Best breast pump ?

Question

Can you please suggest best breast pump? I'm looking at mandela hands free or go tote.

Answer

I was a pumping mom working ft (baby was fed on the breast at home) with my first. I had both the Ameda Purely Yours and the Medela PISA. Both were GREAT pumps, but I preferred the Ameda for the following reasons:

*Very small pump, was able to carry it+ all pumping supplies to work in a cute Donna Karen bag bc their pump isn't built into a bag like the Medela.

*The Ameda allows you to adjust the speed and suction level individual of each other and at any time, which allowed me to customize sucking speed to get TONS more milk and FAST let down. The Medela only has one knob that increases speed and suction at the same time so it's less customizable. It does have a button to temporarily change the suction/speed to entice letdown reflex, but I took much longer to let down with Medelas preset system, though my body did eventually adjust to the Medela to produce almost as much as I had been with the Ameda. I also could often create second letdowns on the Ameda, but had a harder time getting a second letdown in the Medela

*The Ameda is A LOT cheaper (about $100 on Amazon) vs the $350 I paid for the PISA

*You have to clean the tubing for the Medela as standard maintenance if I remember correctly... With the  Ameda it's a "closed pump system" meaning your milk/etc can't back into the tubes, and tubes don't require sterilizing

* The Ameda pump has a place to set your full bottles to screw the lids on without any real possibility of spilling, vs the Medela did not have "cup holders" to set the bottles in AND the Medela bottles taper at the bottom a teensy bit, which made me spill pumped milk slightly more often (mostly bc there was no secure holder gripping the bottles before I put lids on while I was snapping the bra snaps/ putting equipment away/setting things down trying not to drop milk from the horns on surfaces)