Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Stethoscope Review
Hey hey, what's up guys?
Here we are again on a mission to find the best stethoscope in the market and the best value for money when choosing one. It’s me again. Nurse Jenny from Nurse Jenny Reviews, where I give you my honest opinion so that you can make an informed choice.
For our blog today, I'm going to give you my detailed, personal review of the Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Black Stethoscope. This stethoscope is a cardiology stethoscope and I do have other reviews for this category so also check out my Littmann Cardiology IV Stethoscope Review or the MDF Classic Cardiology Review.
Now, the Welch Allyn is a brand that I wasn't too aware of until I actually started researching stethoscopes and it keeps popping up, so I thought I would give it a go and try it out.
As usual, I'm going to be reviewing 10 aspects and I'm going to give it a score out of five in each aspect. By the end, I will have a score out of 50.
1. Acoustics
This Welch Allyn stethoscope a cardiology stethoscope and it has got dual-lumen in the tubing which makes for great sound quality. It boasts clear and loud acoustics and for that I would say that this is on par with the Littmann Cardiology IV so I've given it a 5/5 Stars.
2. Ear Tip Comfort
Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Black Stethoscope comes with only one set of ear tips that are already attached on the stethoscope and are size small ear tips. When I tried to use the stethoscope, I found that these ear tips were burrowing into my ears and they were quite painful after a while. I felt like they were just going into my brain and it hurts to use the stethoscope for a long period of time.
They're quite small and you don't get any extra medium or large to set yourself up for what fits you so, for that reason, I've given it a 1/5 Stars.
3. Weight
This stethoscope weights 206 g which is roughly 2.7 oz and, for me personally, that is too heavy, I couldn't wear this stethoscope around my neck all day. I would feel it there and it would get quite uncomfortable. But if you're a person who keeps your stethoscope in your pocket, keep it on your desk or if you have a stylish stethoscope case like this, this might work really well for you but, for me, I have given it a 2/5 Stars.
4. Price
The price of Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Black Stethoscope is 150 USD, and for me, the value for money just isn't quite there. There are a few things that I'm not happy with, which I will discuss down below, so I've given that a 2.5/5 Stars.
Before I continue, you might wonder
“JUST HOW MANY STETHOSCOPES DO YOU HAVE AT HOME NURSE JENNY??”
Well, I have bought a lot of stethoscopes for all my Stethoscope Reviews but they are not at home collecting dust. I do run monthly giveaways, so if you're interested and would like to join, check out my website for the free monthly giveaways.
Let's continue!
5. Tubing Length
The length of this stethoscope is 71 cm which is about 28 inches long and for me, it is a nice length. I'm not crouching my back too much, It’s not dangling on the patient when I use it and it's not too long so that it's flapping around my neck .
For that I've given it a 4/5 Stars.
6. Tubing Feel
Now, the tubing feel is quite nice around my neck. It is smooth and soft and not too sticky. It glides easily around my neck and my hairs don't get caught on it. The only thing I observed with it is that the tubing is too flimsy. Compared to the solid weight of the binaurals and the chest piece, it just has this spaghetti sort of feel. It just becomes like this flimsy ragdoll and it doesn't give a good feel, personally.
I've given it a 3/5 Stars.
7. Stethoscope Design
Let's talk a little bit about the chest piece. To start with, the chest piece is quite heavy and solid. The stem is thicker than other stethoscopes that I've tried. The large-diaphragm screws off and screws on, the same goes with the bell and the chest piece is turnable.
Next is the diaphragm. The Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Stethoscope has what they call a corrugated diaphragm and I actually had to go the Welch Allyn website to look up why one would need a corrugated diaphragm as opposed to a flat one. Now, they say that the corrugated diaphragm is better for detecting lower-frequency sounds and the flat is better for detecting high-frequency sounds. I'm not a cardiac nurse. I don't listen to heart sounds all day every day so for me, it doesn't actually make a difference.
Moving on to the binaurals. Now, usually with the binaurals you can adjust the tension yourself according to your head width. I found out though, that with this stethoscope, when you push the earpieces together to compress them and then put them on, once you remove the stethoscope, the shape will stay the same as when it was attached to your head. There's no tension and it doesn't spring back to the original position which usually helps in making a good seal in your ear canal. So that is a little bit of a negative for me.
