Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I’ve updated my review as I feel obligated to share my experience with this instrument. I purchased this in 2018 and used it regularly for less than a year. I’m an experienced BSN-RN and am very comfortable with stethoscopes. ACOUSTICS Initially, the acoustics were decent, although not what you would expect from an $80 instrument. Auscultation of lung sounds were okay, but it's difficult to hear much detail on the heart. To be blunt, you really have to dig in there with obese or large breasted patients. TUBING The first issue I noticed with this scope is that the tubing began to become discolored. This occurred almost immediately, within a day or two after I started to use it. It was as if it was stained from my navy blue scrubs. No amount of scrubbing removed the stains; nor did magic erasers, alcohol or nail polish remover. This has never happened with any other stethoscope I've used in the past. (For refernece: I only wore Grey's Anatomy scrubs in Navy Blue at this time.) CHESTPIECE The next issue that occurred was with the chestpiece. This started within the 2nd week. Somehow, the Copper/Rose Gold toned metal began to tarnish. This continued to progress over the months until it developed a full blown patina on the side with the bell. The way it has patinated is not beautiful... It's an ugly brown green mess. Within 6 months, an issue developed that extends beyond the cosmetic..... DIAPHRAGM I would use the diaphragm to listen to heart sounds but this constantly rotates to the side of the bell. My patients, who noticed the delay, started to ask, "Is there something wrong?" Or "Do you hear something strange?" I had to constantly explain that it was my stethoscope snapping into the wrong position, not a physiological anomaly. BINAURALS Past the 6 month mark, the binaurals started to twist so that the correct orientation of the scope is no longer obvious by holding it up and looking at it. CONCLUSION In summary, this stethoscope is cosmetically on beautiful (until you actually start to use it) but OVERALL JUNK. It's definitely not an instrument you want to be relying on when dealing with a code, when every second counts. The instrument is now retired as a decorative item in my home office. I feel that giving it away to another healthcare professional or a patient will be doing them a disservice at best and at worse, putting them at risk. So, unless you're just looking for a stethoscope to use on a photo shoot to gain some Instagram clout, pass this one and go with Littmann.