I use an APAP so my max tops out at 20. That said, I have hit that max, and often spend my sleeping time in the range of 17-18.
The Tap Pap is the ONLY mask I have tried that handles this with almost no leakage. Every now and then I can sense a leak. I have to be awake and thinking about it, and this would be such a small leak that I have to wonder if the machine even detects it as a leak. (Judging from my leakage data, no, it does not.)
The fact that this device is stabilized by the same bone mass as your nose instead of by springy material makes it such a far superior design to anything else out there. You don't need tight ... tight is needed when the hose can cause the mask to drift a little. There is NO drifting on this mask. I can lay on my side with the mask half-buried in the pillow and there is ZERO increase in leakage. (The noise from the vent hitting the pillow makes this a less than desirable position, but it is amazing how stable the mask is ... and I don't want you to think the vent is noisy ... it is silent. Only the item I might point the vent at makes any noise. Like the cat, for instance!)
You would think I was paid to support the mask. I am not ... I am just a severely impressed and satisfied customer.
FYI, I have tried about 5 other masks overs the years. Some were more stable than others, but nothing like the Tap Pap. I even tried
CpapPro (
http://www.nomask.com). It's another ... possibly the first dental-stabilized CPAP interface. Unfortunately that design still lets the hose put pressure on the mask, so for me it actually leaked far worse than a traditional mask, and it was a complete waste of time and money.