Tips on Purchasing a Stethoscope

Whether you're purchasing a stethoscope for clinical use or for educational applications, you can follow a few simple pointers to help you find the best deal for your needs. If you are a medical student, you may be able to receive discounts by ordering through the supplier used by your school, and will almost definitely save money by ordering online rather than purchasing in your school's supply store.

Before Purchasing

• Before purchasing a stethoscope, one should determine which sort of stethoscope is necessary and within budget. Among the types of stethoscopes are acoustic, electronic, noise reduction, recording and fetal. If you are purchasing a stethoscope for a more specific function, such as monitoring neonatal or cardiac conditions, you will likely need a higher powered or specially sized stethoscope.

Price

• There are many stethoscopes on the market with very wide price ranges, varying as of 2010 from as little as $5 to as much as $300. Generally, more specialized stethoscopes are more expensive. Unless you're looking for a highly specialized or electric stethoscope, however, one can expect to find a quality stethoscope for under $100.

Quality

• "For Us Docs," a consumer magazine for doctors, in July 2008 tested the quality of eight popular acoustic stethoscope brands. Of those brands, Littmann and Omron were clear leaders in quality of build, loudness and clarity.

Size

• An unfortunate pitfall many stethoscope buyers fall into is not paying attention to the length of the tubes or size of the stethoscopes they buy. Measure yourself for a stethoscope before purchasing, and whenever possible, test a model of the variety you are looking to purchase.

Caution

• Many stethoscopes of different brands share the same names; be sure to double-check the name of the manufacturer and brand as well as the specific style of stethoscope before committing to a purchase.