Bleep Eclipse...so far

[Sleep2Dream]

I was excited to get my Bleep Eclipse and set out trying it right away. Results:
--Easy to put on, easy to pop off.
--I had been concerned about having the tube coming off my face, rather than off the top of my head, which is what I've been used to. So far, that hasn't been a problem.
--BUT...the halos really bother me. After a pretty good first night, they make my nose/face feel stiff and solidified, for lack of a better description.
--I have the tube hung over the top of my headboard, but it still feels heavy and like a constant annoyance. Like something is constantly pulling at the edges of my nostrils.
--My nose and the area around my nose feel stiffened and uncomfortable with the adhesive. I've lasted four hours at most with this setup. While it's really easy to connect and disconnect, I find that after a few hours, the skin around my nose is just really bothering me and I have to disconnect.
--Last night, even though the magnets seemed to connect perfectly, I am a side sleeper, and a few times the pillow seemed to disrupt the connection enough to cause a leak, which caused me to be awake and aware.

Any advice from Bleep lovers would be appreciated.

[jlsmithseven]

1. Is this the first Bleep product you've used?
2. I've had very similar issues..
3. I've reached out to Stuart (you should as well) and he gave me some very good recommendations on how to use the Halos.
4. As for the feeling of your nose being pulled by them, I've found giving the tubing a little more slack so it creates a U - shape next to you alleviates any of the pulling of your nose.
5. I feel like the adhesive on the Halos is much stronger than I'm used to. Stuart recommended just washing my face with soap/water instead of the Bleep Witch Hazel wipes and that helped me with the adhesive issue. They are the same adhesive used in the Dreamports though.
Ultimately, a lot of people here will tell you to reach out to Stuart. Amazing guy who takes his products seriously and will work with you until you figure out a solution!

[Jlfinkels]

Thanks for posting this as I’ve been thinking about doing some “Bleep Tips” from my experiences as a fairly new bleeper of a few months, so here are some subjective responses. One point to note is that Stuart has done some very good videos showing not only how to put on and take off the bleep products, but also how to support the frame and hose. Definitely worth reviewing.

To me the bleep is most comfortable when the tubing has support for the frame from the nose to the hose connection. I use an overhead system that swivels when I move, which makes flopping around easy. I also have used it across the pillow and back up over my head with good results. It is all about placement of the hose to take their weight off your nose.

It took me about 6 weeks to get really comfortable with the original bleep, but the Eclipse was a few days. Getting the adhesive on just right takes practice and experience, as does getting the nose opening right. Once I got the hang of it I can put them on in about a minute.

Some observations of mine…

1. For almost two weeks I was struggling with the original Dreamports getting a good seal at the connection. After carefully watching Stuarts videos I realized I had the bloody frame upside down. Once I got that right everything clicked into place. Pun intended. Now with the Eclipse I started having issues with air blowing into my eyes and the frame popping off during the night. Turns out I had that bloody frame upside down as well (the little nubby thing has to be on the top of the frame to be right-side up). Once I put it on right it has been working well. No more air blowing into my eye or frame popping off.

2. I kept getting woken up with what felt like leaks. I finally got up one night and spent time trying to find a leak, but could not find any. Buggers. I finally realized that there actually was no leak, but the feeling was the air blowing and hitting parts of my nose and face under the adhesive that I never felt air hitting when using P10’s. I also had to learn how to better install the Halos so that they were correctly adhered to the sides of my nose, when there was a bit of a gap the feeling of the air hitting it felt strange. LankyLefty has a video on the Eclipse where he uses the little pieces of adhesive cut from the Halo to plug that gap. Brilliant idea that works for me as well.

3. I remove the Halos first thing and wash my face right away, which seems to get rid of that funky feeling when you first wake-up and feel the adhesive. One trick is to not pull them off, but to peel them off to leave the least amount of adhesive on your face.

In general I am very pleased with the Eclipse as it solves my arthritis challenges with the DreamPorts. It does take a bit of fiddling and experience to find the right placement, same as the DreamPorts. My only nit is same as the DreamPorts in that it would be nice if there was a way to reuse the ports from the DreamPort or rings from the Eclipse, and only have to replace some adhesive tape. Maybe Stuart will figure that out some day, but for now it works well.

Good luck!

[booksfan]

I find I really need to support the hose from above. It makes a huge difference, especially if you use a heated hose (when I travel I use an AirMini and the difference in hose weight is astounding!). I use the hose management system that Stuart recommends and that works well for me. The swivel is great as I am a restless stomach/side sleeper, so the hose follows all my tossing and turning. When I travel, I take either magnets or 3M hooks to suspend the hose above the bed. Like jlsmithseven, I also find a u shape bend from my nose up helps.

One thing I do as far as adhesive residue...I save the Bleep wipe after I use it at night. In the morning, I moisten it slightly and use it to remove any remaining adhesive residue. That seems to work well for me.

I too find the Eclipse Halo MUCH easier to use with arthritic hands!

[Sleep2Dream]

These are all helpful responses. Thanks! So far, I haven't tried the Eclipse again, but went back to my old N30i mask. With that mask, I had tried one of those hose support thingies, but I've found that my tall headboard works better. But reading this, I'm thinking that the ability to keep the hose from sliding too much might be helpful--to keep that U shape in the tube.

I had no idea that there was an up side and down side on the ports. Now that I know, I'll experiment again making sure the up side is up. And I guess I'll check the videos, too, to see if there are any tips that would make that strong adhesive feel more comfortable. Maybe just skipping the witch hazel cleaning, as jlsmithseven said Stuart suggested.

