3M Littman Cardiology III Stethoscope.. Any good?

jmgrn65, RN · Jan 15, 2007

I have one and wouldn't have anything else. I don't know how long my tubing is, but it isn't the short one.

You really don't always need one that expensive unless you will be in cardiac, so that you can hear murmurs and such. But in my opinion any of the littmans are good.

Scrubz · Jan 15, 2007

I just want a good stethoscope. The money isn't that big of a problem. I can just work a little extra to afford it. Even if I won't be working in cardiology it'd be nice to be able to hear sounds that's hard for normal stethoscopes to pick up, just in case no one else has heard it by that point. You know what I mean. Plus I plan on working in ER or ICU at some point, and then move on to CRNA, so I'd like to have a good stethoscope handy. Anyone else reccomend it?

S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN · Jan 15, 2007

I've got one, and I like it......but its not really anything special. The tubing is not overly long, but it sits around my neck alot nicer, than the short tubing. My last cheapie stethoscope had short tubing, and it always bothered me that the earpieces & bell were always so high up when it was around my neck.

I got my Littmann Card III for about 40%-50% off on ebay. Check them out there for a good deal.

DanEMT, ASN, RN · Jan 15, 2007

I love mine! I got one because there was a deal if you bought 2. My wife is a vet and her's was shot so I was shopping for her a came by that deal. I can tell you I do my listening in the back of ambulances and it works great, better than any other I have tried. The tubing is long enough for that so you should be fine. Try allheart.com they have great prices and you can have them put your name right on it if you want.

JaxiaKiley · Jan 15, 2007

Does the name from allheart stay on the tubing well? I like the idea of it being on the tubing instead of the bell, but want to make sure it will last, and it cannot be scraped off.

BeccaznRN, RN · Jan 16, 2007

I love mine! I started out with this stethoscope, so I wasn't really sure how good it was until I tried to use one of the cheapie stethoscopes one day.....I'll take my Cardiology III any day! It was definitely worth the $$$ and I can hear so much better with it.

I'm not sure about the tubing length, but the only disadvantage I can say about the Cardiology III is that it's a bit heavy when wearing it around your neck. Otherwise, a fine investment!

mommy_xo · Jan 16, 2007

just a general note for those who are buying their littman stethoscopes off of ebay or any other unauthorized store-

there are a lot of fakes being sold around. i read a statement from 3m/littmann on their website regarding this issue (i was looking around to buy a cardiology III). please be cautious and don't be fooled by the price! littmann's website lists a ton of stores who are authorized in selling their items and some have good deals.

rehab nurse · Jan 16, 2007

I love my Cardiology III. I also recently bought an ultrascope.

The poster who mentioned weight is right, it's kind of heavy (at least for me) and it bothered my neck. I invested in those clips for the waist, so it wasn't wrapped around my neck. I can definitely hear murmurs and abnormal lung sounds better than the nurses who use the cheap ones. They say they can hear fine, but I can't hear out of the sprague or any of the very cheap ones.

I also like the soft ear tips. Any kind of hard ear tips make my ear bleed. I had that problem in clinicals, my ears started bleeding and my instructor freaked out!!

I also don't like the cheaper Littmans, like the lightweight. I just can't hear as well as I can with the Cardiology III.

Good luck with school!!

Cfitz · Jan 16, 2007

Hi everybody! I've been looking at the Cardiology III's and they look really good, although a bit pricey. I was just going to ask the personal opinions of some of the people that owned this model of stethoscope how good and reliable it was, and if it was worth the money. Right now I'm in peds, soon to be in OB, and next year I'll have a whole year of med-surg and I wanted to go ahead and invest in a good stethoscope. And could you tell me the length of your tubing? I know the shorter the tubbing the shorter the distance the acoustics have to travel from the diaphraghm to the ear peices, but what are the other advantages/disadvantages of having a short/long tube length?
Thanks a lot for any help!!

I had a cheapie stethoscope my first semester for clinical and decided to splurge and bought myself a Littman Master Cardiology for Christmas. It was about $168 on Allheart and WORTH.EVERY.PENNY. I'm amazed at everything I missed first semester. This thing is awesome. I can hear everything now. I'm a 42-year-old with rock-concert-damaged hearing (really!), and this thing works like a charm. I would recommend it highly. Never used anything else besides the cheapie I had last semester and I don't even know what brand it was. My friend gave it to me when she graduated nursing school!

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Jan 17, 2007

I have the Cardiology III and omg it is GREAT! I can hear anything with that sucker. You don't have to worry about the tube length with this, your going to have NO problem hearing what you need too...lol

The bell part converts to a ped 'scope which is very nice to use. The earpieces are nice, I don't find it heavy at all personally.

I have nurses and Dr borrowing mine all the time because they just can't believe how good they can hear with it. I've never had it "run off", most of the nurses and Dr's are so impressed by it that they come back to ask me where I got it.

I plan to work in the ER and wanted to get a really good stethoscopen. When I had my cheap stethoscope sometimes it would get so noisey I couldn't hear crap with it, not even bowel sounds sometimes when it was quite. So now, even if things are really LOUD I can hear whatever I'm listening for.

jenn_rn_nj · Jan 17, 2007

that's the scope that i have, too and i like it with the soft ear tips in place. it is a little heavy, but i don't like the feel of the plastic stuff on my neck regardless so i keep it in my pocket.

i got the longest one and i chose it for 2 reasons: i wanted to spend the money once not several times on cheaper ones only to find i couldn't hear well and then end up spending more cash in the end and also because it could convert to be either sized for peds or adults.

hope you enjoy whichever one you choose to go with. the other one that i see frequently around the hospital is the master cardiology (even more pricey) and also the classic ii which is also nice and about $40 less expensive than the cardio iii and the littman lightweight.