Anew FF Leaks Like a Screen Door on a Submarine

Well, had one delivered and it looked very cheaply made and was sorely disappointed when I pulled it out of the little box it came in. Doesnt look like something that is supposed to last more than a few weeks. The stitching is second rate, the little plastic clips are hard to locate and snap into place unless your looking in a mirror when you mask up at night. The plastic you clip the straps into is made of cheap plastic and is poorly stitched to the material of the mask.
The headgear is decent, except for the clips that your supposed to use to attach the strap to the mask. The clips arent really clips at all, they are more like a really small plastic buckle that you would run a strap through. In fact one side of the buckle has the strap run through it, with velcro to fasten and adjust it; the other side of the "buckle" is what youre supposed to "snap" into, or in between four little plastic tips or fingers. Its a horrible design I think for attaching your straps to a mask. Its a pain in the arse for sure.
The really big dissapointnent though is it LEAKS LIKE A BUCKET WITH NO BOTTOM. Especially around the nose. The momenet I turned on the machine it felt like a hurricane blowing in my face. Sounded like it too. Its WAY loud. There's so much air escaping around the bridge of the nose that it feels like a leaf blower. Take your hise with nothing attached and point it at your face with your machine on max and you have what wearing an Anew ffm feals like. Horrible. I ordered the medium size (going off off my current size because theres no sizing guide) and its possible that its too big, so I wont blame the mask itself just yet. Im going to have to return it and exchange it for a small and see if thats any better first. But, im really not putting much faith in that. I am really disappointed with the mask overall. It just looks and feels so damn cheap once you get it in your hands and on your face. And its very very hard to get those buckles snapped in place if your not doing it in a mirror. Its that bad. At least to me it is. Convinience is key for me, and a quality feel is a must and I have neither with the Anew FFM.
Just though i would post my experienxe for those thinking of dropping 160 bucks on it. At least theres a free return on it minus the shipping. Now I know why.

Strange, I found the elan rather well-made.
Learning how to wear these things is very different from the hard masks.
It can require a lot more patience than many sleep-deprived folks can muster.
A lot of trial and error, and the fitting technique can seem counter-intuitive.
(loosen it to make it fit) I would still be wearing my Elan if my eyes were not so sensitive
to the light breeze my teensy nose allows to pass over them.
The best advice I ever got was to reduce my EPR.
I can't imagine how it would work with a bilevel machine, but some do make it work.

It is very possible that I don't know what I am talking about here because I have never had my hands on the Anew but I really like the Elan and the top part looks the same. If you pull it down over the bridge of the nose so it sits mostly on the end of your nose like a clown nose just covering the tip it should help with the leaks. This mask needs to be very loose. Over tightening will cause leaks. A cloth mask is a different critter all together. You can't really compare it to a plastic mask. They just don't work the same.

Í understand what you mean about being disappointed when you took it out of the box. I felt the same way when I got my first SW Advanced. It looked like there wasn't enough there for the amount of money I paid. I made it work because it was just so comfortable. I didn't like having a mask that made sores on my face. I wore an eye mask to keep the leaks out of my eyes. Once I learned how to do the little trick with the Elan the eye leak problem was solved. I really don't like hard plastic on my face. I am looking forward to buying one of these for my FF winter mask. Who knows maybe I will like it in the summer too. It shouldn't be too hot.

islandboy5150 wrote:At least theres a free return on it minus the shipping.

Are you saying you have to pay to ship it back? I am pretty sure that you should receive an email from cpap.com directing you to a link where you can print off a shipping label that has the shipping cost covered. I got one with my Tap Pap from cpap.com.
Mine was a FED EX shipping label and there's no cost involved on the patient end of things.
I am pretty sure that Circadiance offers the same return insurance...check with cpap.com to make sure and check your emails to see if you got the email with the directions on what to do if you return it. Mine came around 3 or 4 days after I got the Tap Pap I think it was.

I have had to use return insurance on a couple of masks; never had to pay return shipping.
Of course, with the economy, etc, I might not be surprised if that changed.
But I wouldn't be bitter about it--just sad.

chunkyfrog wrote:Of course, with the economy, etc, I might not be surprised if that changed.

It hasn't changed as of about 3 weeks ago. I bought another Tap Pap and I got the email containing the return information along with shipping paid link for label printing.

I received my Anew on Friday and experienced the exact same problem. I'll try one more time to see if I can make sense of it. I ordered the medium as well but maybe is just too big or something? I just looked at the sizing chart that is listed now and my nasal width is 1 1/2" and hight is 3 1/4". That doesn't match up to the three choices.

https://5faacd0c97cf0d23c6dc-064f3cd61b ... pdated.pdf

I also ordered and received the Anew mask, (size regular) and I am having problems with it leaking as well. I just tried it for the first time last night. I watched the DVD that came with it, and it said you need to wash the part that goes on your face with mild soap and rinse in the warm water (before each use) and let it air dry. I washed it this morning around 10 a.m. and still isn't dry. I won't be using it tonight because it is still wet. It also said you have to wash the swivel elbow everyday as well, and check to make sure that the antefixa (sp?) valve is opening and closing properly (before each use.) And to make sure that the air vents on the mask are not covered or blocked. I don't know about this mask. The leaks are pretty bad and having to wash it after each use and waiting for it to air dry doesn't seem to be very appealing. Will give it a few more tries.

I've come to the conclusion that this new mask just sucks. Period. Have tried everything I know how to get the leaks to stop, and to quiet the mask to a level enough to get to sleep. I'd rather just point my open ended hose at my face with nothing attached to it than hook this mask to it. It sucks. Bad. Real bad.

It has been said about the original Sleepweaver mask that it is either nirvana or nerve-racking--no in-between..
I guess this can be extended to the other members of the fabric mask family.
I love my Elan, but have to wear goggles with it.

chunkyfrog wrote:It has been said about the original Sleepweaver mask that it is either nirvana or nerve-racking--no in-between..
I guess this can be extended to the other members of the fabric mask family.
I love my Elan, but have to wear goggles with it.

I assume that pulling it down on your nose didn't help. I ordered the Anew for my husband today.