Where are the new machines??

[saintiago]

Am I the only one wondering why CPAP technology is so slow to advance? Is anyone trying to make better equipment? Hell, is anyone trying to find a better solution other than CPAP? I can buy a iPhone every year and devices that talk to me and do everything except make dinner and I'm still using a CPAP machine I got 6 years ago and nothing is on the market that seems to be better. Or am I missing something? I was in a focus group recently with a group of Sleep Disorder doctors and they had no good answers for me. One of them actually recommended that crowd-funded nose machine that was a scam. He had no idea!
Where are "this years models" that are better than "last years"? Cars, phones, coffee machines all get better at a rapid rate and the world of CPAP seems to be standing still. I'm tired of my "iron lung"!
Thoughts on this?

[Goofproof]

If you can afford to buy a "New Iphone every year, you can afford to buy a new state of the art new XPAP also. I have 3 Remstars all 13 years still working fine, keeping me well treated, and not filling up my landfill. Many of those New Better Machines, are doing duty in the landfills and sending our money to China. Maybe invest in producing better Humans would be more productive that throwing money at machines. Jim

Most New products are designed as Landfill Fill meant not to last, wouldn't you rather have product that worked correctly and lasted, I would!

[palerider]

I can buy a iPhone every year a

Most of us don't want to throw away over a thousand bucks a year on something that's only incrementally better (if that) every year.

[Pugsy]

ResMed model history...at least US release history....might be slightly different in other parts of the world.

S8 released in 2005
S9 released in 2010
AirSense/AirCurve released in 2014

So you couldn't have had your machine 6 years. Though it might seem that long.

I have no doubt that ResMed has something new in the works but they always keep it a closely guarded secret.
Respironics and/or the brands aren't any different.

and FWIW...I don't get new of anything every year. I get something new when something breaks or I see a screaming hot deal on something and I just happen to want it.

[saintiago]

Whoa, settle down here guys! I don't buy a new phone every year. I'm just saying, I CAN buy one. I don't want to fill up the landfills either, jeez. I'm just saying that technology is moving fast in all fields and that doesn't seem to apply to this world. Just my opinion. Any model car can get you from point A to Point B but the advances are numerous in this world. Cars practically drives themselves these days. Don't want to offend any ResMed employees or anything, I was just curious if anyone was as frustrated as I was.

[djams]

Am I the only one wondering why CPAP technology is so slow to advance?

Wondering what you feel is missing from your CPAP machine? What would you like it to do?

The only thing on my wish list would be data transfer via wifi. Given the manufacturer's stance on users accessing the machine data, this will never happen. And it does nothing to improve therapy. Would just allow me to ditch the SD card.

[Pugsy]

The only thing on my wish list would be data transfer via wifi.

You can actually do that now with a different SD card and a little bit of work.

What I would like to see is a machine that could actually reliably distinguish sleep vs wake status some how so that we could easily toss out SWJ events from evaluations. That's on my wish list.
Then I remember that these machine manufacturers don't think of what the patient might want because we aren't who they really consider their "customers" and thus who they want to please. The DMEs and doctors are who they think of first. Pretty much all the "upgrade" stuff has been to make the DME/doctor job easier. Easier to prove compliance so easier to get paid kind of thing.

[Wulfman...]

Whoa, settle down here guys! I don't buy a new phone every year. I'm just saying, I CAN buy one. I don't want to fill up the landfills either, jeez. I'm just saying that technology is moving fast in all fields and that doesn't seem to apply to this world. Just my opinion. Any model car can get you from point A to Point B but the advances are numerous in this world. Cars practically drives themselves these days. Don't want to offend any ResMed employees or anything, I was just curious if anyone was as frustrated as I was.

Well, you started this thread with your first rant.

Am I the only one wondering why CPAP technology is so slow to advance? Is anyone trying to make better equipment? Hell, is anyone trying to find a better solution other than CPAP? I can buy a iPhone every year and devices that talk to me and do everything except make dinner and I'm still using a CPAP machine I got 6 years ago and nothing is on the market that seems to be better. Or am I missing something? I was in a focus group recently with a group of Sleep Disorder doctors and they had no good answers for me. One of them actually recommended that crowd-funded nose machine that was a scam. He had no idea!
Where are "this years models" that are better than "last years"? Cars, phones, coffee machines all get better at a rapid rate and the world of CPAP seems to be standing still. I'm tired of my "iron lung"!
Thoughts on this?

