Eko: Digital Stethoscope + ECG App revisa

Expensive. When I purchased the Eko I was willing to pay a premium for this commodity product given its additional functionality. I’ve highly recommended this to colleagues. Any useful features have been greedily hidden behind a paywall, downgrading my device to an audio amplifier, which I can build for single digit dollars. I now highly discourage anyone from purchasing. You pay multiple times for modest functionality: once in the overpriced HW, then continually in the subscription to unlock basic features. The hardware itself has little value without the subscription. The company has lost its way. Those of us that bought before the business model change have essentially had our devices deactivated. I expected more. Those buying now, expect to pay more or lose functionality in the future.

The stethoscope and app work great. Terrific stethoscope for heart sounds.

I enjoy the stethoscope a lot, but I never find myself wanting to pull my phone out with patients around. I think that a smart watch version of the app would be more practical.

I purchased the Core and the Duo in 2021. The Duo lasted about 2 years and is bricked. Won’t charge. Won’t hold charge. The core is poorly designed. The on button seems built to be turned on just by carrying the stethoscope around, which means it’s perpetually dead. I wouldn’t dream of paying $500 for the new one. The app works ok. A bit clunky.

Was unaware my $400+ Littmann Core requires me to pay an additional $100+ a year in order to access key features like AFIB and murmur detection. Additionally, it can’t seem to detect a correct heart rate on a recording. It also refuses to play back the recording on your phones speaker, you can’t hear it without headphones. Additionally, I have trouble hearing on patients. I can hear on myself okay. But on patients? It’s like it doesn’t even work. I thought I was going crazy because I couldn’t hear anything. Mine is engraved so I can’t return it. Bummer kinda. I was so excited, and initially thought it worked well until I used it in the hospital. Maybe I need to get the hang of it or something, but the extra “subscription fee” is almost enough for me. It’s sad because I really wanted the Eko Core 500 in the future, but with companies putting everything you physically purchase behind a paywall (think, the push-to-start button on your car or heated seats both of which came with the car you paid multiple grand for, all because it’s digital and remote) I have immense reservations. There is no way to guarantee they won’t nuke the functionality of the product I purchase (and based on reviews it seems they already did). I used to want everything to go digital. Now I’m unsure. Sad.

Don’t bother with downloading this app if you just want it for your own health & heart condition. Apparently we common folks are too dumb for it

Both the stethoscope that works with this app and the app itself are trash. I returned the stethoscope and have tried to get my money back for the app that is now useless to me and they refuse to refund it.

I purchased one basically because I have bad hearing. I love it. I’m the only nurse that has the Eko 500. There is another nurse that uses the smaller device because of hearing issues. I shared my stethoscope with a nurse practitioner the other day and she returned it to me that afternoon with compliments. I told her it is even better when you can use the app with it. There is another nurse practitioner that I work with that has been wanting one but wasn’t sure if it was worth it. She was able to try mine out and she loves it. I have probably sold two of these just by letting some nurses try it out. Thank you for helping those of us that can’t hear well. It is a great advancement. I understand LSU uses these also ! Kudos!!!!

I initially purchased the Eko Core 500 due to its appealing functionality and innovative features, particularly the murmur detection tool, which was a game-changer for clinical practice. It worked seamlessly and added immense value to my diagnostic process. However, my experience has taken a sharp turn for the worse. After a recent app update, the murmur detection feature was removed, and now it is locked behind a subscription paywall. This abrupt shift is incredibly disappointing. A feature that was integral to the device’s appeal should not be stripped away after purchase. It feels like a bait-and-switch tactic, undermining the trust customers place in the product and brand. What’s worse is that the core functionality of the device is now handicapped unless you commit to ongoing subscription fees. For a premium product like this, essential features should remain accessible without recurring costs after the initial investment. I can no longer recommend the Eko Core 500 to colleagues or anyone considering it. While the hardware itself remains functional, the reliance on the app and its sudden monetization of critical features has severely impacted its value. Unless Eko revisits this decision and restores key functionalities without requiring a subscription, potential buyers should be cautious. This is not the reliable, user-centric device it once was.

Hi why we cant buy EKO+ outside usa???

Very helpful In my medical practice! But with the new app update I’m not able to record all the heart points! I own the 3m digital, yet with the older app version I used to record all points with ease…! What could be the problem?

I bought my EKO Core 500 because of the sharing features, AI detection and more. Now just 2 months after the purchase EKO has decided to remove the features I paid for and downgraded the basic app to basically useless. I will not be paying for EKO+, I want the features I paid for.

