Third Generation Dr Mom Slimline Stainless LED Pocket Otoscope with Soft White Natural Hue Light Spectrum in Hard Travel Case Includes Lighted Ear Wax curettes

I LOVE this otoscope. What sold me is the lighted ear curettes because I love digging in my husbands/sons ears and finding little nugget treasures. I guess I initially looked for an otoscope as I wanted to be able to look into my baby's ears to check for ear infections. I'm an RN and I agree, if you really wanna be technical about it, sometimes it is somewhat hard to decipher the color of the tympanic membrane and surrounding skin because of the brightness of the light. I wouldn't buy this though if I was using it diagnostically for school or on patients as I'd invest in a higher level type with more capabilities. But for at home use I think it's perfect. And that same bright light is what I love about it and let's me see clearly if there's earwax or not, if the eardrum is perforated, or if the canal is inflamed. It also helps me to see clearly when I'm digging in there with the curette.Please be extremely cautious when doing this on your kids/anyone let alone your babies. It's easy to go in too deep as their ear canals are super short. Luckily my little guy loves when I'm in there, stays super still, and even cries when I stop or take it out! Weird, I know.The case is nice to have everything in there and to have storage for every little part. The inner tray does come out if you don't open it with the correct side up but it's no big deal and the contents don't fall out when that happens anyway. It comes with 3 sizes for the tip and the smallest is perfect for my 16mo old and I've used it on him since he was only a few months. The power button is on the bottom which is nice. Again, if using this professionally for work and on many consecutive pts I can see where it could get annoying but it's not an issue for me.The tips just squeeze into the lens part so there's no screw but I haven't had any issues with it coming out mid-use or even being loose. I use it and interchange the sizes often and still no problem. Some parts of the tip might have some sharp edges initially so I just felt for it with my finger first and filed it with a nail file with just one or two swipes.With plenty of use for almost a year, I've only had to change the batteries once recently. The whole thing is very lightweight and looks very nice and sleek. More than I'd expect for this price.

I purchased the very first one that this company made many years ago when my children were small and we used it until recently when it stopped working, because the light went out. My family absolutely loves this. The size is perfect, it is lightweight and easy to use. It has pictures of what ear infections look like too and different sized attachments. The plastic lined box it comes in is great for storage or keeping in your first aid kit. I teach study groups for homeopathy and recommend this brand as a tool to have on hand when checking children for ear infections. We have yet to try out the currette, which is why I chose this because one of my family members has heavy wax that is hard to remove. Maybe I will update this review once we give the currette a try.

I really like this product for home use, but beware, the LED light could be brighter. It is difficult to get a really clear view of my son's ear drum due to this fact (his canal is long), but I can see it, though not well. However, I bought this as a cleaning aid, not a diagnostic tool. My son, due to allergies, has an excess of wax build up in one of his ear canals. I hated "going blind" in an attempt to remove the excess. The lighted curette is very helpful in removing the hard, encrusted wax before it becomes an obstruction. Please do not attempt this without knowing what you are doing. The magnifying lense is quite helpful on the speculum attachment. An additional nice feature of this product is that it uses regular AAA batteries which we keep in the house at all times. No running to the store to try to find button batteries. I agree with other reviewers, and this is a big con, the case is light weight plastic and could easily break it not careful, but for storage, its fine, with limitations. I would not put it in my checked luggage while traveling nor let my child attempt opening it (which he wanted to do as soon as I used it). Yes, its that fragile. But I am still glad I ordered it with the case for the storage issue only. The product also comes with 3 speculums of different sizes. I believe they are a 2.5, 3 and 4. I purchased additional speculums at the same time (as "add ons) to save on postage and now wish I had waited until I could try the different sizes. Now, for the bottom line. "Is it worth the money?" Due to the limitations of availability of comparable products, "Yes." But, to me, the manufacturer set the price according to professional medical products which are out of range for the home user. Yes, its seems a little expensive to spend this amount of money on a pen light, and a few plastic parts but it does the job for which I purchased it quite well. However, the manufacturer could have put a few more cents into the production of the case and increased the light production. I do not know if the original is brighter or not as this is my first purchase from this manufacturer. I do not recommend buying this product without the curettes. The extra few dollars is well worth it.