Activa mask pros and cons

Fredman wrote: Yup I use the Citrus Wipes and they work wonderfully, and the cost is not too bad. I am all about easy (I guess lazy! )

I'm not only lazy, I'm cheap, too. At the advice of my DME, I keep put a new wipe in baggie and use it for a week before I throw it away. Makes those citrus thingies last a long time.

Activa seals well for me. I just don't like all the area it covers on my face. However, it is my number one backup mask.

I just got the Activa and must say the seal is WONDERFUL! On the downside, the mask IS long and my problem is with the part below the "bellows" which rests on my upper lips and drives me CRAZY. If it weren't for that, it would be the PERFECT mask but I may have to give it up since I am having a hard time with the lip tickling thing.

Did someone say that the Ultra Mirage Full Face is the equivalent of the Activa?

minolta25 wrote:I just got the Activa and must say the seal is WONDERFUL! On the downside, the mask IS long and my problem is with the part below the "bellows" which rests on my upper lips and drives me CRAZY. If it weren't for that, it would be the PERFECT mask but I may have to give it up since I am having a hard time with the lip tickling thing.

Did someone say that the Ultra Mirage Full Face is the equivalent of the Activa?

If you're not using the shallow cushion, you might want to switch to it. I nearly ate the medium one until I changed.

For me the downfall of the Activa (a very good mask btw) is the bellows working a sore just beneath my nose with each breath. Mine in Biflex but my guess is any exhale relief would work that bellows. It does seal very well but also does extend like a Unicorn too.

GumbyCT wrote:For me the downfall of the Activa (a very good mask btw) is the bellows working a sore just beneath my nose with each breath. Mine in Biflex but my guess is any exhale relief would work that bellows. It does seal very well but also does extend like a Unicorn too.

Oh, you may want to tighten slightly, in the RESMED video they said it should not extend to much...I don't recall the wording they used. But the bellows shouldn't fully extend.

I too sometimes get a bit of irritation under the nose, but once I adjust a bit, it's fine. My top lip sits just below the mask, I can lip the bottom of the mask with by bottom lip. But other than that I love my mask best so far!

My Activa mask was "throbbing" or "bellowing" at a C-flex setting of 3. Was I turned the C-flex off, it stopped the bellowing.

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If you're not using the shallow cushion, you might want to switch to it. I nearly ate the medium one until I changed.[/quote]

I don't really understand this post because I have both the shallow and the standard and they are the same size. The only difference is a difference in the width at the bridge of my nose. They both hit the same spot on my lip. Is there a different mask that I don't know about?

I think so much of this mask stuff is luck and perseverance -- luck in that some faces just fit some masks better and perseverance in that you have to do a lot of tinkering before you find the best possible fit with any given mask.

I've had the Activa for three days now and am absolutely loving it. I had tried another nasal mask -- the FlexiFit 407 -- and it was good enough to show me that a nasal mask might work for me but still not quite perfect. So I picked up an Activa and I've had 0 leaks for most of the night (first mask that's done that for me).

Since I got the forehead part adjusted properly a few hours in on the first night, it's been very comfortable. I can kind of suspend it quite a distance from my face and the soft bellows-like interface just sucks right onto my face, sealing perfectly, as soon as I turn on my machine. The last two nights, my AI has been 0.0 and my HI has been 3-4. The stubborn HI kind of annoys me a little, but I know that therapeutically it's not all that significant. I feel great, and I think the combination of ResMed Autoset II with Activia is the winner for me.