I loved Eko before this latest update and let all of my colleagues know. I bragged about how great the EKO 500 was. Now with the new app update, they are charging a paid membership for services that have been included in the app complimentary for years. So I paid $400+ for this stethoscope, and now have to pay $112 a year to use the app functions they TOOK AWAY and are now making us pay for. It’s just absolutely greedy, slimey, and stingy. Absolutely not going to recommend to anyone anymore. So disappointed.

So you pay over 300 USD for a stethoscope that doesn’t really work that well for sound amplification or ambient noise suppression, but you remove features from the accompanying app that allow one to save the audio? Then add murmur detection and A-fib recognition, which are two of the easiest things to hear on cardiac auscultation for 112 USD per year?!! That’s a lot of money for rather useless features. No one who practices medicine is going to rely on those features without a 12 lead ekg and more professional testing (e.g., echo). It’s a novelty at best. And while we’re on the topic of novelty, how appropriate is it to remove the simple record and save feature? Someone might want to record their animal’s heart sounds, or a family member, and pass them around. For whatever reason, removing the recording ability seems pretty tacky.

I love that I am able to listen to 🫀and 🫁sounds without patients coughing directly in my face!!

I love the Eko Core stethoscope and the companion Eko App. I recently saw a patient at our clinic who had an irregular rhythm. I was able to take a 3-lead EKG on the spot, securely message the PDF to her cardiologist, and then start a beta blocker and a NOAC. The whole process took maybe 10 minutes, and most of that time was explaining atrial fibrillation to her. Amazing. My only minor complaint is that I wish the volume settings for heart and lungs could be adjusted independently. Perhaps my hearing is not as good with lower frequencies, but I have to keep the volume on high for heart and on medium-low for lungs. Therefore, every time I switch from one mode to the other, I have to readjust the volume. Having a way to adjust the volume independently for each mode would be a nice enhancement.

I got this stethoscope because I’m hearing impaired. And then the pandemic hit. I used just the steth with a paired Bluetooth speaker and it made my life on the Covid unit so much better. The patients could hear what we’ve all been listening to. And I could put it in a glove, wrapped, and cruise into rooms. Also, because I could play it to Bluetooth speaker, the fact that I had on a PAPR didn’t matter. Best investment into my career! Sadly, this little guy has been through so much and is missing some plastic bits from being dropped or flung during dangerous patient encounters! Still works great but looks war-torn. Ready for a new one!

I have a hard time getting it to connect to my phone

This is truly the best stethoscope anyone can own. I will for sure order me another one if this one ever quits on me.

The device is spectacular! ….but a watch app would be the perfect pairing for prehospital (EMS) applications, BT audio to let patients (and student ride-along) hear what’s going on.

Would be nice to have the app available on the watch to toggle between the settings on the Apple Watch to not have to pull out a phone to toggle between cardiac and pulmonary settings.

Work as a Emt and trying to get vitals in the back of a ambulance with a regular stethoscope was useless. Especially when lights and sirens are going and the engine noise. With the Littman Eko stethoscope. You get clear lung sounds and also heart sounds. And you. An send them from your phone to the doc when your enroute to the hospital also. Well worth the money!

Opened my awaited EKO and unable to do first step as it required a reset password and as of yet to receive the reset to my email.

Excellent product. I wish you guys can release an app on the Apple Watch, this way I won’t even have to take my phone out during the exam. Please this will make this absolutely perfect!!!!’

Used to have exam function which aided in murmur detection but update got rid of that feature. Do not recommend….

The apple OS 17 update was installed on my phone and now there are more issues with the stethoscope disconnecting from the phone. It is so bad, I had to attach the “ears” which complicates it’s use with my hearing aids. I got the DUO because it worked well with my hearing aids. I hope your team can find a repair and update for this issue. Thank you

It just records. Exam functions not available since the update. If this is not true I will adjust the review later.

Are use the stethoscope as a visiting hospice nurse. This would've been four stars if they would've kept the quick check feature as part of the product. They remove this feature and now this tour becomes extremely less used for as a visiting nurse dealing with terminally ill people who do not easily participate in the exam, are wearing the appropriate down etc. as they could be having hospice services in a new geographic location, have their body in any position that is comfortable for them etc. This was a much needed feature that they removed without appropriate notice or giving access to.

It doesn’t work in Europe

I have not been able to use the diagnostic mode, it only shows the waves and the Sp exam part is blocked, it appears: disabled_by_country…_DC button disabled

Easy to use. Easy to record and detect. Love the instant feedback. I highly recommend using this app every time you do an assessment.

