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Would you buy a personal bottle of oxygen that gives you 70-100 breathes of 95% pure O2...? There's a company called TruO2 that just launched a new product line of "personal oxygen products". They claim it can help "Increase Energy", "Increase Memory", "Reduce Stress", and a bunch of other things.

Other important uses include relief and recovery from anything that stresses a healthy person's body, including effects of altitude or altitude sickness, hangover, headache, jet lag and fatigue from travel.

OK, so that hangover bit got my attention but what about the rest of it?

http://www.truo2.com/

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with this company whatsoever.

100 breathes isn't that much. I have several tanks of O2 in my garage as I use it for accelerated decompression on long/deep scuba dives, and have spent hundreds of hours breathing it. I can't really tell whether I feel better if I breathe it on the surface or not, but my girlfriend swears by it when she has a cold. It definitely makes you feel better if you breathe it during underwater decompresion, but that's probably because it greatly improves the efficiency of decompression and thus reduces the risk of subclinical bends (which causes fatigue). If you want to try O2, you don't have to buy a kit from these guys - aviator and/or technical diver grade oxygen is available without a prescription (unlike medical grade, which typically does require one) from gas supply companies for about $0.10/ft3, or from dive shops for maybe $0.20/ft3. Depending on what's available in your area, you can get a scuba regulator cleaned for O2 for about $50 (or buy a medical grade one) and an adaptor to fit to an industrial cylinder (or O2 clean a scuba cylinder) for about the same. A standard 80 ft3 scuba tank will give you several hours of O2, which is to say thousands of breaths. Industrial cylinders come in various sizes, but the standard 300 ft3 one would probably last you all day.

I'm not familiar with aviator or dive tanks, but I'm assuming they are larger than the small O2 bottles this company sells. They seem to be marketing portable bottles for people on the go, like climbers. Therein lies the heart of my question; how beneficial is a small bottle of O2 that holds 70-100 breathes of near-pure oxygen...?

100 breathes is something like 20 minutes if you're at rest, less if you're breathing hard so isn't that much gas. I quickly glanced at the website - it looks like they have both refillable and disposable tank versions. For refillable tanks, at least, the technology is pretty standard since the Federal govt (DOT) regulates them. There are different materials available (aluminum, steel, fiberglass) but a tank of a given material and size is likely to weigh roughly the same regardless of its application. What can vary a lot in size and weight is the regulator, but you can get fairly small ones for medical use.

Seems like a waste of money. At best, it's going to "cure" your altitude sickness for a couple of minutes and then you're right back where you started. While climbing, it would be enough to help you catch your breath quicker a couple of times, but that's about it.

I don't know much about exercise physiology at all, but would 100 breaths do any good in any sports or athletic events?

kheegster wrote:I don't know much about exercise physiology at all, but would 100 breaths do any good in any sports or athletic events?

I would guess...maybe for the 50 yard dash.

FortMental wrote:Don't they sell these things at the high shelters on Mt. Fuji?

Anything for a yen. Here they sell oxygenated water to tourists, which might help if you are a fish. Just 'cuz people sell it doesn't mean it does anything.

The Single Hi Pressure Canister would cost me about € 3O, which is a reasonable price. I actually wouldn't mind trying it if it could help. It says it weighs 1lbs, which is converted to 450grams. If I knew how big this container was, I might consider trying it.

I just looked at the website again and it looks like both types of tanks they sell are disposable, not refillable.

The "high pressure" TruO2 model holds 20 liters of O2 at 2200 psi fill pressure, weighs 1 lb, and costs about $40.

For about $50 you can buy a medical O2 cylinder which is refillable (for maybe $0.50-$5 per fill, depending on your O2 source) that holds much more oxygen but doesn't weigh much more. E.g., a 170 liter tank weighs 2.9 lbs, and a 425 liter tank weighs 5.6 lbs.:

http://www.cpr-savers.com/Industrials/o ... tanks.html

A regulator would add another 1/2 lb and $50, plus maybe an ounce for a hose and facemask:

http://www.cpr-savers.com/Industrials/o ... ators.html

I'm not saying you shouldn't look at the TruO2, just that you could rig up a unit yourself that would weigh and cost a lot less per unit of O2 delivered, and wouldn't immediately wind up in the trash (or on the side of the hill) after use.

JHH60 wrote:... and wouldn't immediately wind up on the side of the hill after use.

+1

For most emergency O2 we give it at 15 LPM, 40 dollars for 2-3 minutes is a rip off. I would just go with medical if I had to do it, but I dont go high enough... yet.

-CS

JHH60 wrote:... and wouldn't immediately wind up on the side of the hill after use.

The TruO2 bottles are recyclable.

Alpinist wrote:

JHH60 wrote:... and wouldn't immediately wind up on the side of the hill after use.

The TruO2 bottles are recyclable.

Uh, yeah, so are the beer bottles and much of the other debris I've seen in the backcountry. The company doesn't exactly give users a strong financial incentive to return the bottles - $1 rebate (out of $40) for returning the high pressure bottles, nothing for the starter size. Compare to Budweiser which has a $0.05-$0.10 rebate for returning an empty on a $1 bottle of beer - how many Bud bottles do you see on the side of the road?