There are so many oxygen concentrators on the market today, compared to just about 3 years ago. The common flow that patients use for medical grade oxygen is continuous flow. This type of flow is what all the big home oxygen machines give out, and there are even some portable oxygen machines that give this type of flow out for the patients that need it 24/7. Many patients think that pulse flow only comes from the big old green tanks, that used to be true. Now with the great technology that we have they make portable oxygen concentrators that give this type of flow out! Some units that are on the market today that give this flow are: Respironics Evergo, Inogen One, Inogen One G2, Invacare XPO2, Delphi Evo Central Air, AirSep FreeStyle, and most of the continuous flow portable oxygen units give out pulse as well as continuous.
One great benefit to having a pulse flow concentrator is that they are the lighter type of portable oxygen. The continuous and pulse flow oxygen machines normally run around 18 pounds, because the compressor (motor) in the unit needs to be bigger to push out continuous flow. Whereas a pulse flow concentrator only needs a small compressor to push out the pulse flow, resulting in the great weight! The lightest weight portable oxygen concentrator that is a pulse flow is the AirSep FreeStyle weighing in at only 4.5 lbs! These pulse dose flow machines normally run around 4.5-10 lbs depending on which unit you go with. Price wise they are about the same as the continuous flow units as well, so around ,000 or more, unless you find a company that has a sale on these units. I have found these oxygen concentrators as low as ,500!
The only downfall to pulse flow oxygen concentrators is that they can not be used over night. About 85% of us are mouth breathers during the night. Pulse flow is also known as on demand flow. When you breathe in through your nose that is when it detects when to push the oxygen and you hear that PPPSSSSHHH noise. So if you are breathing through your mouth it will not know when to give the patient oxygen, meaning at night you are not going to receive any oxygen, which is not good at all! Some patients actually do use on demand flow portable oxygen concentrators at night, it just isn't recommend it, I would only do it if your doctor says you are able to.
Pulse flow oxygen machines are great I love them and always will. They are light, and just make traveling so much easier. The battery life is always going to be better on a pulse flow concentrator than a continuous flow since it needs less electricity to run. The Respironics Evergo is the best on battery life giving up to 8 hours of battery life, versus a continuous flow unit like the Sequal Eclipse 3, that gives up to 2 hours on continuous flow. Get a on demand portable oxygen concentrator and get your life back! Start traveling again and seeing things you never thought you would be able to see again. Heck, go visit some family I bet they miss you and want to see you! Go get your oxygen concentrator today and start living again.
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