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Which Cycler to buy? - Can you recommend any of these cyclers? (Aug/11/2011 )

Hi,

I am Microbiologist and i want to quantify Pathogens in Drinkingwatersystems (Biofilm and Watersample). We want to do this by qPCR, but my boss doesnt want to spend 50000€ for a qPCR Cycler. So I found this one from Roche (Lightcycler Nano), which is only about 15000€ and which meets my requirements. Has Anyone experience with this device? Do you have additional advice what i should remember when buying a qPCR cycler?

The other device is the ep realplex2 by Eppendorf. I dont have a price yet, but since i have the company just around the corner and the people there seem to be very caring i consider this system too (if the price is not too high).

Thanks for your suggestions in advance =)

Greetings from Hamburg
Thomas

-Thomas M.-

Thomas,

To my opinion the biggest disadvantage of LightCycler is capillaries. The sensitivity of modern RT-PCR machines are the comparably same and I would choose Eppendorf. My opinion But as soon as the Roche nano is the tubes (not capillaries) I would base my choice on availability of service and consumables, the kits you will use (if this machines recommended for these kits), and other practical questions.

-Aybek Khodiev-

Light Cycler Nano is not a capillary based, it uses tubes or 8-well strips. But 32 wells is not much for qPCR, you need standards, replicates and so.
I would also consider Applied Biosystems StepOne (48-well) that should be around 21 000€.

Eppendorf is a good company for tubes and pipettes, but I would personally buy a cycler from the company that leads the market (i.e. Roche, ABI or RotorGene).

-Trof-