3M Littmann Classic III Monitoring Stethoscope, 5620, More Than 2X as Loud, Weighs Less, Stainless Steel Chestpiece, 27" Black Tube

Why it's worth it

The Littmann Classic III is the default stethoscope in American nursing programs and a tool a nurse carries for years. It's the gift that says you understand what they do all day, and it's the right call for a pinning ceremony or a first job.

A stethoscope is the rare gift that shows you know what their day actually looks like. The Classic III line has been in continuous clinical use for more than 50 years, and Nurse.org and nursing programs still point students to it first. Give a nurse a Littmann and you're giving them the tool they'll carry from clinicals through their first unit and well past it.

The acoustics are the whole point. 3M's own testing puts it at more than twice as loud as the next leading stethoscope in its class, with better pickup below 120Hz — Korotkoff sounds, S3 and S4 gallops, mitral stenosis. Nurses and EMTs consistently say they can pick out heart and lung sounds in a noisy clinic, which is exactly where a cheap scope falls apart.

From our review of 8 gifts for nurses

What we like

• +A stethoscope is the rare gift that shows you know what their day actually looks like
• +The acoustics are the whole point
• +It's light for what it is, at about a third of a pound hanging around a neck all shift, and the 27-inch tube means they aren't…
• +This is the graduation gift

What to know

• –It's a monitoring stethoscope, built for general assessment rather than cardiology-level listening
• –Stethoscopes also walk off