Dreamstation Go Review

[juaquin]

Wanted to post a review since information was fairly sparse when I was looking at purchasing one. Disclaimer: I've only slept with it for one night, using the Airfit P10 mask. I bought it for travel and my home machine is the Airsense 10.

Noise

So it's not as good as a full size machine, but it's not bad. There are two aspects to the noise - noise from the machine itself, and noise transmitted through the hose/mask. The machine itself makes more noise than the Airsense 10. I would describe it as a quiet "hissing" noise, especially on inhalation when it's working harder. This is probably because of the relatively small blower and intake area. Putting the machine on the floor out of direct "line of sight" helps with this.

The noise transmitted through the hose caught me off guard - the Airsense has almost no noise transmitted. You hear it as if it's coming from the mark itself. The noise isn't unpleasant though, similar to a very quiet fan - I would describe it as a "whooshing" noise. If you're ok with (or enjoy) white noise or fan noise while sleeping you should have no problem with it. There is no "darth vader" noise, though of course the blower is working harder on inhalation than exhalation so it's a bit louder during that phase. I have a Q-tube on order and we'll see how that changes it.

Personally I didn't have any problems falling asleep with it, though it may be more distracting when you are falling asleep after waking very early in the morning (I know I have trouble getting the last one or two hours of sleep). For a travel machine I think the noise is totally acceptable. I wouldn't use it full-time though as I suspect it would disturb the wife compared to the nearly silent Airsense 10. Still way better than snoring though.

12mm hose

This is really interesting. One of the more ungainly aspects of CPAP usage is the hose. By making the hose significantly smaller they've really improved the portability. I've read reviews that the hose is rather fragile, but it does work well with the machine. The machine has settings for which tube size to use, and it does a little "magic" behind the scenes to make the 12mm work. I discovered this when I attached a normal 15mm hose without remembering to change the hose setting on the unit, and observed the machine spiking the flow/pressure on inhalation in anticipation of having the air in the thin tube be inhaled quickly. It works well though - when using the 12mm hose with the 12mm setting nothing felt out of the ordinary. I hope it holds up ok because it's pretty convenient to have such a small portable hose.

Humidification

I used the machine with the HDM Heat/Moisture Exchanger. I live in a place with fairly consistent high-ish humidity (avg 75%) so using it at home isn't a great test, but using the HME I didn't notice any dryness. I typically leave the humidity pretty low on my home machine anyway. We'll see how this works when traveling.

I should note it seems like Philips Respironics was planning on the possibility of a humidifier - the front of the device pops off similarly to the back where the battery connects. The timeline for the humidifier seems uncertain - maybe they abandoned the idea. It would be convenient to throw the humidifier in a checked bag though - worst case if your bag gets lost you go without like you would otherwise, best case you get nice humidification when traveling.

Form Factor

While not quite as small as the RedMed Airmini, it's a good size for travel. You can easily place this in your carry-on rather than bringing a separate bag, and it's much more discrete that way. It should be noted that the unit contains the power supply, so when accounting for the size of the AirMini power supply, it's not much larger overall. It accepts normal hoses without a special connector.

Configuration

The machine has all of the normal adjustable bells and whistles. I don't use exhalation relief (EPR/C-flex/A-Flex/etc) but it supports two modes. It can be set to APAP or CPAP mode. One thing I would appreciate is the option to use A-flex/C-flex during ramp only - currently it is either off or on full-time only. There's auto-start/stop, ramp, reporting, etc. You can access the clinician settings easily to change pressures. The touchscreen is much appreciated for configuring this stuff.

Data

The unit can connect to your phone using their app via bluetooth, which works fine. More importantly, this is the only "travel" unit I know of with data capability via SD card. Loading it into Sleepyhead works great, although Sleepyhead misidentifies it as a RemStar unit. Graphs work fine though. This was probably the biggest factor in choosing the Go for me.

Compatibility

The machine worked great with my Airfit P10. Unlike the Airmini device, you can use any mask you like, right out of the box. This was also a big reason I purchased this machine.


So that's my preliminary review of the unit. I'll update this as I travel and learn more about it. Happy to answer any questions as well.

[LSAT]

There are 18 reviews here... https://www.cpap.com/productpage/philip ... ravel-cpap

[Chilibit]

Do we know if the hose-size-related inhale noise is also related to the pressure settings employed?

[juaquin]

There are 18 reviews here... https://www.cpap.com/productpage/philip ... ravel-cpap

Only a handful are longer than a few sentences. If my review wasn't helpful, you have my apologies. Hopefully someone else can find some use in it.

