I hate to publish this but I’m an honest gal and this is the truth. I think I love this pump. There’s absolutely things I would change but as a whole, I’m sold.
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Fridge hack❄️
In my experience it’s a 50/50 chance or maybe more like a 10/90 chance when asking the pumping community. 90% being the, “ 👎🏻 to the fridge hack”. The reason for this hit or miss hack with this particular pump is due to the duckbill sliding off the housing of the cup. When originally assembled, dry, there is a good seat on the white backing plate of the cup. Once the cups are used and collect milk, emptied and refrigerated the duckbill loses it's seat on the white housing causing the duckbill to not hold a strong suction and become unreliable. I'd love to say the fridge hack works every time but that would be a lie. If you choose to fridge hack these cups (leave the motor out of the fridge) watch for loss of suction, if this happens check the duckbills!
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Let down ➡️ expression modes vary. I like that there is a clear distinction between both the let down mode and the expression mode. I personally do not find the let down mode useful during my own sessions but it is an effective pattern, this pump is a crowd favorite.
Comfort
Sits on the breast easily (36DD) and easy to center, unlink the Willow 3.0 which seems to take some getting used to. The flange design of the Go is far more comfortable and easier to use than the 3.0 which has a very steep flange, leaving you to really aim for the center blindly. After a recent poll majority agree that there’s little to no adjustment period getting used to the Willow Go. I absolutely felt there was zero adjustment, just like riding a bike. Put it in my bra and began pumping!
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Profile. Winner winner.
The Willow Go is way less obvious than the Willow 3.0! But I have to admit the 7 ounce containers do bring the Go size up to the 3.0 in comparison. However, the 5 ounce containers have a great slim fit, as slim as a cup with a built in motor can fit in one's bra.
Volume- quiet, very quiet.
The 3.0 has this distinct and annoying mechanical shutter when kicking the milk from the flange into the container. The Go doesn’t have much of anything in common with the 3.0, down to this design. The Go are your traditional duckbill release, no extra noises or mechanical arms that could fail on you.
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Assembly -
Since the Go assembles in 3 parts when it comes to cleaning you really only need to focus on the outside two. The flange and the container are the two parts that come into direct contact with milk. The motors and diaphragms *should* stay dry, due to this, you shouldn’t have to wash the diaphragms after each use. ⚠️You must put the cup on the motor first, then the flange! If you switch this order you will not get suction
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My biggest complaint is the fact there are no sensors to stop the motor before the cup overflows. Good news the Go pumps can be swapped out for two different size cups! Both 5 and 7 ounce containers are available, so hopefully that can be a fix for some.
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⚠️ I had ONE instance where milk was backfilling the duckbill and leaking out of the tunnel once turned off and removed from my bra. The only thing I found to combat this (which seems to have worked) was make sure the duckbill is seated very well against the white housing of the pump
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I really think that the Go should be Willow’s leading product. More affordable price point, user friendly & strong but comfortable suction.
