My F&P SleepStyle+ 2024 Review After One Week of Use

After nearly 11 years, I made the decision last week to replace and upgrade my CPAP machine, so I went online and ordered myself the Fisher & Paykel SleepStyle+ 2024.

One of the best parts of being a CPAP user in Australia is that you don’t need a prescription, so once I made the decision to upgrade, it was just a matter of picking what I wanted, finding somewhere that had it in stock, shopping a bit for the best deal, and then ordering.

Three days later, the new F&P SleepStyle+ turned up at my door and it was time to get started.

Deciding to Replace My Existing Machine

When I started my CPAP therapy about 11 years back, I worked with my sleep technician and sleep doctor to find the right fit of mask and the best machine for me.

We looked at Philips, ResMed and F&P which were essentially the main three brands available here in Australia at the time and I rented and took home the current ResMed model at the time to test along with several different styles of full face masks, some of which I reviewed on this site at the time.

I disliked, and still dislike the ResMed masks and machine footprints, and while I enjoyed the Philips masks, the System ONE 60 machine wasn’t yet available in Australia so I couldn’t test it.

I ended up choosing the F&P Icon+ and the F&P Simplus mask combination.

That combination lasted me for about 8 years before I swapped the Simplus out for the newer F&P Vitara mask, but I kept the Icon+.

The manufacturers recommend that you replace your CPAP machine every 3 to 5 years in line with their warranty. These are medical grade appliances so they need to operate at peak efficiency to be as effective as possible, so that’s a sensible recommendation.

Also, from what I understand, in the US, private health insurers align their plans to this period as well to make it easier for people to replace their machines. Here in Australia, while my private health insurer will cover some of the machine (about a third of the price), I couldn’t be bothered going through the process for a couple hundred dollars and just paid out of pocket.

So, my F&P Icon+ essentially lasted about 11 years which is amazing… and if we’re being honest, I could have just kept on using it. That’s a testament to the quality and engineering of that device and to Fisher & Paykel more broadly.

However, over the last couple of months, I started to notice that I’d get a bit tired later in the day and early evening. I initially chalked it up to needing to lose some weight and improve my fitness but also a new promotion at work was a bit more mentally taxing and had me in back-to-back meetings all day.

My wife then noticed a few weeks back that I was snoring a bit more and that the CPAP machine wasn’t really ramping up like it used to. She said it was the same pressure sound all the time and she wondered if maybe my fatigue was a result of the machine not performing at an optimal level.

Being honest, the machine was well past its use by date – the front illumination lighting stopped working years ago even though the display was fine and I was starting to struggle to find supplies like filters and a new host that I needed to replace about 18 months ago.

I decided to test the pressure a bit two weeks ago to see if the ramping feature was still working – it was, but not great.

I turned the machine on, waited for it to settle in and then I put my hand over the hose and blocked the air flow. Normally, after a few seconds, the machine should sense this as an apnea event and slowly begin ramping up the pressure – it did, but it just responded really slowly and even at maximum pressure, it felt a bit weaker than what I expected it should be and remembered.

I checked my data and my AHI over the previous month had averaged about 2.1 which is well within range and there were no abnormal mask leaks, so I came to the conclusion that the machine’s mechanical systems were starting to break down and it was time to upgrade.

Why Did I Choose The F&P SleepStyle+ 2024?

My research didn’t really take a lot of time when considering what I would replace the Icon+ with.

After the issue a few years back with the Philips CPAP machine recall and the way the company handled it, I simply have no faith in that company. I just flat out refuse to use their products – the new DreamStations look nice, have a good feature set, and the footprint isn’t terrible, but I simply can’t get past the idea that a company used carcinogenic foam in a medical breathing apparatus, knew it was breaking down and didn’t do anything about it. I refuse to give them my money.

I do notionally have a soft spot for ResMed because they’re an Australian company based here in Sydney. They’re also the market leader and their products are technically great (although I understand their “expiratory relief” feature isn’t very good), I just can’t get past the footprint of the AirSense 11. I really dislike that wide machine, it takes up too much space.

I looked briefly at the Lowenstein Prisma20A, which is a new entrant here in Australia. I really liked the pyramid-shaped based unit but the additional water humidifier going off to the side ruins it for me – it’s a less compact version of AirSense 11.

This led me back to the F&P SleepStyle… and I had two choices.

The original SleepStyle which is still widely available and hit the market back in 2017 or the new SleepStyle+ 2024 model which became widely available here in Australia back in July 2024, just three months before I started looking.

Straight up, I love the F&P machine footprint if you haven’t been able to tell. The integrated water reservoir is just a clever design – I hope F&P never change this. Also, when you consider that I rarely use the humidification features (only when I have a cold or flu), having it not take up bedside table space but still having the feature is a big win for me.

