F30i vs F20

Hello everyone,

I am a new user of a Resmed 11. My history is that I have always been a VERY loud snorer, but did a sleep test 25 years ago and did not have apnea. Now I am in my late 50s and have found myself sleeping less and less well, getting up 3-4 times a night to urinate, waking up gasping for air and out of breath, and occasionally waking up during the night with a throbbing headache, which would resolve quickly with deep and rapid breathing. This has all come on gradually, with the urination starting first and progressing over a few years and the gasping and headaches being more recent. The latter two prompted me to sleep test, and I am glad I did. I did an online ring test and consultation, and recorded an AHI of 60.

Last. night was my 14th night with the Resmed 11, and I have tried several masks trying to find the right fit, and I have teaked my settings. The first couple of nights I felt the suffocating feeling, but did manage to go to sleep. I was awakened with my resmed blowing at 14 and puffing my cheeks out, and had to "reset" to get it to ramp so I could go back to sleep. After reading here, I tweeked my settings, reduced the max to around 10 (it was originally 5-15), and turned on EPR. Those changes allowed me to sleep and become used to the feeling of the device, and I have ramped my settings back up to 5-15, and reduce epr from 3 to 1.

I am not using OSCAR, but am monitoring MySleep, and using apple watch data. I plan to pop an SD card in and try OSCAR soon. The net result is that my sleep data on my apple watch and fitbit improved immensely, starting with the first night. My REM sleep and Deep Sleep have nearly doubled, staring with the first night, and my apnea events are between 7 and 12 every night. I feel so much more rested, no longer wake up gasping or with headaches, and do not get up any during the night to urinate. I went from 3-4 times every night, to one time total in 14 nights. Also, I frequently had indigestion during the night and had to take Tums during the night. Nighttime indigetion is gone too! I wish I had done this years ago.

Now, to the question. After fiddling with several mask styles, seal types, and sizes, I have landed on the f20 with memory foam, and the f30i. I swap back and forth to let the bridge of my nose recover, but may switch ful time to the 30i. The f20 aggrevates the bridge of my nose a little, but switching to memory foam helped. I am a mouth breather and my nose gets congested sometimes during the night, and then clears on its own sometimes during the night. (based on reading here today, I may try reducing humidity, as my nose seems better in the morning if my water has run out.) For some reason, it seems like the f30i promotes open nasal passages and nose breathing better than the full face. But, it seems like the f20 provides more actuall pressure to my airways and lungs, and may keep my airway open better. The f30i has those pressure relief holes on the front of the mask and the air escaping from those holes and SEEMS like it reduces the pressure I get, possibly reducing the effectiveness of the treatment. The f20 doesn't seem to let the air escape anywhere....I am certain it does, but where? My apnea events tend to be slightly higher with the f30i than with the f20 also, but the f30i results in the lowest leak rate, although the f20 leak rate is very low. So the real questoin here is what is the difference in the mechanism if the 30i vs 20, and do you find that one does provide more actual pressure, and woud that higher delivered pressure reduce events? And is my nasal breathing observation (f30i better) shared by others, or am I imaginging that? I am hoping to continue tweaking masks and pressures to get my apnea events even lower.

Also, what experience does everyone have with the apnea events recorded by an apple watch vs the Resmed data? Mine tends to be pretty close and tends to trend in the same direction. For some reason last night with the f30i the apple showed 14 and the Resmed showed 9, and usually they are within 1. Just curious here.

plaqueman wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 20, 2025 5:55 am

My apnea events tend to be slightly higher with the f30i than with the f20 also, but the f30i results in the lowest leak rate, although the f20 leak rate is very low. So the real questoin here is what is the difference in the mechanism if the 30i vs 20, and do you find that one does provide more actual pressure, and woud that higher delivered pressure reduce events?

We don't know if the difference is statistically significant. As one example, we've had people come to the forum concerned that their AHI over 30 days increased to 1.4 from 1.2.

How about posting the link to your SleepHQ data in this thread? Any personally identifying information is redacted by SleepHQ. Indicate which masks you used on which dates.

plaqueman wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 20, 2025 5:55 am

Also, what experience does everyone have with the apnea events recorded by an apple watch vs the Resmed data?

Which model Apple Watch?

plaqueman wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 20, 2025 5:55 am

The f20 doesn't seem to let the air escape anywhere....I am certain it does, but where?

The vent is in the elbow, with small holes arranged in a ring.

plaqueman wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 20, 2025 5:55 am

I plan to pop an SD card in and try OSCAR soon.

It's good to have OSCAR loaded and know how to use it. However, for the purposes of members helping you, the SleepHQ link is better.

Maybe for your next post, you can be more brief and number your questions.

"Maybe for your next post, you can be more brief and number your questions."

I am pretty excited about my results, and wanted to share them. My apologies.

Oh, you may have misunderstood. I specified your next post (or comment).

I'm glad you are excited and come with a good attitude. You might want to take part of what you wrote and post it in Success Stories - above under announcements. viewtopic/t14494/Newbie-would-like-to-h ... lease.html