HPLC purchase - Agilent or Waters?

[riggslab]

Our lab has the good fortune to be able to purchase a new HPLC instrument and we've narrowed the decision to either Agilent or Waters. We are considering the Waters 2695 Alliance System or the Agilent 1100 System. The system would be a complete system with fluorescence and photodiode-array detectors. Our main application would be for assessing parent drug and metabolite levels in samples obtained from in vitro metabolism assays.

I am looking for any information that would help make the decision to go with one supplier versus the other. So far, most of the input I have received from colleagues has been fairly evenly split, but mostly based on personal preferences. Based on your HPLC experiences, can you provide me with any information on system performance, useability, or other concerns with these instruments that I may not yet have considered?

Thanks.

Ryan

[tom jupille]

Check with your closest colleagues (same lab or same company). Ask two questions:

1. What are you using now?
2. Would you buy the same system again?


Regardless of the relative merits of the vendors (and these two are close), there are few things in life worse than being the only Agilent user amidst a bunch of Waters users (or vice versa).

[Tim]

You could search in the Chrom Forum archives - there has been quite a lot of discussion on this topic in the past. These will also point you in the direction of other questions (in addition to those Tom highlights), that will help your decision making process.

Having said that, the bottom line for us in choosing between these two would be initial and ongoing costs, and quality of support in your area.

[DR]

What data system do/will you be using?

As far as hardware goes, both are excellent, reliable, sensitive etc. etc. The data system to be involved would probably be the biggest factor if I were in your shoes.

If you're using Empower or Millennium (and like to use instrument controls built into your CDS), I'd be inclined to go Waters so that I wouldn't have to fork out extra $ for firmware updating contracts etc.

If your lab is committed to another vendor's CDS and doesn't want to buy a Waters CDS along w/ the instrument, I'd go Agilent. Not only is their software (Chemstation) cheaper for a single instrument installation, but you actually lose some sensitivity in the event you want to use a single wavelength analog output from a Waters PDA to feed a non-Waters CDS.

You would do well to go have a look at each vendors software if you're not already familiar with it. They are fairly different and you may find ease of use to be an important factor too.

[Kazimierz]

I suggest Varian Prostar HPLC with tertiary gradient pump, Array UV-VIS detector, M340 spectrofluorimetric detector, autosampler M410, column oven

[Dan]

Ryan,

Looks like you have already gotten some good advice, let me add some (forgive me if some of this is a repeat from others).

Personnal preference usually is a big part of the reason for a purchase. But, there are usually valid reasons behind the personnal preference so don't discount it.

Both systems that you mention are quite good as far as performance; so you may want to consider other factors. Ask yourself, and the vendors, some questions to help you decide.

What are you currently using? You may want to stick with the same vendor because: the users are already familiar with the system, you have the experience, the documentation and the training. Also, you can easily stock supplies and repair parts for one vendor only. (In our lab, we had 5 HPLCs from one vendor and our management decided to go with another vendor for our next LC; the result was that the new instrument sat mostly unused for over a year; we had the training but the users were just more familiar and more comfortable with the other vendor's LCs.)

What about support from the vendor? Does your location allow for the vendor to provide a quick response for repairs? Do you have a service contract with either of these vendors? Usually, the more instrumentation that is covered on a service contract, then the better the discount. This may also be true for consumable supplies from the vendor.

The subject of a CDS was brought up. Do you have a CDS? In general, any CDS can be set to collect data from any instrument. However, if you want instrument control, then the choice of instrument may be limited by the instruments that the CDS can control.

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Dan