Chromatography Forum

Given the choice which of these would you choose and why? My organization is looking to acquire a triple and the choice seems to be down to one of these 2 (Long story!) The Sciex seems to be a higher end instrument? May be more than we need?? Terms may be too good to refuse though! I'm pretty familiar with Agilent instruments (Single Quad GCMS and LCMS, LC QTof) but have never used one of their triples.
Instrument would be used for typical triple quad applications. e.g. drug levels in blood. Possibly trace antibiotics in water. (Varied academic environment)
Appreciate any advice/comments!
Thanks.

Consider how much effort would go into incorporating each data system into your labs process / LIMS. Often any cost advantage in the instrument is quickly lost when a whole new CDS has to be learned and incorporated into lab systems.

I would think the 7500 is more on par with Agilent's 6495 sensitivity wise so if the prices are near the same you would not go wrong on that count.

Sciex software is in my opinion more basic than Agilent's MassHunter though I have only used Sciex's Analyst, and not some of the newer versions. It can be frustrating to learn if you are used to Agilent software, but does a good job once you learn the quirks.

The more simple interface of Sciex instrument (source and entrance orifice) can be easier to maintain than the Agilent capillary, unless they have made drastic changes with the 7500 which I have not had the chance to work with yet.

With the extra sensitivity of the 7500 you can dilute your samples more and keep the same detection limits as the 6470, which helps keep the whole system cleaner.

If you can find a way to sit down and work with both, at least to see software, tuning, data analysis and such, that will help with the decision. There are advantages and disadvantages to both but I think you would not go wrong with either.

Sciex 6500+ and agilent 6495 are quite similar in performance, atleast from what i have seen. Given the 7500 is a step up from 6500+ and 6470b a step down from 6495B, the sciex seem like the obvious choice between the two mentioned if price is similar.

Then again there are other aspects than just ms performance to consider. Service cost, software and support is very importat aswell.

Sciex has the qtrap version of you need these features and alsp the selexion module option. But they charge extra for these.

In favour of agilent I would prefer agilent 1290 uhplc over exion/nexera. Having same lc and ms from same brand could potentially make software drivers more stable.

In this case the choise seems quite simple. If you really consider both then do a demo run, same method and sample, get the raw data plus software and evaluate yourself. This is what we did and then you know what result to expect when you get your instrument installed. Save sample so you can rerun after installation to verify performance promised.

Given the choice which of these would you choose and why?

Sciex 7500, no-brainer (sensitivity, maintenance, matrix effect and contamination robustness, dilute-and-shoot strategy etc.). Agilent have (much) better software, IMHO. You're also must consider local service quality, methodological support and so on..

The Sciex seems to be a higher end instrument? May be more than we need??

Yes..

Terms may be too good to refuse though!

Definitely.