The stethoscope also has rotatable binaurals. So these binaurals can actually rotate the whole way around. That is so that you can adjust the exact angle of the binaurals to fit your ear canals. Now, I've never had any problems with other stethoscopes not having rotatable binaurals, but I guess, if you have a funny-angled ear canal, it'd be great for you. I am neutral about it.
The ear-tips are a screw on and screw off and you can easily lose them and they are hard and way too small for my ears.
For all the reasons stated above, I’ve given it a 2.5/5 Stars.
8. Spare Kit
For the Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Stethoscope spare kit, you will get an extra flat diaphragm, so if you wish to exchange the corrugated diaphragm to a flat one, you can do so. You will also get a pediatric side that you can exchange the adult side for. You also get an extra non-chill rim if you lose the one attached to the stethoscope, which is nice since the non-chill rim also screws on and off and they can usually fall off.
Also included in the spare kit is a Harvey Heart Sound sampler. This is a CD that has 25 tracks of a man talking about heart sounds and what normal and abnormal heart sounds like. We had to actually dig out our old DVD player to be able to play this. We didn't think we had anything to play it in but the old DVD player came to the rescue and we had a listen and it sounds like it's an old recording. I think that Welch Allyn could update this, maybe to something visual because most of the nurses I know are visual learners and a video might be a bit more helpful. But including this in the spare kit is thoughtful and I appreciate that and some people might find it useful.
Other things the spare kit includes a little name tag that you can put on your stethoscope and the user manual. However, you don't get an extra set of ear tips in any sizes at all, and you only get the ones that are on the stethoscope.
For the spare kit, I give it a 3/5 Stars.
9. Warranty
You'll get a five-year warranty with Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Black Stethoscope and I've given it 4/5 stars.
10. Buying Experience
I received this stethoscope in this box and it's got a picture of a stethoscope on the front but it's actually not the stethoscope that I bought. So all Welch Allyn boxes have got the same picture on it which personally, I don’t quite like. I would like to have the stethoscope that I'm buying to be what is printed on its box if you're gonna have it displayed at all.
When you receive it and open it up it has a transparent plastic case inside where everything is laid out. It's very flimsy, it's not rigid at all.
Now, the buying experience does not impact the functionality of the stethoscope at all but for the purpose of a full review, I do like to include it so you’d also know what to expect when you receive yours.
I've given it a 2/5 Stars.
Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Black Stethoscope
Overall Score: 29/50 Stars!
To recap:
-
Acoustics: 5/5 Stars
-
Ear Tip Comfort: 1/5 Stars
-
Weight: 2/5 Stars
-
Price: 2.5/5 Stars
-
Tubing Length: 4/5 Stars
-
Tubing Feel: 3/5 Stars
-
Stethoscope Design: 2.5/5 Stars
-
Spare Kit: 3/5 Stars
-
Warranty: 4/5 Stars
-
Buying Experience: 2/5 Stars
So overall, the Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Black Stethoscope has received a score of 29 out of 50 stars from me. It has got really good acoustics, I can't take that away from it. It's almost as good as the Littmann Cardiology IV even just as good actually.
The tubing feel is quite nice, it's soft and it's not very sticky. It's nice on my neck however, the stethoscope tubing is very thin and flimsy compared to the binaurals and the weight of the chest piece.
The chest piece is quite heavy and it's got the screw-on and off feature of the diaphragm. I personally think that it's not good because I've had it fall off when I use it at work. Spring tension, or the lack of tension, is a negative characteristic for me and the ear tips, as I've mentioned, are too small and hurt my ears.
So who would this stethoscope be good for? Now, if you're in the market for a cardiology stethoscope and you are willing to pay good money for a good stethoscope, I would recommend that you get a cardiology stethoscope such as the Littmann Cardiology IV and pay a little bit more than you would for this stethoscope because then you will get more value for money. If you're a student-nurse or your first year out in nursing, I wouldn't recommend this stethoscope for you. You could get a cheaper stethoscope with better ear tip comfort and almost just as good acoustics.
