Group Poll :Oxygen

Hey Dave,
The 02 vendors at OSH are always on my list of stops, but I've become chided
from their "we're better than brand X" sales pitches, and thus haven't
investigated them seriously.

It looks like most of my reasons for shopping are the same as your original
reasons:
multiple partners, it would be my personal setup, not the group's
occasional use, not many flights up into the double digits, but the plane
can do it and it would be nice to be able to if needed
steel bottle wouldn't bother me as far as weight (at least for this
airplane)

Jim


"Dave Butler" wrote in message
news:1130789820.89978@sj-nntpcache-3...
Yo, Jim,

Jim Burns wrote:
Do you own/rent/borrow a portable oxygen system?
Which brand?

I bought a SkyOx system at OSH this year. I had looked at the AeroMedix
products
which are less expensive, but the guy at the SkyOx booth convinced me it
was
worth the extra money. The materials in the AeroMedix unit were visibly
inferior.

Likes/dislikes regarding the particular brand?

Happy so far, but little experience.

System features?

One outlet. Mine is a steel bottle, I think the Kevlar bottles are lighter
weight.

Size/capacity?

Too small. I got hung up on the idea of not wanting to schlepp any more
equipment than necessary. Since I share my plane with partners, I can't
leave
things in the plane and have to carry them in the car and load and unload
them
every time I fly. I thought a small size would be good because it would be
less
to carry. Actually I think the increment to carry a larger size bottle
would be
minimal and would mean less refilling.

I also thought I would be using it mostly alone, so I got a single outlet
system. So far I've only used it alone, so it hasn't been an issue, but it
occurred to me that it might seem a little selfish to say to my pax "I'm
going
on oxygen now, and sorry, I don't have any to offer you." So I wish I had
gotten
two outlets.

Typical altitude flown when in use?

Actually I've used it only once so far, on the way home from OSH at 11000
and
11500. I'm convinced I arrived home less tired than if I hadn't had it.

I picked that altitude partly because I wanted to go high enough to take
advantage of the ox and try it out. There were nice winds at that
altitude, and
it helped me see better when it came time to cross a line of storms over
Virginia. Otherwise, I would typically fly at 7-8000. I've made flights at
10000+ without oxygen, but it was noticably tiring.

For reference, I'm 62, and in reasonably good shape, a regular runner and
swimmer (except for a recent break to recover from back surgery). Flying a
normally aspirated Mooney.

Comments please.

May be just my lack of experience with it, but I found I need to put the
cannula
in place and get all the tubing routed correctly before takeoff. It's
just too
much fussin' to put it together and fly the plane at the same time.

Good luck! Dave

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 12:49:41 -0600, "Jim Burns"
wrote:

Do you own/rent/borrow a portable oxygen system?
Which brand?
Likes/dislikes regarding the particular brand?
System features?
Size/capacity?
Typical altitude flown when in use?
Comments please.

Thanks!

Jim


I fly a Grumman Traveler with a handful of mods, including a Powerflow
exhaust system. I bought an Aerox system after the Powerflow
installation and use it any time I'm flying above 12,500, which is
more frequent than you might imagine.

A few years back I remember telling someone I was flying from Dallas
to L.A. for a few days. They asked what "pass" I was flying through.
I thought it was a weird question. I said I'd cross the mountains at
16,500 and fly back at 15,500, what pass did I need?

With the conserving cannula on me and my son I did exactly that,
although I didn't watch my altitude for a while and accidentally got
up to 16,800 at one point. This was in the middle of the summer, by
the way, so DA was probably a bit higher. Gotta love the high
compression stc, landing gear cleanup, Sensenic prop STC and that
Powerflow!

I have an aluminum E cylinder, 22 or 24 cu ft., can't recall. It is a
two-person systemm and I get 15 hours of dual use out of that on
average when fully charged, but I plan on about 10-12 to allow for
imprecise metering.

Unless you have a plane that can really haul more than two people and
still make it up over 11,000 I would say save money and get a two
person system. I would also not get anything smaller than 22 cu ft.
Main reason is that it allows you to fill it up cheaply at home or at
the cheapest place on your route, rather than have a system that is
costing $50-$100 to fill every 5-7 hours along your route.

Also, strap on the cannula before takeoff and get EVERYTHING
configured beforehand so all you have to do is start the flow of
oxygen before 11-12k.


Bill Strahan
------------
Find a new reason to fly
www.adventurepilot.com

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How old is your son?

I have a 5 year old and I'm wondering if he'll tolerate the cannula.


"Bill" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 12:49:41 -0600, "Jim Burns"
wrote:

Do you own/rent/borrow a portable oxygen system?
Which brand?
Likes/dislikes regarding the particular brand?
System features?
Size/capacity?
Typical altitude flown when in use?
Comments please.

Thanks!

