Apologise for the delay in posting up my review on Ardo Calypso. Well, to start with, I am pumping with it now as I blog.
AND my twins are exactly 1 year old today! Finally we have reached the 1 year milestone set in my breastfeeding journey and we are still going strong. My twins are a pair of boy and girl and they are now about 8.8kg and 8.2kg respectively. Happy boy and girl!
Ardo Calypso has been a great pump so far, in terms of the performance versus the price. I bought the pump with some complimentary items, i.e. bag, ice packs, bottles, etc..
I like the design as it is light weight enough for travelling and the colour - cheerful green and beige seems like perfect combination, though some commented that it looks like a toy to them. The pump comes with 2 difference sizes of flanges. I am probably not the best judge on which size to use but I am comfortably using the bigger one.
No problem adjusting the pump to suit my needs, in terms of the suction level and speed. The suction is quite good. It has a total of 8 suction (vacuum) levels and usually I use level 5 or 7. There is also a total of 8 speed levels. To stimulate let down, I usually adjust the speed to about 6 or 7. Once milk is flowing, I reduce the speed level to about 5.
Each session for me usually lasted for about 20 mins minimum to about half an hour maximum. When my twins were less than 11 months old, I was able to consistently get about 10-15oz each session with 5 hours interval in between during working hours. Sometimes, even 18oz - after some durian-booster session the night before.. :) Now that my twins are older, I can only manage to get about 8-12 oz each session, which is sad but still, enough to fill them up in between solid meals. So, still a good balance of supply and demand.
As I travel for business quite regularly, I pump outside alot. At malls, in the car, plane, office, home, even restaurants. It was quiet enough for me to pump discreetly under nursing cover.
BUT, it is a problem when I am at places where no electrical point is readily available. Ardo Calypso has no built in battery. Can be used with electrical supply, battery and car adapter (it fits Ameda's). Best is with electrical supply and on "stable ground". When used in car with car adaptors, the pump will show the error light if I accidentally shake the pump. The low performance alkaline battery is only enough for 1 pumping session, whereas, Energizer can last longer but still, the suction seems lower than normal which is not enough for me since I am used to high suction levels.
The pump unit will also show error light when used at high suction, high speed levels for single side pumping, in other words, when not used for double pumping. Due to this reason, I got my pump unit replaced once, after about 3 months of usage.
The next time I got my pump replaced was because the pump just would not come alive no matter how I tried to revive it. It just went dead.. and it died on me when I was on an outstation business trip. Lucky I did bring my manual kit along.
The manual kit was bought from Singapore. I did not manage to find it in Malaysia. It consist of only 3 parts and you can fit it onto the existing flange. In Malaysia, I found shops that only offered the full manual pump set.
In conclusion, I like Ardo Calypso BUT too many technical problems. This is the upgraded version bought in year 2012 but I think they definitely has to work on the reliability of the pump and at least, extend the warranty up to 2 years from child's date of birth rather than only a year. MY PUMP WARRANTY PERIOD EXPIRES TODAY!!! Due to the problems, I have to survey for a spare pump to keep me company for another year.
P/S:- I wish to breastfeed my twins till they are 2 years old. Wish me luck!! :)
