CPAPtalk.com

On July 28th, I sent this e-mail to ResMed (below). I dIdn't know if I'd get a reply or not but thought I'd see what would happen.

I've gotten the leaky elbow sealed and it's giving me very low leak rate numbers.....even with a few days' growth on my face. AHI numbers have been good, too. I think I've been using it for close to a month by now.
Saturday afternoon, this last weekend, I put my (original) UMFF on for a three hour nap.....and it felt as good as it always did (I pull my card out of the machine for naps).

If you haven't reported the leak problem to ResMed, I'd suggest that you do so. The more people they hear from, the better chance we have of getting something done.

I did notice this on the CPAP.COM site with regard to the Quattro:

Customers seeking reimbursement for defects pertaining to air leakage from the elbow on the Mirage Quattro Full Face Mask will be rejected unless the Return Insurance policy was purchased. All other defects will be addressed by our standard return policy.


Den

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To: reception@resmed.com

To whom it may concern.

For over two years, since I've been on CPAP therapy, I've been using the Ultra Mirage Full Face mask and have liked it very much. In fact, I've been using the SAME mask with the SAME set of seals and it's still holding up just fine.

I recently acquired a Quattro mask and wish to comment on this leaking piece of crap. From the beginning, the elbow leaked at both ends (where it fits into the mask face and where the hose swivel attaches). With each night's use, it got worse. Finally, after about a week, I had to wrap both ends of the elbow with plumber's Teflon tape. This made the elbow rigid, but did stop the leaking. I keep hearing that "nobody" has heard of that problem, but I know that quite a few folks have reported it. I suspect that the molds (parts) were under-sized and your Quality Control department didn't catch it.. Are you doing anything about it?

The ONLY "improvement" that I can see over the UMFF is the seal/cushion.....which seems to be quite comfortable.
I don't know why you just couldn't have re-designed the cushion for the UMFF since the rest of that mask's.design is much better. How about making Quattro cushions/seals that will fit a UMFF?

Name & Address


Three days later, I received this e-mail:

From: SandraT@ResMed.com

Good Morning Mr. <Last name>:

Your comments were forwarded to the product manager for masks here at ResMed. The product managers work with the design teams in Sydney Australia to update existing designs and create new products altogether. We appreciate your feedback, without it, improvements are hard to make.

Best Regards,

Sandra Twyman, RN, BAM
Clinical Patient Advocate
ResMed Corp.
(858) 746-2488

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Thanks to everyone for the updates. I have been using a Hybrid with good success for 12 months. I use a traditional FF mask, the F&P432, as a backup.

I want to buy another traditional FF as a backup and I am one of these people who have that sensitivity on the bridge of my nose. Anyone willing to venture an estimate of which traditional FF masks might do less damage to the nose bridge?

Thanks.

Rooster,

I've never had a problem with the UMFF or the Quattro in that regard.
I believe that if they're properly sized and adjusted that they should NEVER hurt the bridge of one's nose.


Den

A little update......

A couple of months ago, I cleaned up my "Old Faithful" (1st UMFF) and packed it away in a box. For the next couple of weeks, I was breaking in another UMFF that I'd bought from a forum member (months before) for a very reasonable price. It was going OK, but occasionally it seemed like I had a little leak on the left side of my nose, near my eye.....nothing consistent. I've contemplated taking the cushion out to see if it needed to be re-fitted, but haven't gotten around to it, yet.
A few weeks into that was when I acquired the Quattro (several weeks ago). I've had seemingly good results with the Quattro, including some good AHIs and very low leak numbers.
In fact, on the night of the 6th, I had my lowest leak number yet....30.19. However, my AHI was 1.1 for that night and on several occasions in the past week or so, I've felt kind of tired early in the afternoon (like pre-CPAP days coming back).....could be from a number of reasons, but I also wondered if my "Vent Flow Rate" being so low might have something to do with it.....like maybe I was re-breathing more CO2. SO......on the night of the 7th (night before last), I had the urge to go back to "OF" (1st UMFF).....so I did. My leak rate ended up being 40.15, but my AHI was 0.3.....and I felt very refreshed when I got up. Same thing last night.....0.3 AHI.....only my leak rate was a bit lower at 38.5. I also noticed my Variable Breathing for the last two nights was around 18 (whereas it's been closer to, or above 30 with the Quattro) and I was dreaming a LOT more (don't know how good THAT is).
I'm planning (at this point) to alternate those two masks for about a week or so at a time to see there's any consistency in what I've experienced in the last few weeks and last couple of nights.

Den

Sounds like I could just flip a coin to decide between the UMFF or the Quattro for my next mask. I will try to get by the DME to look at them before flipping the coin.

Thanks for the comments Den.

rooster wrote:Sounds like I could just flip a coin to decide between the UMFF or the Quattro for my next mask. I will try to get by the DME to look at them before flipping the coin.

Thanks for the comments Den.

Aw, Hell......get one of each.

One other thing I noticed (and I can't remember whether it's been commented on.....might have been) is "size". I've got the Large size in both masks. With the UMFF, I can push the bottom of the seal/cushion up closer to my lower lip, but with the Quattro, I have to pull it down a little lower on my chin. Not a problem for me, but just another idiosyncrasy of that mask. If a UMFF seems to be a little larger (but still fits OK), a person MIGHT want to go to the next size smaller in the Quattro.

Also, when I compared the construction characteristics of the two masks, I noticed that the inner seal in the chin area of the Quattro is "cut out". I think this is one of the things that makes it more comfortable.....less pressure on the chin. (I've been wondering if that modification would work on the UMFF)

The Quattro is definitely quieter.....but then, I don't notice any "noise" from either, when I'm asleep.

Den

I bought the Quattro about a week ago. It's no Hybrid, but it's not a bad full face mask once you get some thin tape for the connector leaks.

In response to the question about the Liberty Mirage facemask by Vader, above, As with many in the cpap forums, I found the Liberty Mirage mask by resmed to have a pretty poor fit, since it curves very little to hug the face. Further, when I contacted Resmed about this, their rep, who did respond quickly, pretty much told me "tough luck" and offered no support, despite the rather high price (and high markup) of this mask. Later learning that Resmed price fixes their products to remain high, blocking them on auction sites, doesn't do much to give faith in them as a company either.