PARAMED Stethoscope - Classic Single Head Cardiology for Medical and Clinical Use by Paramed - Suitable for Nurse Men Women Pediatric Infant - 22 inch

A very good stethoscope, irrespective of cost (though obviously cost is a factor, and is so in this review). Quality components, good build quality, good audio, and with earpiece options. The 3 local U.S. pharmacies near us all sell an unlabeled stethoscope for more than this, and it isn't even half as good. In some cases, not even a fourth as good. You need to spend more than 3x as much to get a better scope, and even then a better one might not really be needed by many people, assuming they have good hearing and know how to properly use the device. We use these in the States, but also when we teach and volunteer abroad and donate them when our task is done there. In some developing countries outside the U.S., medical school students are required to buy a device from the local university med lab or bookstore. Though pricey (think huge price markup), none are as good as this straightforward unit. To date, have not found anything like it anywhere near the price range. We have found all of their products to be good quality and discount priced. I only wish Paramed also made comparable Otoscopes and Opthalmoscopes.

I bought a littman cardiology stethoscope a few months back since I work on a cardiology unit, the sound quality was excellent, but wanted a different color, so I requested a replacement. The replacement was horrible, sound quality was worse than my old littman I used for nursing school. Needless to say, littman stethoscopes have always been inconsistent with their quality, and I have been suffering from that issue since then. This Paramed stethoscope, however, exceeded my expectations for its price. It's lighter than my stethoscope, and the sound quality is so much clearer for a fraction of the price. The earpieces squeeze pretty hard so I wouldn't put these on for prolonged periods of time, but overall this works excellent as a backup stethoscope, and might even start testing this out as my primary stethoscope instead.

My rating comes with the caveat of “for the price.” I bought this scope for a relative to use at home. However, I took it for a test drive several times myself before handing it over. For myself, I have a Littmann Master Cardiology, a Littmann Classic III, and an ADC Adscope Clinician Series 619.Right out of the gate, let’s clear up that this scope is in no way comparable to either Littmann. Acoustics, comfort, noise isolation, range of sounds, or overall quality. Not comparable, not even close. However, you can’t expect it be, and it’s not meant to be. The Classic III is about 4-5 times more expensive, and the Master Cardiology clocks in at about 10x the price. Different intended market and much different intended usage.So how about the ADC 619? Ah, there it gets a bit more interesting. The 619, I believe, was about $10 more. Which is a significant jump given that this is nearly half the cost of this product. But still...it’s only $10. Close enough that it warrants a comparison.The Paramed is aimed at “at home” probably non-medically trained users. Or, at least it should be. The ADC, on the other hand, is aimed at professional users. Certainly it being in their “Clinician” line would suggest so.Which is better you ask? I’d have to answer that with: for what and for whom? Bottom line: If you are someone without a medical background who just wants something at home to manually check your blood pressure, or “hear” your heart, lungs, and gut (or some similar usage - monitoring a pet for GI stasis, listening to baby’s hummingbird heartbeat) then get the Paramed. It’s easy to use, and more than adequate for all of the above (or should be).Are you an EMT, RT, RN, MD/DO, DVM etc.? Or are you entering or in school to be one of the above? Get the ADC 619...as a backup scope. Well, unless you are a student and can’t justify a backup yet.If that answered your question, then you can stop here if you want. If you want to know my reasoning...press on.Between the two, the Paramed is actually the louder scope, with the possible exception of lung sounds. It seems to do particularly well with gut sounds though. For an untrained ear, louder is better. This is especially true if you are a heavier person (the heftier you are, the more difficult it is to hear what’s going on inside you). Louder is better for everyone though right? Sure. BUT, that’s not the only side to acoustics. There’s the issue of clarity as well. And, between the two, the ADC has much better clarity. The Paramed suffers from a lot of diaphragm/tube artifacts. This sample did anyway. If you can get it perfectly still and settled for a bit, they mostly quiet down. Good luck with that using it on someone else in a stressful situation. But relaxed at home? Not as big of a deal. Plus you aren’t trying to make an thorough, in-depth assessment. Just listening to the ole gut and ticker, and hoping you don’t hear anything until that needle on the BP cuff gets down below 130. As for outside noise cancellation...neither are great. The ADC might have a slight advantage.Build quality definitely goes to ADC. I strongly feel the Paramed simply would not stand up to daily use in a clinical setting. Never mind something like the emergency department, or in the back of an ambulance. It should be fine for casual home use - provided you take reasonable care. It does come with the spare diaphragm. So that’s helpful.User comfort. This one is a slam dunk for ADC. Not even close here. If you look at the photos, you’ll notice that the Paramed binaurals are almost perfectly straight until making a fairly sharp turn to the eartips. This means that, unless you have a very skinny face, they are going to press into your cheeks. It’s not painful, but is annoying. Speaking of eartips, I would not want to have the Paramed’s jammed in my ears for any extended period of time (either at once or cumulative daily). They are rather hard and rather small. On first use I had very quick flash of panic that the right one was going to introduce itself to the dark side of my eardrum. It didn’t, and they aren’t painful for brief listens.Ease of use. This is one place the Paramed definitely shines. But it’s a stethoscope, how hard could it be? You’d be surprised if you’ve never used one or never watched someone trying to for the first time. Which side is “on”? It’s a single head; it’s always on. No need to rotate the chest piece - you can’t. Should I use the bell? What’s the bell? It doesn’t have one and you’re better off without it, user at home. How about the tunable diaphragm? How hard should I press? I have to tune my diaphragm? Nope...just...nope. What about the pediatric diaphragm? Again, you don’t need it (and you won’t put your finger through it because you are pressing too hard directly on it *cough* my mom). You’ll be able to hear what you want to on your child. In fact, if you have a toddler of healthy weight, as your first use of the scope, gently place it on their chest...basically anywhere. You’ll hear a heartbeat clearly. Don’t worry, it’s normal for them to run well over 100bpm. Lastly, the sleek, single head design makes slipping it under a BP cuff somewhat more straightforward.Hopefully it hasn’t come across as me dumping on this scope. Remember, I gave it four stars. It’s very serviceable for someone wanting to use this at home for light monitoring tasks, or who are just curious about what it sounds like in there.No, this detailed, at times harsh, review was due to others I’ve seen on here touting this as a good choice for EMTs or RNs etc. COULD it be used by the pros? Yes, I suppose it could. But there are much better choices for pro use for not much more money (clarity, comfort, and durability). Start with the ADC 619 (if you must - you’ll struggle with heavy patients and/or loud environments though) and go up from there.

I dont normally wrote product reviews but this stethescope really blew me away with surprisingly great quality for the price. I've been an RN for 23 years. I've used almost every stethoscope out there at least twice and can honestly say that this one is up there with the more expensive cardiology scopes in terms of amplifying sounds. I only rated it 4 stars for sound quality only because I have a hard time distinguishing heart sounds from the caucoghany of lung and bowel sounds that can be heard at the same time. Throughout my career i have never felt confident assessing heart sounds until I got this scope. It's definitely upped my assessment game. I was so impressed I bought two more for my son and his girlfriend who are new grad nurses working on a cardiology unit. I think my son might prefer this one to the top brand cardiology scope I bought him for graduation. The reviewers that called this a toy must have either gotten the wrong product or they may need to have their hearing checked.