Dream and nightmare instrument

[Mattias]

Just for the fun of it:

Nightmare setup:
Dionex Summit pump (sonicate check valves every week)
Dionex Summit autosampler (where does all air come from?)
Agilent 1100 detector (higher high-frequency noise than all others)
Waters Alliance column compartment (only heating, very slow)

Dream setup:
Agilent 1100 pump (prime a dry instrument for five minutes - ready to go!)
Waters Alliance autosampler (dark, very low RSD, accepts all vials)
Waters Alliance 996/2487 detector (lower noise than all others)
Dionex Summit column compartment (heats and cools very quickly)

[JGK]

Just for the fun of it:

Nightmare setup:
Shimadzu Series 6A HPLC possibly the worst design on the planet incorporating:
A really crappy single piston pump;
An Integrator with 3 functions per key and No shift lock (making you hit the shift key 1 or 2 times to make a single key entry) and "bubble pad" keyboard;
The slowest autosampler known to man, 4 mins to perform an injection;
A column oven with a leak detector so sensitive we had to stop the cleaner using pine fresh disinfectant in the corridoor outside the lab as it shut the system down;
And the ultimate evil, the detector, you had to change the lamp then align it by hand with the lamp on!!! Of course the lamp compartment was too small to allow you to wear protective gloves.


Dream setup:
A close one but - Themo's P2000/4000 AS3000 and UV1000 system, an amazing, easy to work with workhorse of a sysrtem which beat the Waters 2695/2487 system only by ease of access to the compnents for maintenance.
Agilent 1100 pump (prime a dry instrument for five minutes - ready to go!)
Waters Alliance autosampler (dark, very low RSD, accepts all vials)
Waters Alliance 996/2487 detector (lower noise than all others)
Dionex Summit column compartment (heats and cools very quickly)