Nine questions to answer before you buy

Oxygen concentrators run from a few hundred dollars to well over a thousand, and the specifications that separate them are not intuitive. Most of the buying mistakes we see are avoidable, and they come from skipping one of the questions below.

Work through these before you compare products. It takes ten minutes and it will save you a return.

1. Have you spoken to a doctor?

This has to be first, because it changes every other answer.

If you are considering supplemental oxygen because of a diagnosed condition, the specification is a clinical decision: concentration, flow rate, how long, how often. That is not something a product page can tell you, and it is not something we can tell you on the phone.

A clinician who has assessed you will give you a number. Buy to that number. If they tell you that you need prescribed oxygen therapy, that is a different category of equipment obtained through a different route, and no wellness device substitutes for it.

If you are looking at these machines for general wellness reasons with no diagnosis involved, you have much more latitude, and probably need to spend much less.

2. What concentration do you actually need?

Room air is about 21% oxygen. Machines on the market cluster into light-enrichment units around 30 to 40% and high-concentration units around 87 to 96%.

The gap between those tiers is the single biggest difference in this category, and it drives the price. Buying a 93% machine when a 33% one would do means spending several hundred dollars unnecessarily. Buying a 33% machine when you needed 93% means the machine is useless to you.

We cover this in detail in what oxygen concentration actually means.

3. Where will it live?

• One room, plugged in. A home unit on casters is fine. Weight barely matters if it never gets lifted.
• Moving around the house. Check that it actually has casters and that the tubing reaches. Long tubing is cheap; carrying a 40 lb machine upstairs is not.
• Leaving the house. Now weight and battery become the deciding specs, and the price goes up accordingly.

People routinely buy portable when they never leave the sofa, and buy home units when they wanted to take it to their daughter's. Picture the actual week.

4. How long will it run at a stretch?

Some machines are rated for continuous 24-hour operation and some are not. If you want it running overnight or for most of the day, check for an explicit duty rating, and ask your doctor separately about whether overnight use is appropriate for you.

If a listing does not state a duty rating, do not assume one.

5. How much noise can you live with?

Concentrators are measured in decibels, and the range on sale runs roughly from the low 40s to the low 50s. That sounds like a narrow band. It is not: the decibel scale is logarithmic, and a 10 dB difference is heard as roughly twice as loud.

For reference, a quiet library sits around 40 dB, a household fridge around 45, and normal conversation around 60.

If the machine will be in a bedroom, noise deserves more weight than most buyers give it.

6. Who answers the phone?

This category is full of listings from sellers with no support presence at all. When a machine fails in month seven, that becomes your problem entirely.

Before buying anywhere, check there is a phone number, and check what the warranty actually covers. Some manufacturers in this category offer no written warranty at all, which does not necessarily mean the seller offers none, but it does mean you should ask who is standing behind it.

7. What does returning it cost?

Read the refund policy before you buy, not after. The things that matter:

• How long is the window?
• Is there a restocking fee, and does it change if you have opened the box?
• Who pays return shipping?
• What happens if it arrives defective or the wrong item shows up?

On a machine of this size and weight, return shipping is not a rounding error. Ours is here, in full, in plain language.

8. What is in the box?

Cannulas, filters, power supply, humidifier bottle, carry bag: these vary between listings for machines that otherwise look identical. A slightly cheaper machine that arrives without a spare filter and one cannula is not cheaper.

9. Are you buying for a person or an animal?

Veterinary concentrators are a distinct category with their own machines and accessories. They are not interchangeable with units built for people, in either direction.

Our veterinary machines are labelled as such throughout, and we would rather you asked than guessed.

If you are still unsure

Call us on 1-786-658-5217, Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm ET, or email longbreeze.support@gmail.com. Tell us the situation and we will tell you honestly which machine fits, including when the answer is one of the cheaper ones, or none of ours.

Long Breeze machines are intended for general wellness and everyday breathing comfort. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, prevent, or relieve any disease or symptom, and they are not a substitute for professional medical care or for oxygen therapy prescribed by your physician. Talk to your doctor before use if you have a medical condition. Statements on this site have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.