Z2 Auto Travel CPAP--my review
Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:50 pm
When planning my first post-COVID trip, my anxiety about traveling kind of focused on how much I hate traveling with my Dreamstation, so I spent half a day obsessing online about finding a travel machine. I settled on the Z2. And I love it. I packed it with my regular headgear and mask (ResMed N30i) in an old neoprene laptop case and carried it in the large tote I use as my "personal item" when I'm flying carry-on. It is so NOT bulky that the smallness of the machine seems to make my mask feel less overwhelming, which makes no sense, of course. It's quiet, and the blowing feels less intrusive than my Dreamstation. (There may be a reason for that: more on that shortly.) I used it for a week in an air-conditioned/heated (the weather's been so variable!) space and never once felt the lack of a humidifier. I got none of the dried-out soft palate that I get with my Dreamstation and humidifier when the pressure goes above 11.
So, settings and pressure. After a lot of experimentation, my Dreamstation is set to a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 11.5. Sounds weird maybe, but it works for me: my AHI is almost always below 2. So I set the z2 to the same settings. The Nitelog software that works with the Z2 told me that the pressure never went above 9, and seemed to stay mostly at 8. My AHI was mostly higher than usual, but never went as high as 5. I'm wondering why the Z2 didn't push the pressure higher than 9 when it was set to a max of 11.5--maybe because their info seems to consider anything below 5 normal? I'm not sure how these things work.
Overall, I highly recommend the z2 for travel. Honestly, it was so comfortable that I'd consider using it as my regular machine, except that the Heat Moisture Exchange Unit is supposed to be good only for a week, and replacing it that frequently would not only be expensive but definitely not Earth friendly. I'll definitely appreciate it on the infrequent times I travel, though!
So, settings and pressure. After a lot of experimentation, my Dreamstation is set to a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 11.5. Sounds weird maybe, but it works for me: my AHI is almost always below 2. So I set the z2 to the same settings. The Nitelog software that works with the Z2 told me that the pressure never went above 9, and seemed to stay mostly at 8. My AHI was mostly higher than usual, but never went as high as 5. I'm wondering why the Z2 didn't push the pressure higher than 9 when it was set to a max of 11.5--maybe because their info seems to consider anything below 5 normal? I'm not sure how these things work.
Overall, I highly recommend the z2 for travel. Honestly, it was so comfortable that I'd consider using it as my regular machine, except that the Heat Moisture Exchange Unit is supposed to be good only for a week, and replacing it that frequently would not only be expensive but definitely not Earth friendly. I'll definitely appreciate it on the infrequent times I travel, though!
