Looking at the Latest Portable Cardiovascular Machine

Workflow.

Let’s forget about image quality and price for a minute. Let’s talk about the most common problem in portable ultrasound machines today: Workflow.

As someone who deals with technical support on a daily basis, workflow is the #1 problem I hear with today’s portable ultrasound machines. From setup to saving to exporting, good workflow is something that all manufacturers seem to have ignored.

And in this day of powerful and smart portable ultrasounds, workflow continues to be a tremendous annoyance. Believe me, it doesn’t matter which manufacturer it is, they all have their issues and it seems every user is a victim of a confounding workflow issue.

What’s funny is that manufacturers could have avoided these problems simply by listening to their customers. Granted, great workflow on a system with poor image quality is useless, but “focusing on image quality, not usability” was a good excuse until about 2010.

Well, in 2016, someone listened. And I’m here to talk about it. This is my video review of the new Chison EBit 60, and if you want to learn more you can read the Chison EBit 60 extended review.

Why the EBit 60 is Better

The list of shortfalls of so many portable cardiovascular systems is a long one, but it can be narrowed down to a few key issues: Price, Image Quality, Workflow.

The Chison EBit 60 is the only system in this class that doesn’t fall short in one or more of those issues. Its workflow is as efficient as you can expect, the price is the best in the market, and the image quality and frame rates are as-good and better than others in its class.

When compared side-by-side with other systems in its class as well as higher-end portable systems, the EBit 60 performed better than anything in its price range.

EBit 60 Feature Review

The EBit 60’s key imaging features include Compound Imaging, Harmonics, and Speckle Reduction Imaging. Its proprietary imaging optimizations include various technologies to help improve contrast resolution, reduce artifact, and improve edge detection. All of these technologies perform a noticeable difference to the image and can be set to the user’s preferences.

For workflow, it has abilities to export DICOM to network or USB, DICOM structured reporting, export to PC format via USB, prospective and retrospective saving, easy network setup, and saving loops takes just a few seconds.

My tests showed the EBit’s battery lasted more than 2 hours under moderate use. It has a 15″ LED monitor that can be seen at a wide viewing angle, which is something that is a problem with many LCD ultrasound machines in this price range… most of which have a very limited viewing angle before the image gets washed out.

With 4 USB ports, DVI, VGA and BNC Composite output, and Ethernet, the EBit 60 can be connected to external monitors, recorders, Flash drives, and networks quickly and easily.

Good Luck, We’re All Counting on You

OK, the EBit 60 isn’t going to save the world and I don’t want you to leave thinking this is the greatest ultrasound ever. It’s not, but it is the best bang-for-the-buck out there right now. Interested in purchasing a Chison EBit 60? Contact us or call 877-661-8223 today.

Transcript for Chison EBit 60 Ultrasound Review:

Have we finally found a reasonably priced portable cardiovascular machine that actually does good cardiac? Let’s find out after the break.
Hi, I’m Brian Gill from Providian Medical. And today, I’m introducing the Chison EBit 60, a portable shared service ultrasound machine that provides very good image quality without breaking your bank.
Now, until now, to get a good portable shared service machine with good cardiac imaging, you had to make some sacrifices and compromises. If your budget was tight, you had to sacrifice image quality, usability and features, or had to purchase an older refurbished ultrasound machine.
There have been many attempts in recent years to make an affordable shared service machine, but nothing met the perfect combination of price and performance. In fact, in the past couple of years, we’ve been approached by at least five manufacturers– big manufacturers and small manufacturers– each of which were showing us their great portable shared service ultrasound machine, with really good cardiac.
But they all fell short in some way or another. The systems were either priced too high, they fell short in features, they weren’t usable, they weren’t reliable, and/or they had poor image quality.
And here at Providian, we have been dying for something that hit this price and performance sweet spot. Then, Chison approached us with their EBit. Now, in our most recent meeting at Providian’s home office a month or two ago, I sat with the Chison folks and we spent an entire day using live subjects, doing side-by-side comparisons of the EBit with other portable ultrasounds from GE, SonoScape, SonoSite, and others.
Some were better, and others were comparable systems. Not only did the EBit hold its own, but it really shined in these side-by-side tests. To say the least, everybody in that room was pretty ecstatic about the outcome of that test.
So last week, I tested the final beta. And after which I wrote an email to our sales staff. I said, the EBit does an excellent job for cardiovascular and can be a real game-changer. At this price, the EBit is an incredible value.
The Ebit is easy to use, has excellent image quality, and is much more straightforward than the Logic or Vivid series for saving or exporting and general use. The cardiac image quality is better than others in its price range, comparable in vascular– which means it was better in some ways, and not necessarily in others.
Overall though, the value of the EBit cannot be ignored. It is a good shared service ultrasound machine, and it can be considered a top choice for mobile companies and anyone requiring portability.
Now, I do say top choice, but there are still reasons to look at other systems. For example, you may want something smaller like a SonoSite that’s more durable and you don’t need all the features and image optimizations.
And there also are other features on systems that simply aren’t available in the EBit. You’ll find the higher priced systems from GE and Phillips have more expanded feature sets that aren’t available on the EBit, like screen imaging and advanced quantification tools.
But as a whole at this time, nothing competes with EBit for price, performance, and overall value. It is a true shared service ultrasound system, also with great image quality for abdominal MSK, small parts, needle visualization, and generally any imaging you need.
The EBit includes all the well-known imaging technologies and important features that are so common among mid and high range ultrasound machines such auto optimization, compound imaging, speckle reduction imaging, tissue harmonics, DICOM and DICOM structured reporting, export to PC and USB and actual PC formats that is easy, two transducer ports, video output, a wide viewing angle 15 inch LED monitor, prospective saving, and needle visualization.
So in short, I’m excited about the EBit 60. So much so, that it’s kind of become a joke on the sales team. And last week, our sales manager said, why don’t you just go ahead and marry it? And that’s really funny, Scott.
Really, I’m excited because this is something that didn’t exist before. A shared service ultrasound machine that reaches a market that has been so hard to crack. And there’s just been nothing for those people.
Chison’s engineers and quality teams bent over backwards to make this happen and improve the image quality performance, usability, and workflow to meet this market and give them something they need at a real price.
Again, we compared this side-by- with higher-end and comparable new and used shared service ultrasound systems. And it really shined. So my point is this isn’t just a bunch of hype. We worked hard to compare this and make it better and make a system that really fit this market. Now, is it as good as the Vivid IQ or the CX 50, or the Mindray M9? Not in a feature set. And the imaging is close.
But again, it’s not going to be at that level. However, when you think that you can buy two or three of the EBits for the price of one of those systems, the return on investment just can’t be ignored. I’m Brian Gill with Providian medical, and that’s what you need to know about the Chison EBit 60 portable shared service ultrasound machine. Thank you for watching.