On another note, I've been having a hard time finding distilled water (only since Covid started). The supermarket and the drugstore both said they think it's because there's a huge demand by CPAP users. Are there really so many of us? If we're such a big market, why the heck aren't there more innovative mask options like the Bleep to try? Argh. It's all well and good to get one's AHI down to almost nothing, but it's not enough if sleep is being disturbed by other things...like uncomfortable gear! OK, frustrated rant over. I appreciate all suggestions re the Eclipse, and I will continue to experiment with it. Thanks again!

[earlvillestu]

The local Target has had distilled water in stock regularly.

[eclise]

Trying hard to love them but first two nights, two fails. I tried the the Bleep DreamPorts before but gave up on them after a couple of weeks because I never got the hang of getting the dang things to click into place. Also I had a structural failure in the mask itself. So I have been eagerly awaiting the Eclipse because I love the promise of the concept. So far, in addition to the initial comments introducing this thread, I've had two unsuccessful nights after of two attempts. Batting zero. The first failure I will own as I was a little aggressive with trimming the halo adhesive and I got a leak about halfway through the night. The next night, after setting up a better hose management system and taking more care applying the halos I had another problem. Halfway through the night, the metal halo ring started separating for the adhesive causing a large leak. I think I can mange and get used to the nose tugging with time and adjustments, and I think I can learn to apply the halos so they don't leak. (I'm not so sure how to keep the dang things from nipping my nose sometimes). I originally gave up on the DreamPorts because I was concerned about manufacturing quality control. Now that I've already had a halo failure with the ring detachment, I am once again worried about quality control. And yes I have the thing on correctly (Nubs orientated outward).

[eclise]

Update-I Had a successful night last night. Nine hours without a problem. Stuart Heatherington reached out to me by phone and we had a nice chat. He made some suggestions about applying the halos that should make them more secure and comfortable. They are analyzing the separating ring issue and I got the impression they had a handle on it and it would be fixed. He is also sending me some replacement halos. Onward.

[loggerhead12]

I'm not so sure how to keep the dang things from nipping my nose sometimes.

You're getting nose flesh between the magnets and the halo? Interesting.

[jlsmithseven]

Update-I Had a successful night last night. Nine hours without a problem. Stuart Heatherington reached out to me by phone and we had a nice chat. He made some suggestions about applying the halos that should make them more secure and comfortable. They are analyzing the separating ring issue and I got the impression they had a handle on it and it would be fixed. He is also sending me some replacement halos. Onward.

I reached out to him because reading your paragraph I had almost the exact same experience with them. Tried them 3 nights and the ring would come off and I couldn’t get used to the added weight and pressure from the connection. I also felt the adhesive is much much stronger on the halos than the dreamports and it gave me irritation.

I’m keeping my dreamports for now. He helped me figure out some ways to make them work, but I am stubborn and I like my dreamports well enough. I’m sure I’ll use the eclipse in the future but for now I need what works

[corgan115]

I am loving the Bleep Eclipse but I find it to be a little noisy. It's not noise due to leaks, my leak is literally 0 (which is amazing by the way!). It seems like when I inhale I can hear the sound of air rushing. Has anyone experienced this? Sounds like the air is coming from the diffuser.

[jlsmithseven]

I am loving the Bleep Eclipse but I find it to be a little noisy. It's not noise due to leaks, my leak is literally 0 (which is amazing by the way!). It seems like when I inhale I can hear the sound of air rushing. Has anyone experienced this? Sounds like the air is coming from the diffuser.

Experienced the same. It was definitely more noisy. I thought it was my nasal passages being clogged or something. But I think it might be that ring flapping against the adhesive or something with the adhesive because the exhaust filter system seemed fine.

[Pugsy]

For the last 3 nights I have tried my darndest to get the Eclipse to make some noise.
I failed.
It is silent....for me anyway....totally silent.
Nothing I can do to make me hear any noise of any sort...no inhale...no exhale.....no nothing.
I can't even get any bounce back noise when I bury my nose in the bed pillow.

Since I can't experience the noise myself I can't offer any ideas as to how you guys/gals that are experiencing it which would maybe fix the problem for you. Sorry.

[booksfan]

I am loving the Bleep Eclipse but I find it to be a little noisy. It's not noise due to leaks, my leak is literally 0 (which is amazing by the way!). It seems like when I inhale I can hear the sound of air rushing. Has anyone experienced this? Sounds like the air is coming from the diffuser.

Yes, actually, I have noticed that it is just that little bit noisier. I am actually so noise sensitve that the filters that come with the diffuser are just too doggone thin for me! I use a regular AS10 filter and make it as large as possible...always have done, even with the DreamPorts. I does reduce the noise a little more (or is it just a placebo effect )

[booksfan]

For the last 3 nights I have tried my darndest to get the Eclipse to make some noise.
I failed.
It is silent....for me anyway....totally silent.
Nothing I can do to make me hear any noise of any sort...no inhale...no exhale.....no nothing.
I can't even get any bounce back noise when I bury my nose in the bed pillow.

Since I can't experience the noise myself I can't offer any ideas as to how you guys/gals that are experiencing it which would maybe fix the problem for you. Sorry.

In the words of my (beloved) family, some of us are just higher maintenance! I hear the bedroom door open across the house and the hinges have been thoroughly graphited/oiled/whatevered!