[News] Fisher and Paykel Evora Full

[yankees123]

Thanks Stuart C, will investigate this.

[Crimson Nape]

Great news! (At least for me) I just got my Evora 2 days early. It came with 3 masks (XS, S-M, and L), a sizing guide, and a pound (.45 Kg) of Use and Care Guides, written in 26 different languages. They are also promoting an app for both Apple and Android, named myMask. It appears to be the online version of the Use and Care guide. Not a must-have app.

Give me a night or two, and I will post my opinion.
- Red

[SarcasticDave94]

Interesting. I think it'll turn out to be a good mask from based on the images.

[David Clark]

After having mine for a little bit, I do like it. A few things I think I would like better is if it had the swivel elbow connection like the Vitera and if it had magnetic clips. I might even like it better if the little elbow was on top of the headgear like the Dreamwear. Besides those few things I think I'm liking it better than the Dreamwear. I can wear it with less tension than the Dreamwear and it doesn't leak. More time will tell for sure. Now I just hope it's released in the US before I need a replacement mask cushion.

[yankees123]

So Red what’s your feedback about the Evora full?  Waiting to hear your pros and cons.

[Crimson Nape]

Sorry for the delay.  Reasons listed below will explain my tardiness.  Spoiler alert, I like the new mask!  

Comparing it to an F30, the sealing pressure against the face, particularly at the base of the nose and upper lip, required much less pressure to establish and maintain a seal.  While playing with it sealing abilities, I lowered the nasal portion of the mask down enough to create a leak.  The nasal pillow inflated and resealed against my nose.  I noticed that the headgear sits higher on the back of the head, reducing the effect of increased mask tension when you tilt your head back.   The exhaust holes do require some sleeping adjustments, like reshaping or positioning the pillow and slightly reorienting my head.  It would have been nice if they were in the mask's center.   I noticed that the current hole placement vents the air in a 45 degree downward and 30 degree outward direction.  This would reduce the chances of it blowing in another person's face, if both are sleeping face to face.

I cycle through 3 different types of pillows for sleep, a buckwheat, a CPAP dog-bone shape, and a large memory foam.  I am also a side sleeper, both sides.  In a moment of inspiration, I thought since I use different pillows, my sleep test should be conducted with each pillow. This should form a better analysis.  The dog-bone pillow yielded the easiest adjustment to the mask's exhaust ports. No further problems with this pillow.  Next easiest was the buckwheat pillow.  It required a little creative contouring that took some trial and error initially, but resulted in undisturbed sleep.  The last pillow, the large memory foam, was a little more cantankerous.  I found that to avoid the air noise of the exhaust port hitting the pillow, I had to sleep on the upper side edge of the pillow.  When I turned in my sleep, I would be aroused to reposition the pillow.  With that said, it didn't prevent me from sleeping.

Like David Clark said, it would be nice if the front connection was on a swivel like the Vitera.  However, unlike David, I much prefer the lower strap positive hook closures over the F30's magnets.  I'm sure people with pacemakers will prefer this feature as well.  Masks with overhead connections has always resulted in excessive air noise for me, so if this mask had that, this would have been a nonstarter for me.

As luck would have it, my mask size is exactly between the medium and large sizes on their size chart, included with the mask.  I started with the medium, and it worked flawlessly, except I felt an airflow restriction.  Sleep was still possible, I just felt the restriction while I was awake.  I moved up to the large size and this eliminated this feeling.  This reminded me of the "size-up" rule for the P10.

Now, for the reason for my tardiness.  The first thing that occurred after the first night was significant dry mouth.  For me, this is a sign of over pressure.  In combination of weight loss and the new mask, I found that I needed to reduce my pressure.  After several nights, I arrived at a 3 cm reduction.  I went from 13/18 down to 10/15 and no dry mouth.  I couldn't find any concernable difference in any of my graphs between the before and after pressures.  In fact, my Flow Rate waveform maintained the same nice structure at the lower pressure as well.  I attribute some of this pressure reduction to the mask.

The bottom line for me is, this mask is a keeper!
- Red

[yankees123]

Great to hear that it has worked so well for you Red.  It is a good mask, but like you said they definitely could have placed the vents in another area of the mask.  I will use it to switch occasionally out of my nasal mask.  Nice not to have to tape your mouth.  How did you realize that it was the pressure causing you to have a dry mouth?

[SarcasticDave94]

Good to hear the info on this mask is positive. Once I'm on machine therapy again, I'll ask for this one. Both actions will probably be months away anyway. Meanwhile, waiting on my doc means just keep holding my breath for now.

Signed,
Little boy blue

[Crimson Nape]

Dry mouth was an overpressure indicator that I picked up on early in my treatment. Especially when you did nothing more than to change masks. A disclaimer; I was starting to have some dry mouth lately with my FFM, so this wasn't a complete all-of-a-sudden thing. It just magnified greatly after the mask change. I've observed each person seems to have a certain pressure level where dry mouth or aerophagia will occur. This threshold, or pressure tolerance, can increase the longer you're on therapy.
- Red

[yankees123]

Got it Red, also see you are on “s” mode and not vauto.  Whatever works !