I will apologize in advance for the long winded review - but a breast pump is an extremely important purchase for a breastfeeding mother - so I am going to try to cover all the bases on this pump.As a mother now breastfeeding her 3rd child, I'm am approaching 4 years total of nursing.In the past, I have always used Medela products. I've struggled on every end of the spectrum from low supply with one child to oversupply with another and a healthy spot on supply now with my 3rd. A good pump makes all the difference in maintaining milk supply - ESPECIALLY if you're a working mother.I HAD been a loyal Medela PISA user for almost my entire 4 cumulative nursing years - but I am no longer. When I was pregnant with my 3rd I had just started hearing about the speCtra s2 taking the breastfeeding world by storm, but I figured I'd stick with old faithful and I asked my insurance to provide another Medela - hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I'd done more homework then. About 3 months after my daughter was born all I heard about was how amazing the s2 is - from nursing friends, mom groups, breastfeeding groups and even a couple La Leche meetings. When I looked into it the price was half what a PISA is so I figured heck - why not. My husband was apprehensive about buying me yet another breast pump (I've tried SO MANY OTHERS - Lanisoh, Hygeia, Avent, Ameda - none of which I liked or I felt fully emptied my breasts). Now that I have my Spectra I will never go back to Medela or try anything else - let me tell you why:First and foremost - let's talk about the perks of a closed system pump. I managed to ruin 2 Medela PISA's with my current nursling. In less than 3 months - that gets expensive QUICK. Milk in the tubes and right into the motor, rendering them useless. Let's not forget about trying to keep tubes from molding - not fun. The speCtra s2 perfectly protects from back flow, and the flanges also are designed to make sure milk goes directly into the bottle instead of into the backflow protector. I bought extra tubes initially, but I'm really not sure why because they're not needed, because I'm no longer dealing with those issues thanks to Spectra.Comfort? This is where it's at. While never having issues in the past, this time around I often felt like my nipples had been put through a garbage disposal after pumping with the PISA - the comfort of the speCtra s2 is unmatched. It feels just like my baby's suckle and I'm no longer wincing in pain during my long pumping sessions. How they can make the suction so strong yet so comfortable is beyond me - but more power to them! Added bonus for comfort: Spectra offers a silicone insert for their flanges!Speaking of long pumping sessions - those are no more. The speCtra s2 empties me in half the time - and we all know how important time is with little ones running around!There are a wide variety of suction and speed options, and even a letdown button (you can tailor it to your specific needs) which can switch you back and forth from your desired suction and speed to a quick light sickle to induce letdowns - also customizable. It also kind of "vibrates" while you're pumping so it helps even more to stimulate quick multiple letdowns. Added bonus: it remembers your settings from your previous pumping session and turns back in exactly in the last settings you used.There was a bit of a learning curve for finding the right settings for myself, but that's because with my PISA I had no choice but "hard and fast" suction and speed, there was no option to change those separately. Gone are those days, thankfully - Spectra tackled this issue as well.It's SUPER quiet and also comes with a nightlight that has 2 settings so if you're pumping near your baby during a nap or bedtime you don't have to worry about waking baby - plus you won't feel like your pump is trying to "sing you the song of its people"! (Seriously - who HASNT tried to figure out exactly what in the world their pump could be saying with all that noise?) Not with the speCtra, though, just a quiet purr.The only downfall is the availability of accessories - you have to buy full kits from Spectra instead of just the parts you need, otherwise you have to buy aftermarket - which work ok in my opinion, but I'm OCD and I prefer OEM parts.Lastly - Spectra Customer Service. They're AMAZING. As far as I am able to tell, customer service is run by breastfeeding mothers - which is what we need! They do great Q&A sessions on Facebook, and they'll happily help you with getting covered by insurance. From what I understand they're expanding this year to reintroduce the s9, and to be more available at local retailers (accessories included).Bottom line is, this pump in my opinion is worth every penny and then some. Even my husband, who as I said was apprehensive and is what you might call "tight with money" is happy about this purchase. (Happy wife, happy life, right?) Hands down the best pump I've ever used in every department. Look no more, mamas, you've found your pump in speCtra. Read more

