Is this a good pump??

[LorenaAZ]

Please move this topic if I'm posting it in the wrong place.


I have a chance of purchasing a used medela pump in style breast pump. It is the 2004 model (now discontinued) for $100. This is what it looks like:
http://www.selfexpressions.com/medpuminstyl.html
It comes with a leather carrying case and with a car charger, ac adapter, 2 sets of attachments, tubing, 4 bottles to pump into, 2 of each 3 different size cones, 3 Advent 1st stage bottles and a pack of storage bags.

Is this a good pump? I know the new medela pump in style get great reviews but I know nothing about the 2004 model, and I'm also wondering why it got discontinued. Advice anyone?

[Madawyh]

hands down I've been more impressed with Medela than other brands. It's used? I think that might be pricey for USED and 5 years old. Honestly I would rather see someone put the money into a new pump - you can get them at Target for 250.00...

Pumps do wear out and they do break. What do you know about this pump and how it was used previously?

This type of pump is no a closed system - meaning milk can get into the pump motor and IF the person using it had a virus like CMV or HIV, etc it COULD contaminate your milk.

Personally I think it's overpriced for the age of the pump. Who is selling it?

I would be hesitant and wary. It's old - you don't know how long it was used - how many babies. Did the person use it occasionally or use it every day at work?

Probably not what you want to hear, but better safe than sorry and it would be money well spent to buy a newer - new one. If it were brand new, never used and just sitting on a shelf I'd be more inclined to say it was a good deal, but this doesn't seem a good deal to me.

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

Unless you know who used it before you...i would buy new tubing and shileds and bottles...you can contact medela and they can point you in the right direction on new tubing....i have a PNS pump from medela and it's from 2004 too and in great condition...i would ask $100 for it too. It really depends how much the last person used it. But most important i would get new tubing for it. Most hospitals that have a Lactation department sell tubing for a PNS..call your local Lactation Consultant and get new tubing.

[Mosaic]

$100 for a used, 4yo PIS? Heck no!!

For not much more you can get a brand new Lasinoh pump... it is essentially identical to the Purely Yours, which is Medela's top competitor and a fabulous, hardworking pump.

ETA that I agree with the PP who mentioned that this isn't a closed system, whereas the Lasinoh is.

[LorenaAZ]

Good advice. Thank you ladies. I didn't know anything about open/closed systems. The lady who has it used it maybe 20 times, but she was the second owner. I have no idea how much it was used by the 1st owner. I guess if I add the price for the new parts I would need to buy (tubing, bottles, shields, etc) it no longer sounds like such a good investment, plus I don't know how much life it has left, plus it's an open system.

Thank you!!

[happyhousewife06]

no way not if there have been three owners. I had a PIS and it was only 3 years old and it just crashed on me. You can get PISA from most hospitals for less then you would pay at a store like babies r us.... Id go new.... you cant go wrong with new!

[wild fire child]

Just as an FYI, they discontinued the old style PIS because they got new technology that simulates baby's sucking changes to stimulate let-down, so the older model is just outdated technology (and it is the same technology the Purely Yours has, btw), there's nothing wrong with it.
Right now I have been using a Single Deluxe, which was fast and dirty and hurt, and I just got a used Purely Yours free on loan I haven't tried yet because I have to buy new tubing and can't afford it, and I got an older style PIS on loan free with new tubing etc. I tried it for the first time today and it was pretty good, not as fast as I'm used to but much more comfortable and I let down to it much easier.
I would not pay $100 for a PIS from multiple owners and that old, I would rent a hospital grade or try to get one on loan from WIC first thing, and save up for one of the 2008 technology ones.