My Friends,

I need to buy four HPLC systems for my company, but I what is the best chromatographer for food analysis?

Please, I want techncal comments, no sales, ok?!!

It really depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it. Without that information any answers you might get here is not usefull. You might want to ask the users in your companys lab what they think for starters.

I completely agree with the former opinion that there are always many good solutions, depending on the applications to be run. Secondly it depends certainly on the money You want to spend.

I am not sure what's best for you. But i am quiet sure of that don't buy a Surveyor System ( Thermo Finnigan). Why? It's hard to control with a simple software, report format is terrible.

some of my friends say that the best HPLC is a combination of the hardware of AGILENT and software of Waters.
I personally have used only shimadzu and waters...Waters is my primary choice...

You really should look at the support provided by the vendors in your area. Is there a rep in the area or does he/she have to drive for hours, or worse, fly to your location? Some instrument companies have been downsizing their service organizations in the last couple of years and response time has suffered accordingly. If the instrument can't be fixed in a timely manner, because they all will go down eventually, what good is it to you when you need it?

Define your needs in terms of the applications and your preferences.
Isocratic or gradient?
If gradient, high pressure or low pressure?
Autosamplers or manual injectors?
What detectors?
Simple data system or sophisticated, networked solution?
Expertise, skill set, and motivation of the users (factor in employee turnover).
Dedicated systems or modules for interchangeability?
What do others in your industry use?
What are your expectations for service and support (response time, cost, training)?

Prioritize these and evaluate all the suppliers against your list. Take the top three and evaluate them on the basis of (in no particular order) quality, delivery, price, after-sale support.

service.
get your service rep within 100 miles.
if the instrument vendor does not have "in-house" close service for an hplc , then they probably do not sell many of their beasts - or they are trying to keep from paying benefits a'la walmart.
no close, in-house service, make them cut prices drastically for four units in one place.
as bad as business is, even the major houses will probably cut costs.
let the bid.
go to:
http://www.upchurch.com/TechInfo/manufacturers.asp#

alphabetical listing with contact information.
who are the biggees?
then, i would be recommending.
if i did, then i would say that you can play it safe with waters.

we recently bought a surveyor system with the atlas software, and everything works ok...
We used to work with Gilson, which are very robust...
Waters is safe but quite expensive...

The most inteligent answer was from Ves, although you can service an HPLC quite easily if the system is simple - means not Agilent or Waters.

I would go to a Knauer or LabAlliance pump, a Linear detector and a Datalys data system. Cheap and rugged stuff!

http://www.upchurch.com/TechInfo/manufacturers.asp#
is very good site.thank you.

I have used Agilent HPLC and Waters HPLC. I prefer Agilent.

Dear chromatographers,

We have tested different HPLC systems and Varian
is the best for pharmacokinetic purposes:

I. Varian Prostar 2-chanel UV-VIS 190-800nm +
spectrofluorimetric detectors + autosampler
with temperature control and integrated column
oven (preferable syringe injection system). UV-VIS detector is the must sensitive UV.
II. Waters
III. Polygen/Esa - in the case electrochemical/
coulometric detector HPLC

I'm looking for HPLC system having 4 simulteneous
pathways for 4 methods acting simulteneously.
Such systems are probably for some LC/MS/MS.
sincerely

Kazimierz H. Kozlowski
Laboratory of Pharmacokinetics
The Childrens Memorial Health Institute
04-736 Warsaw, Poland