Group Poll :Oxygen

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