MIRAGE SWIFT LT QUALITY POLL--THE RESMED CHARADE???

I've noticed a difference in the ability to get a good seal also, waking many times to adjust the pillows.
Got my first LT 12/08 and the replacenent pillows I now have take a lot of fiddling to stop leaks.

Here's hoping the manufacturer hears what we're trying to tell them!

I've noticed a difference in the ability to get a good seal also, waking many times to adjust the pillows.
Got my first LT 12/08 and the replacenent pillows I now have take a lot of fiddling to stop leaks.

Here's hoping the manufacturer hears what we're trying to tell them!

Great News! Wanted everyone to know that Jennifer of ResMed called back today to report that the engineering team in Sydney is doing a "full-out" investigation of all aspects of the manufacture of Swift LT pillows to try to understand & resolve the issues identified. She has read this thread, which I sent to her, and I can only assume that the folks in Sydney have read it as well. She is having me immediately ship my collection of new, inferior quality pillows for them to study. She says I will actually be getting a call from one of the product engineers there in Sydney, to discuss the details.

Wow. I am impressed. But more than that, heartened and delighted that these issues and concerns are being taken seriously by the manufacturer. As I said earlier, Jennifer responded immediately to my personal story when I called last week about all this before starting this thread. But ResMed also now has more input to go on, due to those who thoughtfully replied to this thread. That's a big deal. The poll is still open if you have both old and new pillows to compare, as described in my first post. Thanks to all.

I will keep you all posted on "the rest of the story." And I will advocate well for us. We are a mighty bunch!

PS--I'm being asked to also send ResMed my one & only trusty "good" pillow from last Aug/Sept. Would any of you who have an unused pillow from last summer which you definitely believe meets the comparatively "sturdy" criteria, please PM me ASAP?

The only ones I've ever had are the ones that come with the Swift Lt. for Women, and they last about 1 month tops and replacing them are way too expensive for me! Yes, I love the mask but the cost is too much each month!!!!

I have been using the swift and swift II for almost 2 years. When the swift LT came out last summer, I was one of the first to get one and I loved it immediately. This thread may explain what happened next. I used the swift LT for the second half of my pregnancy and the early days after my son's birth. No problems. Worked great. Then, about 6 months ago I got replacement parts and it was never the same again. My problem isn't with leaking--it is wtih condensation inside the mask, particularly between the two walls of the nares, whitch drip into my nose and wake me all night long. This never happened with the original parts, only with the replacement. I have tried them during warm and cold weather, during high humidity and low and with different settings on my humidifier and nothing makes a difference. It is very disheartening because I love this mask--unlike the swift II, it doesn't leave marks on my face or cause acne under the straps. It doesn't put any pressure on my nose. But I cannot use it because of the disruption of sleep it causes. And i do think it feels flimsier too.

I really wish they would eliminate the double wall nare construction and make the mask more durable like the swift II. I would use the opus 360, but it whistles and the straps aren't as good as the swift LT. I hope these issues are resolved soon!

whatrdreamsmadeof wrote:The only ones I've ever had are the ones that come with the Swift Lt. for Women, and they last about 1 month tops and replacing them are way too expensive for me! Yes, I love the mask but the cost is too much each month!!!!

No question about that being too expensive every month! Can you give specific detail about why you see need to replace every month? What happens that makes it less effective?

plr66 wrote:PS--I'm being asked to also send ResMed my one & only trusty "good" pillow from last Aug/Sept. Would any of you who have an unused pillow from last summer which you definitely believe meets the comparatively "sturdy" criteria, please PM me ASAP?

plr66, I am glad you are getting some excellent response. But hold on before sending off that pillow to them. Ask them first to ship you replacements!! I am really surprised the support person already did not FedEx a replacement before asking to send back the defective/inferior part. That is routine in critical medical parts investigation. Most likely your contact is a new person on board unfamiliar with the fine principles of taking care of patients critical needs first. Do not send back the good or even the defective one until you are delivered a replacement, all postage both ways at their expense.

When I received a blood glucose meter with a slightly defective (sticky) on/off switch, I informed the company. They immediately FedEx'd a new meter and the include a prepaid return envelope for me to return the defective part. I expect ResMed to be equally resourceful. BTW, they are not doing you any favour if the part you paid for turned out to be defective, they are simply living up to their promise to deliver good parts. So you are the one doing them a favor here.

socknitster wrote:....My problem isn't with leaking--it is wtih condensation inside the mask, particularly between the two walls of the nares, whitch drip into my nose and wake me all night long. This never happened with the original parts, only with the replacement. I have tried them during warm and cold weather, during high humidity and low and with different settings on my humidifier and nothing makes a difference. It is very disheartening because I love this mask--unlike the swift II, it doesn't leave marks on my face or cause acne under the straps. It doesn't put any pressure on my nose. But I cannot use it because of the disruption of sleep it causes. And i do think it feels flimsier too.

