ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet Versus AirSense 11 AutoSet

CPAP-Supply.com - the company I founded with my dad way back in 2001 - has been serving the CPAP community for 24 years now, and one of the best things about the job for me personally is the fact that I get to talk to so many people from all over the United States every day. In fact, our callers aren't just from the United States. In any given week we'll get calls from Japan to Italy and from everywhere in between. I talk to quite a few people and it's always a pleasure to hear insights and experiences from our customers. My primary goal is to give you the information you need to make informed purchasing decisions when you're in the market for CPAP equipment. But I'm also always listening. I'm listening to learn from you. It's a two-way street. I know I don't have your specific experience using CPAP equipment, so when you tell me what's going on in your particular situation - whether it's a problem with your CPAP machine, or a tip to get a good seal on your mask, or simply how long your equipment is working for you until you need to replace it - I'm constantly learning from you and people just like you.

When the questions come my direction I'm always happy to help. I've found myself a lot lately spending quite a bit of time on the phone helping people and answering questions for people who didn't even buy their equipment from us originally. I'll ofen hear, "I've learned more from you in ten minutes than I've learned from my doctor and my local supplier in ten years." I'll take that compliment any day! But the cool thing about this is I'm always learning from these people just as much as they're learning from me. I'm able to better understand the CPAP community - their problems, their needs, their feedback - through every interaction I have with a customer. I wouldn't know nearly as much as I do about this subject matter if it weren't for people like you.

One of the questions I get asked most frequently now - literally every day, and usually multiple times per day - is, "What's the difference between the AirSense 10 and the AirSense 11?"

Here's a look at the AirSense 10 that was first released by ResMed in 2014: . And here's the AirSense 11 that was first released by ResMed in 2022: .

I have to say, I love questions like that. There's no troubleshooting involved. There's no difficulty or mystery. It's pretty straighforward. I'll break it down for you, just like I would if I were on the phone.

From a therapeutic and functional perspective the two machines do basically the same thing. They're both automatic CPAP machines designed to adjust the pressure automatically based on how you're breathing. They sense breathing events like apneas, hypopneas and vibratory snoring events and modulate pressure to minimize breathing events and optimize the AHI, or apnea hypopnea index. The AHI is the number of breathing events on average per hour. So, an AHI or 4.7 would suggest the occurrence of 4.7 breathing events per hour. The lower the number, the better, with the ideal number being zero, of course. In this regard, the two machines are virtually the same.

In keeping with the climate control settings of the AirSense 10, the AirSense 11 features both a manual setting and an automatic setting for climate control. Climate control on Air11 is available only when a ClimateLineAir 11 heated tube and an HumidAir 11 water tank are attached to the device. The Climate Control Auto setting is recommended and it sets the tube temperature to 80-degrees Fahrenheit, and adjusts the humidifier heater to produce an 85% humidity level in the mask.

Both of these machines can also be run in fixed pressure CPAP mode, so instead of adjusting the pressure automatically based on your breathing, the machines can blow at a constant pressure throughout the night. Some old-school, experienced users prefer this simply because it's the therapy mode they're already accumstomed to with their older machine and they know it works for them.

The sound pressure specifications are virtually identical, ranging from 25 to 27 dBA depending on tube used and whether a side cover or a half-filled water tank is used with each machine. This means there's no difference in sound outuput, and that both the AirSense 10 and the AirSense 11 are very likely the quietest CPAP machines available on the market today.

App-compatibility is the same for both AirSense 10 and AirSense 11, with the myAir app functioning as an optional sleep and progress tracker (optional meaning you don't have to use the app if you don't want to). There are two types of communications technologies built into both the Air10 and Air11 - Bluetooth and cellular. The Bluetooth allows the CPAP to be connected to the myAir app, while the cellular can be used for transmitting usage and compliance data to ResMed's cloud-based AirView. Neither machine will transmit using cellular to AirView without a dealer setting up and activating the device in AirView. When buying from us, this is based on a customer request to transmit to AirView. If you buy a machine from us and you don't ask us to set you up in AirView, your machine will not be transmitting to AirView.

