Stick with old S7 Elite or....?

[OhAySis1]

Hi there. I was diagnosed about five years ago with OSA, but couldn't get used to CPAP and being the stubborn man that I am, I put my CPAP in a drawer and tried to forget about it.

Things have got worse recently, though, so I went back and got another couple of sleep tests and now I'm waiting for the DME folk to call me.

Thing is, I still have my old ResMed S7 Elite, and I'm feeling guilty about getting a new machine. Can someone tell me if it's really worth getting an S9 or whatever they decide to give me, or should I stick with my S7 if my doc will even let me? Thanks.

[chunkyfrog]

Your old S7 will do as a back-up.
Newer machines have many new features that you will like.
Do NOT get an Escape--NO WAY!

[purple]

I, shamelessly, as she says it so much better than I can, steal this post from Pugsy:

" New postby Pugsy on Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:20 am
Read the blog at the following link.
http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/

Personally I would zero in on the Respironics System One models and ResMed S9 models. Both have easy to use and obtain comprehensive software.
With ResMed...avoid anything with the word "Escape" in the model name.
With Respironics...avoid any model number lower than 450. Model numbers are plainly shown on the bottom of the machine.
The link above provides model names. "

[danmc]

What are some of the newer features>? I am thinking along the same lines, I have an s8 series ermmm vpap? Can't remember and dont want to wake up the missus checking. I think I need to upgrade anyway as its getting noisy.

Is there a feature that injects some kind of sleeping gas on a timer? I could really do with that

[OhAySis1]

Your old S7 will do as a back-up.
Newer machines have many new features that you will like.
Do NOT get an Escape--NO WAY!

Thanks for the info! Is the Escape one worth avoiding? Any others I should not bother with?

[danmc]

I hope I'm not hijacking here - I seem to be in a similar position to the OP (already own a machine, considering the advantages of newer models) so figured its neater to talk about about replacement machine features here.

Do the system one or resmed s9 series models run the humidifier when on 12 volts and switch over to 12v automaticallly if power goes out?

I think that was a drawback on my old machine so I've never bothered giving it backup batteries. I have had some nasty wakeups when power goes out so thinking thats a feature I would like.

I can't remember the details on why I ended up buying top of the line when I got the resmed. The DME were really pushy about me buying just a cheap cpap but I went through all the features back then and figured that even though I didnt need the full feature set, they would all help. I have never regretted it, when I switch my machine to cpap only its awful. I also have all the logging data etc.

Has anyone done a chart comparing the feature sets of available machines? If not I'll have to do one again for current models.

[Pugsy]

The ResMed machines with "Escape" in the model name are bare bones basic machines with extremely limited data.
The basic S9 Escape offers hours of use only and the Escape Auto only offers a very limited AHI data point.
With a history of problems adjusting to and using the machine you are going to want every advantage possible so that you can monitor your own results and maybe isolate a culprit that is perhaps affecting your compliance and results.
So you don't want any machine that won't give you all the data that is available from a full efficacy data machine.

The S9 machine is a world apart from your S7 machine.
SD cards for data transfer to software (huge plus) and more complete data available and a new algorithm.
Also much more quiet in general.
Get a new machine at your first chance...you won't regret it. Just make sure you know what you are getting.
If you want to stay with the ResMed product line you can use SleepyHead or ResScan software.
Take a look at the SleepyHead links in my signature line to get an idea what you can see.
ResScan has a tutorial...watch it to get an idea what it offers.
Both of these software products are free and easy to obtain.
http://montfordhouse.com/cpap/resscan_tutorial/

If you end up wanting or considering a different brand...take a look at the link that Purple provide above.
I would still limit my choices to either ResMed or Respironics though and only models that offered every available data point.

Some information on the S9 series in general
http://www.resmed.com/us/products/s9_se ... nc=dealers
For the guy with the S8 machine...click on this link and then click on the specifications tab to get choices for a side by side comparison with S8 models.
Newer is better all the way around and worth it.

[Pugsy]

Has anyone done a chart comparing the feature sets of available machines? If not I'll have to do one again for current models.

See if this helps you get started with comparisons.
https://www.cpap.com/cpap-compare-chart.php

[danmc]

Great info thanks. This is an awesome forum.

[Guest]

What he said! Much easier to tackle the DEMs with information in my head.

[archangle]

Do the system one or resmed s9 series models run the humidifier when on 12 volts and switch over to 12v automaticallly if power goes out?

I think that was a drawback on my old machine so I've never bothered giving it backup batteries. I have had some nasty wakeups when power goes out so thinking thats a feature I would like.

The S9 runs the humidifier and the blower off of 24V DC, but there's no switchover provision. There's only one power plug on the unit. The 24V DC can come from the power brick that runs on AC power, or off the optional DC-DC converter that runs off of 12V. You'd have to unplug one and plug the other into the back of the machine.

You could rig up some sort of battery with a full time AC powered charger plus the DC-DC converter and the machine would still run if the AC power goes off. Basically run the machine off of battery all the time. Whether the reliability of all of that stuff would be better than your AC power is another question.