Quality of S9 equipment

Normally one cannot label a product bad from any forum. As was stated only the people with problems post and even 100 posts about a product does not make it bad. But consider this: I have never seen a post on any other hose not living up to expectations. This is just a hose!! Althought it does have a sensor and electrical connections. Mine is DEAD. Does not heat!!

Bob

cortez356 wrote:Normally one cannot label a product bad from any forum. As was stated only the people with problems post and even 100 posts about a product does not make it bad. But consider this: I have never seen a post on any other hose not living up to expectations. This is just a hose!! Althought it does have a sensor and electrical connections. Mine is DEAD. Does not heat!!

Bob

Bob,
Please purchase a different brand machine. We are tired of reading about your disappointment with the S9. Thank you.

I like Resmed as a company. So what if some of its products are made of plastic and acrylic? The important issues are Resmed's allocations to research and the technological innovations in its products.


Some info about Resmed as a company, from the financial media:

"ResMed remains one of the key leaders of sleep apnea treatment. With its admirable innovative capabilities, we expect the firm to deliver solid returns in the long run, and we look forward to seeing what it develops next.

As a second-mover in sleep apnea devices, ResMed was initially forced to play catch-up by
differentiating itself through technically superior devices. It still aims to maintain its technical edge, which has served it well so far. Patients can have a difficult time adjusting to sleep disruptions, and ResMed's advanced features can lead to greater patient comfort and compliance, which in turn leads to brand loyalty. As these patients return to ResMed's sleep lab and home health-care customers request ResMed products--especially masks and pillows--this highly profitable recurring revenue stream helps endear ResMed to its customer base.

ResMed faces tough competition, though, particularly from Philips Electronics PHG (formerly Respironics). Respironics pioneered the industry and possesses admirable marketing and distribution capabilities. Also, its products are synonymous with sleep apnea treatment in the U.S., so ResMed faces a difficult challenge when trying to educate physicians about its own product set. Competitors also have shown a willingness to compete on price by blanketing the market with free samples during past new product launches, so ResMed must continue to stay ahead of the pack on innovation to prevent price erosion from substantially damaging returns.

We think ResMed has proved its ability to develop new sleep apnea treatments, and we expect more of the same in the future. Considering those development capabilities and the large potential patient pool that still remains undiagnosed or untreated in the sleep apnea market, ResMed looks positioned to grow at a fast clip by filling the gaps in existing therapeutic options."


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I was considering replacing my CPAP with the S9 AutoSet, but I feel that the S10 CPAP machine is on its way. The new generation of CPAPs , instead of giving you lots of data for you to figure out what to do, will automatically take action, by adjusting the appropriate parameters, to improve your treatment.

For example, the new CPAP will: determine weather treatment pressure at the mask is below desired value (it leaks for example ) and in response will increase the pressure. But doing so it will also determine if the increased air flow has resulted in less than desired increase in treatment pressure at the mask.

Guest wrote:

cortez356 wrote:Normally one cannot label a product bad from any forum. As was stated only the people with problems post and even 100 posts about a product does not make it bad. But consider this: I have never seen a post on any other hose not living up to expectations. This is just a hose!! Althought it does have a sensor and electrical connections. Mine is DEAD. Does not heat!!

Bob

Bob,
Please purchase a different brand machine. We are tired of reading about your disappointment with the S9. Thank you.

We will complain about anything we want to complain about. jonnybee, if you don't like the content, sorry!

avil23: Although I dont doubt that Resmed does a lot of research so do the other Mfrs. I would not fall for that press release. I think some of the other mfrs. are doing a fine job of producing good equipment for far less $$ than Resmed. I can understand you liking the product but the company is horrible. These are the same fellows who dont allow any auctioning of their product. The same fellows who dont allow their dealers to discount. The same fellows who sell their product to dealers in Canada for more than a consumer pays in the USA. The same fellows who rob their Australian countrymen blind. I would describe them as almost ruthless. BUT: I sure like their masks! I also think that they would make a good investment for anyone looking for a good stock. Lots of profit!

Bob

bob cortez, I am glad that you got the S9 AutoSet which seems to be a fine CPAP. I would not pay much attention to the plastic and acrylic parts b/c they should be easy and cheap to replace.

Thanks for the suggestion to buy RMD stock. Have you seen its 10 years performance:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RMD&t=m ... z=l&q=l&c=

But, this is crazy!

P/E: 263.82

I am re-editing this post:

I don't own RMD stocks. Instead, I own Vanguard's Health Care fund. If I was now in the accumulating stage of my nest egg I would then put some "speculative money" in it. Not more than 5% of total portfolio.

cortez356 wrote:I would not fall for that press release. I think some of the other mfrs. are doing a fine job of producing good equipment for far less $$ than Resmed. I can understand you liking the product but the company is horrible. These are the same fellows who dont allow any auctioning of their product. The same fellows who dont allow their dealers to discount. The same fellows who sell their product to dealers in Canada for more than a consumer pays in the USA. The same fellows who rob their Australian countrymen blind. I would describe them as almost ruthless. ...... I also think that they would make a good investment for anyone looking for a good stock. Lots of profit!

