Ebay and diagnostic equipment

[NMLobo]

Okay, so I gotta buy a otoscope and ophthalmascope for school for class. As an MS1 I'm not sure when I'll use this again or how important it will be later on. My question is that I've seen some cheaper ($) instument sets on Ebay of various brands compared to the Welch Allyn sets. Has anyone purchased any of these and how was the quality. I know "you get what you pay for" but as a med student, I don't want to spend more on something than I have to, which I'm sure most of you can relate to. On these sets, I also have no idea as to what is mandatory settings, parts, specifications, etc. and what is just optional. Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated.

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[psipsina]

I bought the expensive sets from the reps at my school. I figured I'd rather have something I don't need than not have something I do need (in general as well as in reference to quality/specifications). Also the ones you buy from the reps have warranties that go thru medschool, residency and even fellowship. I figured that if it turns out I don't need it in the future, I can sell them on ebay and get alot of my money back on the investment.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

Is there any way you can get by w/o buying a diagnostic set? If not, ebay is full of students who got suckered into buying one selling it for $250 and it be the exact same thing WA is hocking for $600, "used" once or twice and stuck in a closet with the sphygmomanometer. As far as setting the things up, it's really pretty simple. Compare anything you're thinking about buying off ebay with that company's website for missing parts and you should be fine.

 

[emtji]

Is there any way you can get by w/o buying a diagnostic set? If not, ebay is full of students who got suckered into buying one selling it for $250 and it be the exact same thing WA is hocking for $600, "used" once or twice and stuck in a closet with the sphygmomanometer. As far as setting the things up, it's really pretty simple. Compare anything you're thinking about buying off ebay with that company's website for missing parts and you should be fine.

i think this is the way to do it. this is definate type of equipment you use once or twice and never touch again. if you live by the motto of psipsina, get a cheapo used one. the odds of breaking something you use once or twice is pretty slim, so the warranty is pretty meaningless.

 

[DocVirk]

Just a warning, I got an off-brand one from Ebay. I got it for about 100 bucks, but you get what you pay for. The ophthalmoscope is not very good. The otoscope is fine and comes with some neat accessories, but the tips are not replaceable so you have to wash them with alcohol every time you want to use them Basically, there are a lot of drawbacks, at least to the off-brand I bought from Ebay.

A better solution is to get the pocket-size Welch-Allen sets. Several people in my class bought these, and they work very well. They take AA batteries, which makes them easy to replace. The tips for the otoscope are replaceable and common in the hospitals. I think they're 150-200 bucks (don't quote me), but they're probably a much better option than an off-brand set. Good luck.

 

[Dunce]

Sorry, I have to butt in here.

You really do not need an oto/ophthalmoscope. If your school absolutely requires you to get one, then by all means go ahead. My school strongly encouraged us to purchase but never did explicitly require it.

I never dropped money on a set, and I will tell you why. Every exam room you go into will have them hanging on the wall. Every nurses station in the hospital has one. If your hospital or clinic doesn't have scopes available, then it is backwards as hell.
However, if you do venture out into the boonies or some third world country then you may want to invest in your own gear.

The only other argument for purchasing is that if you own your own gear, you might become more skilled at using it at a faster pace. To this I say. . . whatever. Skill with these instruments comes from looking inside hundreds if not thousands of eyes, ears, noses, and throats. It does not come from practicing on your medical student buddies during 1st and 2nd year.

 

[Law2Doc]

You really do not need an oto/ophthalmoscope. If your school absolutely requires you to get one, then by all means go ahead. My school strongly encouraged us to purchase but never did explicitly require it.

Lots of schools "require" you to buy them, and expect you to use them in classroom and standardized patient settings.
Thus there is always a pretty good used equipment market from upperclassmen who plan to use the ones hanging on the wall once they are done with school.

 

[logos]

I tried to get away without buying one. It was find first year, but this year they really put the pressure on us to buy them. Just trying to make you feel like a total ****** if you didnt buy one. So I finally broke down and bought one ....for $90 shipped on ebay. Its not the same quality as the good WA scopes but its probably 90% of the scope for 20% of the price. I've used it maybe three times now and probably won't use it again...buy hey...maybe someday i'll have kids and they will get an ear infection...

I got this one, but actually bought it on ebay:
http://www.prootoscope.com/

One advantage of this one over the WA is that it uses C batteries instead of the rechargable NiCAD. This is nice because most people dont keep theirs charged because we use them so infrequently. In our ophthalmology sessions we would alternate between the prof telling us how to find the next thing and actually looking at each others eyes. While the prof was lecturing about half the class was trying to charge theirs...

 

[stargirl50]

Try Steele Supply (google it)-- I got the Welch Allyn pocket oto/ophthalmoscopes much cheaper than they were selling them at school. I know someone's going to say they have crappy service etc (it's been debated on here before), but I had a problem with my otoscope (light bulb was burned out) and talked to a guy from the company on the phone a couple times, and he couldnt have been nicer/ more helpful.