Spectra S1 Plus Hospital Grade Double Electric Breast Pump
Spectra S1 Plus Hospital Grade Double Electric Breast Pump with Rechargeable Battery, Blue
Dual Expression
Supplied as a double pump for dual expression (or single) from the outset.
Closed System
Safe and hygienic for you and baby with a complete physical barrier between your milk and the pump motor.
Letdown mode
Letdown mode designed to stimulate milk release and fully adjustable expression programme to best suit your body.
Portable with inbuilt rechargable battery
With 3 hours use on just one charge, this is the ideal pump for when you are at home or on the go.
 |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dual Expression | Yes, comes with everything needed for dual expression | Yes, comes with everything needed for dual expression | Yes, comes with everything needed for dual expression | Yes, comes with everything needed for dual expression |
| Power Supply | Mains only | Rechargeable battery or mains | Mains only | Rechargeable battery or mains |
| Cycle Speed | 38 rpm | 38 – 54 rpm | 38 – 54 rpm | Adjusts with suction |
| Vacuum Strength | 350 mmHg | 300 mmHg | 320 mmHg | 300 mmHg |
| Adjustable Cycle | No | Yes | Yes | Adjusts with suction |
| Massage mode for letdown | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nightlight | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Weight of pump | 0.99 Kg | 1.12 Kg | 0.99 Kg | 0.3 Kg |
| Weight: | 1.5 kg |
| Dimensions: | 20.07 x 20.07 x 17.02 cm; 1.5 Kilograms |
| Model: | MM011091 |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. (included) |
| Dimensions: | 20.07 x 20.07 x 17.02 cm; 1.5 Kilograms |
| Quantity: | 1 |
The pump always starts up in expression mode, which will be set to whatever it was at your last pump so be careful! You need to switch to massage mode to begin with to get your letdown.
This pump comes with 28mm flanges instead of the standard 24mm. They were too big for me, so had to purchase additional flanges. If you need anything smaller maymom makes different sized flanges that are compatible.
Love my Spectra S1!! I have used the Medela Symphony and my Spectra is soo much better in my opinion. It’s portable – meaning I don’t have to be stuck by the wall, powerful, it has a timer on the screen, night light and I love how you can select different cycles and vaccuum strength. I also love how there’s a vibration on the nipples and not just a “pull” when pumping so it feels very comfortable. Highly recommend!
The only thing I don’t like is having to wash 12 parts each use (if double pumping). Wish you only needed 3 parts to wash…
Best things about this product:
*long charge
*portable (bigger than others but still practical – I took it abroad in my hand luggage)
*powerful
*no loss of suction – have been using for a few months so far
*many different settings (so can personalised to own needs)
*Ana Wiz offer great customer service – had an issue with valve which was resolved via messaging within Amazon
Some useful things to know:
*get the right size flange – had to buy a 24mm one and this worked really well opposed to the 28mm ones which came with the pump. Makes a huge difference.
*assemble the pump well and make sure all parts are dry for optimal suction
*works well with lansolin bags (even than the bottles that came with pump)
*covering hole at the top of the bottle seems to help improve suction!
I initially hated this pump as I had moved from a massive powered medical grade pump to this and the suction was not as powerful and I thought I wouldnt get the same results. With this pump I got a far gentler pump and ended up getting a larger output, it made my pumping journey easier.
My twins were born early and were in the NICU, so I had to pump/express in order to mimic a newborn to produce milk. I was using a hospital grade pump, but I needed my own pump for at home. I came across the spectra, and bought it a couple months ago. It works very well if not better then the hospital grade pump for me. I’ve managed to express milk for my twins and was able to keep a freezer stash. I like the different settings, as I change the settings often to vary the stimulation to the nipples and I find that this also prevents them from getting sore. When my nipples did get sore from overuse of pumping and breastfeeding I was able to put it on a low setting so they didn’t hurt and still express a good amount of milk. I also liked that it was portable, I was able to walk around the house while pumping, and when we were in the car I needed to pump, being portable allowed me to pump in the backseat while my husband drove. When I would use the pump at the hospital it actually stopped working, so I could only use the spectra, I think that has to do with the multiple settings and the prolonged pull of the nipple as it pumps to mimic the baby’s mouth reflex. Although with this pump you do need to order flange sizes separately, I needed to buy a couple different sizes to get the right fit, so consider this into the price, the inserts are about 15 a pair. I also wished there was more information in the leaflet on how to use the pump effectively, I needed to google how. With that said I really enjoy this pump it is definitely worth the price, and my babies have plenty of milk! Happy pumping everyone 🙂
Such a fab pump – easy to use, easy to clean and great results. Love the variety of settings so I can find what works best for me. Plus, the memory function is really handy, saving changing the settings each time. Night light is also a nice touch and perfect for those middle of the night pumping sessions. Highly recommend!
