Littmann Stethoscope is a choice of most doctors. Available in various types and colors, it is a glory on a Physicians neck. Since the stethoscope is very popular and expensive among the medical professionals, there have been lot of issues on duplicates and high-copy Littmann stethoscopes that have been fraudulently sold to the customers. When buying a stethoscope, we always want to confirm its an original one as the seller may not tell you the fact. Profit oriented business often misleads us into a duplicate piece. Could This be One Reason to Own a Good Stethoscope? Why to buy a good stethoscope? HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE A FAKE FROM ORIGINAL LITTMANN? 1. Price- If the stethoscope is under-priced for what it should cost and if you are getting an enormous amount of discount, it’s probably a fake one. A Littmann sethoscope price can be found in the official site and generally costs you around 80-100 dollars, some variants are cheaper and there are expensive variants specially cardio II etc. Try to have an estimate of what it costs before buying. 2.Dealer- Also see where you are buying the stetho. If you are buying on a branded zone probably they are less likely to cheat. They’ll maintain a reputation. But this is not the definite criteria. If you are buying from a Littmann officical distributor, its a confirm original one. 3.The Cover or Box- The cover of original littmann is extremely well finished. There might be a seal. Inside is a good shaped proection for your stethoscope with extra ear pieces and manuals. If anything feels like a bit gross, probably it might not be original. 4. Ear Pieces- Littmann has soft and recoiling ear piece that provide excellent comfort and fit to the ears. It cuts-off the surrounding sounds with better seal. If the ear piece are hard, or firm and friable , its surely a duplicate one. 5. Tubing- The Tubing are one of the most important structure to differentiate a fake one. Fake Littmann has a highly Shiny tubes which are stiffer and liable to breakage incontrast to the original ones whihc have a duller colored tubes which are really flexible and can be bend easily without breaking. 6. The chest piece- The chest piece of original Littmann has a Code written in it which can be entered online in the official website and checked for. Also the Finishing is perfect and the Diaphragm has a pattern with good Logo. Copied stetho usually has a gross logo and plain diaphragm. Since the problem of counterfeit Littmann stethoscopes is growing, 3M has announced on some of their websites that they are adding a security feature to newly produced products. The underside of the box will feature the Littmann logo as a hologram to distinguish it from fake versions of the product. 7. Patency – When two ear pieces are connected and pressed against each other ( the orifice should seal each other), the diaphragm moves with it. This is found in original one but few high-copy steth can pass this test. 8. Performance- If it performs bad, its a duplicate one. Compare it with your friends stethoscopes. Recently , there are high-copy pieces in the market. Differentiating them from original is difficult task. You may just ask the Dealer ” Is this original or copy?” He may give you the true answer. Source
