F&P Icon - full review

F&P Icon Auto Review.

I've had this machine a couple of weeks now, moving from a Hoffrichter Trend II (which is now my "portable" rig) which I've been using for a year.

Design and appearance:

The Icon is a nice machine to have next to the bed, it really does look like a large alarm clock rather than a piece of medical equipment. The blower and humidifier are integrated into one unit which has a very small footprint on your bedside cabinet Power supply is built in and the lead is not detachable so if you're travelling with it you'll need extensions and adaptors. The humidifier chamber is big and dishwasher safe. Access is through a twist on lid that can be quite stiff to open.

Operation:

Operation is through a twist and press menu system and is pretty easy to get used to if you can use an iPod. If all you need to do is turn it on and off then you never need to access the menus, just press for on, hold for ramp, press again for off. USer menus allow access to the humidifier settings and reports for the last night, 7 nights and 30 nights usage. Intially the rig had a very "chemical plastic" smell which took a few nights to go away, I guess from the hose.

Noise:

This machine is noisier than my Hoffrichter, exacerbated by the slightly resonant hose. Adding a hose cover has quietened it a lot, but it's definitely noisier at the same pressure. It's not obtrusive and I'll report back later as I'm going to put it on a rubber mat to isolate it from the cabinet and see if that helps.

Comfort:

The humidifier has 3 boost settings and 7 heat settings, and is very powerful. F&P have a reputation for the best humidifiers and I've no reason to doubt it. It certainly consumes a lot of water having about 50% more capacity than my old machine. The heated hose delivers warm air which is very pleasant and I've had no "rain out" condensation at all, despite some cold nights. There's no EPR or Flex modes however the machine detects when you awaken or arouse durng the night (sensawake) and lowers the pressure, when you wake up in the morning it's hard to tell it's running.

User info:

Full AHI and pressure reporting is available from the front panel which is great.

Detailed info:

The F&P software is hard to obtain and quite tricky to install but the convenience of being able to take the custom USB stick from the machine to your clinic (or your own PC if you have the software) is great. Reporting from the software is brilliant, showing graphs for the last 14 days for full therapy details and individual days also, and allowing the setting of the machine from the software.

Conclusions:
Great machine, probably about the most expensive on the market but if you like / need humidity and heat it's worth it. Seems popular with the NHS now too so a lot of lucky users out there gettng them. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as it's all things to all people whether they want fixed or auto, and the sensawake makes up for the lack of flex. The heat and humidity is brilliant.