Adscope 603 Clinician Stethoscope, Lavendar, With Tunable AFD Technology, 31 inch Length, 1 Ct

First off, let’s start with the color of this stethoscope my goodness it is so damn beautiful! And just because it’s beautiful and affordable does not mean ADC skipped out on the quality of this stethoscope! The acoustic sounds on this thing are amazing! Literally such a great beautiful quality stethoscope! I couldn’t be any more happier with my purchase! I will definitely be purchasing another ADC stethoscope if I ever need another one.

Love the blue and works just as good as my Littman stethoscope, at half the price.

Muy bueno y de buen calidad.

NOTE: This review of the ADC stethoscope is in direct comparison to the Littmann Classic II S.E.I am a Registered Respiratory Therapist working full time in a critical care unit. I rely on my stethoscope as the most important physical tool I have. In a normal shift, I could use it as many as 200+ times over the course of 12 hours. As such, I was hesitant to risk lesser quality. I started with the famous black Littmann Classic II S.E. right out of school. A word of warning, don't hang it over your car mirror if it's hot and sunny. I did this ONCE a long time ago and it made a permanent bend in the tubing, and it did finally break there after 2 years.After reading the reviews on the ADC, I decided to give it a try.The Good:-it is slightly longer than the Littmann, which I appreciate since I've got a large neck.-the build quality, fit and finish seem excellent, on par with Littmann, though I've only had it a month.The Bad:-earpieces are not QUITE as comfortable as the Littmann. Not UNcomfortable, but LESS comfortable.-it seems slightly HEAVIER than the Littmann. Just slightly. I usually don't notice it.-it seems slightly QUIETER than the Littmann. My hospital gets a lot of elderly and overweight people with COPD. A very large person with bad lungs breathing shalowly is not the easiest person to auscultate. With the Littmann, I could hear EVERYTHING I needed to hear. With the ADC, I do feel like everyone sounds slightly more diminished, and from time to time I wonder if those fine inspiratory crackles associated with CHF, or the wheezes of a COPD/asthmatic could be louder if I had my trusty Littmann. I think in the end I will get used to this stethoscope, but I do have to make a conscious effort to get full contact of the diaphragm on the chest, whereas with the Littmann I could even hear great while listening over monitor leads and multiple layers of clothing. That's about what it's like- listening to someone with a sweatshirt on.Overall I am pretty happy with my purchase and would purchase again. I'm confident enough in my assessment skills that the shear volume level of what I hear is less critical than when I was fresh out of school. You sorta develop an ear for hearing what you need to hear over time, so the sounds don't have to JUMP out at you as much. I am also a little careless, and running to code blues every night dropping it, getting it hung on doorways, drenching it in hand sanitizer, stuffing it in my locker... I don't feel I'm careful enough to justify the cost of another Littmann at this time.EDIT: It is now September 2012 and I wanted to update this review to just say that the thing is still going strong with zero issues. I put my old Litman on the other day, the one with the taped up tubing. Gawd, it felt short. That said, I keep it around my house because I've got 3 kids and a wife with a scary mix of asthma and allergies, and it's loud and clear every time. I still feel the same about the ADC today as I did when I first got it. Glad it's long, but do wish it was a hair lighter and a bit louder.

Good performance at a reasonable price

Since I'm not a medical professional, this is a review from an "amateur" home user.I'm pregnant with our first child, and very cautious about all the techology used during pregnancy. As a result, we are using a midwife, not having a sonogram, and not using a doppler (the battery-operated device typically used to listen to babies heartbeats when they are in-utero). The midwife has been able to detect the baby's heartbeat since 20 weeks pregnant, using a fetoscope (a specialized stethoscope designed for manual detection of baby heartbeat). However, the fetoscope "cord" is very short, and doesn't reach from my belly to my ears. My husband has been able to hear the baby's heartbeat, but not me.I read a book that said by six months pregnant, you could hear baby's heartbeat using a standard stethoscope, so we ordered this one from Amazon. There was a different brand being sold cheaper, but this was the cheapest one that had great reviews. We used it the minute it arrived, and even though we have never used a stethoscope before and have no medical training, the directions were pretty easy to understand. We found the baby's heartbeat in less than a minute, and I heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time! I expect to listen to the heartbeat every few days, since a stethoscope doesn't send any type of "signal" into the uterus, which is what I am trying to avoid. It's really fun to lay quietly and listen to the baby.A few tips for any other amateur users out there who haven't had training on medical use of a stethoscope:The earpiece needs to go into your ears facing a certain direction. If you can't hear anything, flip the earpiece around so the part that was in your right ear instead goes into your left ear, and you should be able to hear.The part that needs to touch your skin is the flat side with the logo on it, not the smaller metal side that has the rubber lip. In the photo of the item, the part that is facing up (the smaller side of the "bell") is how it should look. Apparently the flat side with the logo, that looks like a clear piece of plastic, is called the "diaphragm." That was the part we put against my belly (or against a person's chest) so we could hear.Finally, you will need to lay down on your back (not for long obviously), and be familiar enough with your baby's body inside your belly to figure out where the torso is. Hopefully you have gently pressed around your belly enough to detect where the "feet side" of the body is at any given time, and where the "head/torso" side is. The stethescope needs to be within a few inches of the torso in order to hear the heartbeat. When we put it on the opposite side of my belly, over the feet, we could not hear the heartbeat, just my digestive noises. Once we located the torso (at six months pregnant, shouldn't be too hard to do since it is larger and firmer than anything else, and can be located with gentle pressing), we placed the stethescope over the torso and pressed down slightly. Then it was really easy to hear the heartbeat. It sounds about twice as fast as your own heartbeat, and is so amazing to listen to.As far as the quality of the item, other medical professionals who have reviewed this item are better qualified to answer. We found the earpieces to be tolerable, and the overall feel of the metal and plastic to be medical grade. Nothing felt "cheap" about it, but then again, we have no basis of comparison.We ordered the standard black one. It comes with a little plastic piece to clip on the "y" part where the three cables come together, and the plastic piece has a place to write your name on it so it can be identified. Not a big deal for a home user like us, but helpful for someone in the medical field. It came with two other sizes/shapes of earpieces, which we haven't tried out yet. It also came with one replacement diaphragm.Good luck!

Very cute design, works great, used every day at work.