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.