# How Deep Breath compares

HTML: <https://deepbreath.tech/solutions/compare.html>  
Last reviewed: 2026-08-18

Most teams we talk to already have a Hamilton USB stick, a Better Care quote, a note about Syncron-E, or a Python script someone wrote last year. Those can be the right call. This page is the difference, from the point of view of a research group that needs the files and the labels.

We are describing the research workflow — getting waveforms off the devices, looking at them, and exporting something you can analyse. Bedside decision support is a different product, and ours is not MDR or FDA cleared.

Related: [ICU data collection](https://deepbreath.tech/solutions/icu-data-collection.md) · [PVI analysis](https://deepbreath.tech/solutions/patient-ventilator-interaction-analysis.md) · [FAQ](https://deepbreath.tech/faq.md)

## Hamilton Memory Box

Memory Box stores recordings from Hamilton ventilators. That is useful if the unit is all Hamilton. The files are not a ready CSV — someone still has to decode them — and they do not cover a mixed fleet.

**With Deep Breath:** BreathBox talks to Hamilton and to other manufacturers. You export waveform-level CSV as soon as the recording is done. No decode step.

## Better Care

Better Care is a dedicated asynchrony platform. It does the job, and it is a heavier install: more infrastructure, more cost, and a longer path to first data.

**With Deep Breath:** a BreathBox at the bedside, typically ten minutes to an hour to stand up, and a web-based research application for review and export. Lighter, faster to deploy, and cheaper to get running for a study team.

## Syncron-E

Syncron-E is a clinical aid for one asynchrony — ineffective efforts (failed triggering) — on ventilator waveforms you have already recorded. It has FDA marketing authorization for that narrow use. It is not a research collection stack, and it does not process the rest of the PVI taxonomy.

**With Deep Breath:** the same box that records the waveforms also runs them through analysis for several asynchrony types. Collection and processing sit in one place.

## A custom Python pipeline

A serial dump, a WFDB folder, and a notebook is free in licence cost and infinitely flexible. It is also where studies stall: clock drift, missing samples, mode changes, device-specific quirks.

**With Deep Breath:** the recording path is built around those edge cases. You also get software to visualise, label, and analyse the same data — so the team is not maintaining a parser when they should be reading breaths.

## In short

| If you need… | A common option | Deep Breath |
|---|---|---|
| Waveforms off a Hamilton, as a CSV you can open today | Hamilton Memory Box (decode the files; Hamilton only) | Vendor-independent CSV, no decode step |
| An asynchrony platform without a long install | Better Care (heavier, more expensive) | Lighter box + web research software, faster to deploy |
| Collection and processing, not only one asynchrony label | Syncron-E (ineffective efforts on recordings you already have) | Records the stream and labels several PVI types |
| A stable path instead of maintaining a parser | Custom Python / WFDB pipeline | Handles the edge cases; visualisation and analysis included |

Deep Breath collection and retrospective analysis are a Class I medical device. Real-time clinical decision support is a separate product and is not MDR or FDA cleared.