Important Note: Battery Capacities

[Jeremy]

Well this was an interesting bit of learning today!

At first glance, the Tracer batteries can seem quite expensive - especially considering you can seemingly get a 12v 22Ah car jump-start power pack from Amazon for around £89.

But here's the thing: Manufacturers rate batteries differently.
The current and power ratings that you see on Amazon for those car jump-start battery packs are based (by convention) on the internal Lithium Polymer voltage of 3.7 volts, not the device output of 12 volts. What this means in practice, is that the Tracer batteries from cpap.co.uk will deliver over three times as much CPAP therapy per charge than a seemingly identically-rated car jump-start battery pack.

So are the Tracer batteries overpriced?
No. Here's the maths of price-per-volt (V) at the time of writing:

Tracer Ultra CPAP Battery:
285(£) / 12(V) = 87.88(£) / 3.7(V) - so, the same price-per-volt as an average 22Ah car jump-starter

Tracer Compact CPAP Battery:
139(£) / 12(V) = 42.86(£) / 3.7(V) - the same price-per-volt as an average 8Ah car jump-starter

So as you can see, those "bargain" jump-starter battery packs now turn out not to be such a good idea after all.
For a third of the price, you just get a third of the CPAP time.

Hope this is helpful.

Jeremy.

[Tom @ Intus]

Hi Jeremy, thank you for sharing this. We (Intus Healthcare) have sold several different battery packs over the years, but frankly none come close to the value and quality that the Tracer ones provide.

They're around half the price of the previous batteries we provided, and notably more affordable than the branded options.

For example, Philips' own battery pack, the "PAP Battery Kit" has a capacity of 90Wh, and costs £395. The Tracer Compact CPAP Battery Pack has a capacity of 96Wh, and is £139.

The ResMed Power Station II is £400 with the same capacity as the Tracer Compact CPAP Battery Pack at £139.

We have the option of selling both of the above options, but we see no benefit to our customers in doing so, when the Tracer Compact CPAP Battery Pack provides the same (if not more) capacity for a third of the price.

Even the Tracer Ultra CPAP Battery Pack is cheaper than both of the branded options at £285, despite having nearly 3x the capacity.

They're undoubtedly the best value option out there currently.