That is until I tried the Spectra. This one was the first one I felt comfortable when I was using it. It didn’t pinch or pull and I was actually stimulated and let milk down. I struggle with milk supply and this was a great tool to help me increase it in between feeds.
There are a variety of settings to suit you, more than any other pump I’ve tried. This really helps to stimulate your milk. I’ve found a double pump is so much better as you’re not missing any let down. You can get different flanges which is really helpful to get the right fit. You can also buy extra parts to make Medela parts fit.
But I was content using the Spectra set up alone. It comes with 2 bottles so I would pump into these and transfer the milk into other bottles/bags when I was done.
It is easy to set up, you connect the tubes to the flanges and to the pump and you’re all set.
I never had any trouble with milk going into the tubes, so washing was always a breeze. It’s very easy to clean. If you can pick up some spare bottles that would be helpful so you don’t have to constantly wash the same 2.
The pump is still going strong today. It has lasted me for the last 4 years and helped me with two different breastfeeding journeys. When my second son was on neonatal I actually took this in rather than using their pump as this worked so much better.
An added bonus was the noise was soothing for the babies as well. They got so used to it it was like white noise for them. If you are pumping at night there is a handy little light which isn’t bright enough to disturb anybody. There is also a space at the back of the pump to hold a bottle of milk.
I would definitely recommend this pump if you’re having trouble with milk supply or you want a more efficient way of pumping. It is great value for money, it’s well made and it lasts.
Seems to be less popular in the UK compared to the medela pumps, but much better and also cheaper!
This pump is so so much better than my previous one. The dual pump makes a huge difference in output and reduces time spent pumping, but the suction is amazing. And you can alter suction and frequency separately. The timer is handy too, as is the fact this model is portable. My only gripe is the flanges that come with it are huge so I had to measure and order separate bits.
I now pump roughly 155mins per day over 5 sessons and not only has my supply increased but what used to be a 30 min session, is now a 15 min session!
The battery life on this is really good, I’ve only needed to charge it once every couple of days. And the night light has been a life saver for middle of the night feeds! It has LOADS of different settings which is great.
My only gripe is that the flanges are 28mm and I had to buy inserts separately. I didn’t get 24mm ones included.
I’d definitely recommend this pump to other mum’s. My only suggestion would be to buy this asap to make sure you build your supply in the early days!
This pump is amazing! My daughter had a 90% tongue tie that we weren’t able to have cut until she was 12 days old. This really impacted being able to breastfeed so I loaned the Medela symphony to express the majority of feeds.
After the tongue tie was cut my daughter still wasn’t managing to latch properly so I wanted to invest in a pump which would allow me to exclusively pump for every feed.
For me this pump is even better than the Medela symphony. There are lots of different settings which has allowed me to express over 250ml In every session, a lot more than I was getting from the symphony. The battery life is great and after cutting an old sports bra I’ve been able to fit the flanges in and get on with other things like cooking dinner while pumping!
I’d highly recommend this pump, especially if you’re looking to exclusively pump.
Pros
– portable. This makes it *much* easier to pump in the chaos of having a newborn and was my main complaint of the symphony
– timer is handy
– light is handy
– suction is almost equivalent to the symphony (so far anyway)
– cost effective
Cons
– no other flange sizes
– noisier than the medela (but not as noisy as other cheap pumps I’ve tried)
– you can’t set a stop time on the timer. Eg. Run for 20min and stop automatically
– if the light is on and you want to stop pumping, you have to also turn off the light
– doesn’t fit with a pump bra because the flanges don’t detach. Honestly this point made it almost useless for me – how on earth do you double pump without a pump bra – but I was able to ‘hack’ it to use the tube/flange/bottles from my symphony which is great because I had invested in that kit already. You can just pull the yellow bit off the end of the medela tube and attach to the symphony
My baby had trouble latching since day 1 and I ended up exclusively pumping. I’ve tried many pump before buying this one and it is by far my favourite.
