Flying Monkey

I know I’ve flown with guys before that use CPAP machines on overnights, but never worried about options available. Until now since I need one. My Dr has prescribed the same machine my wife has (AirSense 10 by Resmed), but I’m hoping for something a bit more travel friendly. I see the Resmed AirMini comes highly recommended, but UHC says they’ll pay for the Z2 Travel by Human Design. I’m looking for pilot reviews on both. Or other suggestions.

Thanks!

SonicFlyer

This one works great:

Philips Respironics DreamStation Go Auto Travel CPAP (google for it)

And then I would highly recommend this med tech's YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/Freecpapadvice

Mesabah

Philips is off the market for now due to the insulation recall. IMHO, fight with the insurance company for the travel resmed airmini.

Edit: don't spend the extra money for it though, all the travel machines are no where near as good as the full machine.

JamesBond

I have the Z2 by Breas. It's OK. Not as good as my full sized Airsense that everybody has, but it does the job. The one thing I don't like is the reporting software is crap. The Airsense gives you those nice progress stats, and you would think that I only use my travel device an hour a night.

Edit. To the OP: What is the Z2 by Human Design? Are you sure it is not the Breas?

zippinbye

Just don’t do what I did, especially if your data is monitored by the FAA. I started CPAP 5 years ago while grounded for an unrelated matter. Got the Phillips Respironics Dreamstation, which was fine until recalled for potential carcinogens this year.

Like you, I wanted portability when I returned to flying. Insurance was out of contention until I had the first unit for 5 years. I settled on the Dreamstation Go from the same manufacturer (I wrongly assumed data gathering advantages by having the same brand at home and on the road) and hunted for the best price I could find on the Internet. With a backup battery for airborne use and some other accessories I shelled out around $1300 for this set-up.

Turns out a DME supplier working with insurance will go to some lengths to fix issues; random Internet supplier on a cash deal, not so much. Because the supplier and manufacturer seem to have no vested interest in helping me, I never got the data gathering in order for my portable machine. It’s small, light and “cute” and it works, but no data is no bueno for the FAA. So I ended up lugging my “brick” around on trips. The portable was a waste of money for me. I haven’t given up on it entirely, but I got so sick and tired of trying to hunt down a Phillips rep to get me dialed-in, I just caved in and use the big boy for everything. Which sucks for my wife when I try to sneak out of the room at O-dark:30, having packed 99% of my $tuff the night before, only to wrangle cords and tubes and a humidifier reservoir in the dark. BTW, you’ll want humidification.

If you do score a portable, don’t worry about battery power unless you need it for a serious off-grid situations. Although my crew rest facilities had power, I thought the battery would ease the utilization of CPAP while airborne. It was such a hassle to deploy on the airplane, I just blew it off.

My usage compliance criteria call for a certain number of hours per sleep session, 75% of the time. I never get those hours on the plane so I just skip it. I still end up with something like 90% compliance in the course of a year. Not using the CPAP on the airplane is in no way a violation of my therapy prescription nor the FAA criteria for my medical. Aside from the bulk and weight of the Dreamstation, carrying it is okay. I just learned that my overnight bag could sacrifice a lot of crap that I carried.

My choices are those of an apnea denier. I believe my diagnosis is legit. It’s minor. I never felt bad or sleepy when I should have been alert. I slept well before CPAP and I sleep awesome with it. I snored, which never bothered me consciously. My spouse is much relieved by my CPAP use, but I couldn’t care less aside from the benefits to her. I play the game and use the thing, but my non- FAA docs say I really don’t need CPAP. Keep my situation and attitude in mind before deciding airplane use of CPAP is not called for. It’s simply not for me.

Bottom line: insurance is going to but you just one piece of equipment. Spending your own $ ona portable is not worth it. If you can only have one, a full featured machine can be workable for home and travel.

Flying Monkey

Thanks for the info. So do you have both then? I’m contemplating letting insurance get the AirSense for home and purchasing a more travel friendly one for work.

The Human Design and Breas units are the same. Something about parent companies and name changes.

Mesabah

The travel ones are a lot harsher than the full machine, you may want to wait a bit since you are just starting therapy.

JamesBond

Gotcha. That is what I thought. I have the 'full size unit' for home use, and the Breas for travel. Like Mesabah said, it is a little 'harsher' than the Airsense. I can't really think of a better word than that. It's not unbearable, but it is not quite as comfortable as the Airsense. That thing was a life changer. My wife loves it because she doesn't think I am gonna forget to breathe and die in the middle of the night. I believe that we were able to get the insurance to pay for it as well as the home unit. She's out at a meeting right now, but I will let you know. If I remember correctly, there is some special deal that Delta gets on it.

CX500T

I just lug my full size airsense everywhere. The bag does hang backwards over my LW roller handle but occasionally a luggage nazi will ***** its not black (its medical so exempt)

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Flying Monkey

Do you use water in it on layovers? That’s one concern I have with it - lugging 2 to 3 nights worth of distilled water for it. Although I found out today there’s a plug for it to use without water.