[juaquin]

Do we know if the hose-size-related inhale noise is also related to the pressure settings employed?

I didn't notice much difference between the 12mm and 15mm hose. I think the noise is mostly related to the size of the blower unit. It does increase with higher pressures but that's true of any machine.

[Stom]

There are 18 reviews here... https://www.cpap.com/productpage/philip ... ravel-cpap

Only CPAP.com customers can leave those reviews. So if the OP bought it somewhere else, they can't leave a review there.

[chunkyfrog]

Since I no longer fly, the Airsense 10 is just fine.
Plenty of room in the car.

[biztraveler]

How does the size compare to a regular DreamStation? From the pictures, it looks roughly similar in size to the DreamStation without the humidifier.

[juaquin]

How does the size compare to a regular DreamStation? From the pictures, it looks roughly similar in size to the DreamStation without the humidifier.

I haven't seen a regular DreamStation in real life, but the specs say:

Go: 5.9 x 5.9 x 2.2

Regular (no humidifier): 7.6 x 6.2 x 3.3

So that's 2x the total volume.

Then there's the power supply - the Go has it internally, the Dreamstation's is another 5.5 x 2.75 x 1.5.

And then weight - the regular is 2.77 pounds with power supply, the Go is 1.86 pounds.

I suppose you could put the regular machine in your carry-on if you really wanted, but it will be a lot more pleasant to travel with the Go in my opinion. If you don't travel often of course it's probably not worth investing in a travel machine, but if you do, I think it's worth it. Plus it makes a good backup machine.

[juaquin]

Quick update - received the Qtube muffler and tried it out with the Go. It did muffle the noise transmitted through the tube, I would say by at least 50%. The sound didn't bother me to begin with, but it is a nice reduction, and with the muffler I think only the most sensitive people would have a problem with the noise.

[Chilibit]

Just for the record, I found this review thoughtfully crafted and helpful.

The CPAPdotCOM reviews suffered in that they provided little or no background or logic.

[AEC]

Thanks for posting the review! I purchased a Dreamstation Go, but haven’t used it much due to the lack of a dedicated humidifier. I’m going to try the HDM units as well as the muffler.

[juaquin]

Following up here - was doing some research on portable power options. It looks like there is only one compatible third-party solution - the Medistrom Pilot 24 with this adapter kit: https://www.thecpapshop.com/cable-kit-f ... mstationgo

Now it's a little inconvenient that they want $50 for an adapter cable because they force you to buy it with a power supply you might not need if you already have a Resmed 24V supply (probably from your main home machine). As far as I can tell you can not buy just the cable alone, at least not from the normal suppliers. Philips Respironics does not sell a 12v to 24 adapter or any sort of DC cable. So what do we do?

I'm a big DIY person so I did some digging, and it looks like the DC power connector on the Go is from the Micro-fit series by Molex: https://www.molex.com/molex/products/fa ... icrofit_30

You can find them at various suppliers. Here's one on eBay (make sure to pick the 8-pin version) that I have on order: https://www.ebay.com/itm/401468862569

I'm not yet sure what the pinout is, but I'll post in this thread if I figure it out. Hope this is helpful for someone.

[Scubadiver Yao]

The machine worked great with my Airfit P10. Unlike the Airmini device, you can use any mask you like, right out of the box. This was also a big reason I purchased this machine.
So that's my preliminary review of the unit. I'll update this as I travel and learn more about it. Happy to answer any questions as well.

Many thanks for posting such a comprehensive review. I'm deciding between getting the Airmini and the Philips-D Go.

Did you find the lack of a humidifier a problem?

Was it troublesome using an external humidifier? And do you have a photo of what sort of external humidifier you are using?

[juaquin]

Did you find the lack of a humidifier a problem?

Was it troublesome using an external humidifier? And do you have a photo of what sort of external humidifier you are using?

I've so far only used it for three nights at home with one of these heat/moisture exchangers: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/heat-m ... hange-unit

It worked fine, though I live in a place that normally has good humidity. I'm curious how effective it will be while traveling to drier places. It's just a small device you put between your mask and your tube so it's not troublesome at all though.

I think the Humid-X system on the AirMini is probably better, but the downside is it means you can only use one of three ResMed mask options, and it seems fairly loud since it replaces the normal diffused exhalation port. I felt the lower noise of the Dreamstation Go was worth giving up some potential humidification, but that's personal preference.

If Philips Respironics ever releases a real humidifier for the Go, I think that will be a real game-changer.