Need a new stethoscope...suggestions?

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I'm about to begin my 2nd semester in nursing school and my beloved stethoscope recently broke because of my own fault (i got it free from someone, there wasn't even a brand name on it!) and so I'm in the market for a new one. I don't know if I should get a cheapy or invest and get a better one. I really don't want to spend more than $50 though as I am broke and I fear it'll grow legs at clinical. It looks like the Littman Lightweight and the Littman Select are both around $45 online, are they worth the money? If so which one is better? Any other good ones out there that are not super expensive? Thanks!

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Find somebody who has both of these and see if you can hear out of them. Or go to a store where they let you test run them. What's good for one person isn't for another.

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Thanks for your response. I went to a couple local stores the ones there were packaged and they wouldn't let me open them. I don't know anyone with either; a friend of mine has a littman but not either of those 2. Classes haven't started back up yet so I'm not surrounded by stethoscopes at the moment to test out. And unfortunately i need one ASAP, if I'm going to order online (which I've found seems to be a lot cheaper than the local stores) I need to do it soon.

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Moved to Nursing Stethoscope forum.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I'd spend the extra $30 and get a Littmann Classic II SE. I'm just not a huge fan of plastic stethoscopes.

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Specializes in LTC, M/S, CCU, ER.

I really wanted a Littmann Cardiology III when I got a new scope, but it was out of my price range. I went with an Adscope clone of the Cardiology III for about $70, and it works beautifully. The docs often borrow my scope, and many have commented, "Ah, you have a GOOD one!". One caveat--it's pretty heavy. I can pick up on breath and cardiac sounds that other people can't with their lighter scopes, though.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the tuneable diaphragm. I like a bell and diaphragm scope, but many people have and love the tuneables.

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