Chromatography Forum

Hallow every one. I am working in Pham. Ind. company and we ,in my lab, going to purchase a new GC system. The question, I need your help for, is which system of the following is better, Varian GC 3800 or Shimadzu GC2010. Please can any one help with a detailed comparison?

I have not used either instrument, but I know enough about GCs to be certain that I would not buy either without having had a look at a 6890 (Agilent).

Why have you picked these two ? There are lots of good GCs out there, I will add Thermo Trace 2000 to the mix. All will most likely carry out your analysis, all should have the required level of service and support you need. Make sure you check Sometimes if you have a laboratory data system you need to choose the GC that easiest fits with control and electronic data transfer to the data system. Finally if you are not familiar with GC how much free support and applications support will your vendor give you. Without more details the responses you get will be either those very happy with a particular system singing it's praises or those disappointed with a particular model. I doubt either of your choices will be a disappointment and comparing technical specs will tell you nothing. Get the vendors to prove how good they are. If all else seems the same buy on price

Hi,

CE has given you a good, unbiased reply. We all have our favourites (mine is xxx) but, at the end of the day, I feel that it is often down to having a good operator and column. I would only add
a) to consider your possible future needs and see if the instrument can be upgraded for those.
b) if you already have a GC, is it worth keeping with the same manufacturer to keep your consumables and spares stock to a minimum? Also, it can make transferring a column from one instrument to another easier - but not always.

It is a bit like cameras - if you can get to play with one you can find out how intuitive it is to use.

Regards,

Ralph

I will be totally biased... I have used both the Varian 3800 and Shimadzu 2010. I also have extensive experience with 5890s and 6890s from Agilent. Hands down, my favorite is the Varian 3800. I would also pick a Varian ion trap mass spectrometer anyday over a 5973 or 5975 MSD.

-Aaron