The differences between the 2017 and 2024 versions are: 4G wireless modem, the addition of the expiratory relief feature, and some overall internal mechanical refinements. The 2017 is also about AUD$400 (US$270) cheaper.

Let me walk you through my rational as to why I ended up choosing the SleepStyle+ 2024 model despite only minor updates and a 20% higher price.

First of all, the 3G network in Australia was shut down earlier this year, so if I wanted to use the modem feature to sync data, it wouldn’t work. I don’t have a regular sleep care provider so this isn’t a massive issue, but if I was buying a new machine, I may as well get one with functioning capabilities.

Quick Discussion about Expiratory Relief Functionality

Next, expiratory relief was something I was interested in. I’ve read a fair bit about it over the past few years and I thought it would be useful to have and to test out for myself.

If you’re not familiar with expiratory relief, it’s basically a feature where the machine senses that you’re exhaling, instantly lowers the pressure to make it easier to exhale, and then once you’re done puts the pressure back up. The theory is that making it easier to exhale will make CPAP therapy more comfortable for some people and improve adherence.

From what I’d read, Philips has this feature nailed. They lower the pressure at the absolute peak of your inhalation and then as you begin to exhale, they slowly start adjusting the pressure back up so that when you’ve fully exhausted and are ready to begin normal inhalation, your pressure is right back where it should be.

Apparently, ResMed doesn’t ramp the pressure back up until you’ve fully exhausted, so you end up with a lower pressure point when you start to inhale again. This potentially, and some of the early data I’ve seen supports this, suggests that you end up with more uneven pressure and an increase in apneas and hypopneas because the pressure is below the baseline minimum when you start the breathing in process again.

I’m not a medical professional or a CPAP expert, that’s just what I’ve seen and read, but it makes sense and the data that I’ve looked at supports that hypothesis, so I’m inclined to think there’s something to it.

With respect to Expiratory Relief in the SleepStyle+, I tried it and didn’t like it at all.

I think the F&P implementation is closer to the Philips version.

At the top of my exhausting of air, I could “feel” the pressure dip and the resistance to expelling air was noticeably lower. To be honest, in my small sample, I found the reduction in backpressure disconcerting – I’ve been on CPAP for 11 years, so I’m used to it and it’s quite comforting.

As I got closer to finishing my exhale, I could start to sense the pressure ramping back up and more or less by the time I started to breathe in again, the pressure was back to where it needed to be… but not quite.

You can actually see your pressure in real-time displayed on the front LED of the SleepStyle+ and I noticed that by the time I was starting to breathe in again after exhaling, my cmH20 was about 1cm lower than my baseline and then would sharply jump back up when I started taking a breath.

Again, I really didn’t like this because I noticed it causing pressure changes in my head so it felt like I needed to pop my ears periodically.

This is the first time in 11 years of CPAP usage that I’ve ever sat up in bed at like 3am, took off my mask, brought up the clinical menu on the machine and made changes. I just turned that feature off entirely and I can’t see myself ever using it again.

I have perfect CPAP therapy compliance, in 11 years of usage I’ve never missed a single night, so a feature like Expiratory Relief has to really add something for me or it’s just a distraction.

SleepStyle+ Warranty and Improved Mechanical Refinements

The SleepStyle+ 2024 comes with a standard 2-year manufacturer’s warranty with an option of an additional three years for simply registering the warranty online.

Having just used my last machine for 11 years, I think it’s safe to say that I got full use of it, but the reality is, I know that these things are not designed for that length of service, so getting a full 5-year warranty means that I’m largely covered for the normal working life of this new machine.

I also watched an F&P video about the 2024 version of the device and how they’ve largely kept it the same, they’ve also taken the time to refine their manufacturing process and increase the quality of currency of the parts used in the machine.

For me, that’s kind of a big deal. If I’m going to pay AUD$1700 for something as critical as a CPAP machine and expect it to last, I want it to be the most recent version. The SleepStyle 2024+ has the upside of essentially being a refined model rather than a “whole new platform” – again, this really attracted me to it.

If cash was tight and you decided to go for the SleepStyle 2017, I’d understand it – it’s a VERY similar device with a few less refinements and features, but it’s close enough for normal use and is about 20% cheaper.

How is the SleepStyle+ 2024 Working After a Week?

I won’t bother talking about setup or configuration – it’s super easy and there are YouTube videos available that can walk you through it. I will say that the right-angle power plug into the machine is a nice touch and great consideration has been put in by F&P to make the entire user experience exceptional.

Overall, it’s been a great experience, my AHI was averaging about 2.1 for the month before switching and it’s been 1.3 since. In the middle of that, I had a skin infection on my neck (not to provide too much info, but for the sake of transparency) and it made sleeping a bit hard, so I think that’s kind of high.

In fact, this was last night’s numbers, a 0.2 AHI across 8 hours of therapy is pretty good – in fact, when you dive deeper there were no obstructive apneas, no central apneas, and just two hypopneas the entire night. That’s what a solid sleep looks like.

