Italy trip with a Z1

[Jeffrey A-sleep]

Hello fellow CPAPers!
I just came back from Italy where my wife and I visited Rome and Venice. I bought a Z1 specifically for this trip and for back country camping with my sons. Now that I am back I wanted to post the results. I use a nasal pillow with a 7.5 setting on my CPAP. For this trip I also bought the BPS battery system instead of the Z1 battery pack at the suggestion of guy at the CPAP store.
Before I left for Italy I tried out the Z1 and as many have said, it is NOISY. To beat that problem I bought a Bose noise cancelling headset at a pawn shop for 80 bucks. It is the only way I can use the Z1. Sometimes I also plug the Bose into my iPhone and run a white noise program. I also bought the filters they sell for the Z1 to further reduce the noise.
On the plane, no problem. It's so noisy in the cabin I never heard the Z1 and neither did my wife. The battery worked great and even had extra juice. In the hotel I plugged the Z1 into the wall using an inverter. The Bose was needed to drown out the Z1 noise and I also placed a large bath towel over the unit (without blocking the intake). I also bought my wife a headband with Bluetooth enabled speakers so she would not hear the Z1. Those worked well for her. We spent 3 nights in Rome and 3 in Venice and we both slept without problems.
The Z1 is easy to travel with. The TSA and European security never gave it a second glance (not so when I previously traveled with my home unit). Having the battery is a great relief to me as we do get power outages during hurricane season. BUT in my opinion, the Z1 is only worth it if you travel quite a bit, will be somewhere without power, or if you are concerned about the power going out for days at a time. Otherwise, the costs don't justify it.
One more thing. I found this board BEFORE getting diagnosed. It's the whole reason I was able to figure out I had sleep apnea as the doctor just kept giving me anti-depressants for my chronic sleeplessness. I owe this forum a lot.

[TangledHose]

Jeff,

Thanks for the information on the Z1, we appreciate the feedback.

I am using the Z1 Auto (traded in my old Z1) -- I think your review is spot on for a lot of Z1 users, the noise transmitted to the mask is quite loud to the cpap user. I have experimented at home using the F&P HC150 stand alone humidifier, with the Z1 running through this humidifier the noise is reduced considerably, maybe in half and it made the Z1 usable for me at home as a test. Of course I am not going to haul the humidifier with me on a trip as that would defeat the purpose of the small Z1 for packing.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/fisher ... ifier.html

HDM apparently is aware of this issue and is currently working on a fix which is a muffler that goes in-line between the machine and the cpap hose that should reduce the noise to a more normal level. A user here on the board (Bill-e) has been using the prototype for the muffler with great success, even tho he says he can successfully use the Z1 without the muffler as well; he has used the Z1 for the last year without the muffler. HDM indicates on their forum at the HDMUSA web site that the muffler attachment will go into production in April this year, so hopefully it will be available very soon and will fix the noise issue without adding a lot of bulk for packing space. I have not seen the production unit so I personally have no idea how big or small it will end up being.

It should also be said that many folks use the Z1 with no complaint about the noise............I personally think it is more of a problem with certain types of masks, but that's just my guess.

So, at any rate, hang in there for the muffler fix, and I think your post was very accurate.........tons of money, and only really good if you need a cpap for a lot of travel, but then again that is the target market, eh.