F&P Solo Mask: Thoughts and Tips, Please

[LuminousOne]

Hello,

I'm just about to try my fifth mask in as many months. Hybrids (F40 and Evora) resulted in leakage which was unresolved by various interventions. A subsequent trial of pillows (Brevida and p10) resulted in greater comfort and a reduction of OA's.

I received my Solo mask today and want it to be "the one". I find F&P head gear to be more innovative as well as a better fit than the others even though the Evora, and to some extent the Brevida were too big for my little head.  

Can anyone share any feedback to bring out the best from this mask?

With much appreciation..............

[Tampa Jim]

My wife is thrilled with her F&P Solo, switching from a DreamWear Nasal mask.
I'm still using a DreamWear Pillows mask, since we have tons of stock currently.
However, given the innovative auto-adjusting strap, I'll like switch over as well.

[LuminousOne]

Hi Jim!

Thanks for responding. I used the mask last night and was very pleased. the headgear is like no other I've used and really does adjust to facial contours.
I slept better than I have since starting cpap. the hybrids woke me up constantly with noisy air leaks. The pillows are a blessing. Do you and your wide use mouth tape? 

Sleep well!

[WallyPepper]

Here is my take after using it for the last month.

1. Love the headgear, it is about as unobtrusive as any headgear can be. Like @Tampa Jim said, the innovative strap is the easiest thing to use and stay at the setting you put it on. It can go from way too tight to way to loose and everything in between. You set it once and it is there until you either push or pull on the mask.

2. Hate the vent holes, They are just in a bad spot for me and seem to blow gale force with little to no dispersion. Wished they had done something with a mesh or filter to tone done the exhaust.

3. Do not like the actual pillows, not just the shape. Although, I am not against the shape of the pillows so much as opposed the the construction. I regularly switch between the DreamWear pillow mask, AirFit P30i pillow mask, and the Solo. My order of preference is P30i, DW pillow, then a distant third is the Solo. My reasoning is that to me they are too soft and do not seem to maintain any kind of form with the single layer silicone, that is the main reason I like the P30i pillows. But I do not like the P30i headgear.

My pressure is higher than yours and I do not use EPR, so that might have some bearing on my thoughts. I will continue to use the Solo because it is allowing me to retrain my sleep position from back sleeper to side sleeper. I will be trying the older AirFit P10 to see if that is a closer match to the utility of the Solo. As a result of the size and weight I think the Solo could have been the perfect mask. One more note, I can switch between the Medium and Large pillow sizes with no change to nightly AHI or morning alertness, but the large size fits better, the Solo large size is more of a Medium Large kind of in-between the ResMed's Medium and Large.