backup and travel machine in the S8.

[carbonman]

I'm not sure i would have pulled the trigger on an S9 at $1200. At the time i was looking into purchasing the aussie heated hose so i was already committed to spending $160 to resolve my humidity problems. At that time I had enough money that needed to be used up in my flexible health care spending account. I also got the machine before the Internet pricing crap came in, so I spent around $520 when i was going to spend $160 on just the aussie hose.

Given those numbers and circumstance, sounds very reasonable.

Maybe my therapy would have improved on S8 Autoset at the the same rate it has on the S9 over recent months, who knows.

This is the $64K question.

I think I've got a good setup going with the S9 and great backup and travel machine in the S8.

Without a doubt.

[Slinky]

I would agree!! You are in GREAT shape w/an S9 AutoSet and an S8 as a backup!! ENJOY the extra data the S9 gives you! Lucky bird.

[torontoCPAPguy]

I used the ResMed S8 AutoSet II for the 1st 5 months of my cpap therapy, and switched to the S9 AutoSet 2 months ago. I feel I got good therapy on the S8, but prefer the S9 because of the Climate Control Hose. Also, I was uncomfortable on the S8's apap mode, and used cpap only. The changing pressures disturbed my sleep and I got aerophagia.

On the S9, I use apap with no problems.

One other consideration is the data:

S8 reports: Leaks, AHI, Apneas (but does not differentiate between Obstructive and Central Apnea, Hypopneas

S9 reports, in addition to the above: Central Apneas , Flow, Flow Limitation, Minute Ventilation Rate, Snore Index. Of these, I find Central Apneas the most useful.

Also, check on the availability of the S8 Card Reader, as it is no longer for sale in the U.S. The S9 uses a generic SD Card Reader.

What she said. If it's good enough for KatieW then its the machine that I want. KatieW you didn't steer me wrong on the S8 Autoset II and I know that you have not on the S9 which arrived today. I gotta figure out how the humidifier works though; its been in the 30's here all week (Centigrade) and I hate hot air blowing. But I like moist air blowing. So I generally use passover humidification without heat.... going to try cascading humidifiers this week! (connecting them together with short pieces of hose). Oh, it's great to be a geek. I can hardly wait to get the SD RAMcard into the laptop.

[torontoCPAPguy]

This is all VERY interesting.

Just so there is no misunderstanding....I'm very skeptical.

I'm a data junkie.
I record my data every am.
Last night, I had AHI of 1.9.
....if we do the "accepted" divide by 2,
I had an AHI of .95.
Time in apnea is what I'm most interested in.....
typically 0...occasionally 0.1.
This is very typical for me.
This result is very acceptable for me.

Is my therapy really going to be any better w/an S9?
Is it worth $1K to be able to say I can have an AHI of 0?

For those that have succumbed to the power of the S9,
are they now committed to defending their choice and cash outlay....
irrespective of therapy improvement?
Are therapy improvements simply perceived due to the commitment to the S9?
Is the redefined hyponea algorithm just marketing smoke and mirrors?


I have felt the burning eyes of the beast.....
and made the gamble when I switched from the Mseries auto
to the S8 II machines....all on my dime.
My therapy did improve dramatically.

de lure of sleep is strong......

Carbonman; fact is that I have an S9 and you do not. I can smell the jeleosy. It's so thick that you can cut it with a knife. I feel very sadly for you. So badly in fact that I am going to use my old S8 Autoset II on the last day of each month in your honour just so I can feel badly about having spent all this money on my S9's just to get that smiley face. And the truth of the matter is that is exactly why I bought the damn things. I like smiley faces in the morning. And wearing men's underwear on my head. And power bricks that I can reverse engineer so that I can make them run off 12 VDC crappy power. And heated hoses instead of heated water. And all the other stuff that the S9 allows me to do. It's a brave new world out there! You need to get with the programme or when the S10 comes out next month you are going to be TWO (!) behind the rest of us. Such a shame. Such a shame.

[torontoCPAPguy]

Is my therapy really going to be any better w/an S9?
Is it worth $1K to be able to say I can have an AHI of 0?

For those that have succumbed to the power of the S9,
are they now committed to defending their choice and cash outlay....
irrespective of therapy improvement?
Are therapy improvements simply perceived due to the commitment to the S9?
Is the redefined hyponea algorithm just marketing smoke and mirrors?

I'm not sure i would have pulled the trigger on an S9 at $1200. At the time i was looking into purchasing the aussie heated hose so i was already committed to spending $160 to resolve my humidity problems. At that time I had enough money that needed to be used up in my flexible health care spending account. I also got the machine before the Internet pricing crap came in, so I spent around $520 when i was going to spend $160 on just the aussie hose.

Maybe my therapy would have improved on S8 Autoset at the the same rate it has on the S9 over recent months, who knows.

But i'm feeling better, regardless of numbers and I think I've got a good setup going with the S9 and great backup and travel machine in the S8.

Uncle Bob: Looking at your picture avatar there I think I have figured out why you have sleep apnea and it has nothing to do with obstructions buddy. I'm surprised that your better half isn't reporting poor nights of sleep. You know, 'beans, beans, good for the heart......' Check it out.

[Jay K]

I started APAP therapy last September with the S8 Auto II, and recently started using the S9 Auto (I have also tried the System One Bipap Auto, which I liked).

