Why are portable and home oxygen concentrators compared separately?
Portable and home oxygen concentrators are compared separately because makers test them in different modes: portables on pulse dose at a numbered setting, home units on continuous flow at a rate in liters per minute.
A pulse-dose unit fires a short burst of oxygen as you start to breathe in, then waits. A continuous-flow unit runs its compressor without a break. Inogen's Rove 6 manual warns that its settings may not match those of a device that gives a continuous flow, so a setting 2 and a 3 LPM rate describe different jobs.
The CAIRE Eclipse 5 shows the cost of the switch on one machine. Its US manual prints 40 dBA at the 3.0 pulse dose setting and 48 dBA at 3.0 LPM continuous flow, 8 dB apart.
Because no other maker measured both modes, the five portables are ranked only against each other at setting 2, the home units are compared only at the flow rate their maker named, and the Eclipse 5 stands alone.
Which portable oxygen concentrator is quietest?
Among portables measured to the MDS-Hi label at setting 2, the Drive DeVilbiss iGo2 prints the lowest figure, 37.5 dBA typical, with three rivals within 2.5 dB of it.
These are the five setting 2 figures, each as its maker printed it:
- Drive DeVilbiss iGo2: 37.5 dBA typical (MDS-Hi)
- Inogen One G5: 38 dBA
- Inogen Rove 4: 39 dBA (MDS-Hi)
- Inogen Rove 6: 39 dBA typical (MDS-Hi)
- CAIRE FreeStyle Comfort: 39,93 dB(A), plus or minus 0,42 (test method Nr. 14-1 10/2018 MDS-Hi)
Four of the five cite the same MDS-Hi label, and CAIRE ties it to a named test method. The G5 documents give no method at all. CAIRE is also the only maker to print a tolerance, and its FDA 510(k) summary lists a looser "Max 43.0 dB(A) @ 2" for the same machine.
The dose behind each figure is close. Setting 2 delivers 420 ml a minute on the three Inogen units and the FreeStyle Comfort, and 440 on the iGo2.
A gap of half a decibel to two and a half, between figures that are not all measured the same way, is not one we would buy on. Weight, battery hours and the number of settings separate these five far more than their noise figures do.
OxyGo's US manuals for the FIT+ and NEXT NG print noise lines identical to Inogen's Rove 4 and Rove 6 manuals: 39 dBA at setting 2, with the same maximum sound power and pressure. With nothing new in their figures, they appear under Also considered rather than as picks of their own.
What is the quietest oxygen concentrator for home use?
The CAIRE VisionAire 5 prints the lowest home concentrator figure we found, 39,53 dB(A) at 3 LPM in its US manual, but CAIRE's clinician page lists 45 dB(A) for the same unit.
Three home units print a figure at 3 liters a minute, each measured its own way:
- CAIRE VisionAire 5: 39,53 dB(A), plus or minus 0,41, CAIRE test method Nr. 14-1 10/2018 MDS-Hi
- Inogen Voxi 5: 45 dBA typical, measured 2 m from the device, no standard named
- Drive DeVilbiss 525DS-Q: 46.7 dBA sound pressure, ISO 80601-2-69
A maker's own method, a stated distance with no standard, and an international standard with no distance on the page are three different tests. We list the figures in order and stop there.
CAIRE's Companion 5 prints 50 dB(A) at 2.0 LPM, the only figure at that rate, and its NewLife Intensity, a 10 LPM unit for higher flows, prints 58 dB(A) at 2 to 10 LPM. Neither has a matching figure from another maker.
One VisionAire, two numbers
CAIRE's documents disagree about the VisionAire 5. The US manual and the current cutsheet give 39,53 and 39 dB(A); the clinician page gives 45, the figure on a 2017 CAIRE cutsheet. CAIRE says the 5 liter model was redesigned in 2018, which may explain the older number, but CAIRE does not say so. Ask the provider which build you are getting.
How loud is the DeVilbiss oxygen concentrator?
The DeVilbiss 525DS-Q prints 46.7 dBA at 3 and 5 LPM in Drive's US manual, about 4 dB under the standard 525DS, and the iGo2 portable prints 37.5 dBA at setting 2.
Drive's 5 liter table is the most complete set of home figures we found. Under ISO 80601-2-69, the standard 525DS prints 50.9 dBA at 3 LPM and 50.7 at 5, with sound power of 54.7 and 54.5. The Ultra Quiet 525DS-Q prints 46.7 at both flows and 50.4 sound power at both. Under the older ISO 8359 test, the table gives 48 dBA and 46 dBA.
Sound pressure and sound power are listed in separate rows, and neither is ranked against the other. Drive's newer 555 Compact brochure gives only a ceiling, under 46 dBA, so it is not counted here.
Is continuous flow louder than pulse dose?
Yes, on the one concentrator whose maker measured both modes. CAIRE's US manual for the Eclipse 5 prints 48 dBA at 3.0 LPM continuous flow and 40 dBA at the 3.0 pulse setting.
A pulse unit only has to deliver oxygen while you inhale. A continuous unit keeps up a steady stream, and CAIRE's own battery table for the Eclipse 5 shows the cost: about 1.3 hours at 3.0 LPM continuous on a new pack, against 3 to 5.4 hours across the pulse settings in the same table.
Whether a prescription calls for continuous flow is a clinical decision. If it does, the Eclipse 5 is the only transportable unit here with a continuous-flow figure, and the home units above are the quieter options for the bedside.
Which home oxygen concentrators print only a maximum?
OxyGo's OxyHome, CAIRE's HOMESTYLE Aspen, Drive's 555 Compact and React Health's Phoenix 5L print only a maximum, and a ceiling is not a measured value, so none of them is ranked.
OxyGo's OxyHome manual gives "≤45 dB(A)" with no flow rate. CAIRE's sheet for the 110 V HOMESTYLE Aspen gives less than or equal to 40 dB(A), to the same CAIRE test method as the VisionAire, again with no flow rate. Drive's 555 Compact brochure gives under 46 dBA, and React Health's Phoenix 5L flyer under 49.5 dBA at 3 LPM.
A unit sold as 40 or less could measure 33 or 40, and the paperwork does not say which. The Aspen's ceiling is tempting next to the VisionAire's 39,53, but a promise not to exceed a number cannot be set against a number.
Philips, ResMed and React Health publish no figure we could use for a model on US sale, and GCE's lone figure belongs to a Zen-O lite we could not confirm is still offered to American patients.
Philips Respironics' April 2024 consent decree FAQ says it will resume selling new respiratory care devices in the US only once the decree's requirements are met, so its SimplyGo and EverFlo lines are not counted. ResMed's US site returned page-not-found for the oxygen and Mobi pages we tried.
Invacare's respiratory line now sits with React Health, whose Phoenix Pulse page prints "50.5 @setting 5, 20 BPM" with no unit. GCE's German site lists the Zen-O lite at 37 dBA at setting 2 and 18 breaths a minute, measured 1 m from the front, but the only GCE US document we found is a 2020 brochure, so we could not confirm the model is on US sale.
Inogen's own At Home manual, for a model Inogen now lists among discontinued products, prints no sound figure.
