Medela Swing and other pumps

So the pump that I've been using (Medela Pump in Style...loved it!), was given to me to borrow by a friend and she needs it back. Bit sad really, as the pump has gotten me through some tough times and I became weirdly attached to it :lol: But I've decided I want to buy my own. So far I'm looking at a Medela Swing (would love the Pump in Style but it's a bit too exxy for me...if only I could just buy that pump and not all the baggage with it!). So I was after other people's experiences of the Swing and other Medela pumps...I think there's a few...Symphony, Freestyle, Lactina?? I like the suction on the Style, so something similar would be great. What have other people's experiences been?

i have a medela swing and love it. It has gotten me through 4 months of exclusive expressing while DD1 was in SCN/NICU and I have used it heaps with DD2 as well, and its still going for gold :) it has the option of putting batteries in so you dont need a power point, but I have never used that feature lol.

The swing is great for occasional expressing. I think the motor is designed for occasional and it is only a single pump. I currently use the symphony for fulltime EE which I hire for $35 a week and I find the Swing pretty comparable in suction and I get the same volume of milk from it.

I like the Swing because it is very portable because it is small and you can use it battery operated which is great if you are somewhere where you can't use a powerpoint. This bit might be more helpful for me because I EE. I use the battery component a lot, but the downside is I can only single pump. If you are after a Swing try ebay there are heaps there and going for cheaper than the big baby stores.

I'm looking into the Freestyle as I'm going back to work a few days and the symphony isn't portable and I'm sick of paying for the rent. The Freestyle is going for for just over $400 on Ebay with a retail price anywhere between $520-$650 new, so they seem to hold their value pretty well but if you don't use it very often may not be worth the price.

The pump in style is also being sold on ebay, I can't remember the average price. This pump is not being sold new in Australia anymore but I think places like the US are still selling it new. This one is going cheaper than the Freestyle. So if you really like the pump in style you can probably pick it up for a few hundred on ebay which is probably comparable to getting a new Swing.

Love my swing. Been great to take and pump in some rather interesting places like the "head" (toilet) on a scuba dive charter and the ladies room at a couple of bars when I was at my bestie's hen's night!!! The portability of it suited me really well.

ETA: I got it on special at Baby Bunting for maybe $250 ish.

I love my swing too. I got it through Mother's Direct (the ABA store) for about $235 I think, including member's discount. It also came with a carry bag that was great to take to work.

I have a swing too ... I wish I could say that I love it but I don't actually have a proper let down at a pump no matter how long I am there :( I am loaning mine to a friend, as I did find the few times I used it it was more gentle on sore boobs than the other pump. I love its versitility and its portability. Its small enough to be discreet too.

We have a freestyle. It has the high grade motor for full time expressing. It also has the hands free option. Honestly we didnt really look into the others too much as we needed a double pump with a great motor built for long term full time expressing. It was on the expensive side, but it has been worth its weight in gold.

I have the swing as well and helped enormously with DS2 and i'm sure it will get another workout with the bub. Haven't used any other pumps so really couldn't compare sorry!

Love my freestyle! But like BlackCat it was used for full-time expressing, so may be more than what you actually need. xoxo

I loved the swing, used mine with all three kids which included full time expressing with dd1, was sad to sell it!

ive got a Lactina and its perfect
i used it for exclusive expressing for 11months with my first
twice down to once a day with my daughter
its hospital grade so its designed for exclusive expressing i never worried about my supply while using it
ive actually got a weird attachment to mine too as it got me through my mastitis with my son