# Buying a new stethoscope help...



## swindlman (Feb 9, 2009)

Alright, so i'm a EMT-B student, about to be up for my NREMT and will be going on to paramedic. I have been having a hard time hearing breath sounds and taking a BP unless it is perfectly quiet, which is rarely the case most of the time. And it doesn't help that i am a little hard of hearing from being young and stupid, playing with loud fireworks and such. 
so i want to invest on a nicer stethoscope than the one i got in my jump kit from the school. I've been looking at the Littmann Classic II S.E and the Littmann Master Classic II, not sure if i want to go to the price range of the Master Cardiology. But what I am not sure about is whether the single sided head or the double sided head is better? Are there any benefits of having one scope over the other? Is it mostly personal preference? Just looking for all the input i can find.
 i wouldn't want to buy one and find out i should have gone the other way. I recently had a ride along with 2 medics and one used a double and the other used a single headed scope, but i didn't think to ask about their preferences. i figure ill talk to my instructors about it, but id like to get any feed back from everyone on the site.


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## marineman (Feb 9, 2009)

A steth is completely personal preference. There is really no reason at this level to go with the super high dollar deluxe scope. The Classic II and Master Classic are both good scopes for our needs in the field. Just remember though any scope that helps you hear better will pick up more background noise when bouncing down the road.


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## TransportJockey (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm a big fan of the Ultrascope. It seems to work better than most I've tried, and the price is pretty reasonable


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