ResMed AirFit N20

This is impacting my comfort levels and quality of sleep I felt compelled to write a review, and it seems to reflect in all the reviews here. Since changing from silicone to foam padding, I’ve experienced consistent difficulty achieving a seal and the unpleasant edges hidden within the foam dig into my face leaving irritation and rash after a night of painful discomfort. I paid $80aud for three of these, waste of money that I don’t have, it’s driving me insane I just want a decent nights sleep. Even the process of submitting this review was painful

Dont buy it – Its way too noisy. The escaping air is vented poory and makes for a very noisy mask.. I have had cheaper/noname masks that are better than this one. I dont think resmed did any RnD on this mask at all.

Excessive air – Comfy but too much air escapes from the vent which in turn blows over partner and then they can’t sleep. There needs to be a baffle mounted on the vent, can’t use, tried three time.waste of money

haed to breath after usung N20 – I change to use N20 from the old model FX, it does'nt work for me at all, hard to breath as I feel all air gone through those hole, It is expensive and I can'T return it, I bought it from Priceline.

ResMed AirFit N20 nasal mask is not an improvement – Firstly, whilst I purchased this nasal mask in April 2017, I did not start to use the product until 29/6/2018. I have used it for 6 nights now. This review is for the ResMed AirFit N20 nasal mask (item # 63522). My experience with the AirFit N20 nasal mask may not be the same for all users. My previous nasal mask was a ResMed Mirage FX (item # 62111). Since I started CPAP (Constant Positive Airway Pressure) treatment for sleep apnea 4 years ago, I had been using a ResMed Elite S9 machine with humidifier and this was fitted with a Mirage FX nasal mask with soft Velcro head straps. Once accustomed to wearing the Mirage FX mask, it was comfortable and I had very long and deep sleeps. The mask material (silicone?) was soft and this was ideal since I tend to sleep more on my side and on my stomach with my face facing the pillow. The mask allowed ample room around the nose. The only downsides were that some mornings you would wake with a strap mark across your face (which dissipated as the morning went on). Another was the mask had a design flaw on the front where the air tube elbow clicked into the mask. This part of the mask eventually failed due to stresses and air would escape reducing the pressure and creating an air rush noise. The mask then needed to be replaced (about $90 and replaced about every year).

In April 2017, I upgraded my machine to a ResMed AirSense 10 Elite 3G (item # 37439) with an AirFit N20 Large nasal mask due to an enticing trade-in offer from ResMed the manufacturer.

I have been using the new AirSense 10 Elite CPAP machine with the old Mirage FX nasal mask since the mask was still effective and why not keep using the comfortable Mirage FX mask until it needed to be replaced.

Last week, the old Mirage FX nasal mask was retired due to air leakage and head strap deterioration. I started using the new AirFit N20 nasal mask and the head strap (head strap is specific for the N20). The packaging states, "Mask Brand #1. Preferred by patients*. * Combined responses of those expressing a preference in an independent patient survey in the USA, UK, Germany, France and Australia, from May 2015 Visit www.resmed.com/maskbrand"

I can only summise that the respondants to this survey must have been using masks other than the AirFit N20. The mask, for me anyway, is a very big step backwards in quality and quantity of sleep I get each night.

My mask is the large size which is the largest size available. My nose (I say I have an average size nose) tends to fill the whole nasal mask. In fact I feel the mask is still too small since the top part of the mask sits below my nose bridge and I awake each morning with soreness in the top part of my nose since the mask is soft silicon (?) around the outside but becomes harder/stiffer material towards the centre where the tubing elbow clicks on. It also sits in a hard plastic frame. The harder material digs into the flesh and is painful in the morning. The bottom part of the mask sits under the nostrils and in my view tends to somewhat make you feel it is blocking the nostrils. Any fluid that drips from the nose makes it feel even worse.

Another very annoying attribute that creates noise and does not allow you to get back to sleep is the excess air escaping from the front elbow where the tubing joins the mask. The old Mirage FX mask had this excess air escaping from the front part of the mask. This new AirFit N20 has the air holes on the corner of the elbow fitting. If the holes face the pillow then the rush of air onto the pillow creates this noise that seems loud since your ears are close to the noise and it is quiet at night. Bad design. One has to get the elbow in the correct position so it is quiet to get back to sleep. Hence your mind is awake thinking of how to overcome these problems that arise.

The N20 head gear appears to not leave any strap marks. However, on each side of the head gear are a magnetic clips. A good idea for daytime use. However at night, when you take the mask off to go to the toilet and then return to bed the magnetic clips have clipped back together (sometimes criss crossed over) and one spends time in the dark trying to figure out what is going on (& cursing).

Surely when designing a new nasal mask a company could at least keep the good attributes of earlier versions and improve on the design areas that patients see as a negative.

For my sleeping habit and face, this new AirFit N20 nasal mask has more negatives than the older Mirage FX nasal mask. I think I need to replace the AirFit N20 nasal mask.