If you are new to the cpap shopping scenario, it’s extremely difficult making up your mind because innumerable models and features are something that you are not familiar with and this makes decision making a tough task.
You will learn a lot of things by experience, but some mistakes are pretty costly and you should avoid them by any means.
Shopping for cpap machines and supplies has become extremely easy these days, thanks to several websites and blogs that provide incredible information about them.
In my opinion, these are a few things that you should be looking for and if you closely follow these guidelines, you will generally have a pleasing shopping experience.
1) Some Facts About Warranty
Most of us probably might look for products that come with a warranty. Generally you can expect 2 years or more under warranty period for most cpap machines. However, there are some products in the market that comes with a shorter warranty and they can go as low as six months.
It goes without saying that this period is not sufficient for a product on which you are spending a significant amount of money. Since a lot of companies provide you a longer warranty, there is nothing wrong in expecting the same from your shop.
What I have noticed about online shops is the fact that the quality of service vary dramatically from store to store. Though a longer warranty is provided by a lot of stores, some of them will take ages to return your cpap device and by then, you would have probably forgot about the machine.
Poor quality of service can be truly frustrating despite the product you are buying. In my experience, its better buying a good product from an established online store that has a proven record of good customer assistance and reasonable prices.
2) Things To Remember While Shopping For Accessories and Supplies
Once I bought a cpap machine and later realized that I also needed a humidifier. I placed a separate order for the humidifier and the product arrived in perfect condition. I was happy about everything until I realized that if I placed an order for machine and humidifier together, I would have saved a significant sum of money.
Most companies have combo pricing packages and in my opinion, these packages are the best! I lost around $80 on this mistake but you can easily avoid this.
3) Masks are Not Always Perfect
A lot of online stores do not have a return policy on cpap masks as long as the product is not defective. This is fine with most experienced users but if you are a first timer, chances are that you are yet to find that perfect mask that can provide optimum comfort and great airflow.
This is why a lot of us have to get our masks replaced initially to find something that’s perfectly suitable for our face. It’s not necessary that you should go through this experience but such occurrences are not rare either. So it’s better practicing caution.
4) Features That You Need On A Cpap Machine
For many first timers, ramp is a feature that they are not familiar with but this feature is essential for most users to get a good night’s sleep. Ramp feature automatically adjusts the pressure of airflow.
Most users are prescribed to high air pressures, but if they directly set this pressure level on their machine, it’s tough to fall asleep. But with a ramp timer, the machine will start pumping in air at lower pressures and eventually boost the pressure level.
Ramp timing can be set up to 45 minutes and this is more than enough for most of us to fall asleep. Similarly, not every machine can record your data, so if data is necessary for your treatment, look for a cpap machine that comes with this facility.
Again, some machines store data and only a physician can access it while others allow its users to access the information stored.
5) How Much You Should Invest?
This is the most important factor of all because you can spend several hundreds of dollars on a cpap machine and accessories, but if you are buying the wrong product, it will be such a regretful decision later.
In my opinion, it’s better buying a less expensive but capable machine rather than going for the most expensive one.
As a first timer, you don’t know what you need and it may take some time to learn about every feature and what are the ones that you desire the most. You can make a larger investment the second time you buy a cpap machine.
There more than enough points to consider when you are buying cpap machines and cpap supplies, but if you follow these five, you are always on the safer side.