Jim


I fly a Grumman Traveler with a handful of mods, including a Powerflow
exhaust system. I bought an Aerox system after the Powerflow
installation and use it any time I'm flying above 12,500, which is
more frequent than you might imagine.

A few years back I remember telling someone I was flying from Dallas
to L.A. for a few days. They asked what "pass" I was flying through.
I thought it was a weird question. I said I'd cross the mountains at
16,500 and fly back at 15,500, what pass did I need?

With the conserving cannula on me and my son I did exactly that,
although I didn't watch my altitude for a while and accidentally got
up to 16,800 at one point. This was in the middle of the summer, by
the way, so DA was probably a bit higher. Gotta love the high
compression stc, landing gear cleanup, Sensenic prop STC and that
Powerflow!

I have an aluminum E cylinder, 22 or 24 cu ft., can't recall. It is a
two-person systemm and I get 15 hours of dual use out of that on
average when fully charged, but I plan on about 10-12 to allow for
imprecise metering.

Unless you have a plane that can really haul more than two people and
still make it up over 11,000 I would say save money and get a two
person system. I would also not get anything smaller than 22 cu ft.
Main reason is that it allows you to fill it up cheaply at home or at
the cheapest place on your route, rather than have a system that is
costing $50-$100 to fill every 5-7 hours along your route.

Also, strap on the cannula before takeoff and get EVERYTHING
configured beforehand so all you have to do is start the flow of
oxygen before 11-12k.


Bill Strahan
------------
Find a new reason to fly
www.adventurepilot.com

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Newsgroups
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I bought the Precise Flight system because it appears to have a good,
secure mount for the tank (recommended by Aviation Consumer). Only
used it once so far, but I haven't found an efficient way to route the
cannula tubing around headphones to allow free movement of my head. I
also bought an Aeromedix O2 monitor to keep track of blood saturation
level, and recommend it as a safety tool. The first symptom of hypoxia
is, after all, a sense that all is going well.

Paul kgyy wrote:
I bought the Precise Flight system because it appears to have a good,
secure mount for the tank (recommended by Aviation Consumer). Only
used it once so far, but I haven't found an efficient way to route the
cannula tubing around headphones to allow free movement of my head. I
also bought an Aeromedix O2 monitor to keep track of blood saturation
level, and recommend it as a safety tool. The first symptom of hypoxia
is, after all, a sense that all is going well.

I forgot to mention it, I have a blood oximeter as well. I shopped around and
found one that appears identical to the AeroMedix for less. The newest Aviation
Consumer also has an article recommending a still less expensive one.

Dave

Among glider pilots, the mountain high EDS system is very popular.
http://www.mhoxygen.com/ Not cheap, but worth the money. Many of us just
put it on at the beginning of a flight and forget it.

Stefan

Own. Airox. Its more expensive than SkyOx but allows each person to set
their own amount of O2. Mine is 4 place and about 4ish feet long.

Jim Burns wrote:
Do you own/rent/borrow a portable oxygen system?

I own an Aerox (two places regulator) with a "M" tank
(22 cu feet at 2216 psi) which I use mostly with an
'oxysave' canula;

The reviews I read were saying the aerox regulator
was most reliable -- note that the regulator is what
makes the difference really between brands, tanks
and canula/masks being pretty much the same -- and
I picked the "M" tank because... well, dunno :-)
looked like the best comprise between size and capacity;

I use it if I plan on spending some time above 5000 at
night and 10000 during the day and during long cross
country (much less fatigue at the end);

--Sylvain

Own,
Nelson
Works well, no complaints
Four person, 15/18 CF
Flow is marked as an altitude on the valve.
Michelle

Jim Burns wrote:

Do you own/rent/borrow a portable oxygen system?
Which brand?
Likes/dislikes regarding the particular brand?
System features?
Size/capacity?
Typical altitude flown when in use?
Comments please.

Thanks!

Jim

Jim Burns wrote:
Do you own/rent/borrow a portable oxygen system?

I own a precise flight (nelson) bottle with the scuba-type
(conservers) regulators for the me and Margy and a couple
of the cheaper ball-in-tube flow regulators in the rare
event of passengers.

Likes/dislikes regarding the particular brand?

Comes with a nice bag, unfortunately the strapping they give
you won't mount to the Navion seats (needs the type of seat where
you can fish the strap between the seat bottom and seat back).

The regulators have the nice feature that you can turn up the
oxygen if you decide you need more than the default setting
(set by altitude). The conservers do a good job on extending
the bottle times. Both of these are an improvement over the
Mountain Home system we also looked at which doesn't do as good
of a job on conserving, is essentially a "black box" that you
can't adjust, and requires a battery to boot.


Size/capacity?

22 cubic foot

Typical altitude flown when in use?

Anything approaching 10K or more. Lower at night.

Comments please.