If you had $10k to spend on an HPLC...

[dbrouwer]

...would you buy a new, but very basic BLC-10 from Buck Scientific or an old, refurbished HP 1050?

I am looking to obtain an HPLC to be used by undergraduate students, mostly in 2nd year organic and analytical chemistry labs. Being at a small undergraduate liberal arts college means that I don't have a lot of money available to spend (unfortunately). I also don't have much practical experience with HPLC to base my decision on. Hence, I am posing this question to the forum. Based on the research I've done, and quotes received, I feel like my options at this point are between:
(1) a BLC-10 from Buck Scientific. This is specifically designed to be low-cost and meant for educational purposes. It is about as basic as it gets: isocratic elution and single wavelength (254 nm) detection, operated with (free) PeakSimple software. There is an option to have exchangeable filters to detect at other wavelengths (280, 365, 420, 505, 540 nm.. would these be worth it?) The fact that it is new is attractive, as well as that it has a very small footprint, and there is far less that can go wrong with it. It would probably suit my purposes and expose my students to the basics of HPLC. But...
(2) a refurbished 1050 system from HP would have very appealing features (quaternary pump, solvent degassing, variable or multi-wavelength detection, autosampling, etc), but these systems are ~20 years old. Would it be foolish to buy such an old system or are these 1050 systems reliable enough? Compared to the BLC-10, I suspect there is far more that could go wrong with it, especially given the age. There does seem to be a fair number of 1050 modules on the refurbished equipment market should I ever need to replace a module.

I would appreciate anybody's thoughts on this dilemma (or other suggestions!)
Thanks in advance!
Darren

[tom jupille]

Depends a bit on what your pedagogical objectives are. If you're trying to give the students experience that is transferable to the "real world", then the 1050 would be the best bet. On the other hand, if you're trying to teach them the fundamentals of HPLC so that they really understand what's going on, then the simplicity of the BLC-10 is an advantage in that it has less of a "black box" character.

As far as hardware goes, the 1050 series is reputed to be bulletproof (look a few topics down at viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11550) if properly maintained.

If it were me, I'd be concerned about availability of parts on both of those systems (the 1050 because of age, the BLC-10 because of a limited installed base). You might want to arm wrestle with the vendor to throw in a reasonable set of spares for whichever system you get.

[Consumer Products Guy]

I liked the 1050 series better than the 1100 series; I miss the opportunity to also use the front panel keyboards.

[paul_b]

Be warned the quarternary mixer on the 1050 is a very expensive item to repair as Agilent were unwilling to supply any individual components for this module. Make sure you get the software licence (and disks) with any Agilent/HP kit, without the formal licence paper /sticker you will have to pay full fees if you want an upgrade at any point.

[CE Instruments]

Neither ! Shop around the refurbished system vendors and the other suppliers, you should be able to get a much newer system ex demo/ pre owned from one of several quality vendors and local to you so that they can provide the support you need.

[Andy Alpert]

Consider Scientific Systems Inc. in State College, PA. They sell inexpensive but reasonably reliable pumps on an OEM basis and can throw together an inexpensive gradient system upon request.

[juddc]

HI Darren,

Depending upon where you're located and if you're interested I might be able to assist with some of the hardware . I have an old Waters 715 injector that I retired some years ago in fine running condition along with a Waters 486 TUV. I'd bet that either of these are a PM kit away from being running instruments and both would be very inexpensive. You'd need to source a pump, a tank of He or a degasser, some cables, and a data system but that shouldn't be too tough. Waters 600's (quaternary pumps) are a dime a dozen, robust, and easy to service. Parts for the 715 and the 486 are available and not terribly expensive if not purchased from the OEM.

If you're somewhere in the northeast, I'd be happy to assist in any way possible. I'd also be happy to show you how to PM the instruments yourself if you like. It's not too tough; they're pretty straightforward machines.

Feel free to email at christopher-dot-m-dot-judd-at-gmail-dot-com if you'd like to talk.

(BTW, I'm not an instrument vendor, just a chromatography nerd.)

CJ