After reading the reviews, I was apprehensive about its durability and reliability, as other reviews had noted mechanical failure when dropped, bounced or other mishaps and that the bulb burned out too quickly. Rest assured, I am not the most graceful soul and after my heart sank when it rolled off the table accidentally, I picked it up and it performed flawlessly.

So, let's start from when it arrived it was very much like Christmas, awaiting the perfect gift. I eagerly opened the boxes and uncovered what was to be the crowning jewel in my Advanced Practice tool kit.

Yes, every ear in my home was thoroughly inspected the day of its arrival, and with the fiber optics and zoom feature, I was able to see the scarring on a tympanic membrane secondary to a rupture in earlier adulthood not otherwise seen with the plain view. I was also able to draw the magnification out for a closer look at the ear canal with high resolution and specificity, identifying landmarks and possible sources of irritation and inflammation. Then we attached the ophthalmoscope and inspected the eyes (Bless my family for being good sports). With a traditional scope I was never able to truly visualize the structures or landmarks, such as the retina, one of those elusive objects you never really find until you do, but with this scope all of that and more were highly visible and definable.

I then took it to work, where show and tell began, nurses and doctors alike taking turns "playing" with it, inspecting any ear or eye that would hold still long enough. For 12+ hours this went on, and from every professional who held and used this their collective opinion was: "you are one lucky lady, this is indeed a tool every practitioner needs, I need one!"

So, there you have it, my take on this well-made product. As it is brand new, I am unable to provide feedback on battery life, but it did survive 12 hours of constant passing around and inspecting ears and eyes, and the bulb I am sure with time will wane and need replaced, so"¦ we cross that bridge when we get to it. For medical professionals actively seeing patients, I highly recommend this product to take your assessment and diagnostic skills to a whole new level!

To say this otoscope set is an improvement over prior Welch Allyn sets is saying a lot. Welch Allyn is a big name for medical equipment and otoscopes are one of its major product lines. This set fills the needs of students and many practitioners although it's not able to capture video, nor is it priced for that capability. One can consider Welch Allyn's Digital MacroView otoscope that can capture live and still images, and the good thing is the digital device doesn't require a software purchase. But that one costs more.

This otoscope offers an almost 360 degree field of vision and the fiber optic light transmission provides 360 degrees of light. I believe I can see the entire tympanic membrane, or at least extremely close. The light is glare-free. I think it's remarkable. You can also zoom in and out by just turning the focusing wheel. This feels intuitive after one or two uses; I think it's an easy-to-use design.

This device is ready for pneumatic otoscopy. See the second to bottom product photo. There's a port to the right of the focusing wheel, on the side and before the 'TipGrip'. In my view this is a critical feature and one should know in advance that with the specula on the ear, this is an airtight and closed system.

The specula tips can be removed with the TipGrip, by turning it. So it's not necessary to touch specula after they're used. Separately, one can buy reusable or disposable specula, from Welch Allyn of course. Three are included in the kit.

I feel excited about this diagnostic set. One can't say enough about proper usage such as how to hold the handle. I think this set is worth the investment.

Excellent set - equivalent optics to what is used in medical offices. Clear otoscope optics with powerful brightness allow for excellent visualization of the TM. Light reflex, erythema, fluid are all easily observed. The LED brightness is very good and illuminates the oropharynx well.

For home use, I really like that I can use 2 C batteries instead of the plug-in rechargeable. No more waiting for the battery to charge as long as you have batteries on hand.

The negative is that it is heavy. For home use or stationary office use, it's fine. I wouldn't want to be carrying this thing around in my pocket all day though.

The carrying case is nice and compact with formed plastic to snugly hold everything except for a removed rechargeable battery.

For something more portable with still decent optics (and much cheaper), consider the Welch-allyn Pocketscope - Model 22821 which I also own. This pocket model is not quite as bright with not quite as good visualization of the TM but is adequate in experienced hands.

I would absolutely not recommend any of the Dr. Mom otoscopes as they have very poor brightness and optics making the TM often impossible to visualize.

So I don't have other sets to compare this one to, but everything seems to be well made and top notch. The carrying case is nice, especially for my son to bring back and forth with him to clinicals and school over the upcoming years. The school gave a list of models that were okay for clinicals and this one wasn't yet on the list, but it did say anything higher on the model number list, so he should be good to go. I don't have any technical expertise on it to provide feedback on that portion.