You might also be interested in these posts:
Welch Allyn Harvey DLX Cardiology Stethoscope Unboxing
Welch Allyn Professional Adult Stethoscope Unboxing
Well there you go guys! That is my detailed review of the Welch Allyn Harvey Elite Black Stethoscope and I hope you got an idea about it before finally deciding which stethoscope to buy.
If you have any questions or if you have requests on which stethoscope to review next, drop them in the comment box below. And if you want to join the Nursing talk with all the other nurses, join my Nurse Jenny Facebook Group and I will see you there. I love hearing from you guys!
See you on my next review and remember, listen with your heart.
Nurse Jenny
Jenny, RN is a Registered Nurse working in Sydney Australia. She received her degree in 2013 in Sydney as an international student from Sweden and graduated with a Distinction. She has a passion for Nursing and helping other Nurses and student Nurses in the field, looking at life from the positive side and always giving back where possible. She is the Founder of Bjorn Hall Stethoscopes, a company she created when she saw a need for more personality in the workplace.
Nurse Jenny, your review is quite comprehensive, but your system is fundamentally flawed. This is one of the finest scopes available at any price, but using your methodology, a $9 “nursing stethoscope” from China can score significantly higher than this. Some of your criteria should be weighed heavier than others to make this work (Design and Acoustics should weigh heavier than Buying Experience). It’s obvious that for your needs, the size, weight, and expense of a cardiology-grade stethoscope is not for you, but that should not penalize the review so heavily- that is not being objective. For a nurse (or any health care worker) wanting this type of instrument, it is a fine choice.
A couple of comments…
Ear tip comfort: My kit and most of them come with multiple ear tip sizes; not sure why yours did not. The ability to control the angle of binaurals as well as the tension make this the most comfortable steth. I have used.
Weight: For somebody wanting a cardiology-grade scope this is what they weigh. There are some that are significantly heavier. The weight [density] of the chestpiece is necessary for the sound. You would have to compare it to similar scopes to come up with a score.
Price: It is available for less than you paid. I paid $132 if I recall about 10 years ago, though that company is now charging about $145. Again, someone looking for a cardiology scope will pay this. The Littman Cardiology scopes are going for $175- $200+, and WA makes a better scope in my opinion; so this is a good price.
Tubing length: Is entirely personal preference. I prefer 25" on the nursing floor, but in a veterinary hospital I prefer 28" or more.
Tubing Feel: It has a non-glossy matte finish. The tubing is soft, supple, and it does not have that glossy texture that almost sticks to your skin. I will also say that whatever the heck it is made out of, it does not have that memory kink that develops over time, and in 10 years has not gotten harder or started to crack at all (I’m looking at you Littman). My favorite of all time! 7/5 !!!
Design: I like the screw-on diaphragm and ear pieces and have never lost one in a decade. It’s easy to switch between diaphragms in a jiffy, and I love the rotating binaurals (also the spring tension adjustment works great on mine). I find other scopes (every Littman I have ever used) I have to push forward to get a proper seal in my ear. Of course this is subjective stuff, but the ability to rotate binaurals, interchange diaphragms instead of having multiple scopes, screw on different size ear pieces, as well as the hard plastic rim of the bell (I love this), instead of the flimsy ones that stretch and crack and fall off are all pluses, not negatives. Also there is no stupid tunable diaphragm which is a huge plus. Any Littman scopes I use are all vintage, meaning pre-tunable diaphragm. It combines the function of a bell and a diaphragm into one. It’s convenient, but neither the bell nor diaphragm works as well with this design. It takes but a few seconds to rotate the chest piece to go between each.
Spare Kit: Not sure why you grades this so low as there is a lot of stuff here. The spare kit included with these includes multiple sizes of ear pieces. I actually purchased another separate adult threaded diaphragm so I can easily switch between the corrugated diaphragm. In practice I don’t actually use it that much but I like to have it. My kit included 2 flat diaphragms which is great!!! I’ve listened to the heart sounds CD and it’s nice to include. Someone who is interested in videos, there are a gazillion free ones on YouTube.