It only comes with the 27mm flanges and as I prefer the Medela bottles and flanges I bought adapters to be able to use them instead. The spectra bottles and flanges aren’t so bad but I found them really rough on my skin, people recommended to use coconut oil inside the flange but I personally didn’t like it.
The suction is amazing as it has different levels and two options (1 to stimulate the let down and the second one to let the milk flow at your comfortable level).
I also bought the Spectra cups to be able to pump on the go, so if you need to pump while you’re out I’ll recommend buying them along with the pump as it is a bit more discreet (especially if you have to stop and pump in your car for example).
Overall I would definitely recommend this pump.
Most importantly it helped my milk coming in and also helped increasing my supply in the early days when my little one was still not as strong and was not able to suck on that much so my body would produce less. Strongly recommend it to all my friends that are going through the motherhood journey now!
Very easy to use as the item is straightforward. It remembers the suction power the last time u used it so you just have to turn it on and settings will be automatic. Can be used 4-5 times on battery once fully charged, can also be used whilst charging. Very quiet especially when you’re pumping at the wee hours the night, doesn’t even bother my husband/baby AT ALL. The light helps to see the settings when you’re pumpinh at night but I rarely use it, only to see how many minutes I have left. Pumps for 30mins/session. Single pumping is stronger than double pumping but both still powerful. Everything is good and perfect except maybe it’s too big, like when I wanna do things while pumping at the same time, Id have to carry the pump on the other hand and bring it wherever I go. But not really a big deal. I didn’t realize also there is a smaller model of spectra pump. Overall, I love this pump, it is really good at emptying breast. Glad I made the purchase! Quite pricey but its hospital grade its kind of expected.
The only thing I would just be mindful of is the size of the suction cups. Thankfully the ones that were provided fit me fine but the lactation consultant made sure to check it was the right size and I hadn’t realised this! It only comes in one size so more of a heads up.
The pump seems to be very efficient in doing what it was designed. It extracts milk fast and efficiently, in a painless manner! We had a hand pump before that and any comparison would be unfair. The noise during operation doesn’t bother us at all – we think it is quiet enough! Some reviewers online suggest that bottles from other brands might be better and suggest all kinds of mods to use the pump with other bottles. Maybe its true and with some modifications the pump gets even better. For us there was no need, we were amazed on how efficient it is every time. We always operate it on battery mode (not plugged in) which is very convenient. Light is very useful! Closed loop means milk doesn’t enter the pump mechanism thus all components where milk flow are easily washable. The two available modes (letting down and expression) do what they were designed for. Frequency and strength of suckling is adjustable to find the sweet spot of max milk extraction and most comfort. Overall a great great little pump, we were extremely satisfied and it does what is supposed to do well!
Speed and effectiveness:
This is where the Spectra excels in comparison to the symphony. It is super fast and effective. For my first pump of the day, which is when I can express the greatest volume of milk (usually around 180ml), it now takes me about 8 minutes in comparison to 30 minutes with the medela. The spectra is noticeably faster and more efficient than the symphony. I wish I’d known this on those early days when I was expressing milk every 2 hours in the middle of the night when time really is of the essence!
Durability:
The pump itself is robust and solid, so no issues there. I would agree with others that the components (flanges, back flow protectors and tubing) don’t exactly feel durable. And certainly not in comparison to the medela components. That said, I’ve not had to replace these yet and regardless of whichever pump you buy, these do need replaced. For the volume of expressing I do, I needed to replace components every 6 weeks with the medela symphony, but I’ve not had the S1 that long. So if they last roughly this length of time I’d be happy. Plus the spectra components are cheaper.
Extras:
The S1 comes with a few extras that the symphony doesn’t. A nightlight which is surprisingly useful during those night time feeds. And it also has a bottle holder which is really useful if you sometimes feed and express at the same time. The timer is also really useful.
