Varian Question

[John Garner]

Hi All,
I am considering buying a Varian Prostar HPLC. Has anyone here had experiences with Varian they would like to share? Both good and bad are welcome. I'm particularly interested in how rugged the machine is and about their service in the Indiana area. Feel free to email me as well about your experiences at: jg@akinainc.com
Thanks.

[dr_Pyrex]

I have worked with Prostar system since 2 years. From chromatograpic point of view (pumps, ovens, detectors) it is quite good system. In isocratic nad gradinet elution retention time is very stable. Varian offer one piston pump, so degasser use is not nesesary.
The worst point is software. I have Galaxie Workstation (with Windows 2000) and there is many bugs and errors. I hope manufacturer work on this problems

Generally: quality proportional to price

[John Garner]

Thanks for the note, I was looking at Galaxie software myself, good to know about the bugs beforehand. How about I open the question up a bit more. Currently the three top competitors for my HPLC bid are Shimadzu, Varian and Thermo. I welcome any news about them (again either good or bad) as well. Thanks

[Mark]

John,

I have used a Varian ProStar for just over 5 years now, with excellent results. Very minimal maintenance (meaning broken/worn parts). You have really have to keep up with the recommended oiling of the two pump sliders every 6 months but other than that the unit is exellent, very much better than the Waters 515 pumps on my other system. I also have a ProStar variable UV detector, no problems at all, just the regular lamps changes as the age. I would highly recommend the system. since I'm in St. Louis I cannot speak for service in Indiana and actually not much her, just haven't had the need for it!

Regards,
Mark

[leadazide]

Having several different Varian equipment (GC-MS, HPLC and UV/VIS Spektrofotometer) the biggest problem I have with the equipment is the low standard of the operator manuals! The manuals are hard to navigate, with a messy setup.

But to be fair I haven't seen their latest manuals so they may have improved. I hope so because the manuals have been the major factor for me not buying Varian the last couple of years.

Just my two bits on the subject.