ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet Rating and Review

Product: ResMed AirSense 10 Autoset CPAPA

Manufacturer: ResMed, Corp.
Rating: Fair to Good

(c) ResMed, Inc.


For over five years, I used the ResMed S8 CPAP. Back in June 2015, my insurance provided me what is supposed to be ResMed's latest and greatest, the ResMed S10 AutoSense CPAP machine. Per their web site: "The AirSense 10 AutoSet is a premium auto-adjusting device for treating sleep apnea." I don't know what goes through the minds of manufacturers. What I do suspect is they don't test them on real people. 

While it is great at adjusting the air pressure during the course of the night, it has several other features that are less than helpful or just plain annoying.

The hose connection is in the back of the unit using up valuable cord length. The connection is in the middle meaning I do not have enough machine surface to drape the tube over the device as I used to do with the S8. And, you need an extra attachment to connect the hose to the machine. God forbid you lose it because I have not seen it anywhere to purchase a replacement. Finally, if you turn the machine around to get more hose length, then you can't access the CPAP settings. 

(c) ResMed, Inc.

It's hard to press the Start button if you have any "hand" issues. With an overall aging population in the USA and associated arthritis and other repetitive motion disorders, it boggles my mind that manufacturers keep using recessed type buttons and everything is Touch.I miss the soft press buttons on the S8.

Although there are more Patient-accessible settings than with the S8, adjusting them is kludgey. Press, rotate, scroll until you hit bottom. When you want to get back to the top, you have to scroll backwards all the way. It's a long list so it should be round-robin.

Unless you get your tech to change this setting (it's one of a few settings you can't change from the Patient Menu), as soon as you attach the mask, the air starts blowing even if you haven't pressed the On button. Why this is designed this way is unclear. I find it very annoying and had it turned off.


The machine defaults to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi whether you want your private sleep info known to the world or not. If you put it on Airplane mode, it double-checks with you EVERY time you turn the machine on just to be "sure" you want to turn keep it in Airplane mode. This is the only way to disconnect if from the Wi-Fi.

ResMed has set up a separate web section called MyAIr to collect your daily usage data. Note it counts against your perfect sleep score of 100 if you take the mask off more than once a night. And, who doesn't want to score 100? But if you get up a couple times a night, then you do not get a perfect score. This calculation likewise does not take into account that people may use their CPAP for naps and there will be more than one on/off in a sleep period.

It's also noisy as all get go - even with my slight hearing loss, it took several weeks for me to get "used" to it.

For some reason the S10 humidity settings don't do what I need. After a week, my sinuses were very dry but if I raise the humidity level to max (I only had to go 1/3 the way on the S8), it "rains". That's their term, not mine. I told the tech it sounds like a tea kettle whistling but in these days of K-cups, it was clear from her expression she had no idea what a whistling teakettle sounded like.

If I put it at a lower humidity, I do not get enough moisture. After two months of using the S10, I had severe nosebleeds and had to have one of my nostrils cauterized. This procedure was a wicked experience producing over two weeks of Hell! ResMed's solution is to add yet another ritual to my bedtime preparations - put petroleum jelly (AKA Vaseline) in my nose. Yeah, like cleaning the equipment and buying distilled water weren't enough "extra" things to do in my little life.

The S8 filters lasted six months. For the S10, the filters have to be replaced EVERY month. You better have good insurance to afford these planned obsolescences.

The other annoying thing is it's impossible to completely drain the water chamber. This is a good way to build up mold and, again, it's hard to believe they tested this new design on real people.


While S10 has some benefits it is offset by a lot of annoying new items.

Product Review: Maybelline Brow Drama - Keep Your Money

Product: Brow Drama
Colors: Auburn, Blonde, Deep Brown, Soft Brown, Transparent
Manufacturer: Maybelline
Rating: Poor



(c) Maybelline, LLC

One of the things they don't tell you about getting old is women's eyebrows starting going bald. Yes, folks. That's why we slather eyebrow pencil all over what's left of our eyebrows like we are playing a raccoon for Halloween. We also try using mascara to simulate individual hairs. But, that has issues too. It's the other end of the spectrum or unibrow.

