So....hubby went back to work yesterday and last night I did another night with the Solo nasal pillow mask.
Supposedly the Nova Micro is going to arrive today and if it does I will try it tonight.
Final thoughts (at least for now) about the Solo nasal pillow mask.
1...my main complaint is the lack of diffused venting. It's fairly forceful (since we know it annoyed hubby) and if there is anything close to the vented air (like an arm, hand or bed covers) it is going to bounce back on your face.
I grant you....it's probably a fixable problem (if it is a problem for some people) with maybe some hose management system or perhaps an addition of a diffuser (we did that with the original Bleep mask) filter or if someone doesn't have a bed partner it won't be annoying to the bed partner. Just depends on how annoying it might be as to how much effort we might put into trying to better diffuse the vented air
2...It's been a little over 4 hours now and I still have a dent up by my right eye (at the corner) where the V part of the headgear rests. I sleep primarily on my right side so the pressure of the headgear causes dents that aren't quick to go away.
I don't have any sort of padding that would fit this mask (like from Padacheek) but it is probably fixable problem with a little bit of effort.. I wear strap pads if I use the P10 for just this reason...I don't like dents on my face/cheeks.
3...Breathing noise...that Darth Vadar thing... it's not as loud as with some other masks I have tried but it is there.
Playing around with hose position last night was NOT very successful in reducing or eliminating that breathing noise.
I did NOT put a hose cozy on the Solo nasal pillow mask short hose to see if that helped or not. If I was going to work on trying to reduce the Darth Vadar noise then adding a short hose cozy would be my next experiment. I don't know that I want to put any more effort into this mask.....I just don't know if it would help or not, nor do I like the mask well enough to give it a try, given the other issues I have with it.
4...The nostril tenderness...I loosened the fit a bit and I didn't have any tenderness this morning. I do think that the adjustment function with this mask could cause it to "tighten" up a bit if someone tends to bury their nose in their bed pillow. I do this on occasion and I did notice with my first night with the Solo NP mask that I woke up a few times with mask crammed onto my face because of how the pressure on the mask causes it to sort of "tighten" itself a bit more.
I don't know how critical this might be for someone but it's something that might be a problem for some.
The super easy adjusting process can be an advantage as well as it can be a disadvantage.
Overall....it's a nice little mask and it's going to have lovers and haters just like any other mask out there.
I did this experiment (and the others) just for experimenting purposes. I am NOT looking for a replacement for my Eclipse mask. I could use it (I suppose) if I put forth a little more work eliminating or reducing its problem areas (for me anyway) but I have no need or desire to do that extra work.
IMHO it's still better than the N30i or P30i which I tried very briefly but the breathing noise was so bad with those 2 masks that I didn't even try to sleep with either of those 2 masks.
The adjustment function of the Solo mask.....it is super easy to make minute little adjustments but the down side is that ease could also make it too tight. Too tight and it hurts and too tight collapses the pillows and moving air is extremely difficult. Those pillows absolutely just have to inflate fully to work properly.
Now I could return the Solo NP mask fit pack that I have or I can offer it for sale (along with the under the nose cushion model) if someone wants it. Contact me privately if you want to buy the Solo NP mask to try.
If no one wants it I will return it and get credit to my account that I can use for some other experiment.