Hmmmmmm, you make it sound like Bill Gates owns them!!

avi123 wrote:I would not pay much attention to the plastic and acrylic parts b/c they should be eazy and cheap to replace.

The operative word is 'should'. In this day of mass produced cheap consumer products from China, or the pricey S9 built in Australia by 'not cheap' labor, ain't nothin' got parts that are cheap and easy to replace. The cost of one hour of American repair labor is probably about the same as 10 hours of Chinese manufacturing labor. In 10 hours the Chinese have probably built two or more of the products the American is trying to repair in one hour.

I don't know how many consumer products you have tried to repair, but I can tell you from experience it's often almost impossible to open up the device, let alone remove and replace parts, if you can even find the parts which a big share of the time don't exist.

Sad state of affairs, I'll be the first to lament. I sure hope the S9 is a product that can be repaired, but I won't hold my breath.

idamtnboy wrote:

avi123 wrote:
I don't know how many consumer products you have tried to repair, but I can tell you from experience it's often almost impossible to open up the device, let alone remove and replace parts, if you can even find the parts which a big share of the time don't exist.

Sad state of affairs, I'll be the first to lament. I sure hope the S9 is a product that can be repaired, but I won't hold my breath.

Reply:

Hi, I don't have an S9 yet but you seem to be right if I look at $40 cost of this chamber:

http://www.cpapsupplyusa.com/36800-ResM ... .aspx#more

and $51 for the heated air tubing:

http://www.cpapsupplyusa.com/36995-ResM ... ubing.aspx

If the humidifier chamber was less costly I would then use regular faucet water instead of distilled water, and replace the chamber when it becomes opaque b/c of the minerals in the tap water. Tap water in my place is closer to the body PH than the acidic distilled water sold at stores. If I remember correctly, at the hospital ICU's respiration equipment they used saline in the nebulizers.

cortez356 wrote:The same fellows who rob their Australian countrymen blind.

No more or less than any other CPAP vendors.

You really need to lay off the outrageous claims, as any legitimate beef you might have, has been totally been lost in your bitterness.

billbolton wrote:

Sillyme wrote:Has anyone had their hose for 3mo./6mo./1yr?

I've been using a Climateline hose since March without any problems.

Cheers,

Bill

Ditto - and I've never cleaned it!

billbolton wrote:

cortez356 wrote:The same fellows who rob their Australian countrymen blind.

No more or less than any other CPAP vendors.

You really need to lay off the outrageous claims, as any legitimate beef you might have, has been totally been lost in your bitterness.

Well said, Bill Bolton... as an Asian woman (Japanese ancestry born and raised in Canada), I take exception to the disparaging comments Mr. Cortez made in his OP in regards to the so-called inferior products that may or may not come out of Asia.

I am sorry that Mr. Cortez has had so many problems with his S9 Autoset (I've had mine for 3 weeks and have had nothing but a positive experience) but he cannot possibly blame the problems that he's experiencing on the fact that the equipment may (or may not have) been produed in Asia... I would expect that that is more of an R&D or design problem than one based upon the country of production... after all, the manufacturing factories are only following directives established by ResMed.

I would also like to know how he can assume that "Made in America" equals a superior product... if this were true, most of the modern electronic devices on the market today (MP3 players, cellphones, DVD players etc) would be made in the United States and not "... in China or some other Asian country."

Regretably, the S9 is the cadillac of APAP machines right now despite being constructed less than 100% solidly. Having said that, mine sits on my bedside stand for the most part and travels with me in the case when I travel around the world. Thus far, no problemos. I also carry a small uninterruptible power supply when I go to area where the power is questionable and I leave the humidifier out of the circuit. NOW... I have also got an Oxygen Concentrator that I lug around while driving and that thing is built like a tank. Both same age. No problems with either.

Westcoast girl: You misunderstood my comment re Asian parts, etc. I posted that not because I fell that Asian parts are inferior. I should have stated my intent : If they indeed are assembling the device with Off Shore parts or even making it Off Shore then the price should reflect that. If you look back at one of my previous responses to a thread I stated that when the Chinese start exporting machines the NA mfrs. will be playing catch up. I dont doubt that the major Asian nations can produce a better quality and less costly device. Sorry if I offended you. I should have reread my post before hitting send.

Bob

As a matter of interest, in the hearing aid market, you can purchase the same set of crossover hearing aids that sell locally for $5K for about $500 offshore. Just send them your audiologist report and they will program and test for you. And if you are nice, they will send you the software and a wee USB cord to make minor adjustments yourself. Imagine that, $5,000 in America and only $500 in India. same product. Same box. Same software.