The most important arbiter of performance though is the lovely lady that I sleep next to and she says that since making the switch, she hasn’t really heard me snore at all and has noticed that I’m not tired in the evenings.

That last point has been noticeable to me as well.

I’ve not magically lost 10lbs and work suddenly didn’t become a stress-free walk in the park but I still haven’t been quite as tired despite having a couple of nights where I didn’t get a lot of sleep because of my neck issue.

One thing that we’ve both noticed is that the SleepStyle+ 2024 is ridiculously quieter than the Icon+ that I’ve been using for the last 11 years.

Let me say, that neither my wife nor I ever really found the Icon+ loud and we often both think of it as pleasant white noise. We sleep with our Google Home playing the sounds of a thunderstorm in a forest on low volume and it has always overshadowed the Icon+.

But man, the SleepStyle+ is nearly silent. It was disconcerting for the first ten or fifteen minutes of using it – I couldn’t hear it at all. I could feel the pressure in the mask but couldn’t hear the machine.

My wife says that she can tell when the pressure ramps up in the middle of the night because the exhalation pressure coming from my mask increases, but she can’t hear the SleepStyle+ at all. Her general consensus is that it’s basically like not having a CPAP machine entirely – the machine makes almost zero sound and the breathing sound I make is so light because I’m getting good airflow that she can barely even hear me.

That’s probably the best recommendation a CPAP machine can get, I think – the wearer’s spouse saying how unobtrusive the whole thing is.

A couple of things that I have found are worth discussing.

I don’t like the new hose as much as the old one. It certainly feels sturdier and you can sense that it has been better engineered. The elbow joint that it has where it connects to the machine is a significant upgrade because that was a “wear and tear” spot on the old hose.

But overall, it feels a lot stiffer and I’ve noticed it a few times while sleeping that I’m getting a bit caught up in the hose or it’s not bending enough and I have to sort of move it a bit.

The humidification capability is far superior to the Icon+ in every way.

The water reservoir is much easier to clean because of better accessibility and the fact that it can only slip into the machine one way is a nice usability touch.

With the Icon+ I would only use the humidity feature if I had a cold or flu and was mouth breathing more because I was congested. I found that the humidity would keep my throat moist which was good. I have no basis for saying this besides personal experience, but I’ve always said that using CPAP has cut my recovery time from a cold, flu, and even COVID, down significantly because I’m breathing slightly warm moist air.

With the SleepStyle+, I’ve tried the humidity capabilities a few times and it’s a serious step up. The air moisture is a bit less aggressive and more importantly, it doesn’t feel quite as warm.

That was the one thing that prevented me from using the Icon+ humidifier capability all the time was that it made the air coming into the mask feel warm and on occasion, the build up of humidity in the mask would cause a bit of whistling.

On the SleepStyle+, it’s a bit more gentle and not quite as warm from what I can tell. I used the humidity setting on “3 drops” which is about halfway for the whole first week. Last night I turned it off entirely and the only noticeable thing I found was that the area around my nose and mouth were perfectly dry when I woke up.

Am I Happy With My Purchase of the SleepStyle+ 2024?

Yeah, without question I feel like I’ve made a good purchase.

It was undoubtedly time for a new CPAP machine, I’d likely left this replacement two or three years too long if I’m being honest.

Having said that, the timing of the release of this latest model of the F&P SleepStyle+ really worked to my advantage and I’ve essentially got the latest technology right at the beginning of the release cycle.

In a small sample size of just over a week, I’m less tired and my AHI, which was already low, is about 40% lower yet again which is great. I think we’re getting to the point of diminishing returns when you’re below 2.5, but still, lower is better, so I’ll take it.

Basically, when you put your mask on and plug it in, the machine detects you’re breathing and fires up the pressure and when you remove your mask it waits a few seconds, lowers the pressure to you baseline, and then a few seconds later it shuts off.

Similarly, the integration with the SleepStyle app on my phone and on the web is new for me and it works flawlessly. It’s nice to be able wake up, open the app, check my AHI, and go about my day. The web version has a bit more detail and is good too. Previously, if I wanted detailed reporting I had to take the Icon’s USB to the place where I bought the machine and they could upload the data… considering you don’t need a prescription here in Australia, that whole clinician thing just seemed antiquated.

On a related note, if Fisher & Paykel could now go about integrating the SleepStyle App data with the new Breathing Disturbance features in Apple’s Health App that links to Apple Watch, that would be utterly terrific. Being able to link what my watch thinks is happening with what my CPAP machine knows is going on would be great.

I’m not in the business of recommending things, but I will say that if I had to go back and make the choice again, I’d absolutely pick the SleepStyle+ 2024 again. The Icon+ was an amazing companion and aid for more than a decade, but the SleepStyle+ is just a massive upgrade that it’s hard not to sing its praises.