We have an older respironics one (about 5years old). It has a humidifier and is reasonably quiet I guess. DH needs the humidification as it's a full mask. He can now however snore through it so we need a new assessment. We are looking at upgrading to their newer fully automatic model.
When we bought it 5 years ago I paid $2500 for it, but now the fancier model is about $1600 so has come down in price considerably as the demand has increased.
Respironics have been great with customer service but the cost of parts for it (have needed variously a new set of tubing - DH put it in the bottle steamer to clean it and melted it, a new humidifier tank and now the mask band is fraying) is hefty.
I can't make any specific recommendations regarding brand because all of the ones that I tried on made me claustrophobic. So it is a bit of an ongoing project for me, unfortunately .
My question is whether or not your DH has been professionally fitted with one during a sleep study? It isn't only about the mask - they need to check that it fits properly along the contours of his face, whether a nasal or full-face mask would be more effective and lastly, they need to perform a titration (i.e. they measure the degree of pressure required to combat his degree of sleep apnoea in order to keep his airways open). My understanding is that when you have been assessed, you will be sent away with a prescription outlining a full description of the kind of mask required and what titration setting it should have. Just getting recommendations from other people doesn't mean that it will work for your DH. There are hundreds and hundreds of masks on the market and you really do require someone professional to go through which one is best. You also mention that you have PHI - all of these sleep studies and mask-fittings and assesments should be covered - at least mine were / are with a gap fee of $250.
Sorry if I am off the mark here, but from your questions it just sounds like you haven't been through the process I have described above. I am only pointing it out as the last thing I am sure you want is to buy a mask that doesn't do the job 100% as they are so very expensive.
It is such a distressing ailment and I hope you find a solution for your DH soon. Best of luck.
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