PR S1 Series 60 Auto v Resmed unit

I am an Amazon user .. purchase a lot there ... But Caution
One of the machines listed as a 560 is actually a 550 ... read the review and questions .
Be Careful

In my opinion, the best choices are ResMed A10 AutoSet for her, A10 AutoSet, S9 AutoSet, S9 AutoSet for her, PRS1 60 Auto, PRS1 50 Auto, DreamStation Auto in that order.

However, even the best vs. worst on this list is a fairly small difference in my opinion. Each has its good and bad points, but the good vs. bad features on each one roughly balance out in my opinion.

A few people get "lemons" in terms of problems with a particular unit, or something about a particular model doesn't work out for them. Noise, in particular, seems to vary a lot between different units even among the same model. The perception of noise also varies a lot between people.

Don't let anyone trick you with an S9 Escape Auto. Be sure it says "AutoSet" near the power button if you get an S9.

Janknitz wrote:Lincare has a bad reputation, so beware of jumping from the frying pan into the fire. If you can afford to buy your own and bypass all these goons, then go for it.

Thanks - UHC only has three in-network DME providers and Lincare claims they only provide 100% new equipment. If I do have to switch, at least I know the game I am stepping into this time and it will be much more difficult to pull one over on me.

grayghost4 wrote:I am an Amazon user .. purchase a lot there ... But Caution
One of the machines listed as a 560 is actually a 550 ... read the review and questions .
Be Careful

We have been known to have an Amazon package at the door pretty much daily ourselves! Thanks for that heads up - if I go the Amazon route I will remain uber-vigilant to get exactly what I want.

archangle wrote:In my opinion, the best choices are ResMed A10 AutoSet for her, A10 AutoSet, S9 AutoSet, S9 AutoSet for her, PRS1 60 Auto, PRS1 50 Auto, DreamStation Auto in that order.

However, even the best vs. worst on this list is a fairly small difference in my opinion. Each has its good and bad points, but the good vs. bad features on each one roughly balance out in my opinion.

A few people get "lemons" in terms of problems with a particular unit, or something about a particular model doesn't work out for them. Noise, in particular, seems to vary a lot between different units even among the same model. The perception of noise also varies a lot between people.

Don't let anyone trick you with an S9 Escape Auto. Be sure it says "AutoSet" near the power button if you get an S9.

Why do you place the older PRS1 60 and PRS1 50 ahead of the new Dreamstation?

Thanks for that note on the S9, I could have easily overlooked that detail.

Although I can afford to buy my own unit, the part of me that pays these ridiculous monthly premiums for my family (and that has incurred a couple thousand in deductible expenses already this year) refuses to "roll over" and just give in. That said, I also recognize my time (and sanity) is valuable, so I will only chase the DME solution for so long. I go to meet Rotech again tomorrow, wish me luck. I hope to reach the respiratory therapist early in the day to request he pulls me a new unit. My persuasive attempt will be to point out that my personality type is one that "trusts" new equipment and that when a unit is used any little thing that seems "off" will continue to gnaw at me until I just end up at their office continually, so new equipment is in all our best interests.

Doubt that will make any difference, but who knows...

Persistency for the win!

The attitude of the DME office employees still means that if I never see them again that will suit me just fine, but I was lucky enough to develop a nice rapport with the respiratory therapist the first visit and so he was more than willing to take care of me today - he actually seemed genuinely concerned in me achieving ideal therapy (what a novel idea!).

Long story short, I ended up with a brand spankin' new Airsense 10 Autoset for her with Climateline tubing. The "for her" model was my only option if I wanted brand new and that doesn't bother me in the least.

archangle wrote:In my opinion, the best choices are ResMed A10 AutoSet for her, A10 AutoSet, S9 AutoSet, S9 AutoSet for her, PRS1 60 Auto, PRS1 50 Auto, DreamStation Auto in that order.

You actually mentioned preferring the "for her" model - is there a specific reason why?

jasont wrote: You actually mentioned preferring the "for her" model - is there a specific reason why?