Battery
The battery lasts in excess of 3 hours. I pump 3 times a day and because it’s such a quick pump, the battery lasts long enough to pump electricity free for a week. The symphony doesn’t have a charging feature, and while other pumps will let you pump from batteries they won’t last as long. (I’ve tried the medela swing- it only lasts 20 minutes on batteries and loses suction quickly)
All in all, the spectra S1 is in my opinion a far superior pump in comparison to the medela symphony at a fraction of the cost.
Purchased this pump for my second child and so far am happy with my purchase. For my first child I had a manual Phillips avent pump as well as a single electric pump and I did not have success with the first electric pump and the manual pump was a lot of work. This pump is easy to put together and works well however there are a couple of annoyances. The breast shields for the pump are too big for my nipples and I have a large chest so for me to use the pump effectively I had to insert the comfort shields for my avent breast pump which worked perfectly. With this being said I only have one of these comfort shields so cannot use this pump as a double unless I was to purchase an additional comfort shield from avent. Also when I did try to use the pump as a double I found the strength of suction to be too low. The suction strength when used as a single is much better. Overall this is a good pump and I am happy with my purchase. The rechargeable battery is great and lasts long. The pump is quiet and gets the job done fairly quickly and the nightlight is also nice when doing night time feeds.
Battery life: Fantastic; I can use this for three days without recharging, if I’m expressing 2-3 times a day, with each session lasting 20-25min.
Amount expressed: Slightly more than my baby’s consumption. I base this on the fact that when I’m at work, I normally express somewhere between 10% and 30% more than he has when he’s with the childminder.
Night light: I wasn’t expecting to use this feature, but when I went through a phase of feeding the little on just one side in the night, I found I needed to express on the other side because it was full to the brim. Expressing by nightlight meant that I didn’t have to turn the room lights on to operate the pump, which helped prevent me from waking up too much to go back to sleep quickly once done.
Double/single mode: You can use the pump in either double or single mode depending on your preference. Personally I use different settings for each side, so as you (understandably) can’t set the suction and frequency per side, I use it in single mode.
Massage mode: This “lets the milk down”, and uses a high frequency of stimulation with very low suction. I never need to use this for more than 2 minutes before going on to express mode.
Suction: The suction is more than adequate for my needs; the highest setting I ever use is 8, but it does go all the way up to 12. Of course everybody is different, but this should cater for most.
Frequency: There are 5 frequency levels, which regulate the length of each cycle of suction. Increasing the frequency helps reduce any discomfort you might feel, so you can use quite a high level of suction if you use a higher frequency level.
Overall action: It’s a little difficult to explain how this feels, but in addition to the suction and frequency, there’s a vibration in the unit – Spectra brand this as mimicking your baby’s suckling, and I think this is a pretty good analogy. Suffice to say, I really feel that I’ve been able to use this at higher suction levels than other breastpumps because of how this feature works.
Any snags? It’s quite bulky. However, I expect this is what allows for the fantastic battery life, and personally I’m happy with that as a trade-off. It still fits happily in a backpack for taking to and from work. Oh, and if the bottle is empty or has very little in it, it won’t sit steadily in the holder on the unit.
Overall, I couldn’t recommend this enough
Edit: I have now been using this pump for 9 months and have made it to a year of exclusive pumping. This pump has been pumping for almost an entire month non stop (30days, 4hrs and 20minutes!) and it is still working absolutely fantastically. Couldn’t recommend it more.
Drawbacks: I have to hold the back flow part during pumping to hold it in the bottle attachment and also to hold it together (it’s a two part piece), if I don’t then the vacuum seal is insufficient to express. I don’t find this a problem but it does mean it can’t be used hands free if you have one of those pumping bras.
Also, as previous reviewers note, it stores the last settings used and sets these at start up. That can be an unwelcome surprise if you’d ramped up the suction during your last pumping session and forgot to reset it.
Finally, the breast shield that comes supplied (28mm) is clearly for giants. I’d advise ordering a smaller one at the same time as the pump. I use a 24mm which works well and you’ll extract more from a properly fitting shield.