Travel c pap recommendation

[NINA88]

I am looking for a very small light travel cpap with humidify and air pressure relief. Anyone have one to recomend??

[cheino]

I travel 3 weeks of every month and sleep in hotels 3 nights each week. I am looking for advice on my first machine. Can I use a small travel unit at home on the weekends or do I need two machines. What features are best??? Help is needed!!!!

[TangledHose]

travel sized machines:

https://www.cpap.com/cpap-machines/trav ... achine.php

[Julie]

I use (full time) what's advertised as a travel machine, and it is a bit smaller, quieter and less expensive than others, but in fact, it's a full service one that should last a normal lifespan. It's reliable, gives data and I think it's great. But I'd definitely have a back-up unit (or even 2) on hand of some kind, even old and cheap, for such times when your main unit goes out - doesn't happen often, but it happens (or you bring it in to the dealer for some reason, or forget it in a hotel!) and it's great to have something to use in the interims.

[bill-e]

I travel 3 weeks of every month and sleep in hotels 3 nights each week. I am looking for advice on my first machine. Can I use a small travel unit at home on the weekends or do I need two machines. What features are best??? Help is needed!!!!

Same here but 4 nights a week.
I use the HDM Z1 Auto (and the Z1 before that). I keep it in my backpack and do not unpack it. Sometimes I get home after midnight on a Friday night and have to get up at 3am on Monday morning to catch the early flight. I would not want to have to deal with unpacking and packing the travel machine plus I'd surely leave something behind.

The downside to the Z1 Auto is the lack of humidification but I use the $6 HME and can get 2 weeks out of it. For me the cost is insignificant and I'd prefer that as opposed to lugging my PRS1 along (I've done it and hate it).

There is a noise fix to be released soon and it does make the machine as quiet as my PRS1.

The Z1 series of machines are expensive but you won't find a smaller, lighter machine out there.

Search on my username and you should find my posts about my experience with the Z1.

Bill

[GeoffD]

The downside to the Z1 Auto is the lack of humidification but I use the $6 HME and can get 2 weeks out of it. For me the cost is insignificant and I'd prefer that as opposed to lugging my PRS1 along (I've done it and hate it).

I'm trying to work out humidifier options for battery use. What is an HME?

[TangledHose]

The downside to the Z1 Auto is the lack of humidification but I use the $6 HME and can get 2 weeks out of it. For me the cost is insignificant and I'd prefer that as opposed to lugging my PRS1 along (I've done it and hate it).

I'm trying to work out humidifier options for battery use. What is an HME?

http://hdmusa.com/the-hdm-store/z1-heat ... anger-hme/

[bill-e]

GeoffD,

I cant sleep without humidification, I just get too dry. The HME, Heat Moisture Exchanger, is a technology used for patients who breath through their trachea and has been adapted to fit on a mask.

Testing of these units revealed that they worked for at least 7 days but they don't recommend longer because they have not tested for bacteria beyond that. I can get two weeks, either 14 consecutive days or two 4 day weeks out of one. And some are still effective when I toss them after that time. The trick is to keep them in a zip lock bag when not actually in use, it seems to prolong the life of the media.

[palerider]

they don't recommend longer because they have not tested for bacteria beyond that.

I know *nothing* about this thing, so this is all supposition, but, if you take a sponge, and microwave it for a couple minutes, it pretty much kills any bacteria on it. it's a recommended thing to do regularly because kitchen sponges are rife with bacteria.

if you've got a spare one, it *might* be worth a try, or at least thinking about

[GeoffD]

GeoffD,

I cant sleep without humidification, I just get too dry. The HME, Heat Moisture Exchanger, is a technology used for patients who breath through their trachea and has been adapted to fit on a mask.

Testing of these units revealed that they worked for at least 7 days but they don't recommend longer because they have not tested for bacteria beyond that. I can get two weeks, either 14 consecutive days or two 4 day weeks out of one. And some are still effective when I toss them after that time. The trick is to keep them in a zip lock bag when not actually in use, it seems to prolong the life of the media.

How far from the mask can you attach the HME in-line and still have it be effective? I'm a ResMed AirFit P10 nasal pillow user. If it needs to be right next to the mask, I'd have to hack up the hose on a spare mask.

I was up late last night reading your reviews on the Z1 Auto and it looks to me like the technology is still evolving. For business travel, I can make do for now with 5.1 pounds of ResMed AirSense 10 & power brick in my roll-aboard. I have set up my spare ResMed S9 AutoSet (with the HSi humidifier tank filled but powered off) with a DC-DC power converter and 12v AGM battery for the boat and power failures. The HME looks worth experimenting with since they're only $6 bucks. Right now, I don't have a road warrior travel pattern. If I get back into that grind, a Z1 Auto or whatever is best-of-breed at the time along with some sub-100 watt-hour lithium batteries allowed through TSA screening makes huge sense. Less weight, volume, and power consumption are always desirable.

[bill-e]

How far from the mask can you attach the HME in-line and still have it be effective?

I have no clue. I guess you would need to experiment.

I'm now quite happy with the Z1 Auto, it is a full function auto machine. Still awaiting the Android version of the software and the noise fix which should be very soon but the machine is quite mature in my experience and works as well as my PRS1 sans humidification.

[bill-e]

they don't recommend longer because they have not tested for bacteria beyond that.

I know *nothing* about this thing, so this is all supposition, but, if you take a sponge, and microwave it for a couple minutes, it pretty much kills any bacteria on it. it's a recommended thing to do regularly because kitchen sponges are rife with bacteria.

if you've got a spare one, it *might* be worth a try, or at least thinking about

Palerider, I'm actually not concerned too much about the bacteria, it's the chemical on the sponge which has a limited useful life.

I've found that the HME will just stop working at some point which really sucks if it's in the middle of the night and it wakes me up with a desert in my head. Hence I've created the 2 week window of operation and toss it once that limit is reached.

EDIT** By the way, it is all supposition on my part that the sponge is treated with some sort of chemical which makes it hygroscopic and it eventually looses that property......if not one would think that it would work forever, which of course it does not.