Customer Reviews

Third Generation Dr Mom Slimline Stainless LED Pocket Otoscope now includes True View Full Spectrum LED and Pocket Clip

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a very good otoscope for the price. I am an audiology student and otoscopy is something we do on all patients. I liked the illumination of this otoscope better than most of the $100 otoscopes I've used. When looking in my mother's ear, the view was so crisp and in focus I could see the veins on her eardrum. One thing I don't like is how the speculum attaches to the head of the otoscope. It does not twist on like professional version, you have to push it into the hollow, this took me forever to figure out. You feel like you are breaking it and that the speculum won't fit, but keep pushing it in until it is fully secure.

For parents wanting to use this on their children, I recommend that you ask your pediatrician or medical professional to give you a training session. You can hurt your child and make them afraid of otoscopy...which will make diagnosing and treating their ear infections very difficult for the medical professional. The speculum of the otoscope should never touch/scrape the inner ear canal wall. The inner third of the ear canal (near the eardrum) is composed of bone and is covered with a thin layer of skin. This skin is easily abraded. The ear canal protects itself by having many nerves in this area to alert you to any actions occurring in this region. Scraping the inner ear canal can be very painful. If you are trying to look at the eardrum and you can't see around the a bend in the ear canal, do not use the speculum to press around the bend. This is painful. Instead pull on the pinna (what you call the ear). If it is an older child or an adult, pull the pinna up, if is a younger child pull the ear lobe down. This will straighten out the ear canal as much as it can be straightened to help you view the eardrum. Second, you need to stabilize the hand holding the otoscope. If the child jerks, you could hurt them with the speculum. With the hand that is holding the otoscope, look in the ear while the pinkie finger of that same hand is pressed against the skull. Use your other hand that is not holding the otoscope to pull on the pinna and straighten the ear canal. If for some reason the inner portion of the ear canal is abraded, seek medical attention. Ear canals are dark and moist, a great place for infection to develop.....so always go to the doctor if this happens. Another issue is how you advance the speculum into the ear canal. Don't jam it all the way in and then look. Place the speculum tip in the entrance of the canal, look through the viewer, and then slowly advance the speculum into the ear canal while you are looking through the otoscope until you see the ear drum. Then slowly advance more until the eardrum is in focus as much as you think it can be in focus. The eardrum is extremely thin, we do not want to damage it. When looking at the eardrum, remember that it has blood vessels, and if the child has been screaming bloody murder right before or during the otoscopy then the ear drum could be red just because of the screaming and not because there is infection. Please keep a log of what you see in the ear if anything is abnormal. For those who have scheduled appointments with the ENT, you know it can take a long time to get in. You may catch the fact that your kid is having an episode of ear problems with your otoscope, but it could be resolved before your appointment. It is still important to tell the ENT what you saw and how long it occurred. Recurrent ear problems need to be documented.

On a side note, purchase the insurance with this if you can. I carried mine around in my backpack and the lens popped out and the otoscope has now been thrown away. Also you need to keep the speculum disinfected. Once it has been in the ears of a person treat it like a piece of chewed gum. Place it in a container for used speculum, clean your hands, and don't use the same uncleaned speculum for several people, you wouldn't share your gum, don't share your speculum.

I am very happy with my purchase and would recommend it highly to anyone. I had bought a cheaper version at CVS for $10 but it broke twice and I just gave up on it. I went searching the web and came across this item with a lifetime guarantee and was sold. Once I received it and used it, i was even more impressed. The light is fantastic and I was able to see into my toddlers ears with no problems. If you have small kids that get a lot of ear infections or a lot of wax build up, you need to get this item.

This is a nice otoscope for home use. It comes with 3 different size tips which is nice. It also has a very illuminating LED light. It's tough for me to see into the ear of my 1 yr old because she squirms but this otoscope helps a bit because the viewing area is a good size.

This product arrived promptly and is so much better than I had anticipated. I used to have a big heavy one that was quite expensive and heavy as well. It stopped working; I didn't know where to have it repaired...then looking on the internet I saw this Dr Mom instrument with the lifetime guarantee. We have used it a lot and recommend it highly!

My wife (who is a RN) and I bought this guy to save an occasional trip to the Dr's office. After trying it out for a couple of days, we find that it is an OK product.

However, I feel compelled to write a review, because in our evaluation of this product before we bought it, we kept reading reviews on how this little guy is just the best thing since sliced bread and some people made claims that this unit is just as good as a $200 Welch Allyn otoscope. Hands down, this unit doesn't hold a candle to a Welch Allyn otoscope, and any nurse or doc who claims this unit can serve as a WA replacement unit with equal or greater performance, is out of their mind, IMHO. It's like comparing a black and decker entry level cordless drill to a top of the line Dewalt.

For $25 dollars and occasional use, this unit is perfect, and that is how the product is marketed. If it can give you a little assurance and save you even one trip to the doc, it's paid for itself. And I imagine most purchasers of this unit will use it half a dozen times over the next 10 years. Why go drop $200 to do this if $25 will suffice?

But a Welch Allyn it is not. The unit feels flimsy, I highly doubt it would survive any rough use or even a moderate drop. Image quality is adequate, but inferior to the WA image quality. My wife made this statement immediately after using the scope, and even after I used it, I could see the difference too (and I'm not even a trained professional).

The light intensity is less than a WA, but I'm not sure if that is because this unit uses an LED instead of an incandescent bulb.

Bottom line:
As an occasional-use otoscope for the casual user, this unit should make you very happy. But this unit IS NOT a Welch Allyn replacement, and if you want the performance and quality of a WA, you should bite the bullet and go drop $200 to get one.

Love the Otoscope! Very easy to use. My daughter has special needs and is prone to getting ear infections, since she cannot communicate it is very hard to determine what is going on with her. No more guessing, can now look in her ears and can determine if she has an infection or not. No more waiting for 3-5 days for the doctors office to see her to check her ears.

I bought this since my daughter seems to be prone to ear infections. I find that the light is nice and bright. It's LED-based so that should lead to much longer battery life. It's very solid and comfortable to hold. And the included instruction sheet has some nice pictures of different types of ear drums to help you figure out what you are looking at. (Although, Wikipedia also has some great information to read on the topic.) My only complaint is that the outer edge of the plastic tips can cause some pain when inserted. The edges need to be more rounded to prevent that from happening.

This product is just as described and works well. I'm sure the doctor's office otoscope is better but for a mom who just wants to check to see if an office visit is needed it works perfectly. I practiced on my hubby first and that really helps. The info. included is also very helpful. This is a good product at a good price.

We have three young children and one of them is prone to ear infections. The symptoms are sneaky and running to the doctor every time we suspect an infection just isn't practical. For a few years, we had a cheapo drugstore otoscope. It was cheap to begin with and never worked all that well. However, it did help us diagnose a few ear infections.

The Dr. Mom Otoscope is a HUGE leap forward. It is very bright and very clear. My only regret is that we didn't find this and buy it earlier!

I give this my highest recommendation.

This otoscope is of pretty decent quality. A good product for the low cost. The only thing it could use is a small carrying case to put it all in. I would pay a few dollars more if it included a small bag or carrying case.