Soft Cap Headgear on Quattro

Has anybody tried this headgear:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CPAP-Soft-Cap-H ... 896634e59d


My Quattro and I have not been getting along lately and I would like to try different head gear. I seem to end up having my headgear tighter than I would prefer (to keep away leaks) and the straps on the back have been digging in to my head a bit. I'm wondering if this mask would distribute that pressure better and still keep the Quattro sealed. Does anyone have any experience with this one?

Thank you,
Tony

I just got that headgear yesterday and used it with a liberty hybrid last night. My two biggest complaints with my old headgear were the back strap moving/tightening/loosening when I moved my head around and the straps leaving sore lines on my head. I was very pleased with the new headgear. No sore lines, the anchor points seem more stable, and the straps seem to have just a little stretch that lets the mask stay tight while still having a little give and take if I move my face a little. Given the way it's built, I think it would be great with a Mirage Quattro. I have one I could hook up and test it with if you like.

djhall wrote:I just got that headgear yesterday and used it with a liberty hybrid last night. My two biggest complaints with my old headgear were the back strap moving/tightening/loosening when I moved my head around and the straps leaving sore lines on my head. I was very pleased with the new headgear. No sore lines, the anchor points seem more stable, and the straps seem to have just a little stretch that lets the mask stay tight while still having a little give and take if I move my face a little. Given the way it's built, I think it would be great with a Mirage Quattro. I have one I could hook up and test it with if you like.

Sure, if you want to. I'd be curious to know if the four connection points line up and hold the mask in place.

Thank you,
Tony

I'm curious how snug this cap sits on the head. Does the entire thing feel tight all around the back of the head? How comfortable is it with regard to tightness and temperature?

Thanks.

djhall wrote:I just got that headgear yesterday and used it with a liberty hybrid last night. My two biggest complaints with my old headgear were the back strap moving/tightening/loosening when I moved my head around and the straps leaving sore lines on my head. I was very pleased with the new headgear. No sore lines, the anchor points seem more stable, and the straps seem to have just a little stretch that lets the mask stay tight while still having a little give and take if I move my face a little. Given the way it's built, I think it would be great with a Mirage Quattro. I have one I could hook up and test it with if you like.

Hows' the sizing? My hubby's head measures 23" which the seller says would be a Medium, anything over 24" is a Large. Does that seem accurate? Thanks.

tonycog wrote:I'd be curious to know if the four connection points line up and hold the mask in place.

Here is a picture with the SoftCap on a Mirage Quattro (the red forehead and nose were from washing the area with hot water before putting on the mask ).

tonycog wrote:I'm curious how snug this cap sits on the head. Does the entire thing feel tight all around the back of the head? How comfortable is it with regard to tightness and temperature?

You can kind of see how the cap fits on the head in the picture. The material is a stretchy lycra, so it starts out too small for your head and then stretches out over it when you put it on... bike shorts don't stretch as much... probably close to the stretch and tightness of pantyhose (not that I've ever worn them! ) Temperature I haven't noticed, but then I also installed a room a/c so I can keep my bedroom nice and cool at night without paying to cool the whole place.

DoriC wrote:Hows' the sizing? My hubby's head measures 23" which the seller says would be a Medium, anything over 24" is a Large. Does that seem accurate?

Probably. My head measured 24 1/2 so I got the large. The material still has to stretch to fit over my head, which is what it is designed to do, but I could see it not being stable if my head was much smaller and it didn't mold as well to the head.

A couple things about this headgear. The straps are stretchy too... that means you can put just a little more tension than you need and the straps with loosen a little and tighten a little to moving with the mask as you move around or move your face. With the factory headgear I sometimes felt my mask was too loose in some head / mouth positions and too tight in others. The flip side to that is you really have to put some tension on the straps if you don't want them to let the mask move if you bury your face in your pillow. Already fairly loose straps will give enough to let the mask shift if you roll your face into the pillow and it pushes on the mask.

Also, the straps are in my opinion a bit too wide and too long. The straps are about 1/8" wider than the slots in the mounting points of every mask I've tried it on. That isn't really a problem, but the elastic bunches up and doesn't slide easily when you try to put it on the mask or when you adjust the straps for mask fit. I find I have to adjust the straps in the slots afterward if I tighten or loosen the straps more than a little. On a full face mask I have to tighten the straps until they almost go past the velcro. With the hybrid the top straps go all the way past the velcro and overlap a little at the back. That is a minor annoyance, but also one relatively easy to modify with even basic sewing skills and some spare velcro.

It isn't perfect, but I am happy with it as an improvement over the regular headgear. My PapCap with chinstrap will be arriving on Monday and I'm going to see how well they work together. (At my pressures around 20 I get a bad chipmunk cheeks and mouth openings which it looks like the wide chinstrap might help reduce.) If that works well I'd ideally like to find a way to combine the two into a single high quality chinstrap and headgear combination so I don't have to wear two full caps.

It looks really good, but there's no chin strap.
I'd rather not buy on ebay. Are they avialable elsewhere?

DreamDiver wrote:I'd rather not buy on ebay. Are they avialable elsewhere?

If you don't mind white instead of blue, they sell them at cpap.com, the sponsor of this site.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/softca ... onics.html

djhall wrote:If you don't mind white instead of blue, they sell them at cpap.com, the sponsor of this site.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/softca ... onics.html

Thank you, dj.
I found this one on Amazon at a ridiculous price. It may not be the same maker.
Actually, I think I could make one of these myself.

@djhall

Thank you for taking your time to phost that photo and detailed review of the cap. I'm going to go ahead and purchase one tonight. One question about the straps being a bit too wide: I can see that in the photo. Do you think it would help to use scissors and trim the width down just enough to keep it from bunching up?

Thanks again,
Tony

tonycog wrote:... Do you think it would help to use scissors and trim the width down just enough to keep it from bunching up? ...

If you trimmed off an eight of an inch for a good length along the strap, the stretchy strap fabric used for this will very likely begin fraying soon after you attempt to cut it thinner. Even if you were to purl stitch the edges fairly densely, it seems likely the straps will not last very long.