I am not archangle but I also would probably put the AirSense 10 AutoSet for Her at the top of my "wish" list and the main reason is that it has that extra auto mode "for her" that is targeted towards women but there's no reason that only women might benefit from it. It's a different algorithm that might come in handy for some people no matter what their sex and I always believe it is better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it. That extra auto mode for her is the only difference between the 2 AirSense 10 AutoSets and it may or may not be something that you end up needing or using but it is there "just in case".
For this reason I would probably also put it before the Respironics DreamStation auto machines. Is it life or death critical to have...no, probably not but if a person can get it for the same money or like your situation with less hassle then why not go ahead and get it. Your insurance is going to pay the same no matter which brand or model.

Now if you were paying totally out of pocket then probably a little closer look at your potential needs vs cost outlay might be indicated. Having all the options available may not be as critical as the dollars in the pocketbook.

I am reasonably certain that your issues with machine noise should be resolved unless your ears are super sensitive to sounds that most of us don't hear.

Here's a link for the provider/clinical manual for the machine. It's a combo manual that includes all the models but it explains that extra "for her" auto mode.
https://sleep.tnet.com/home/files/resme ... -guide.pdf
So in case you haven't seen this manual (it's a little different from the ordinary user manual) you can download it and read it at your leisure.

Pugsy, once again, thanks so much!!!

I know a single night doesn't reveal all - but, first impression is the old PR S1 was a Yugo and the A10 is a Cadillac. Loved it - absolutely zero motor whine. Pressure levels ran up near my typical max of 11, but I didn't feel anywhere near as much pressure as I seemed to feel from the PR S1.

Looking forward to continuing with this machine...

Glad to hear that you had no problems with the new machine. I didn't think you would.

About the PR S1...you know it had some hours on it and while not a horrible number of hours...still some hours...makes me wonder if it was returned because of the noise and instead of the DME sending it off to have it fixed they just decided to pawn it off on someone else in hopes no one would notice.

I know palerider experienced some motor noise and others have mentioned it with their PR S1 machines...but there's a lot of us who have used the PR S1 and have it be pretty much as silent as the S9 or at least not so noisy we need 2 fans to block out the noise. Perhaps that machine had problems and needed to be fixed and wasn't fixed.
I see too many people who are happy with their PR S1 machines to put them all in the "not so great" category.
I have had 5 different PR S1 machines over the years in various models and none have been noisy at the motor level at least to me and last I checked my hearing was normal. Now I get the Darth Vadar noise but I get that no matter which brand...it's something I have learned to tune out as it is related to breathing/mask/pressure and not machine motor.
I have also seen people with ResMeds that turned out to be lemons so each brand can have lemons.

At any rate I am very glad you are happy with your machine. You should do very well with it and now all you have to do is just focus on optimizing your sleep and getting used to all this stuff. That's enough of a chore without having to worry about the machine noise or that stuff.

Pugsy wrote:Glad to hear that you had no problems with the new machine. I didn't think you would.

About the PR S1...you know it had some hours on it and while not a horrible number of hours...still some hours...makes me wonder if it was returned because of the noise and instead of the DME sending it off to have it fixed they just decided to pawn it off on someone else in hopes no one would notice.

I know palerider experienced some motor noise and others have mentioned it with their PR S1 machines...but there's a lot of us who have used the PR S1 and have it be pretty much as silent as the S9 or at least not so noisy we need 2 fans to block out the noise. Perhaps that machine had problems and needed to be fixed and wasn't fixed.
I see too many people who are happy with their PR S1 machines to put them all in the "not so great" category.
I have had 5 different PR S1 machines over the years in various models and none have been noisy at the motor level at least to me and last I checked my hearing was normal. Now I get the Darth Vadar noise but I get that no matter which brand...it's something I have learned to tune out as it is related to breathing/mask/pressure and not machine motor.
I have also seen people with ResMeds that turned out to be lemons so each brand can have lemons.

At any rate I am very glad you are happy with your machine. You should do very well with it and now all you have to do is just focus on optimizing your sleep and getting used to all this stuff. That's enough of a chore without having to worry about the machine noise or that stuff.

I completely agree. There was enough consensus that the PR S1 and S9/A10 were comparable that it is likely my PR S1 was a dud. Regardless, I am happy that the new unit allows me to shift focus to where it matters, like you said.

The new machine is also allowing me to import to Sleepyhead without crashing on the import - so the data geek in me is very happy for that!