For me the S9 Auto is a big improvement over the S8 Auto II. Among other things, it sets the pressure on average to about 8, whereas the S9 set it to about 10 (the System One also adjusts on average to around . I suspect this reflects a better algorithm for tracking events. Most specifically, even though my sleep study report didn't show significant centrals (although I have reason to believe the scorer didn't catch these) , both the S9 and System One report about 2 to 3 centrals per hour. The consequence, I believe, is the S8 "chased" the centrals and jacked up the pressure (since it didn't know they were centrals) only making the centrals a bit worse. Just my theory, but the fact the S9 has better event tracking makes it a better auto machine.

Of course, this advantage would not apply to the situation where you are comparing the S9 to a straight CPAP, but all in all I am skeptical of CPAPs because the prescribed pressure is based on a one-night sleep study, whereas most of us have noticed the number and magnitude of our events can vary rather significantly from day to day. I prefer to have a machine that adjusts to what is needed, assuming it can do so accurately. From what I am observing the S9 can whereas in my case the S8 Auto may have been a bit dicey in this regard.

Overall, I am happy with the S9 Auto and would recommend it with one caveat. I don't like how Resmed is artificially keeping the price high (I bought mine on cpapauction.com to avoid this) and therefore might recommend the Respironics System One instead to someone on a tight budget. Also, their software policy (namely, if you want their software to monitor your events you have to . . . ahem . . . get it through nontraditional channels). But over that the caveat, I would highly recommend the S9 assuming it won't break the bank.

[Jay K]

I started APAP therapy last September with the S8 Auto II, and recently started using the S9 Auto (I have also tried the System One Bipap Auto, which I liked).

For me the S9 Auto is a big improvement over the S8 Auto II. Among other things, it sets the pressure on average to about eight, whereas the S9 set it to about 10 (the System One also adjusts on average to around eight). I suspect this reflects a better algorithm for tracking events. Most specifically, even though my sleep study report didn't show significant centrals (although I have reason to believe the scorer didn't catch these) , both the S9 and System One report about 2 to 3 centrals per hour. The consequence, I believe, is the S8 "chased" the centrals and jacked up the pressure (since it didn't know they were centrals) only making the centrals a bit worse. Just my theory, but the fact the S9 has better event tracking makes it a better auto machine.

Of course, this advantage would not apply to the situation where you are comparing the S9 to a straight CPAP, but all in all I am skeptical of CPAPs because the prescribed pressure is based on a one-night sleep study, whereas most of us have noticed the number and magnitude of our events can vary rather significantly from day to day. I prefer to have a machine that adjusts to what is needed, assuming it can do so accurately. From what I am observing the S9 can whereas in my case the S8 Auto may have been a bit dicey in this regard.

Overall, I am happy with the S9 Auto and would recommend it with a couple of caveats. I don't like how Resmed is artificially keeping the price high (I bought mine on cpapauction.com to avoid this) and therefore might recommend the Respironics System One instead to someone on a tight budget. Also, their software policy (namely, if you want their software to monitor your events you have to . . . ahem . . . get it through nontraditional channels). But other than these caveats, I would highly recommend the S9 assuming it won't break the bank.

[Physician]

My prior posts on the S9:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=53451&p=495516#p495516

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=53500&p=496297#p496297



There are two reasons why I liked the S8 better than my new S9:


1. The EPR differential is immediate with the S8. One can feel it on expiration.

2. The S8 goes immediately to the set lower limit pressure in AutoSet mode, That was excellent. For totally unclear reasons, in AutoSet mode in the S9, it takes ten seconds for the unit to go from start/zero to my lower limit set of 8. And there's no way to change that except to change to CPAP mode. In CPAP mode under the Clinical Menu ----> Options one can set "moderate" and "fast" climbs. BUT neither the "moderate" nor "fast" make any substantial difference. It simply takes too long to get to the minimum pressure and thus it feels a little suffocating. ResMed tech support concurred that the feature that allows immediate on to the full lower pressure limit has been deleted in the S9 when in AutoSet mode.

But for the other reasons described in my prior posts, the S9 is still preferred.

So for simply comfort in falling asleep with an autoset, I strongly prefer the S8.

[lufc1953]

I could be wrong, but so far I think we have:

1) people who have tried both S8 and S9,
2) people who have tried S9 but not S8,
3) people who have tried S8 but not S9

Of that first category---people who have tried both models----we have some people who have reported preferring S9. Is there anyone who has tried both, but prefer the S8? I'm sure there has to be some...

Please raise your cyber hands now or forever hold your peace...

I like the s8 more than the s9 when i tried the s9 i became tired through the day swapped back to the s8 and now no longer tired

[profoundapena]

I have an S8, properly a ResMed Auto 25, and I pay nothing for it. My machine has more features, but I have CSA and my heart stopped a few times during the sleep study, so I need a special machine. It cost $2000. but I have wondered too if I should have the S9.

The S9's main benefit seems to be the automatic features, but you're in dangerous territory if you're self medicating. I don't think it's a smart idea. I also think that you can get quite worked up and paranoid by constantly looking at your numbers. While I do believe in self-care, I also believe in analysis paralysis.

Do some research online--the S9 is only 1 decibel quieter than your machine. It has an advanced algorithm and easy breathe technology but if you're on cpap therapy, that doesn't even get used. Only those on apap therapy can fully utilize the machine, and there are postings online that some have trouble self-regulating the automatic machines. If it's anything like the automatic climate control in my car, it's worthless. But I don't know. I have a fancy S8 with most of those features anyway, and it was specifically prescribed by my doctor. I would ask your doctor what he thinks. After all, he deals with this every day and is an expert. People online, myself included, are not necessarily experts.

[Physician]

I like the s8 more than the s9 when i tried the s9 i became tired through the day swapped back to the s8 and now no longer tired

As stated, there are two reasons I prefer the S8, but the sum total of positives and negatives makes me prefer the S9.