While great when augmenting live auscultation if my patients in the hospital, this app is terrible when trying to review recordings later on without using headphones. The app will not play recordings through a Bluetooth speaker - only through headphones, the stethoscope, or the iPhone’s speaker - none of which allow for sharing with a colleague for simultaneous listening, or for reviewing with med students or residents during teaching rounds. I figured out a clunky workaround which involves using the export feature to create the PDF, opening the PDF in a separate app, clicking the Audio link in the PDF to open the cloud-hosted file in the web browser’s embedded player, then playing on the Bluetooth speaker from there - but this is just far too clunky and not conducive to reviewing multiple patients’ heart sounds during rounds. If this bug were fixed, would upgrade to 5 stars, but as it is the app’s performance significantly hinders how I can use this in my daily workflow as an academic hospitalist. Also, why is there no ability to slow down the playback speed? Sometimes with fast rhythms, it can be beneficial to slow things down to better analyze the murmur, listen for gallop or rub, etc. It would also be nice to be able to select and drag on the audio to crop out the most representative section of the murmur. Barring that, at least give the ability to export the audio to an editing app as a wav, mp3, m4a or other file to edit separately. As it is, there is no way to export or share an audio file at all, just the PDF which links to a cloud-hosted file which, if you know how to back-end download using the browser, has its amplitude severely diminished and is far too quiet without augmenting which, again, requires the use of a third party app and is far too clunky of a process to be regularly replicated.

Love this stethoscope

I have bought Littmann CORE Digital Stethoscope for one of its advertised features, the AI murmur detection and cardiac examination. I’m surprised to know that I can not use this feature in my country even tho I’ve paid 450$ for the stethoscope. I’d rate the app a zero if possible, because it basically provides nothing of benefit currently to me as a physician. Great stethoscope but a very poorly made app. Please consider fixing all the stated problems as soon as possible because this seems like false advertisement.

I am eager to find if this stethoscope can help me with my veterinary care. It works great on human patients. The settings for animals will be different.

Excellent for Heartsounds, and detecting, atrial fibrillation and murmurs.

I purchased this lovely addition a few years back to amplify the heart and lung sounds. I am losing hearing and wanted to make sure I could continue confidently with my job so I purchased it and although I wanted it to amplify the sounds, I find myself having to turn the amplified volume down, as it is too loud at times. Lol! I love technology. I gave 4 stars, as nothing is perfect, and it could be a bit smaller, as it does add some weight to my light weight Littman stethoscope. Definitely make the investment.

It’s a great app but I wish it could do more like check for blood pressure and the lungs and do an assessment for any type of lung and breathing problem.

Excellent for Training medical students and fellows!

My stethoscope connects to the app, but I am unable to hear when it’s turned on. It will not record I guess because there’s no sound.

I have been a paramedic for 35 years and the EKO is the best improvement I’ve ever seen.

I was recently assessing a baby and could not get a pulse through heel pulse oximetry so I calculated one from my watch and apical sounds. I validated my calculation using the Eko app and my calculation was within 3 bpm of the Eko app. I had other clinicians asking me about that and I told them. They were floored.

Very good application!

A moderate lag on Bluetooth connection. Interface not very obvious when you just want to listen , not record, for instance abdominal sounds, femoral bruits etc

I purchased the Eko core digital detachment from America. However, I am currently practicing pediatricis in Turkey. Even though I pay the same price with other customers, the murmur detection feature is not available my home country yet.. This is absolutely unfair and unprofessional. Moreover, there is no indicating information on the website. This is false advertisement . I would never purchase it if I knew I would not be authorised to use biggest feature… Why do you discriminate some countries and never mention that on your website !!!

With the recent update, the entire concept of a digital stethoscope seems ruined. Now instead of using your headphones or earpiece with the duo, you also have to pull out your phone, go to the app and select exam before anything is operational. Before I could just keep my headphones on, click on the duo and auscultate. Using 2 hands for auscultation is a HUGE step back. Please update the app!! I’d like to see integration with the Apple Watch for ekg analysis as well

Need watch app to allow easy connect and recording

One of the reasons that I got the stethoscope and app wasIt allowed me to perform my cardio pulmonary Exam: I would disconnect the unit and listen via my headphones through my iPhone while still under full isolation gown precautions. Now thatIs changed, I cannot readily listen this way. Rather than just turning the stethoscope on and listening, I have to open up the app to initiate any sort of auscultation. This really defeats the whole purpose of why I got the stethoscope. I can’t really recommend this app and the stethoscope anymore

Love my Eko stethoscopes. I just wish there was a way to use them with my Apple Watch while I’m on the run, instead of having to pull my phone out at the bedside. Please add a feature that allows a single waveform to be viewed livestream on the Apple Watch with ability to press a button to start and end a single recording. The ability to capture a single recording that is automatically saved with the date and time stamp (we can modify patient data in the phone app later). I’m sure everyone would be extremely appreciative! I would start advertising for Eko if this feature was available for the Eko CORE & Eko Duo. If we could record all audio/waveforms, while only displaying one waveform on the Apple Watch as a livestream wave, that would be so sick!