When I saw the commercial for Maybelline's new product - Brow Drama - I thought my time had come.Their web site touts it as "Our first Brow-Enhancing Mascara."



It was hard to find in my area at first but I forged ahead and finally found it. It was a couple dollars more than I felt was reasonable but I was desperate to try something to alleviate my daily wipe and swipe eyebrow painting routine.- more like Picasso than Rembrandt. I rushed home and pried open the package and began to apply it.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The only thing "new" was the shape of the brush. However, the shape didn't do much to accurately shape an eyebrow no matter what angle I tried.

I chose Deep Brown and that was a good match, if I could get enough out of the bottle. The amount of liquid dispensed was infinitesimal. I dipped and re-dipped it but all that did was leave clumps on my forehead.

When all is said and done, this was not a very satisfactory product.

Review of Dell Inspiron 15R Laptop with Intel Core i7

Stay away from this Dell product. Don’t buy any Dell extended warranties - worst customer service experience I had in 30 years of computing!
 

Summary:

The hard drive on my five-month old Dell Inspiron 15 R laptop crashed. Dell returned it to me with the wrong operating system, corrupt drivers, and less than half the original applications - missing both Dell and Microsoft royalty software. Instead of Dell taking it back and fixing it on their time, since August 29^th, I spent almost a week’s worth of my time on the phone while Dell staff tried to reinstall and/or repair software and drivers.  Tragically, as of 10/29/12, I still do not have back ALL the functionality I paid for.

Detail:

I spent several months looking for the right hardware/software combination to meet my personal and home-business needs. In March 2012, Costco offered the perfect match in the Dell Inspiron 15R with Windows 7 Professional, Intel Core i7, and Microsoft Office 2010. Although it cost almost $1,000 USD, everything I needed was pre-installed.

The Inspiron 15R worked perfectly until mid-August when the hard drive began to fail. Although it was an inconvenience, I wasn’t worried because the laptop was well within both the Costco and Dell warranty periods. Little did I know then that my Dell Support nightmare was just beginning.

Hurdle 1. The “replacement” hard drive had the wrong operating system! After debating with Dell’s Tier 2 technical support for 20 minutes, I finally got to a supervisor. He strong-armed me into staying on the phone while he installed Windows 7 remotely and applied multi-dozens of related software updates. Three hours later, I went to bed leaving him to finish it up himself.

 Hurdle 2. Before leaving for work the next morning, I tried to create a system recovery CD only to find Dell DataSafe Local Backup was missing.  It only took Dell’s Tier 2 technical support 20 minutes to install this remotely.

 Hurdle 3. As soon as I got home, I booted up the laptop to find the flash screen still suspiciously looked like Home Office. Indeed, it was. Madder than a wet hen, I called Dell’s Tier 2 technical support for the third time. It was ugly. The first tech hung up on me. I hung up on the second tech. The third tech listened to me re-explain my dilemma and after another 15-minute debate, he finally put me through to a supervisor. Again I was strong-armed into staying on the phone for hours while this guy redid what the other guy supposedly did the night before.

Hurdle 4. With Windows 7 Professional finally installed, I tried to do my normal computing only to find the keyboard acted like it had epilepsy. The left lower corner was loose too. I knew it had to be the Dell Depot staff because it was fine before.  A fourth call to Dell’s Tier 2 technical support revealed the Touchpad driver was corrupt. But, of course, he couldn’t tighten the loose keyboard remotely so I had to act the Tim the Toolman Taylor.

Hurdle 5 and counting. As time passes, I keep finding the software that was not re-installed at Dell Depot. Each time I call, Dell Technical Support's solution is to wipe out everything I have on there and start over.  To date, Dell "wiped out" my computer four times. Two weeks ago another tech wanted to wipe it out a fifth time but I refused.  

I argued with them each time to take the whole laptop back and make it right on their time but they would not. Their staff time might be cheap, but mine is not. I keep asking for some compensation for weeks of lost productivity and time I could have spent building my business, but no. They refused.

 

Until this experience I was pro Dell. Now, I will run away from Dell products as fast as I can.