Incidentally, there was, for a limited time, a version of the AirSense 10 that did not have this wireless functionality. I call it the "COVID version" of the AirSense 10. ResMed officially called it the "Card-to-Cloud" version, meaning that data could be retrieved from the machine using an SD card and then transferred to the cloud-based AirView if needed, but there was no Bluetooth and no cellular. This "COVID version" was made by ResMed due to restraints related to the global supply chain when the entire world was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ResMed couldn't get the parts they needed to build the regular AirSense 10, so they built a simpler version of the AirSense 10 to be able to continue serving the CPAP community. There was never a "COVID version" of the AirSense 11.

The AirSense 11 has an Auto Ramp feature not present on the AirSense 10. When the ramp time is set to Auto the Air11 will detect sleep onset and then gradually increase from the ramp start pressure to the minimum therapy pressure at a rate of 1 cm H2O per minute. If the Air11 does not detect sleep onset, it will reach the target pressure within 30 minutes.

AirSense 10, released in 2014	AirSense 11, released in 2022

Other differences are primarily related to user interface and form factor. The older AirSense 10 has an LCD screen with a dial or knob used for navigating the elements within the screen. To access the clinical mode on the Air10, the home button (located on the bottom front edge) and the control dial must be pressed and held down simultaneously for about five seconds. Once the machine is unlocked the control dial is used to navigate from one setting to another. A press or click of the dial makes a selection, while rotating the dial changes a value once a selection has been made. Using the dial to control on-screen elements as a user interface input is much like using a mouse with a computer. The user interface of the AirSense 11 is a touch screen, so interacting with the Air11 device will be much more like using a modern cell phone, like an Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, or any similar device with a touch screen. To access the clinical mode on Air11, the user must press two fingers against the touch screen and keep them on the touch screen for about three seconds. Once the machine is unlocked, all navigation is done with finger presses and swiping on the touch screen.

Both the AirSense 10 and AirSense 11 are designed to support an optional heated tube. However, the heated tubes are not interchangeable between the two models (a form factor change seemingly without benefit to the end user!) so this is technically a difference. The Air10 utilizes the ClimateLineAir heated tube (currently part 37298, but originally part 37296), while the Air11 utilizes the ClimateLineAir 11 heated tube (part 39102). Likewise, the filter, water tank and optional side cover (that can be used instead of a water tank) have changed due to the new machine design. This means that heated tubes, filters, water tanks, and side covers are not interchangeable between the two models.

The AirSense 11 weighs about 2.5 pounds (40oz), so it's about 9% lighter than the Airsense 10 which weighs about 2.75 pounds (44oz). The overall dimensions of the AirSense 11 are 10.21" (L) x 5.55" (W) x 3.72" (H) compared with 10.04" (L) x 5.91 (W) x 4.57" (H). This means the Air11 is 22% smaller in overall volume with a volume of 210.80 cubic inches versus the Air10 volume of 271.17 cubic inches.

I generally like to close out my conversations about the AirSense 10 and AirSense 11 by reminding people of the fact that ResMed was planning on discontinuing the AirSense 10 a few years ago, but changed course due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We've never seen this long of an overlap between an old and a new CPAP machine model, which leads me to speculate that the AirSense 10 is very likely to be discontinued fairly soon. Once it's discontinued, the stopwatch starts the count until the day comes that ResMed no longer supports the AirSense 10, not only in terms of service at the factory, but also in terms of support and parts availability like filters, heated tubes, water tanks and side covers. It stands to reason that the AirSense 11 will be supported by ResMed longer into the future, and to me, that's one of the most fundamental differences between the two machines.

And, hey, don't forget to call us or email us for our current prices. You'll be glad you did!

Andrew Senske
President
www.cpap-supply.com

CPAP-Supply.com is a leading online retailer of CPAP equipment. Located in Spokane, WA CPAP-Supply.com has been serving thousands of customers around the world since 2001. Founded on a belief that patients are their own best primary care providers, CPAP-Supply.com understands the importance of educating patients and customers on both the effects of and treatment for obstructive sleep apnea. For more information visit CPAP-Supply.com or call toll free 1-888-955-2727.