To Becky and Joan and all of you others who have expressed interest:  This
morning we called Medela and spoke to Angie, who is in the pump department.
This is their tecnical department.  When questioning her about pump pressure we
were given the following info.  It seems that they use two different methods to
check pressure on Lactinas and Classics.  One is with mercury and the other is
air pressure.  While Angie admits that this would cause a *slight* variance it
would not compensate for the marked difference is pressure that they report.
Ready?  The Lactina at minimum tests at 100 and at maximum pressure 260.  The
classic at minimum tests from 140 to 180 while at maximum they get 370 to 420.
So there we have our real answer in terms of which pump has more pressure.
With this as a given, added to the difference in retail costs of the two pumps,
I can understand why we pay a different amount for each.  What I truly can't
understand is why, then Medela suggested retail rental rates ( which we follow)
should be the same for both pumps.  I guess that is our next project with the
company.

Yaffa Stark, MA, IBCLC
Los Angeles, CA