Warranty: Is actually 10 years, not five
Buying Experience: My box had a photo of a physician examining a child with a DLX stethoscope; does not matter to me. My box actually had a nice foam material inside with cutouts for everything included. I don’t actually care about a lot of bling, and if they can pass that savings onto the final cost then that is great. I suspect the scope you bought didn’t arrive with you as it left the factory. I’m curious where it was purchased. Yours contained no additional ear tips and some flimsy plastic inside. I have seen other WA scopes since and they are still boxed with the foam insert.
So yeah, keep up the good work Jenny, and good luck with your channel! I think your reviews are very thorough and helpful to people, but your methodology could use a little tweaking.
Nurse Jenny, your review is quite comprehensive, but your system is fundamentally flawed. This is one of the finest scopes available at any price, but using your methodology, a $9 “nursing stethoscope” from China can score significantly higher than this. Some of your criteria should be weighed heavier than others to make this work (Design and Acoustics should weigh heavier than Buying Experience). It’s obvious that for your needs, the size, weight, and expense of a cardiology-grade stethoscope is not for you, but that should not penalize the review so heavily- that is not being objective. For a nurse (or any health care worker) wanting this type of instrument, it is a fine choice.
A couple of comments…
Ear tip comfort: My kit and most of them come with multiple ear tip sizes; not sure why yours did not. The ability to control the angle of binaurals as well as the tension make this the most comfortable steth. I have used.
Weight: For somebody wanting a cardiology-grade scope this is what they weigh. There are some that are significantly heavier. The weight [density] of the chestpiece is necessary for the sound. You would have to compare it to similar scopes to come up with a score.
Price: It is available for less than you paid. I paid $132 if I recall about 10 years ago, though that company is now charging about $145. Again, someone looking for a cardiology scope will pay this. The Littman Cardiology scopes are going for $175- $200+, and WA makes a better scope in my opinion; so this is a good price.
Tubing length: Is entirely personal preference. I prefer 25" on the nursing floor, but in a veterinary hospital I prefer 28" or more.
Tubing Feel: It has a non-glossy matte finish. The tubing is soft, supple, and it does not have that glossy texture that almost sticks to your skin. I will also say that whatever the heck it is made out of, it does not have that memory kink that develops over time, and in 10 years has not gotten harder or started to crack at all (I’m looking at you Littman). My favorite of all time! 7/5 !!!
Design: I like the screw-on diaphragm and ear pieces and have never lost one in a decade. It’s easy to switch between diaphragms in a jiffy, and I love the rotating binaurals (also the spring tension adjustment works great on mine). I find other scopes (every Littman I have ever used) I have to push forward to get a proper seal in my ear. Of course this is subjective stuff, but the ability to rotate binaurals, interchange diaphragms instead of having multiple scopes, screw on different size ear pieces, as well as the hard plastic rim of the bell (I love this), instead of the flimsy ones that stretch and crack and fall off are all pluses, not negatives. Also there is no stupid tunable diaphragm which is a huge plus. Any Littman scopes I use are all vintage, meaning pre-tunable diaphragm. It combines the function of a bell and a diaphragm into one. It’s convenient, but neither the bell nor diaphragm works as well with this design. It takes but a few seconds to rotate the chest piece to go between each.
Spare Kit: Not sure why you grades this so low as there is a lot of stuff here. The spare kit included with these includes multiple sizes of ear pieces. I actually purchased another separate adult threaded diaphragm so I can easily switch between the corrugated diaphragm. In practice I don’t actually use it that much but I like to have it. My kit included 2 flat diaphragms which is great!!! I’ve listened to the heart sounds CD and it’s nice to include. Someone who is interested in videos, there are a gazillion free ones on YouTube.
Warranty: Is actually 10 years, not five
Buying Experience: My box had a photo of a physician examining a child with a DLX stethoscope; does not matter to me. My box actually had a nice foam material inside with cutouts for everything included. I don’t actually care about a lot of bling, and if they can pass that savings onto the final cost then that is great. I suspect the scope you bought didn’t arrive with you as it left the factory. I’m curious where it was purchased. Yours contained no additional ear tips and some flimsy plastic inside. I have seen other WA scopes since and they are still boxed with the foam insert.
So yeah, keep up the good work Jenny, and good luck with your channel! I think your reviews are very thorough and helpful to people, but your methodology could use a little tweaking.