looking for advice on a "travel" sized machine?

Its been nearly 2 months in and I feel well rested. Oh, sometimes I feel tired but it is not due to waking up several times a night I just don't allow myself enough time to sleep occasionally. I would not give up my machine but I am thinking about a travel version cause my current unit while portable is just a bit of a hassle. So, if anyone out there has one and is willing to give me their "2 cents" I'm willing to listen.

I travel a lot and would love to have one but just can't afford it. Hopefully someone will have info for you.

I will have to say I am not a big fan of the travel CPAP machines. I find the ResMed AirSense quite easy to pack up and travel with. When our son got a CPAP he bought it on line and saved enough money that the insurance company agreed to buy him both a home machine and a travel machine. For the travel machine he bought a Z1 Auto. It is more expensive than the home machine, and you can buy batteries for it to run without AC as well, but they are quite expensive. To make a long story short, he tried it for camping with a trailer and did not like it. He found it to be so noisy that he could not sleep. He ended up giving it to his parents. I didn't think it was that bad for noise, but I have never used it. My wife has. She says it is OK, but prefers her ResMed with the humidifier. So the Z1 sits in the closet somewhere as an emergency spare. I have since found out that I have substantial hearing loss and now have hearing aids. I thought it was quite before, but it may have been just my hearing loss that made it quiet!!

In any case from what I know of the Z1 I would not recommend it. The other issues to watch for is the humidifier. These portable ones either do not have them, or they use a consumable water absorption device which captures water from your breath and recycles it -- or something like that. If you are a SleepyHead user, I don't think most of them are compatible, but not sure about that. The ResMed model forces you to use a special hose connection and a very limited number of masks that will fit it. So if you have to buy the special mask it may not be the one that you like and use at home.

So those are the things to check for; humidifier, noise, special mask, SleepyHead compatibility.

What I find is that my AirSense fits perfectly in the supplied travel case, and for a short trip the whole travel case fits in my carry on bag. Or, because it is a medical device, you can take it on board a plane, and not have it count as part of your carry on, or personal item. They improved the case for the AirSense 10 over the S9, by making it all smaller, and it has velcro straps on it to conveniently slip over the carry on bag handle extenders. When we travel with our RV we take 12 volt DC to 24 volt DC converters for times when there is no AC power to the trailer. Works well.

Hope that helps some,

FWIW, I have an Airsense 10 Autoset as well as the Mini. For me the Mini is no substitute. Does not work anything like the larger model.

I am a dentist working in dental sleep medicine. Just reminding the forum that, for some people, an oral sleep apnea appliance could be the ultimate travel machine. Nothing is smaller, nothing is lighter, and nothing is more comfortable. Arthur B. Luisi, Jr., D.M.D., The Naples Center For Dental Sleep Medicine.

I had a patient a week or 2 ago who had the ResMed Air Mini. He was very unhappy with it, mainly because it was too noisy.

I have the ResMed Air Mini and the noise did not bother me. It is not as quiet as my Airsense 10 but not bad to me. My problem is that as much as I tried to be a nose breather, I could not consistently. Hence I had to move to a Full face mask and it does not support that type of mask. Hence I have a like new Air Mini that sits in my closet.