I started using the Medela PISA when I went back to work. I switched to the Spectra S2 by recommendation from quiet a few ladies in my nursing moms class. I can honestly say that I made the right choice in switching to the Spectra 2. Unfortunately, I had already used my insurance on the Medela PISA so I had to pay for this out of pocket - still so worth it. I wish I had known about this pump before I used my insurance on the other one, but there's nothing I can do about that now. With the Spectra from just my morning pumping session I have gone from pumping 4-6 oz to pumping 8-9oz! I don't personally like pumping. I'd prefer to breastfeed, but I've gone back to work and have to pump. The Medela PISA felt like a tugging/pulling and it would actually hurt sometimes. The Spectra feels more like a quivering suckle, as natural feeling as a pump can be I imagine. I love this pump as much as anyone can love a pump. I 100% recommend this over the Medela PISA (that is the only pump I have personally tried so it is the only one I can compare it to).---Update 1/10/18 - I have had this pump for 7 months now and I love it as much now as I did when I first used it! I have recommended this pump to any pregnant woman I have the pleasure of discussing breastfeeding and pumping with.After reading some of the 1-star reviews, I did want to mention up a few things that I did not mention in my first review.1. Since I had the displeasure of spending the first 5 months of my baby's life using a Medela PISA, I owned SO many Medela products (mostly bottles).2. I was already investing in this second pump. I did not want to have to reinvest in all new bottles to fit this new pump. There had to be another solution!3. SO I purchased "wide to narrow neck adapters" from Amazon. Then I could use the Spectra and pump directly into my old Medela bottles solving the issue of investing in even more bottles. This saved me a ton of money. This also means that I never actually used the Spectra bottles that came with the pump and I cannot attest to their durability or reliability. Read more

Buyer be aware!I loved the spectra pump so much that went and bought a second one - S 1 - that has a built-in battery to keep one at work since I am exclusively pumping. It stopped working after a few months. Called the customer service and they are awful, really awful. Be aware that if you bought your pump through amazon, Groupon, Craigslist, etc they will not exchange your pump even if it’s still within 2 years of company quarantine. They used to cover any broken pump if it broke within 2 years after the purchase if you had the original receipt and a few months ago it looks like they changed their policy. The customer service representative who was extremely rude said they wouldn’t cover any pump purchased even at amazon if it wasn’t purchased thru I-serve. Please check all their rules before you buy this pump since it’s expensive and you are on your own if something suddenly it stops working. Read more

Works great and we bought two (one for work and one for home), but one stopped working after 2 months and Spectra isn't willing to help. Their response was to buy another power adapter (which didn't help) or buy another pump. After 2 months! Searching online this is a common occurrence, and Spectra doesn't support it's users. Read more

This product may be good if used with the right size flanges, unfortunately we do not get the option of choosing the right size, we got the 28 mm flanges by default which have left my wife with damaged nipples to the point that she is unable to to carry on breastfeeding. I wish we could get a refund as this doesn't come cheap and has been a complete waste of money. Very unhappy and would not recommend buying unless they provide the option to choose the right size. Read more

I wasn't sure in the beginning as this machine is not cheap, and midwives at the hospital was more keen for me to exclusively breast feed without pump, but this devise turned out to be such a life saver. As a first time mom, I soon discovered breast feeding few hours per day till baby's satisfied is not sustainable... the instruction says pump for 15 mins every 2H but I decided to do 30 mins after reading some blog and voila...! Flowed like magic. I am not keen on the plastic bottles that come with the set, but MAM brand glass bottles (starter set) fits just as well. Instruction was easy to follow, pretty straight forward. Very happy with the purchase, will edit review in 6 months, fingers crossed the machine still works as well. Read more

Yes, it is.Wife tried the Philips Avent and Medela and they lack certain things, especially suction power. She was expressing more by hand.But the Spectra is different. It has the suction power and is the most silent one so far. The S2 we got is really good and tbh, you don't need the S1, as the only difference is that S1 works with batteries as well.A bit on the larger side but frankly, that's the least of our concerns. And the breast cups (or whatever they're called) are also better than Medela and Philips. Highly recommended. And it's made in Korea. So good quality. Read more

Unfortunately, my pump broke within 2 months of purchasing it. 5 stars to Ana Whiz for their amazing customer service and sending me a full refund though - I am extremely satisfied with my interactions with them and how speedily they handled the problem. But I am not happy with the pump itself, and was very disappointed in its malfunction (especially at a critical time in my breastfeeding journey when I was struggling with establishing a supply, and had to scramble and purchase various other options that I hadn't researched because I had settled on the Spectra S2 quickly after reading all the reviews).But I'm giving the pump 3 stars anyway because it worked well when it was still working. I'm sure I was just one of the unlucky few who received a faulty product, which always happens from time to time! Read more

This pump is amazing. Best choice, I highly recommend this one (blue one has the option of being battery operated so you can transport it around more easier than the pink one but otherwise no difference)I had another pump prior to this one and it just was not working at all, I was getting no milk out and it was so loud and it was just awful. This one is brilliant.It’s really cool because it’s pretty much silent, it has two settings light (which I use as a night light) and it gets the job down brilliant.Highly recommend it! Read more