Dear all, Thanks for the almost 100 replies I have received. I appreciate every one of them very much. Since some asked for a summary, here it is, albeit with more questions. :-)
Assuming you buy your own computer and put your equipment in the cold room, (1) AKTA (or whatever it is spelled) prime: ~$10K. Perfect for affinity columns and prep-scale gel filtration columns, but due to the pressure limit it struggles with 24-ml Superdex 200 and doesn't work on ion exchange columns. Be sure to dismantle all pressure regulators in the symtem. A more serious problem is that it cannot keep good track of the actual pumped volume, thus the actual flow rate could be very different from the displayed one (my question is whether this is an inherent problem for a peristaltic pump which is inevitable or just a calibration problem that can be easily fixed) (2) AKTA FPLC: ~$30K. Everything is great except the cost. Software may be an issue for a computer novice. (3) Bio-rad DuoFlow: ~$20K. Works great. Warm-hearted reps. UV monitors break down often, but can be easily fixed. Software may be an issue for a computer expert. The most serious problem is the huge sample dead volume caused by tubing connections, which means you cannot work with diluted samples. (my question is how bad this really is) (4) Second-hand Pharmacia FPLC: ~$6K. Works great, if you haven't been spoiled by AKTA. That's all, folks! Happy FPLCing (or whatever origin of the word)! Frank --------------------------------- The fish are biting. Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search Marketing.
