Airfit F10 Anti Asphyxia valve

[Tigerman67]

I decided to buy a new mask probably 6 months ago, and went with the Airfit F10.  I liked the mask, it was quieter than my Mirage Quattro mask and it gave me better visibility to do some reading before going to sleep than most Full Face Masks.

I thought that the strap system was a little harder to get set up right compared to some others, but I eventually got it set up well enough.  But after awhile I noticed that in the elbow the anti asphyxia valve was acting weird, and it seemed to leak but then you could hear it 'thump' close (like when you first fire up your machine).  Since the exhaust ports are sort of wrapped around the area the elbow plugs into, it was a bit hard to determine what was really going on, but the 'thump' seems fairly conclusive that the valve wasn't working right.

It was almost at the end of my 'free return' period, so I ended up returning the mask while I still could rather than trying to order a replacement elbow. 

But i liked the mask, so I ended up ordering another one again the other day.  
The first day, the mask seemed to work well, only a few times where "Large Leak" showed up, and I was still getting the straps adjusted. 

But on the second night, I was sort of playing with the mask as I was getting into bed.  I noticed that it had made that thumping sound again, and it appeared that I could get it to do it most times by just placing my finger (or anything else) in front of the anti asphyxiation valve.  So I am not sure if during the night if I get it near my pillow and it was causing that problem.   And this second night, I showed a large number of 'Large Leak' and sleepy head warned me to check with my provider about my mask because of the large amount of leaks.  

So I am not sure if its some sort of weird design problem because of how the exhaust ports are around the elbow area, or am I just REALLY unlucky to get two bad valves probably 6 months apart?

Since I have a time before I would have to return this mask again, I ordered a replacement value to see if it would make a difference. 

I tried searching and was getting tons of hits on Airfit, but was having trouble finding much on the F10. 

Was wondering if the group could let me know if this is common problem, or if they had any advise for me while I try to troubleshoot this.
  
Or if this is a lost cause, maybe some other mask suggestions that would be reasonably quiet and make it easier for me to read than my Mirage Quattro. 
I have too much nasal congestion to use a nasal mask or pillows successfully on many days, so I am sort of stuck in some form of full face.

[ardenum]

F10 was my first mask, i put a few holes into the valve's flap with a heated needle, thought I did it so i could better exhale, it was my first cpap experience. It moved gently after this modification.