All of my machines were made between 2005 and 2007 and they all still do what they originally did.......blow air and give me data on how my therapy is working. That's all I need and I'm not about to wear all of mine out before I get "planted". I stocked up on them while they were still available and were getting cheaper. I spent most of my working life working with computers......and now that I'm retired, I hate having to update hardware and software at the whim of the manufacturers, so I'm stocked up for the long haul. I don't have an ego that wants newer, bigger, better, faster. I'm still using Windows XP and it's still working just fine, too.


Den (getting from Point A to Point B with what works........older technology that still gets the job done)

.

[djams]

The only thing on my wish list would be data transfer via wifi.

You can actually do that now with a different SD card and a little bit of work.

Yes - I'm going to tackle that one of these days. I may have a distance problem there, but that can be worked around..

What I would like to see is a machine that could actually reliably distinguish sleep vs wake status some how so that we could easily toss out SWJ events from evaluations. That's on my wish list.

This is a great one! I support this enhancement request.

[palerider]

Whoa, settle down here guys! I don't buy a new phone every year. I'm just saying, I CAN buy one. I don't want to fill up the landfills either, jeez. I'm just saying that technology is moving fast in all fields and that doesn't seem to apply to this world. Just my opinion. Any model car can get you from point A to Point B but the advances are numerous in this world. Cars practically drives themselves these days. Don't want to offend any ResMed employees or anything, I was just curious if anyone was as frustrated as I was.

There's a difference in the certification process to bring a phone, or car, to market, and a medical device.

Do you really want to trust your life to your PHONE?

I think a little realism is needed in your view.

Considering how many times I've seen phones/computers/tablets freeze, or go nuts, or simply reboot... compared to how many times it's happened with my cpaps...

[TropicalDiver]

I agree with the OP...at least to a point. I also pine for an effective treatment for severe apnea that does not involve a mask and hose,

A few observations:
a) Machines have gotten quieter. Their "auto" settings have improved over the years.
b) The FDA certification process takes time. Think about Boeing and AIrbus....they come out with major models every few years...not every six months.
c) We have seen an explosion in mask options.
d) What are you looking for in a machine that it does not currently do? (My modest wishes below)

Modest wishes: More little options for things like how bright the lights are, how long they stay on, etc. WiFi to sleepyhead. Make the units in such a way that water cannot penetrate the electronics if it gets really wet. Get rid of the power brick and just use a cable. Improve battery backup options -- especially at a lower cost. Use 3D printing of a face to mold custom masks (as dentists do for retainers). Make intellligent suggestions to providers about tuning therapy (using many nights of therapy). Better sense sleep vs awake -- and track time spent in both states. Integrate o2 sat measurement at a reasonable cost (<$100).

Not modest: Totally self cleaning and self filling.

[palerider]

Modest wishes:

The *REAL* wish I have, (and it's doable, it's just programming, and the AS10 Autoset 'for her' has most of it already).

I want a *real* self titrating machine, I want a machine that remembers, from night to night, the pressures that were needed to alleviate apnea, I want it to say "well, screw that 'min 4', that's too low! I'm raising the min to 8... no, 8.2, yeah, that's got it for most of the night, I'll start at that tomorrow".

The 'for her' already sets a *temporary* minimum for the night if you have two apneas within the space of a minute... but it throws that away every time the machine is turned off and back on again... I want a persistent 'learning' setting.

'course, if that happened, there'd be way fewer people looking for help cuz they have crap treatment, and then what would I do with my extra spare time?

[wardmiller]

Whoa, settle down here guys! I don't buy a new phone every year. I'm just saying, I CAN buy one. I don't want to fill up the landfills either, jeez. I'm just saying that technology is moving fast in all fields and that doesn't seem to apply to this world. Just my opinion. Any model car can get you from point A to Point B but the advances are numerous in this world. Cars practically drives themselves these days. Don't want to offend any ResMed employees or anything, I was just curious if anyone was as frustrated as I was.

When a developer comes up with a new technical product he wants to sell enough of them to cover his development costs -- sometimes many millions of dollars -- and then make a profit and a reserve so he can begin developing the next technical product.

With the size of his market, I suspect a smartphone developer recoups his development costs in just a few days -- maybe a few hours, in Apple's case -- after releasing a new product to the marketplace.

Considering the actual market for CPAP machines, that might take several years.

Technical developers aren't in business to save the world. They are in business to make money for their owners or stock holders. Releasing a new product before the last product has matured defeats that objective.

[D.H.]

What I want (and to a certain extent had in an older machine) is a good built-in battery backup.

I also want altitude adjustment that can "officially" go at least to 15,00 ft.

[raisedfist]

The next machine should be able to replace a sleep lab for any type of titration whether cpap, bi-level, asv or whatever.