New Features for CPAP machines?

ThomasMcKean wrote:Yew guys are nuts. All of yew. Yew are barking up so many wrong trees!

There is one thing and one thing only any or all of us should want in a new CPAP.

That is to have it come complete with a mask that is comfy and doesn't leak.

Hmmm - well yes - that's mostly true.... but we need to have things to disagree about so we can keep these threads going

Mindy

ThomasMcKean wrote:Yew guys are nuts. All of yew. Yew are barking up so many wrong trees!

There is one thing and one thing only any or all of us should want in a new CPAP.

That is to have it come complete with a mask that is comfy and doesn't leak.

So true! That is the number one thing that will catapault success in treatment - is a mask that feels comfortable and intuitive.

Of course, the numbers that can be for a number of us that need to be adjusted because either we have Sleep Docs, RT's or DME's that maybe missing a piece and don't have the time or the patience for us, so that we have to delve into figuring out what works for us best. Some here are very lucky and they either have the right treatment out of the gate or have great support from their Docs or RT's.

So yes you are right Thomas...first and foremost is a comfortable mask.

Ok. Having read the numerous posts and lots and lots of good ideas, I thought I'd chip in with MY list. This list is specific to the Respironics M Series Auto because that's the blower that I own and use. YMMV

• Blue lights: keep them. But allow the user to turn them off. Ideally, have them come on for 2 minutes when a top-of-machine panel is touched, and then auto-off.

• Get rid of that damn power brick! Make it an integral part of the blower/humidifier set up. If necessary, it could clip on (between humidifier and blower?) in the same fashion as does the humidifier. Add a switch to convert the blower from using the power brick to a 12vdc supply. I'm surprised that no-one else seems to have targetted this power brick!

• Back lit lcd panel that shows useful information. This is a no brainer

• Pre heat for the humidifier might be nice.

• How about a mode to dry the hose! similar to the ramp, the blower would push air for a set time at low pressure and then auto shut off. No time added to the card.

• Low water level shut down for the humidifer. Avoids that awful smell that's caused when you run dry.

• Quieter operation. Make it the quietest on the market.

• Make the humidifier about 15% larger, and redesign it so that there is less reliance on the o-ring seal. It should not be possible for water to move from humidifier to the blower

• Add dynamic tracking to the humidifier so that it adjusts according to room temperature as does the FP HC150.

• As an optional extra, add a heated hose option with a power outlet for it on the humidifier.

• Improve the method for attaching filters to the intake. This friction fit method is a little mickey-mouse.

• Others have mentioned storage of data using a flash drive instead of the current smart-card technology. This is an excellent idea so long as ANY flash drive can be used (e.g. no proprietary flash drives allowed). Also, this flash drive should be in a small compartment (perhaps beside the lcd display). It should not simply plug into the blower such that it sticks straight out from it: that's an invitation to unnecessary damage.

• Improve the carry case! Make it a proper, sealed case suitable for air travel. Add a separate small pocket for things such as copies of your Rx and doctor's letter, and for spare filters, extension cord and power adapters. Size it to include a respironics battery. This case could be optional.

• Finally, for those of us who travel with cpap, how about a useful clock and travel alarm built-into the unit! Of course, we'd need to be able to set the time/alarm. It already has a clock in the unit, so the interface for an alarm should not be all that expensive.

• BTW, one solid feature that is offered by the M Series that should not be removed is its ability to run on 12 volt dc power, or on a modified sine wave AC power from an inexpensive inverter. These abilities offer significant, affordable options for those who want or need to power the unit when 120 vac is unavailable.

Of the above ideas on my wish list, only the redesign of the power brick is likely to be very costly to implement. None of these items should affect the cost of the machine in any appreciable way. Some can be optional extras for those of us willing to pay for them.

ThomasMcKean wrote:Yew guys are nuts. All of yew. Yew are barking up so many wrong trees!

There is one thing and one thing only any or all of us should want in a new CPAP.

That is to have it come complete with a mask that is comfy and doesn't leak.

We can trust Thomas to get right to the core matter

But, Thomas, you shoulda seen the 1st masks Dr Sullivan used to make. He used to mold a mask on each patient's face made from liquid rubber & they had to let it set, then he would hook them up to his washing machine motor or reverse vaccine cleaner motor (he used both at different times).

So we like to dream about what other future innovations might come.

One simple & practical one is that used of a usb stick or SD card for data. They are so durned cheap now it makes sense to put them in the current machines.

Cheers DSM

[quote="dsm
One simple & practical one is that used of a usb stick or SD card for data. They are so durned cheap now it makes sense to put them in the current machines.
Cheers DSM[/quote]

So many posters have specified this modification that I have come to think of it as the single most sought-after feature. The fact is that millions of digital camera users currently have many millions of flash memory cards of various formats and capacities and many more are being added daily. I, for one, would love to find a good use for the dozens of 256 K, 512 K, and 1 M cards I have lying around gathering dust. With a simple USB port on any machine (it need not even be USB2 or high-speed) would allow these old, basically obsolete, cards to be slid into a USB card reader costing less than $10 and you have universal portability to virtually any computer currently made.
Several of DSM's earlier suggestions show merit, as well. The integration of BlueTooth would allow the machine not only to communicate with a PC but could allow the maching to function as a hub for other functions such as Oximetry - acting as a hub would allow the full integration of all related data into a single report. Failing integrated BlueTooth, the USB port would allow this function to a degree by using a USB BlueTooth device to allow the maching to integrate with oximetry and a PC. For those who do not trust BlueTooth security or reliability, the USB port would allow a hardwired oximeter to provide data to the data recorded. Finally, I would love to see upgradable memory in the machine - I don't know how much memory there is in my S8 Elite II, but it can't be much. If I could open the machine and add another memory module, close the machine, go to a menu function and tell the machine what I had just done would be great. Actually, I shouldn't have to tell it anything - it should sense the configuration change immediately and allow reading and writing to the new memory space. DME's should love all these changes - think of all the added gadgets they could sell. It would become like buying a new car: "would you like the oximeter, BlueTooth Value Package?" "With it, we include a six-foot high-performance hose at no charge."

JimW203