I really wish they would eliminate the double wall nare construction and make the mask more durable like the swift II. I would use the opus 360, but it whistles and the straps aren't as good as the swift LT. I hope these issues are resolved soon!

socknitster, I have to risk being overly-contributing here, but want to comment that my own experience is that the inner wall of the 2-walled nasal pieces is the critical component. When it was stiffer, (with the outer wall softer)--fewer leaks and less rainout. Just not a problem. I personally experienced the double-wall design to be a great improvement in decreasing leaks without rainout issues. But keep all the input coming, as it is all important for such a popular mask to be attended to by its makers.

feeling_better wrote:

plr66 wrote:PS--I'm being asked to also send ResMed my one & only trusty "good" pillow from last Aug/Sept. Would any of you who have an unused pillow from last summer which you definitely believe meets the comparatively "sturdy" criteria, please PM me ASAP?

plr66, I am glad you are getting some excellent response. But hold on before sending off that pillow to them. Ask them first to ship you replacements!! I am really surprised the support person already did not FedEx a replacement before asking to send back the defective/inferior part. That is routine in critical medical parts investigation. Most likely your contact is a new person on board unfamiliar with the fine principles of taking care of patients critical needs first. Do not send back the good or even the defective one until you are delivered a replacement, all postage both ways at their expense.

When I received a blood glucose meter with a slightly defective (sticky) on/off switch, I informed the company. They immediately FedEx'd a new meter and the include a prepaid return envelope for me to return the defective part. I expect ResMed to be equally resourceful. BTW, they are not doing you any favour if the part you paid for turned out to be defective, they are simply living up to their promise to deliver good parts. So you are the one doing them a favor here.

Yow--let me quickly respond that Jennifer did NOT ask me to return my original pillows for this study, without offering several times to send me a new complete mask. And when we discussed this and she had no way to locate an older, more effective replacement pillow...this was not an issue. I will not be sending my pillow unless I can locate a comparable pillow to offer their engineers for comparison. Jennifer is not naive to treatment needs, and neither am I. They are doing the shipping. Thanks for your concern, but I am on top of all of this. I think you may need to re-read the thread of how this has progressed. I am losing nothing. We all have a lot to gain. They are not simply "living up to delivering new parts".....far from it! I am doing no one a favor.

Edit to say that I want ResMed to have an older pillow for comparison, otherwise how will they accurately assess the changes?! They do want one, but not at the expense of my therapy. Hope this is clear.

I have been using the Swift Lt w/ Medium cushion since 12/08. I'm still on the original cushion and don't know if it's the "old" or "new" version. I believe I have begun to experience a higher number of times I wake during the night to adjust the mask to stop leaks. It may have begun to loose it's seal easier. I use Ayer Gel pretty liberally. I will try washing the mask and face regularly to see if there is any difference.

There has been discussion about masks altering one's nose. It's conceivable our nostrils are stretching out and maybe could try a larger size pillow! Could they make an XXL?

Georgio

4 years on nasal pillow by other companies have not streched my nostrils to such an extent -- and 4 years on this board have shown me that the the Swift LT replacement pillows are the only ones causing these problems.

I recently bought an OPUS 360 and not a Swift LT because of the comlaints I had read.

Jen, my Opus whistles slightly, but the whistle does seem to disappear when it warms up.

O.

i have a new siwft lt mask in the bag, when i will check and see which quality pillow i have

Last night I opened up a ResMed Large pillow I ordered online around February 2009:




Note the "Made in China" sticker,top right.

Also I have a spare unopened Swift LT Mask System,ordered at the same time,which includes 3 sizes of nasal pillows:



No origin sticker on this package...

i started to use the swift LT around JAN 09 I had some problem with my machine and am new to the using a cpap machine so I was trying alot of things to get comfortable. I use a medium pillow. I did not vote. Actually I feel the problem I had with this thing was the original pillow. After buying a new pillow a couple months ago from cpap.com I noticed a difference. I actually used to build machines that are used to make these kinda things.


My veiw is this, the original one was stiffer and would cause me irritation and some pain because of the stiffness in the rubber around the base of the nostral opening. That would be the two areas that are circular. I ordered new ones eager to compare and sure enough. Just like some have mentioned in the reviews. The NEWER ONES are more comfortable and they are softer. The large area that plugs in is almost the same but what really made the LT work for me was the softer nostrals openings and softer area where the two pieces join in a circle. Sadley I know that this is a hard part to manufacture. Many things can cause the size of the shot inside the mold to be more than it should be and that would cause a stiffer and dens part. Not comfortable for me. The quality control for this part is going to have to be extreamly tight. I will be inspecting this part before opening the package. If not similar to what I have it will be sent back.

Zeratul wrote:i started to use the swift LT around JAN 09 ...My veiw is this, the original one was stiffer and would cause me irritation and some pain because of the stiffness in the rubber around the base of the nostral opening. That would be the two areas that are circular. I ordered new ones eager to compare and sure enough. Just like some have mentioned in the reviews. The NEWER ONES are more comfortable and they are softer. The large area that plugs in is almost the same but what really made the LT work for me was the softer nostrals openings and softer area where the two pieces join in a circle.

Zeratul, your post is indeed ironic in a certain way, if I am following you clearly. I think you're saying that you like the newer, "softer" pillow because your initial experience is that it is less abrasive to your nose. Valid point! I certainly did have to go through about 1-2 weeks of feeling a bit raw and sensitive as my nose adjusted to the new intrusion of the sturdier pillow. Having quickly built up that "toughness," however, my nose has loved the more secure seal of the firmer pillow. I'm sure there are a lot of analogies to this, but I can't think of one at the moment. The critical issue as I see it, is how long the seal maintains its integrity. And I do not believe the softer ones have stood the test. If you are able to continue to use your softer pillow effectively for more than 1-6 months with no increase in leak rate and with equal or better AHI, I will be very surprised. But do keep us posted on that.